Chapter 2
Aster: third person's point of view.
—
"I don't know that girl."
To say that he was surprised was an understatement.
"Come again?"
Are you kidding me?
The woman widened her eyes at the sudden realization. "Wait, I thought you know her? Why did you let her stay in the car?"
He shook his head and looked back at the road. "I just moved in three days ago, I don't know anyone except you. I thought you're her aquaintance or something." He scratched his ear and glanced back at the stranger.
The woman groaned and massaged her temples. "What do we do? We can't just leave her here."
Aster closed his eyes and leaned back on his seat". I'll drive you home."
"Well, obviously. But what about her?" She gestured towards the sleeping girl who reeks of alcohol, still snoring loudly and keeping them from having a decent conversation. Lois' face turned dim after hearing another snore.
"I'll figure it out, don't worry."
"But—"
"Come on, Lois."
The woman scratched her head, giving up. "All right, do whatever you want. You're so stubborn!"
"I know, deal with it."
"I don't have a choice, do I?"
The two went silent as Aster started the car's engine. He drove on the dark road, taking his mind off of the sleeping stranger with them. He exhaled as they saw Lois' house not very far ahead.
"This is my stop. Thanks, Aster."
"Yeah."
Lois closed the car's door and peeked through the window to look at the stranger again. "Take care of her and call someone from her contacts," she looked away and sighed, her hot breath creating a small fog because of the cold air. "Stay warm, open the heater." She stared at him again before turning her body to the opposite direction. "We'll talk tomorrow."
"Yeah."
He only nodded and closed the windows after seeing Lois enter the house. he started the engine again and drove out of the villa, squinting his eyes in hopes of seeing the road covered by the slightly thick fog.
Too cold.
He glanced back at the snoring stranger from the mirror and sighed. From the looks of it, he'll sleep on the couch tonight.
I thought I'll be able to sleep early today. Just my luck.
Sighing again, he stopped the car on the side of the road. He then removed his leather jacket and placed it on top of the woman's legs before looking at her face. Her skin is fair, but slightly ruined by the mascara that flowed together with her tears, he figured.
I wonder, who made you cry?
He shook his head at the thought and continued driving. Minutes later, he arrived at his apartment building.
He just moved in about three days ago. His unit has enough space, good ventilation, and a really nice view of the city lights at night, and, well, hundreds of people at day.
He unfastened his seatbelt and unlocked the door. He gently took the girl in his arms, supporting her back and legs as he walked up to the stairs, making sure to keep the hand railings from hitting the stranger's head.
She's a lightweight, tsk.
As he reached the door, he slid the keys on the doorknob and went inside. He placed the stranger carefully on the couch as he went to the bathroom to get a basin of warm water and a clean towel. He placed the basin on the coffee table and wet the towel. After squeezing enough water out, he held the stranger's chin and started wiping her face. He sighed after seeing her bloodshot eyes, red and puffy.
He removed his jacket from her legs and carefully took off the stranger's coat. He placed it on a rack and carried her to his bedroom.
As he opened the door, he felt an object fall from the stranger's pocket. He quickly tucked her to bed and grabbed the phone on the floor.
He opened it after feeling it vibrate on his palm. A message popped up on the screen.
Andrea banana
Where are you, Megan? I told you to just stay on the freaking bench! Ethan will kill me!
He clicked his tongue in frustration after realizing that the phone has a password, hence he won't be able to type a reply. A few seconds later, the phone vibrated numerous times. He was about to answer the caller but since luck avoids his existence, the phone died.
Well, shiitake mushrooms.
He scratched his nape.
He looked at the sleeping girl that's now sprawled all over his bed.
He clicked his tongue and went close to the edge of the bed, removed the girl's shoes, then covered her whole body with a blanket. He glanced at the girl's peaceful face and sighed.
Megan, huh?
He looked away and took a blanket out of his cabinet. He was about to go out when he heard shuffling sounds and a loud groan. He widened his eyes after seeing the girl unbuttoning her blouse.
What kind of improper act is she trying to do—
"Too hot... Am I in hell?"
Is she still drunk?
She pouted and squinted her eyes to get a better look at the figure in front of her. "Wait, are you a grim reaper? Did you take my soul already?"
Yep, still is.
"Nah."
"Eh? Where's Andrea?"
"Who the heck is Andrea?"
"My brother's girlfriend."
"Okay."
"Did you kidnap me?"
"No, why would I?"
"Okay. Whatever floats your boat."
He grabbed a remote from the bedside table and lowered the air conditioner's temperature. He went closer to the drunk girl and covered her with the blanket again. He closed his eyes in annoyance as he walked away, grabbing the blanket he accidentally dropped on the floor.
"You look hot, grim reaper."
"I'm not—" A soft snore cut him off.
He stopped walking and sighed for the nth time. Should I have just left her behind?
He groaned and closed the door, walking lazily towards the small couch.
On second thought, nah. I'm too awesome to do that.
Chapter 3 Aster: third person's point of view. — Bringing a girl– a drunk, blabbering nonsense kind of girl to his apartment unit never crossed Aster's mind. Earlier this morning, he was already planning to sleep on the comfort of his bed, hugging the daylight out of his newly-bought fluffy, white pillows to sleep and wake up feeling decent at least. He thinks ahead like a boss. That girl was definitely not part of the plan. A big, fat N to the O. "You look hot, grim reaper." He remembered her remark. He grimaced at the thought. I'm a what? And what the heck is a grim reaper? And why am I even thinking of irrelevant things this late at night anyway? He shook his head and forced himself to sleep, tossing and turning to the small, white couch for the third time. His large blanket is now all
Chapter 4Megan: third person's point of view.—Let's look at the current ridiculous situation right now.Is she still drunk?Heck yeah.Can she even walk straight?Barely.Can she think straight, though?Abso-freaking-lutely not.So it's not really surprising if she would suddenly blurt out, "Sweet heavens, you seriously look hot in my eyes right now, wanna date?" at the guy she just unknowingly bothered for the whole night, 'cause that's what she just did.And the kind freaking grim reaper didn't like it one bit."Miss, just go to sleep.""Call me Megan...or babe, which do you prefer?" She smirked, leaning on the doorframe, one leg crossed while puckering her lips at the unmoving guy across her.
Chapter 5Megan: third person's point of view.-"Megan Spencer! You are so dead!"She was in the midst of reading the letter for the twenty-eighth time when she accidentally threw the food she was holding with her other hand. Megan was munching the very last bits of her beloved apple when she heard Andrea's voice booming outside of her unit and damn it, her poor apple went rolling on the tiled floor."What the heck, Drea?" She shouted back."Open the door.""Aw, come on, mom! I just dropped my breakfast on the floor-""For the love of... don't make me wait!"Pouting at the delicacy, she mindlessly threw it in the trash bin beside the sink and ran towards the mahogany door and unlocked it, revealing a red and fuming Andrea waiting impatiently on the other side.
Chapter 6Aster: third person's point of view.-He did not get a wink of sleep.Or even rest.At. All.Tossing and turning, sitting up, contemplating about his sudden life decisions and then start tossing and turning again isn't really resting, and now the sleepy Aster is definitely not in the mood to do anything heroic at the moment.Well, he barely does anything heroic anyway.For the nth time, he sat up and rubbed his face with his cold palms. Standing up groggily, he headed straight to the bathroom to wash off his morning breath and any stray saliva at the places other than his mouth. No one likes that.After the quick morning routine, he prepared his breakfast... If a granola bar is even considered as one. Moving on!He threw the plasti
Chapter 7Megan: third person's point of view.-It was around 2 o'clock in the afternoon when Megan woke up from her long nap and she hasn't eaten anything yet except for that humble granola bar since the day started, how nice.Holding her head, she stood up and went out of her room, occasionally swaying to the side and sighing. She eyed the Chinese takeout from the kitchen counter and took a bowl, a spoon, and a fork. She pouted and started eating the noodles and soup quietly, not minding the cold air of November seeping through her sweats.She probably would have gone for a short stroll at a bakery or at the small coffee shop somewhere in the vicinity if she wasn't feeling sullen. Heck, she would have watched the first snowfall outside with Damien if yesterday's events didn't happen.She dropped the noodles back into the c
Chapter 8Megan: third person's point of view.—Still pulling Mr. Hot Cheetos on his long sleeves, the both of them turned left on a wide alley, following the icy sidewalk near the corner and passing by a big library. Small amounts of snow are still falling from the empty sky as she inhaled the cold, sweet air of the not so busy street. She glanced back at her companion, slightly confused with his silence. Shrugging, she didn't remove her exposed hands from the taller guy's arm.The stranger who apparently hates going out in the cold turned silent. Minutes ago, the two were bickering about the weather and what happened the night before. Why he suddenly stopped talking, she decided not to pry any further. Annoying him was more than enough to satisfy her need for laughter."Cheeto, where do you wanna go?"He grunted, sta
Chapter 9Aster: third person's point of view.—Little did she know, Aster was really considering the idea of burying her in the snow.You can't blame his annoyance to the gorgeous lady, who just threw a snowball at his back."Hey!""Loosen up, grumpy Cheeto! Don't kill me inside your mind!"Should I regret coming with this hyper woman? Just what did she have for breakfast? One tub of sugar?"Aster."He turned around, only to see her grin mischievously. "Come on, let's get sick!"He crouched down, subtly gathering some snow with his gloves, his eyes still boring through Megan's hazel ones. "You're a bad influence, you know that?"She snorted and twirled a strand of her hair, batting her eyelashes. "It just hap
Chapter 10Megan: third person's point of view.—Thanks.That's what was messily written on the paper Megan found on her doormat after changing her clothes that afternoon. She fought back the smile that was threatening to appear on her lips as she imagined what Aster would have looked like while attempting to write something nice.This...this is something I doubt he would do to someone else.She may or may not have squealed a few times.Now smiling, she opened the door, approaching the unit in front. She even forgot to wear her trusty flip flops but who cares?She knocked on the door, and a few seconds later, she heard something faint shuffling a few times.He's here.Biting her lip, she went