| COMPLETED | EXO / HZT | CHICKLIT | Desiree had gotten tired of all the dates, no, the guys, her mother wanted her to meet and find someone before 'it's a little late to start' which made her, kind of, ran away from home. She wanted peace and for h...
Note: Hi! This would be the second to the last sample chapter that I could post here. Again, I want to say thank you to everybody that read and voted this story. August 13 would be the deadline (of the Contemporary Romance Contest in Sofanovel) and if you have time, please do try and check it out. ♥
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Desiree woke up with the same heavy pouring sounds and dark skies. 'Am I an idiot for not considering the weather when I planned this vacation?' she asked herself aloud, surely disappointed in how gloomy and sad her view was.
'This would be best partnered with fluffy blankets, movie marathons, and a stacked pile of junk food,' she imagined then sighed in defeat but tried to boost her mood by reminding that she still got her books with her. Though those poundings on her head were an obstacle, on the bright side, she was feeling better than earlier.
She was about to get up but heard footsteps then panicked so she closed her eyes and pretended to sleep. Thinking how stupid that was, she was now bound to hold the act as it would be embarrassing to say, 'Ta-da! I'm awake.'
Lucio snorted, he heard her talking from the other side of the door, 'How long do you plan to sleep?'
He drew nearer and from the sheets, Desiree felt his warm hand on her forehead then changed the towel to a colder one. 'Thanks,' she said.
'Can you see how childish you were when you faked sleeping?' he started chuckling while saying that.
She slowly pulled the covers down and gave him a toothy, awkward smile. He shrugged and pointed at the bowl full of ice as if signaling her to do the rest and she mouthed another 'thanks'. He went out and she started wiping herself down.
After a few minutes, enough for her to change clothes, Lucio knocked at her door. She opened it and asked him if he needed anything. He showed the bowl of egg porridge on his hand, 'Eat. You're fine now, right? Or,' he paused then smirked, just to tease her, 'do you want me to feed you?'
She blushed from the thought, 'No!'
'Are you sure? I should be relaxing but I could do that for you as an extra service,' he continued. She was happy when she saw the bowl earlier but became wary to accept even though she was internally drooling. He saw her uneasiness and decided to drop it before it would get more awkward, 'Eat up and take the paracetamol after.'
She eyed him, waiting if he would blurt more strange remarks. He didn't. He looked away, she noted that he didn't roll his eyes, just swiftly moved his gaze away that somehow made her heart flutter as for a millisecond he looked cool. She cleared her throat at the thought.
'Get in bed and eat up,' he firmly said, 'You shouldn't be walking around yet. I kept on repeating myself. When will you listen?'
Those words didn't help as she felt blood rushing to her face, 'If he will point out my blushing face, I would blame my fever,' she worked out an excuse while making her way back to her bed. She sat on the corner, near the round bedside table, where he put the bowl for her to eat.
'Why?' he asked, which made her confused. Were they talking about something? Unknown to her, Lucio was just teasing her again by telling her, 'Why are you staring at me like that?' when he wasn't sure if she was doing it.
Her response caught him off guard, 'It's nice just you're being nice to me.'
It meant that she was looking at him. He tried to hide it by laughing, 'I'm doing this because I'm nice and you need some help from a handsome guy.'
'That made a whole 360 of him,' she thought. Lucio's laugh made him look like a mischievous kid. 'You should smile more,' she accidentally said out loud that surprised the both of them so she immediately added, 'Maybe if you smile more, and less bragging, you would be the handsome guy that you want to be.'
He didn't want to lose, he wanted to catch her offhand so he leaned towards, just an inch away from her face then said, 'Can you say that again?'
She pushed him away, a bit too strong that moved him from where he was standing. 'Sorry,' she said. He raised his eyebrows, shrugged, and left her but he was just hiding the satisfaction from her reaction.
She didn't know that, though, so she continued reasoning with herself that it was not her fault, he was the weird one and her initial response was normal.
She tried to calm down and sleep once more but every time she closed her eyes, that exact moment where his face was just a flick away from hers played in a loop. She gave up when her stomach told her that she was hungry. Her wristwatch lying by the table flashed a quarter past eleven.
'Chocolates. I need chocolates,' she declared. She hurriedly finger-combed her hair and straightened her light brown loose shirt before going downstairs.
This house got two double rooms on the upper floor, bathroom on each, with a balcony overlooking the whole city in an eighteen percent slope. The living and dining were in an open concept but the door acted as a visual divider while the master's bedroom could be found at the rightmost corner. It was across from the 'dirty kitchen' and the micro bathroom combo space and, on that side, the stairway served as a partition. Going downstairs would be like announcing to everybody that you were doing so, so she had to fix herself a bit - partly because she didn't want to be called unattractive again.
'See, how other people's words easily affect someone else's view of themselves?' she invisibly scolded him then continued, 'Famous people are really amazing.'
As soon as she set foot on the sixth step, he sensed her, because she was not even being discreet. He watched her from his peripheral vision and saw that she opened a box of chocolate, popped one, then smiled.
'Look at this brat, when I told her to rest,' he muttered.
Right after drinking a cup of water, she made her way upstairs. He decided to copy her and pretend to sleep as he waited for her to be completely out of sight. He waited for a minute, trying hard to listen to the footsteps and when he was about to check, he felt someone beside him.
Desiree didn't see him on the sofa until she was going back up. His hands were clasped together and a book on his chest. Sure, his eyes were shut but she didn't know if he was sleeping. She was on her toes, checking, then tiptoed closer to remove the book.
That was the plan but she found herself staring at how small his face was and how his legs were dangling on the side of the sofa. She unconsciously compared it to hers that made her say, 'What a cute little face and sleek height.'
She was also impressed with how small and thin his lips were, unlike hers, which were round and thick. Without her realizing it, she started tracing his jet black hair while thinking about how he maintains it.
Lucio was having a hard time keeping his poker face up, so he faked a cough and faced the other way. He then heard sounds as if someone was squirming away, running for their lives.
Desiree made a record on how fast she was able to go upstairs. She started to monologue, trying to support her actions, 'He was being weird earlier so I got curious about him. I do think that he looks nice, maybe I can tell my mom to pair me up with guys at par. In terms of looks, looks alone.'
She tried to catch her breath while easing her heart down, 'Chocolates, you didn't help. I got another embarrassing scene added. What am I, a kid having her first crush?'
