CHAPTER 2

Lily swallowed at that confession.

‘what the hell are you doing?’ a voice echoed in her head. Was she going to regret what she said? probably. Maybe it was the little coffee she sipped before leaving work that made her feel bold, it would totally make sense if she was crazy but no, she was perfectly sane and rational.

Although she was responsible for most of her life decisions ever since she left there, she had never been so bold to do something like this.

The man looked back with furrowed brows, disbelief drenched his face, another emotion she saw on his face asides interest, amusement, coldness and indifference. He sighed, his disbelief was replaced with wariness, as though he was afraid of something, but before Lily could know it was wariness, his face became void of emotions.

“brown, what’s your name again?” he asked

“Lily… Lily Lai”

“Lily...” he said her name so softly as he tucked her hair behind her ear, her name sounded so nice as it rolled off his lips. He looked at her again, his eyes now hostile

“I’m not interested in girls like you Lily” he said, his tone a bit arrogant and condescending as he leisurely shoved his hands in his pockets.

“what do you mean?” her blood started boiling.

“I mean, I’m not interested in girls who has coffee spills all over her shirt, who wears outdated sneakers with dark mud on them and whose hair smells like coffee beans” he smirked.

His comment and the way he smirked annoyed her. she deliberately didn’t put much effort on her appearance because she wasn’t ready to know any guy, she wasn’t really interested in relationships because she felt like that was the last thing she should think of, knowing her situation. She did hear whispers from people on how she looked she didn’t really care, as long as she wore clean clothes and maintained a good personal hygiene, she was good to go. she just happened to be unlucky, and what he said really riled her up.

“that’s because I’m coming back from work!” she said through gritted teeth. “I’m attractive”

“I like my women sexy, brown”

“I had a bad day at work, sir!” her teeth still gritted.

“right, but I’m really not interested in girls like you” he said and turned to his car. “Have a good night rest Lily Lai” he said and entered his car. The chauffeur quickly closed the door and entered the car too, leaving her upset and bewildered.

Lily was furious, yet she didn’t understand why she was furious. She has worked so many jobs in the past few years whereby some people had insulted her for her looks, the way she dressed and has being insulted because of her financial status, she got used to it because if she talked back to her customers, she’d get fired, hence she got used to it. she had received so many degrading insults from her parents, so what her customers said to her didn’t hit her at all. Yet, the cold and arrogant man had aggravated her by his condescending remarks. Her heart was still pounding even after he was long gone, and her fists held her trousers so tight that her knuckles turned white, she continued biting her inner cheeks. What was happening?

But even with all that anger, she still couldn’t wrap her head around the fact that she asked a guy out. something that she would never advice any girl to do. It might sound old fashion but she believed a guy should be the one to ask a girl out, not the other way around. So what propelled her to do so? was it the mystery that surrounded him? the way he talked? The way he walked? The ice in his voice? Or the familiar gaze in his eyes?

She used her hand to push her hair back, and she shook her head to clear her mind. As she was about to leave she stepped on something. She looked down at what she stepped on and figured it was a card… a business card. She took it and blew the dust off from it and she saw a familiar name written on it.

“Fernandez” she whispered trying to grasp where she heard that name. “Fernandez” she said out loudly this time, realizing it was the cold man she talked to a while ago. She quickly kept it in her bag and started walking home.