Groom

Chapter 1: Stubbornness

In a senior high school in Tucson, Arizona. 2 days before summer vacation. Year 1989.

The school's hallway is dead silent, only until when the bell rings which all the students hear, indicating that it is time to dismiss.

There goes the students, exiting their classrooms, along with the noise their voices produce.

Among the students walking by, there is the pale Samantha.

Although she is extroverted and loves socializing with other people, she is completely quiet while heading towards the school exit, simply because she is not feeling well today, therefore desperate to go home.

Due to her clumsiness and carelessness, she accidentally stumbles upon a dude which made his foods and drinks fall down on the floor.

In the feeling of guilt and shock, she apologizes genuinely with uncontrollable stutter.

"Oh... So...sorry! I didn't mean to! Let me just buy you a replacement."

The young man forgives her at once and is staring intensely towards her eyes.

"It's nothing, it's okay! It's just a food though."

In spite of his given reassurance, the stubborn Samantha insists on replacing the wasted food.

"No! I insist, let's go out and let me buy you some food in the nearest food store, please."

She then grabs his hand and goes to the said nearest food store with him.

Upon entering the store, she opens the door for him to get inside.

Due to her authentic kindness and politeness, he is surprised with astonishment as a lady opening a door for a guy is undoubtedly a very unusual etiquette since it is typically the opposite.

"Woahhhh..... you don't have to do that, I could do that myself."

"It's fine, now get in."

He just goes inside the store, though he feels a little bit embarrassed as he is not accustomed to being shown kindness and does not know how to react to such.

After numerous seconds of strolling, she finally finds the exact same kind of snacks and drinks she had dropped earlier.

Subsequently, she is about to go to the cashier to pay for it, however, the stubborn guy stops her from doing so.

"Stop.........I'll pay for it. It's embarrassing! I can't just make a stranger pay something for me. What happened earlier was just an accident and it's okay!"

Although he has already stated his opposition, she still keeps her insistence.

"No! I was clearly at fault that time. Stop being obstinate and just let me pay for it."

She then goes to the cashier and pays for the products with her own money despite its expensiveness. But in fact, her family is a wealthy middle-class so paying expensive items is definitely just a small thing.

After a while, they then exit the food store and she gives the products to him.

"Here you go, have fun eating."

He takes the bag of foods and drinks and he again says some stubborn things.

"You really paid for 21 dollars, really? You shouldn't have done that....."

Because of the fact that he still opposes, she becomes annoyed for a little bit.

"Here we go again, stop with those talks and just enjoy your food. Now, goodbye and see you soon."

They then walk on opposite directions to leave but after several seconds, she suddenly goes back and runs towards him to ask him a single question that she forgot to ask earlier.

"Wait, stop!"

"Huh?"

"What's......your name?"

The guy is confused for a little while but he just answers her question.

"Umm... My name is Andrew, okay... How about you?"

"Cool, my name is Samantha, nice to meet you!"

Andrew, who is extremely introverted, leaves the conversation in awkward silence as he doesn't know what to say next.

"...... ...... ...... ....... ...... ...... ........ ....... ....... Ummmm... ummmm...ummm..... okay..... Goodbye... again?"

"Umm, goodbye... too, Andrew, see you soon."

She then walks away to go home. However, Andrew is left outside the food store, walking away slowly while enduring the awkwardness that he had made.