ROSE Where do I begin? “All in all, it was amazing.” I avoided Joy’s gaze. Her brows wrinkled. “So you’re starting with the conclusion. OK, OK, I’m fine with that. Now, tell me the process.” A teasing glint crossed her eyes. “Is Rum as charming as he is on screen?” “Yeess, he is….” I jolted forward with sudden excitement. “He’s sooo handsome. Remember the article on his modelling career?” “The one that says ‘He’s one with the clothes’?” I nodded furiously. “He really is! Oh my God. And he’s a brilliant songwriter! Do you know how smart he is? It’s like he just plucks words out of the air.” My fingers snapped. “Just like that!” “Get out… Are you kidding me? It takes me like literally three fucking hours to write an email just to respond to my head of research.” “I’m not kidding! We were on the way to the recording studio, and then just like that—.” My fingers snapped again. “We got two incredible lines for the bridge of a song.” “That’s insane!” Joy brightened in di

ROSE Those striking brows raised high in surprise. Then, Rum’s sexy lips formed a secretive smirk. “I see….” His shoulders shook slightly in a silent dry chuckle. “You’re just the same.” I had no idea what he meant. But I took it that he was guessing my intentions wrong. So I replied, “I’m not.” And for the first time, I sounded sure and firm. Rum noticed it too and started observing me with a renewed curiosity as I added, “But I really need you to stop sending me away to clean the building.” His gaze dropped to the white duvet. More amused chuckles slipped out. “Why?” “We have actual cleaners for that,” I stated as a matter of factly. “And if I start doing their job, they’re gonna lose theirs.” He grabbed his head as though he had a bad case of migraine and groaned dismissively, “It’s none of my fucking problem, is it?” I kept my chin high. “They are the ones who’d buy your album.” Those thick brows knitted in slight annoyance. He acknowledges the truth in what I said.

ROSE I ran. Out of the building. Take the left turn. Up the slope. Past the exits that led to the small alleys. Past the convenience shop. And stopped. Right in front of my apartment building—a five storey red-brick block of twenty-five two to three rooms apartment units with an old and vandalised sign board that reads SP_ING TOW_RS. My face felt wet and cold, my eyes swollen, my nose stuffed, my brain congested. Rum’s words were looping at the back of my mind like an endless nightmare. His silky voice echoing like his tuneful singing in his songs, which I repeated on my phone, but the lyrics were snarky and mean—chastising me for being a loser, and his toy. Just as I had allowed Annie to take daddy’s creations, I’ve let Rum walk all over me and call me a toy. I dropped to a pitiful squat on the walkway. Why me? It was just that one time I threw a fit at mum and dad for not buying me the necklace that they had promised as my birthday gift… just once! I paid for it dearly,

ROSE The superstar shot up from his seat, his eyes boiling with rage. “I DID NOT BEG YOU TO STAY.” “Really?” I pretended to clear my ear with my pinky. “Gosh, I swear I heard someone begging for me to stay because he wanted to keep his wolf a secret.” “You little bitch.” He took a step forward, gritting his teeth. “I was right—you’re just the same as all those women who threw themselves at me in exchange for favours.” I was in no mood to explain myself. Frankly, I’m starting to hate him, now that I’ve seen what a person he really is. The Rum that I used to know will forever stay in my heart; this man—or wolf—standing before me will never be half of that kind and peace-loving Rum. PHWOOP!! The monstrous wolf stood before me, glaring and flaring its fangs. It took a step towards me and I crashed to the floor in fright. I opened my mouth to scream out my fears when I recalled Rum’s warning, and both hands bolted up to clamp my mouth. Rum/It lifted his/its right front paw and

ROSE We were in the elevator moving down to the basement parking lot. And the atmosphere is super… awkward. A while ago, Rum was sprawled across the couch, absorbed in his phone, his thumbs attacking the screen like two ninjas when I returned to the living room all freshened up and changed, and ready to set off. I thought it would be rude to assume that he was ready, so I asked if he needed to get changed. It was then he looked up and saw me. At first, he looked like a deer in headlights. Then, he looked as though I had leaked his secret and started berating at me. He first called me a sloth, to which I retorted that I was gone for only twenty minutes, a quarter of the usual bathroom time for all the women he had hooked up with. Then, as he threw me his bag (which I assumed he wanted me to carry for him) he called me a blind bat for failing to see that he had a shower and a change of clothes whilst I slept like a fucking log, to which I argued that a fucking log isn’t a telep