Chapter 3

I spoke with Rose on the phone and arranged for a meeting at my apartment tomorrow. After I called Rose, I took a nap. After I woke up, I went to work at The Tracks Hotel, a large hotel chain. I usually cleaned up rooms and did laundry.

The next day came rather quickly. I met Rose at noon in my apartment.

I didn’t imagine Rose would be so tall. She wore a yellow plaid skirt with black fishnets, a white blouse, and her extremely blonde hair was down to her lower back. A couple of bangs covered one of her blue eyes, but I could tell that she was pretty. She wore eyeliner and a pale pink lipstick.

"Welcome, Rose," I said, allowing her into my apartment. She didn’t say anything but just smiled. I showed her around the apartment and showed her the room she would be renting. I showed her the bathroom that we would be sharing and also the balcony I had.

She smiled at the balcony.

"That way," I said, opening the door to the balcony, "we can see the pretty stars."

She nodded.

She IS quiet!

After the tour, we sat on the sofa and I offered her soda.

She shook her head, but smiled at my offer.

"So, when do you want to move in?" I was desperate for anyone to help me pay the rent!

"Um…" she said.

Her voice was rather low for a girl.

"How about tomorrow night?"

I smiled. "Sure! Do you need any help moving in?"

She shook her head again and smiled. "I’ve got someone to help me. But thank you."

I stared at her for a moment. Something about her was familiar, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. Noticing that I was staring at her, Rose uttered a quiet laugh.

"OH! I’m sorry," I said, apologizing. "It’s just that, you remind me of someone."

Her eyebrows raised. I looked at her for a moment more, but shook it off.

"Nevermind," I said. I didn’t want to scare away money. I mean, Rose.

"So you’ve find a roommate?" Max asked, walking next to me. He was going to class, which was the same building as mine.

"Her name is Rose," I said, digging inside my messenger bag for her letter.

"Rose?" Max said. I handed him the pink letter. "Is she pretty like Kate Winslet in ‘Titanic’? Is she that Rose?"

"She’s a bit different," I said. I noticed the picture that Hero and I took yesterday. Max noticed it too and snatched it out of my hand.

"Wow! Who is that pretty girl?" he asked, pointing to me in the picture.

"That’s me, loser," I said, snatching the picture back. He pouted.

"Why are you and Hero in the same picture?"

I glared at him. "Am I not good enough to take a picture with him or what? Is that a crime?"

He shook his head. "I thought he was going to be taking a picture with Melinda, that really pretty model who eats a lot but doesn’t gain a bit. The one who’s always taking pictures with Hero."

I rolled my eyes. "She’s so famous that she couldn’t come. That’s why Hero and I took pictures together. But he left early…"

Max snatched the picture back. "You really look great in this picture. Why did Hero leave so early? Did he have another date with a ‘slut’?" He laughed at the word slut.

I thought of Hero leaving with Alissa. "I don’t understand it, Max," I said. "Why is Hero so interested in that slut? She obviously just wants to get laid."

"Are you forgetting something?" He returned the picture.

"What?"

"Hero Kim is known around campus for sleeping with many women, but he seems like such a perfect gentlemen. All the guys, except me, want to be his friend. And all the girls, like you, want to be with him."

I rolled my eyes. "I don’t want to be with him, I just want him to like me."

"Shye."

"What?" I was annoyed by now.

"Forget Hero. He’s not right for you."

"Forget you. Don’t tell me what to do." I stopped walking, then turned around and walked away from Max. He was beginning to annoy me!

I quietly scolded him under my breath as I was walking away. Who is he to tell me what to do?

At around 5 PM, Rose called to tell me that she was on her way to move in. I met up with her at the apartment and gave her a copy of the key for the door. When I asked her if she needed help, she said she had everything under control. So I said good-bye and headed off to work

I only worked for two hours because school had been too stressful. When I came home, it wasn’t as cold as it usually was. I could smell the aroma of tulips in the apartment.

I guess she likes tulips, I thought.

I opened the fridge to take some meat out to thaw, but before I did, I noticed that Rose had already made dinner. I opened the dish to find some stirfry. Wow, it looked really good! But since I didn’t know Rose that well, I took my meat out to thaw.

Just as I did, Rose came out her room. She was in pink pajamas. Her long legs looked great in those cute PJ pants! How I wish I had long legs…

"Hungry?" she asked. Her extremely blonde hair was in her face again. She wasn’t wearing any makeup. Wow, she’s pretty even without makeup!

I smiled at her. "Kinda."

Rose took the bowl and opened it. "It’s still hot," she said. "I made it so we could eat it together and chat."

She’s really nice!

"Okay. Let me get some rice and chopsticks."

She nodded and took the bowl to the table.

"So where are you from?" I asked. She ate some stirfry and drank a bit of water.

"Black Stone City," she replied. My mouth opened in awe.

"That’s a great medical school," I said. "I could never get in that school if I tried."

Rose smiled at me. "I didn’t like it much."

"Why not? I heard it’s just beautiful out there."

She drank some more water. "It’s not my atmosphere. I’d rather be at Evergreen, where people can be who they really are."

I nodded. "You’ll love it here at Evergreen. The guys are so cute."

Rose looked away at the mention of guys. "Love is so complicated!"

It amazed me that Rose seemed to have a hard love life like I did. "I completely understand that!"

But she didn’t say more. I wish she did because it grew quiet after that.

Finally, I broke the silence.

"Your fashion is simply amazing!" I commented on her outfit the day we met.

She laughed. "Have you never seen anyone dress like this?"

Her voice was low for a girl, but it was still pleasant.

I shook my head at her question. "We’ll have to go shopping one day!" I pondered about that for a moment. "How about tomorrow? After all our classes?"

She nodded. "That’s fine with me."

"I’ll meet you here at 6. How’s that?"

"Sounds nice."

After dinner, Rose and I said good night and we both went into our separate rooms. I took my cell phone out of my messenger bag and checked it for messages.

"You have 3 new messages."

Three new messages? From who?

"First message. Received at 6:39 PM."

"Shye," it was Hero’s voice. "Why aren’t you picking up? Where do you want to eat dinner?"

Dinner with Hero! I completely forgot about him!

"Alright," Hero continued. "I’ll call you later. Bye."

I listened to the next message.

"Second message. Received at 7:02 PM."

"Are you ignoring me?" It was Hero again. "*sigh* I’ll call later."

"Third message. Received at 7:12 PM."

"I’m going to The Flower. If you hear this, come and see me. I’ll be there all night."

I don’t know what happened. But I just darted out of bed and out of my bedroom. It took me a moment to put all my thoughts together. I was still in my pajamas!

Should I go meet him? I looked at my watch. It was 10:21.

Forget Hero. He’s not right for you. Max’s words earlier today echoed in my mind.

My second thought made more sense. I changed into some casual clothes. I sprayed on some expensive perfume I bought (which took me two months to save for). I played with my hair a bit, but it was no use. I just put it up in a ponytail.

The Flower was packed, as usual, with college students. I looked for Hero, but had no luck. I started to leave when I spotted his hair. Who wouldn’t notice his hair?

I walked over to him. His back was turned to me and he was talking with someone. I tapped his shoulder and he spun around.

His eyes immediately lighted up. They could’ve made me collapse! "Shye!"

"I’m sorry! I had my phone turned off," I apologized. I couldn’t look at him when I was apologizing. I kept looking at the ground at my shoes.

"It’s okay," he said, placing his hand on my shoulder. I could smell his Calvin Klein cologne. The scent made me melt. It also made me smile. "I’m meeting with someone right now, can we chat later?"

My smile faded. I felt like someone had stabbed me a hundred times. I got out of bed to see him, but he was busy with someone.

I nodded and lied. "Of course."

I felt like my organs were bleeding! This sucks!

He gave me that handsome smile and waved good-bye to me. "I’ll call you later."

I walked away, acting like I was okay with everything. But I wasn’t. At that very moment, I wanted to cry. Gosh, I was so stupid to meet him without calling! So stupid!

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