Chapter 224.

Chapter 224. Valentine’s Day: Evening. (3/3)

About five minutes after she got on her bus, another bus came to a stop in front of me. There were multiple busses that passed by here that went to the university. This one was one of them so I got on it.

After a thirty-minute bus ride, I arrived at the university.

There were still thirty minutes until our appointed meeting. I decided to loiter about to pass the time before I went to the university center. 

Before I did anything else, I entered a washroom and thoroughly washed off that goth girl’s lipstick from my cheek to leave no trace of it behind. After that, I headed over to the museum area. It should be locked up by now, but there were some seats upstairs on the second floor outside of it I could use.

When I passed by the entrance of the museum on the bottom floor I couldn’t help but notice two legs sticking out from around the corner of the couch. 

Huh? Was it actually open? That shouldn’t be possible… Did someone fall asleep inside and the person responsible for locking up didn't notice them? Were they locked in until tomorrow morning? It happened to me a few times in the past, I fell asleep and forgot to set my alarm sometimes back when I was enrolled here.

I decided to check if it was unlocked. The doors were always open during the day, but right now they were closed so it was natural to assume they were locked.

I pulled on the door and my eyes opened up a bit when it really opened.

What a surprise.

How careless.

When I stepped inside, my plan was to relax on the couch for a bit while I passed the time. It was much more comfortable than the hard metal seats on the second floor. If I could use the couch in here, I naturally would.

I came to a halt as I approached closer to the far side of the couch. The reason I froze up was because of the song I heard playing.

“Haaaaaaah.” I let out a short sigh when the song gave away the identity of the person inside here with me. She always listened to it ever since the day we listened to it together.

Angela.

Why was she here at this hour? Had she been waiting here hoping I’d show up?

Did she keep coming here even though I hadn’t been here for a week now? I guess it was a bit mean of me not to tell her though. She probably thinks I’m avoiding her, not that I wasn’t.

She’s just too eye-catching. The sanctity of this place would be ruined if she kept coming here and people caught on. That was one of the reasons I had to stop coming here, so she would stop as well. If more and more people frequented this place to see her, this holy sanctuary would no longer be a sanctuary I could escape to when I wanted my alone time.

I had to get her to stop coming here if she was visiting frequently during the week.

I stepped around the corner and took a good look at her.

Her eyes were shut, she was sleeping peacefully. She was curled up a bit on her side. By her waist on the couch, I noticed a small box. Chocolate?

Did someone give it to her? Who?

I squatted down and carefully retrieved it. When I examined the box, I discovered my name was written on the bottom.

For me?

This venomous narcissistic celebrity actually thought to give me Valentine’s Day chocolates? What the hell? Are they poisoned?

I opened the box and scrutinized one closely. There was no way to tell. But… they smelled really good. What the hell? Celebrities have access to such good chocolate?

What would it taste like when it’s this fragrant?

Honestly, I was hungry after such an exhausting day. All I had to eat today was the chocolate from Rosa and Wisteria.

Just one… wouldn’t hurt. Probably.

I tossed one of the chocolate truffles into my mouth and it dissolved like water.

Holy hell.

What is this?

It’s like I can drink it.

I tossed another in and it was the same experience.

Damn, this is seriously too good. The rich creamy chocolate was delectable.

Before I realized it, I’d finished them all.

Hmmm… do I wake her up to explain things? I don’t have long to stick around though. I feel bad that she’s waited all this time for me here though. If I never knew about it, I wouldn’t have cared much; but now that I knew, I had a guilty conscience.

I said I was fine with us meeting here before as well, but so soon after, I stopped showing up here since the transfer student concern I had was resolved.

I’d really like for this day to be over already and I’m sure if I wake her up now, my day would just drag on forever.

After a bit of internal deliberation, I took the lid of the box and wrote out a note on the inside with the pen I got from the store earlier.

‘Sorry for not showing up here this last week. Some things have come up lately that have kept me busy. I won’t be able to come here during the week for some time. However, I’ll still come here on Saturdays and Sundays in the future. Sorry for not letting you know.’

‘P.S. I was shocked by how good the chocolates were and ate them out before I even realized it. Try this chocolate fudge out, it’s really good too.’

I retrieved one of the bags of fudge from the bag in my hand and put it down on top of the box.

It was supposed to be mine, but since I got something just as good as it, I didn’t feel like I’d lost anything in the exchange. Hell, hers probably cost way more. That chocolate melted like magic inside my mouth.

I placed the lid down, bottom side up, facing her direction so she’d notice my message to her when she woke up. 

When I was about to walk away, I noticed her phone playing music on the couch.

Would she be satisfied waiting here this entire time for so long if she didn’t even get to see me at all?

I carefully picked it up. Though it was locked, I could still access the camera to take a photo without the need to unlock it. I tapped the camera icon at the bottom of the screen then muted the shutter sound. The music she was listening to wasn’t interrupted either so she didn’t wake up.

I held the camera up and angled it down so the two of us were in frame. I held up my index finger and middle finger behind her head in a V shape. I couldn’t do a peace sign with a straight face, but holding up bunny ears behind someone was within the realm of things I could put up with.

I looked at the picture that came out, face palmed, and grimaced over the gloomy look on my face. As usual, I wasn’t smiling. I never smiled in pictures.

Well, it came out good enough for someone like me I guess. Yeah, I did my best.

I put her phone back down and picked up the lid one more time and wrote one last message down.

‘P.P.S. Check the most recent photo on your phone.’

I put the lid back where it was and exited the museum.

No, the picture bugged me too much, so right before I stepped outside the museum I did a 180 and doubled back and left one final, final message in fine print at the very bottom of the lid.

‘P.P.P.S. Ugh... I did my best, okay? I hate pictures with a passion. I regret my life decisions, please delete it.’

It was too late for me to delete it since I locked the phone already.

Irritated by my impulsive decision to take a picture of myself with her phone, I left for good this time.

I arrived at the university center. By now, fifty minutes had passed since we split up at the mall.

I took a seat out in the open and watched a video on my phone to pass some time.

Twenty minutes later I looked up and saw a certain goth girl enter the building on the level above me near the stairs along the wall. Her head darted about from left to right as she walked down the stairs to the underground level I was on.

Her eyes eventually stopped on me after she surveyed the area. She hopped down the stairs with a spring in her step in a strangely good mood. It seemed she was a bit late because she’d taken the time to clean up her appearance and fix her eyeliner.

“Sorry, I’m a bit late.”

“No problem. Do you have the money?”

“Yeah, yeah. I’ve got it. Of course that would be the first thing you ask about.”

“What else would I ask you about? The weather?”

“Haaaaah. Here.”

She reached into her tube top and pulled out two twenties and a five.

I received the payment and stuffed it inside my pocket while I fished out some change.

“You can keep the change.”

“No, we agreed upon $78.40. That was in the contract, I will not accept anything more than what was agreed upon.”

“Why are you suddenly acting like you’re not a cheapskate?”

“I’m simply keeping up my end of the bargain.”

I already conned you out of $78.40 after all.

She stuck out her hand and I dropped $1.60 on top of her palm while I simultaneously handed over the box with the muscle massager gun.

“Finally! I finally have it!” She was so happy she jumped while holding it up above her head.

“Haha, you look like some sort of hero wielding a holy sword they pulled out of the ground.”

“Yes, now that I’ve acquired this holy sword I can slay the devil.”

She held it out toward me holding both sides of the box mimicking the way one would hold a sword.

“Oh? You want to return it?”

I raised my hand in a motion to take it back.

She jumped away in fright and exclaimed, “Return it? No way, no way! Not after everything I went through to get this. Today has been one hell of an adventure. I can’t wait to get home, jump in my bed, and go to sleep. I’ll give this to the guy I like tomorrow after the school dance. He’ll probably be pretty tired by then and this would be perfect to give him.”

“Oh, that’s great to hear. Good luck with that.”

“Thanks. Oh, right, how am I supposed to contact you if I need your help? You haven’t given me your number or anything.”

“Hmm… I could give you a temporary disposable phone number. But it would be annoying if I lose it and have to keep updating you on the new one. I suppose email will have to do. Here, this one’s one of my spam emails.”

I typed it out on my phone and showed her. She took a picture of it and also added it to her contact list.

“Conversing through email… it feels so outdated. Are you an old man?”

“I am.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised.”

“I should get going. I’ve got to catch a bus, it should get here soon.”

“Okay. See you whenever then. I’ll be walking since my place is only twenty minutes away.”

“Good luck tomorrow.”

“Thanks… for everything.”

“No need to thank me, you sold your soul to the devil. It’s simply an exchange.”

“Devil Imposter, I saved your name as that.”

“Haha…”

The two of us exited the university center and split up for the last time today. She walked home in the direction of her place while I ran off to catch the bus I saw in the distance at the stop.

I breathed out a sigh of relief as I just barely made it in time.

When the bus drove off I passed by the goth girl one last time. She noticed me on the bus as it passed by her and she waved goodbye.