Rosaline Dayne was on a 6-week break before she had to report for her first real job.
Having worked her ass off on her internship and thesis to finish up her post-grad with a double major in Interior design and basic Architecture, she was all hyped up for the break before she shifted her focus back to work and career.
A few days after she was back, she invited her childhood friends to celebrate the end of her graduation and the start of her actual adult life.
She was 20 years old this year and had spent the last seven years of her life trying to grow up faster.
Unfortunately, with each minute, she was getting quite irritated with the idiot ruining her party.
Rosaline could see in his eyes that he was not interested in her. But he would not stop bugging her as if he was possessed.
Finally, having lost her patience, she decided to get rid of him in her way.
Since none of his friends decided to help him and watched the show, they could not blame her for being ruthless.
She took a deep breath, smiled, tilted her head, and looked at him coyly.
A look of alarm, but mostly disappointment crossed his eyes which he quickly recovered.
She thought, not for the first time, what his motive was since he was sincerely not interested in her in the usual way.
But regardless, he had driven her to her limit, and she could not be held responsible for what happened next.
“Pete, right?” Rosaline asked as she stood up closer to him.
“...”
”Yeah,” Pete could not understand why he was suddenly nervous, but he was too wasted to care.
“So, what will you do with my number?” She stood a little too close to him, and he moved back.
“...”
“OH, tell me will you text or call me first?” She asked with an expectant look, except for the glint on her eyes as she slowly moved closer and he moved back.
“...I..I..” Pete gulped.
“HAHAHAHAHA! You are so cute, did you know that?”
“...”
“Your eyes are shining. I’ve never seen eyes so pretty.”
“...”
“I must be so lucky to meet you here.”
“...” Pete became speechless with her sudden change and kept retreating.
“How about..?” She trailed off as she leaned close to his ear, making Pete retreat further.
Just when Rosaline was about to push Pete to the final step, which was 2-steps downwards which led to the door to the balcony outside, a sleepy-looking guy who looked like he came straight out of bed with oversized clothes and ruffled hair came up and grabbed Pete away from her.
Rosaline glared at William provocatively with sharp eyes making him gulp.
“He is sorry, and so am I. I should have stopped him sooner.” Those were the first words William said to Rosaline.
But before she could react, Pete jumped on William’s arms, catching them both off-guard.
“Will, you are here. Supriya broke up with me.”
“..” Rosaline frowned.
“...” William was at a loss for what to say or do but kept a straight face as he always did.
“You were right when you told me to reconsider and think carefully before getting serious with her, but I never listened. We have been together for a year already. I feel like I don’t know her at all. What should I do now?” Pete mumbled.
William looked at Rosaline and wanted to say something but could not figure out what. Apart from his knitted eyebrows, his expression was still neutral.
Rosaline frowned. ‘So I was revenge for his break-up, huh.’
Pete continued with his rant, “Will, you never liked her, I know you tried to hide it, but even a fool could tell. What should I do now?”
Rosaline looked at William, who had this helpless expression on his eyes but had a straight face, and her mouth twitched unconsciously, trying to hide a smile.
‘I want to push him away, but what if he falls down the stairs? She won’t think I am gay, will she?’ William mused.
Rosaline shook her head, and thinking that she probably would not get pestered any longer, she heaved a sigh and decided to head back to her table.
However, just as she turned over, someone grabbed her arm.
Rosaline followed the hand on her arm and traced it to the sleepy-looking guy who still had the drunk Pete holding onto his other arm and shoulders tight. “He is not always like this. Can you listen to his side of the story? Find out why he treated you so disrespectfully. Please?”William said with pleading eyes, though his face and tone betrayed no emotion. ‘I don’t want her to think badly of anyone around me.’ William was confused about his thoughts. ‘Dude, she is probably underage. Calm down! What’s wrong with you?’ he told himself. ‘Wait! That’s not the point. Why am I so bothered that she might be underage?’‘He is quite good-looking now that I look at him and seems like a good friend.’ Rosaline thought. ‘WTF? Why would you think about him? Get a hold of yourself,’ Rosaline told herself.Pete’s sniveling brought them back to their senses. Rosaline looked at him and pointed at his hands which were grabbing her arm with raised eyebrows. “Well?” Rosaline said with a ‘Talk! Yo
William sighed, having to explain.He had always hated explaining, and this happened to be something he practically covered for Supriya for over a decade on account of their mothers being friends. But it was time to let the cat out of the bag.Moreover, he was reluctant to hide things from the petite girl and let her misunderstand him, a thought which terrified him just as much as it surprised him. “Do you remember when we were kids, she used to chase me around and pretend that we were childhood sweethearts who would get married when we grew up?” William asked Pete. Pete rolled his eyes, “Don’t we all know that?”.William sent him a glare which made Pete stammer. He smiled hesitatingly and asked him to continue. William shook his head helplessly, which made Rosaline squint her eyes at him. “Well, she wrote me a love letter which read like she was begrudgingly replying because I stalked her. And she made sure to get caught. That got me in trouble.”“She testified to the teachers t
“Is that why you never liked her?” Pete asked.“Why did you not tell us this before?” Pete’s eyes were full of grievances. “When we grew up, she flirted with all of you, although subtly, to avoid confrontations.”“She was always clever to avoid suspicion and looked pitiful whenever someone tried to oust her.”“I never thought she liked you or anyone for that matter. That’s why I told you to be careful.” William explained. Pete was flabbergasted. “Why did you not tell me all this in detail? I thought you just did not like her on account of the trouble she caused in school”. William shrugged, “Her mother’s good friends with my mom, so when confronted, she begged to keep it under wraps and that she would ensure she never bothers me.” Pete looked like he was constipated. “What about the other things?”Before William could reply, Evelyn piped in.“He did. So did I, but all of you were blind as a bat.”“And she cried so pitifully whenever confronted that you guys always let it slide.”“
Rosaline was shocked by her outburst.‘What’s wrong with me? I don’t know them. I should be calling the cops for all that guy did to me earlier.’ She smiled awkwardly, trying to hide her embarrassment but frowned upon seeing the smile in William’s eyes. That made her roll her eyes.‘Screw it! I’ve already said it out loud. Let’s just go with it.’ “Well, you can also get back together with her. Get screwed again.”“Spend your entire life trying to figure out when NO means NO and when NO means YES. And every time you break up and get frustrated, you can ruin some other innocent girl’s evening.” William curled his lips at the word innocent, which made Rosaline want to kick him. But she ignored him and continued.“Or since she already told you that you broke up. Just accept it and detoxify yourself.”Evelyn hooted at that and gave Rosaline a high-five, “well said, bro!”.‘I have a feeling we’ll get along well.’ Rosaline smiled at that but was shocked by her thoughts.‘Shit! I’ve to le
Rosaline saw William as soon as she exited the bathroom.He squinted at her as she made her way back. She only glanced at him, furrowed her beautiful brows, and ignored him. Somehow, this made William smile. He walked up to her and tried to start a conversation.“Hey, got a minute?”“And may I ask why you would need it?”Her voice was cold and held clear distance and indifference.William felt awkward. He tried hard to understand why he was so bothered about the probability of her being underage. But he masked his emotions well.“Well, I just want to say sorry and thank you.” He replied confidently without any awkwardness.“It does not matter,” Rosaline said with a sigh.“Can I ask you something rather inappropriate?” William decided to bite the bullet.“Why would you ask if you already know it’s inappropriate?” Rosaline retorted with raised eyebrows. “Maybe I’m just selfish.”“...” Rosaline was speechless, and that made William smile. “How old are you?” Rosaline could see the nerv
Rosaline got up quite late, having partied till late last night.Looking at her sleepy appearance in the mirror, she thought of William. She shook her head, flattened her messy hair, and went on with her morning routine. There was a commotion at the breakfast table with her parents waiting for her. She had an uneasy feeling about it. “Good morning, people!” Rosaline said with a smile.“You guys did not wait for me for breakfast, did you?” She had hardly finished what she was saying when her father, George Dayne, slammed the local newspaper on the table. She picked it up with curiosity and saw two pictures of herself which were rather vague.One was her leaning toward Pete, and Pete’s face was unmistakable.The other picture showed her leaning toward William; even William’s back view was vague. The headline was rather glaring.“Shameless groupie steals another woman’s boyfriend!”Rosaline instantly knew that it was Supriya’s doing.As the photographs were from inside the bar that
On the other side of the city, Tom and Rita Brown also saw the news.Tom Brown and George Dayne were professors at Apex University and had been friends for over 20 years. Their families were close as well. George’s nephew, Maddox Dayne, got acquainted with the Browns while visiting his uncle and got to know Tom and Rita’s daughter Ellaria.They became childhood sweethearts and were about to get married in 5 weeks. They had known Rosaline since she was a little kid. They had thought William and Rosaline would be a good match.Both families had agreed to set them up during Max and Ria’s wedding. But seeing the news report, both Tom and Rita hesitated.‘Although we have known her since she was a child, Lina studied abroad for the last five years, and five years before that, Lina was in a hostel. God knows what she has become these years.’ ‘Maybe we should wait and see for the next few days before settling things.’“Tom, what do you think about the news?” Rita asked, obviously worried
William also chanced upon the pictures while his father was reading the newspaper. Even though it was not clear, he recognized them right away. He went to the bar, but it was closed and only had some people cleaning and preparing for the evening. He asked the available staff if they knew the girl or anyone in her group but got nothing. Getting no leads the usual way, he was tempted to investigate it himself but resisted the urge thinking she might not like her privacy to be intruded on by a stranger. In no mood to work, he went to the all-familiar Apex park by the lake.Despite its small size, Apex Park held immense charm in the city center.It had a small rock mountain with a rugged path to the top and a natural lake and stream. All of which were surrounded by dense forest. The entire area was preserved in its natural beauty, making the climb rather adventurous with fresh air, the calming sound coming from the stream, and a great view if you managed to climb on top.As luck woul