Nirvana | j.hs

Chapter 2 : Number

"Stop following me," Hope hissed. The stranger is trailing behind her and she doesn't want this guy to know where she lives so she has to walk to the destination of nowhere. "I swear, I'm going to call the cops," she warned.

"Seriously, you've said that a thousand times already and guess what..." she felt him moving closer, his lips almost touching her ear and she flinched. "... you haven't," he whispered and it angered her so much.

Instinctively, she turned around and kicked him until he laid flat on the stone-hard ground. Not only did she did that, but also pressed her right knee in front of his chest and grabbed his collar.

Instead of crying in pain, the guy laughed with teary eyes. Now, Hope is even more frustrated with this man. "Are you nuts?" she pressed her knee harder and finally, the man roared in agony.

"Stop, stop, I'll stop!" he pleaded. Huffing, Hope stood up and fixed herself by dusting off the dirt from her clothes.

Without a word, she walked away with a satisfied look on her face. But then, just like a pest, she heard the same sound of footsteps following behind her. Rolling her eyes, Hope scared him by spinning paired with a high kick. Just like what she expected, the man fell on his bottoms and groaned.

"The fuck is your problem?" he cussed.

"What? I didn't even hit you," Hope provoked, feigning innocence. "Now, stop following me," she said with a blank face.

"Oh, baby. I'll follow you till the ends of the Earth," if it weren't for the guy's pretty smile, Hope must've backed away out of fear.

"Okay, that was creepy, bye."

More determined this time, she walked faster and realized that she is far from home. She has utterly forgotten that she was leading the man astray from her residence. When silence surrounded her, she let out a deep breath.

Asshole. She muttered in her head as she remembered the guy earlier. Looking around, she saw no one and she was already too far from where he left the man earlier. Finally, she took the right path back to their house and stopped by the same convenience store to grab a tub of her favorite mint chocolate-flavored ice cream.

"That would be $5.49, Ma'am," the same lady a week ago said. With a smile, Hope fished her wallet inside her pocket but she felt that it was empty. She checked other places where she might've placed it but not even a shadow of her purse was seen.

"Looking for this?"

That voice. Tightly, Hope closed her eyes and faced the person with a forced smile. "Thank you for returning my wallet to me," she jumped and initially planned to snatch her purse back but the asshole lifted his hand higher. "Stop fooling around," she whisper-yelled.

"Not until you give me what I want," he wickedly smiled back.

"I can practically sue you for stealing it," she gritted her teeth in madness. Perhaps, going out at night was a bad idea.

For now.

Just until this asshole leaves town.

"Is that another empty threat I hear?" he smirked.

"Watch m—"

"You two, again!" the cashier called both of your attention. "Miss, are you still going to buy this?"

"Sorry, yes, I will. Just a second," after talking to the lady, she turned back to the guy and sighed. "Fine, give me your phone," she gave up.

An evil smile grew on the stranger's lips as she dialed her number on his phone. "There, now, leave me be," she shoved the phone on his chest. On the other hand, he gently passed his wallet to her, then he fished for money and paid on the counter.

"I'll call you!" he said.

"I won't answer!" she yelled back. Grabbing the paid tub of ice cream, she faked a grin at the lady and walked out of the store. Looking around, the man is now nowhere to be found.

Good. She thought.

Getting her wallet, she checked if ever the man stole anything but he didn't in fact, Hope realized that the stranger just treated her an ice cream. He paid for it with his money. But then, there's a small note inside.

Have a good night
                   - Hoseok

"Hoseok? What a strange name," she snickered and finally headed home in peace.

=====

"Honey."

Hope groaned. One disadvantage of sleeping in the morning is the distraction. Everyone else is awake and noise is inevitable. She heard the sound of her door creaking and she growled silently even more. She must've forgotten to lock her door last night. Unless her mother used a key to enter.

"Hope, we need to talk," her voice was serious.

"Mom, can't you see? I'm still sleeping," she whined before snicking under her sheets.

"An unknown number called my phone this morning and he was looking for you."

Like a struck of lightning, Hope opened her eyes and sit up on her bed. "What did he say?" she breathed nervously and her mom picked it.

Damn it, he really called.

"Are you doing something you're not supposed to?" her mother accused and raised an eyebrow at her.

"What?! No...uhm, that was just, uhm... a friend. Yes, a friend!" she lied.  She thought it'll get her out of her mother's uncanny assumptions but it only gets worse.

"Are you going out at night again?" her mom asked disappointedly. Hope tried avoiding her mother's eyes but she couldn't bear lying to her, again. Besides, she's already caught.

"Sometimes," she looked down and grimaced at herself.

Her mother sighed, "Tell me you still have it?"

"My pepper spray? Yeah, I still bring it with me, don't worry," Hope felt at ease.

"I'm referring to your jujitsu skills."

"Yeah, of course, geez," Hope rolled her eyes. "What made you think I'll forget those? Mom, I studied jujitsu for years. I got a brown belt, even though that's average," she shrugged off the last part of her sentence. "I'm good Mom. I'm still in one piece," Hope opened her arm widely.

"Fine, but I'm inviting that friend of yours tonight at dinner, I have to meet him."

Hope felt like a bomb was thrown at her after hearing those words from her mother. "Mom! I take it back. I lied, he's not a friend. He's just a stranger," she jumped out of her bed and convinced her mother not to continue with that idea of hers. "He's a drunkard, he stole my wallet..."

"I already invited him," her mother gasped playfully and then winked at her.