Her Safe Haven

Special Chapter I - Gray and Rose

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I realised that the bit on Gray and Rose at the last chapter was confusing for many of you, so with this chapter I present to you their back-story :)

Previously on Her Safe Haven: Gray prepared a surprise birthday gift for Rose at Lakeside Town Park next to the Cove of Two Lovers, and gave her a red heart-shaped necklace. Rose rejected his gift and ran away without explanations.

(Summer, 9 years ago)

She was seven when she first saw him.

They weren't in the same school, no, because there was no way her parents could have afforded a school as expensive as Lakeside Private Primary School. But they were in the same music class nonetheless, in the same State's Centre for the Musically Gifted. She first saw him at their Piano class, and as soon as she saw him, brooding alone on the far corner of the class, she thought that he was absolutely gorgeous.

Needless to say, Rose Millers had fallen for Gray McHalen at first sight.

+++

(Autumn, 8 years ago)

They were eight when she first talked to him.

After admiring him from afar for one entire year, Rose decided that it was time for her to talk to him. It was time for her to actually get to know the boy behind that handsome face.

Hence, when Violin class ended at four p.m. that Wednesday afternoon, Rose stayed behind because she knew Gray always stayed late in his own Theory of Music class until everyone else had left before going home. True enough, she found him alone in his usual corner in the small classroom.

She approached him tentatively, slowly, her hands nervously clutching onto the rim of her shirt.

Gray spotted her when she was right in front of his desk. 'Great, another fangirl,' he had thought, narrowing his eyes as she bit her bottom lip and stuttered, "Uh—Uhm..."

"What?" he snapped, frowning at her for interrupting his quiet time with his music homework.

Taken aback by his curtness and not knowing what to say, she blurted out, "I like you!"

'Uh-oh.'

She gulped when she saw him staring at her dubiously. "What?" Gray was not surprised at the revelation so much as he was surprised by her boldness.

She sighed and took a deep breath, calming her trembles before looking back at him. "I like you," she said again, this time calmer, and surer. "D—Do you maybe want to maybe go—"

"No."

There was no pause before he answered that flatly and packed his bag, and there was no hiding the surprise and disappointment on her face.

"I barely know you. And we're only eight years old. No."

He left the classroom without sparing her another glance.

+++

They still talked afterwards — scratch that, they still saw each other afterwards, but never talked.

He would caught her staring at him in Piano class, the only class they shared together at the music centre, and she would look away immediately every time he caught her. She would give awkward smiles when they passed each other in the hallway, and he would ignore her.

It had become a regular routine for him to ignore her — or other girls, too, in that matter — and it was not for another few months, when his teacher asked him to play the piano accompaniment for her violin exam piece, that he finally had no choice but to stop ignoring her. He was annoyed but decided that it was really not a big deal; the practices were only for one hour per week anyway, and they never really talked during them.