Someone Called Crush [C]

Part Two: Ryder's POV

The moment she introduced herself in front of the class, I felt strange, as if a red string of fate are connecting us. Because that morning, I had a conversation with my mom. She was nagging and told me how much she longed to have a daughter but got three sons instead, which all of them didn't know how to do a house chores. She thinks it will be different if we're a girl.

I was having a breakfast with forced a smile as I listened to her. She has talked about this for god knows how many times already. It could be my fault for rarely helping her with the house chores or her faults for not accepting the fate of having only sons. Or maybe both.

I thought maybe I should ease her mood a little so I asked. "So, what would you name your daughter if you ever have one?"

"Oh, I've thought about this for a long time! If I have a daughter, I would name her Nina."

"Why?"

"Just because. Isn't the name pretty? It's also very light to say. I hope my daughter can be like that. Light and cheerful."

But the Nina in front of me at that time didn't look light and cheerful at all. She looked like a shy nerd. Except for the first day where the girls complimented that she looks pretty, she put on a poker face for the rest of the week— even after that— building up an invisible barrier around her. Maybe that's why I didn't take a chance to talk to her, even after getting surprised that her exam scores rivaled mine.

Then we had a COVID. Our education became based on the Google meet and online classes but she never showed up. However, she did the quizzes and homeworks, which is odd to me. But I never thought much. The thought of her never crossed my mind again until we came back to school.

In class, the desk were separated like when we're having an exam. My seat was far from hers, but the only thing I noticed about her at that time is that, she was still in her nerd appearance with her poker face. Then one of my classmates suddenly came to her and said something, making her laugh.

Almost everyone turned to her with a stunned look, including me. We hardly ever saw her smile let alone her laugh. You can imagine our shocked we felt as we watched her lips parted and let out a beautiful, melodious sound. The guy who made her laugh earlier turned to his friend with a proud face.

"Look, I made her laugh."

She looked at him with a frown, looking confused by his reaction. Looks like she's oblivious to what the rest of the class thought of her.

Later that evening, I went to a mall with my mom. She wanted to buy a new novel when she already bought ten novels last week. There's no way she could have finished those in a week. I tried to talk to her about not buying it when she already had plenty but then she said something about collecting them to read it at the right mood and the right time. Is she collecting wine or books, actually?

Aside from the book related to study or school, I rarely bought them. If I have a free time, I would rather watch film or K-drama rather than reading any more books. But, even so, I still like being surrounded by books. There's just something about the smell of them.

A book suddenly fell under my feet. I bent down to pick it up. Another hand also reached out to the book, making my hand froze and I raised my head to look at the owner of the hand. This time, my whole body frozen as I stared at the long hair girl. My brain trying to process where I have met her before because she looks oddly familiar to me.

"What? Do you want this book?" She asked as she held up the book to my face. I didn't realize that I have been staring at her for a bit too long.

"Uh.. No. Thank you," I managed to answer as I stood up by myself.

"Okay then." She just casually nodded before turning back to the bookshelf in front of her. She kept the book that fell earlier in her hand while her other hand search for more books.

For a moment, I took in her appearance. She looks to be around my age. Unlike most of the girls around my age, she's wearing a light makeup. She has a white t-shirt tucked-in in her jeans. Then she wore a dark blue jacket with a golden zipper which she left it unzip. She wore a pair of high heels and her black handbag looks expensive. For a second, she looks like a model and I wondered if I was mistaken for thinking I have met her before.

My confusion didn't last long because the next day, I found Nina sitting in her seat with a book that I picked up the other day. As I stared at her, the image of the girl yesterday started to blend together with hers. I couldn't be mistaken. They are definitely the same person.

At the new discovery, I felt surprised as well as mused. The way she looked yesterday and the way she usually looked at school were totally different. At school, she was so quiet and couple with her nerd appearance, she looked unattractive; is what my friends have told me, but yesterday will shock most of my classmates for sure.

Maybe that's the reason why I began to approach her when the teacher didn't show up. She was writing something on her notebook and I'm sure it was nothing related to study since she has a novel wide opened beside her. One of the girls has told me that she likes to write a novel and she has read it, saying she loves it so much. So I figured that she's writing her own novel.

"You write a novel?" I asked, trying to sound casual.

"Kind of. I just write a plot of my novel," her tone sounded cold. She was not even bothering to look at me. It seemed rude but somehow, I felt thankful that she didn't look at me strangely for suddenly talking to her like this.

"Do you write poem?" I asked again. Since she likes to write so much, I want to know if she likes to write other things.

"No. But I would like to try."

"If you write any, then show it to me. I love to read them but don't know how to write them," the sentences suddenly got out of my mouth and I regretted what I said.

Why are you suddenly asking her like you guys are closed friend? You idiot.

I cursed in my head. She must thought I'm a weirdo at that time and I had the urge to turn around and bury myself in my hands. She finally lifted her head and looked at me, her eyebrows raised.

"Okay then." She just agreed as if it's normal. She didn't let out any sarcasm like I thought she would. It gave me the courage to approach her again after that.

Then she taught me about her alien language which is weird because other people would keep it a secret but she gladly taught me all of it. During the whole talked, it made me realized something. She's not cold or antisocial as I always made it out to be. She may seems cold but once you approached her and broke the barrier, it's actually very easy to make her smile or laugh. Which is amusing to me.

That night, she sent me the first poem. I didn't expect much when she agreed to show it to me but damn. It's beautiful. It's too beautiful and I kept reading it over and over again. It has a really deep meaning to it that can relate to a lot of people, which is I like. A lot. I gave her my honest thought about the poem.

And that's how I first met her and how I approached her. I don't know what her impression of me when she first met me but the first time I met her was very special to me.