Secretly Waiting

Chapter 1

ANAFE exhaled in front of the mirror and smelled her own breath to check if she was ready to go. She was satisfied with the minty smell of her breath and drew a smiley face in the blurry part of the mirror where her breath has landed.

She wished putting a smile on the face was as easy as drawing it somewhere. Is she happy? She doesn't know. Although she is a bit excited to see the new faces in the campus. It's her first day in college and here she was, frowning at her own reflection, loathing their bland and badly designed uniform.

She is tan skinned and although she doesn't hate it, the brown in her skin is deeper than most of the girls. She is also unfortunately as short, if not shorter, than most girls she knows and the nude color of their uniform and skirt which length has settled two inches below her knees didn't help at all.

But there is no point fuzzing over this now, she thought. She just hopes that this day will at least be interesting. She picked up her bag and started her journey out of the South Woods and into the campus. She loves the sound of her dorm's name—South Woods. It suits its location and gives an interesting sound to a rather ordinary dormitory in the middle of a considerable number of trees, a mini forest in a campus, they would say. It sounds eerie but it's actually not as creepy as it sounds.

"ONCE again, the Masbate State Dance Ambassadors!" The program host, encouraging the audience to give the dancers another round of applause.

It is loud in the auditorium and Anafe is starting to feel uncomfortable. She doesn't understand how these freshmen girls are swooning over those senior dancers whose faces were no better than their dancing.

She intentionally took a seat near the entrance/exit of the auditorium at the end of the row because she knew it would be loud at the front. She was about to stand and head to the bathroom to empty her bladder while the freshmen orientation hasn't formally started yet when a stranger's manly deep voice glued her to her seat.

"Miss, is this seat taken?"

She is not one to swoon over someone but looking at this guy gives her butterflies in her stomach and it's making her jaw drop.

She's pretty sure it's just her bladder complaining to be emptied but this guy right here is definitely hitting her tickle spot. She wished he would, but she's also pretty sure she'd run if he actually did.

Instead of answering his question that she barely heard, she managed to give him a quick scan. His hair is clean cut at two inches long like most of the boys in the room but the fact that his hair is curly didn't go unnoticed. He has a round face, a very proud and pointed nose and thin lips that's shaped perfectly almost like that of a girl's. He is quite thin but tall at 5'8, she thought, and although he has this obviously larger than average pair of ears, it actually doesn't make him look bad. In fact, it makes him look cuter and innocent. He reminds her so much of her favorite Hollywood actor, Asa Butterfield.

With that thought coming to mind, she felt her heart beat a little bit faster. He is wearing a plain white shirt while his upper uniform is hang on his right shoulder. I noticed the folds on his sleeves as if he deliberately did it in purpose like it would miraculously show a body builder's biceps out of those thin arms. I couldn't help but get amused and let out a controlled giggle and smile.

"You okay, miss?

"What?" She remembered putting her right hand on her jaw, her elbow on the arm chair and intentionally blinked three times like the blushing Snow White while imagining for her prince—a wild comparison knowing how brown her skin is.