Alex gets up looks at Shelly. "Thanks Shelly."
Shelly smiles widely, exposing her teeth in response which is unlike her usual gentle smile but it shows her happiness. "Chairman Alex, don't you think that I deserve a pay raise?" She questions.
"You suggested me to build an orphanage, we need a lot of money for that. I think I will cut your bonus to gather more money." Alex cracks a light hearted joke and smiles awkwardly.
"Y-you evil capitalist." Shelly makes a exaggerated shocked face.
'Finally we have a causal talk. I will not allow him to have that lifeless eyes anymore.' Shelly also started cracking jokes and followed them with her usual barrage of trivial things.
Alex knows that he should interact with others more so he tries to joke. Until now most of his non-business related conversations are perfunctory or just words of courtesy. Now he is trying to engage in actual common talk so he is somewhat awkward but his good looks and quick wit manages to cover that.
"Shall we have lunch? It's my treat?" Alex asks Shelly. Alex is not comfortable with eating outside but suggests this anyway. Shelly is silent so he thinks that she is euphemistically rejecting him so he says "It seems that you have something to do so let's go sometime later."
"Huh-what do you mean? I was thinking of which restaurant we should to to." Shelly answers and they quickly decide on a restaurant and drive there separately in their cars.
Inside Shelly's car....
Shelly is currently grinning like an idiot looking at Alex's photo.
Alex invited ME for lunch. Yay. She swings and hums a little. This is the happiest day in my life.
After lunch we will go to the movie, then walk around, then we will have dinner and then he will get me drunk and then.....she blushes furiously and the redness covers her ears and reaches out to her neck.
Aaah....Alex is such a playboy. She is smiling stupidly.
Alex will not do such a thing. Her reason tells her.
But I didn't wear my s*exist underwear. What if he doesn't like me for that. Her infatuated self returns.
No, I should not waste time like this. I should go, that way I can spend more time with Alex. She thinks.
She starts the car and follows Alex's car.
Finally he chose to move on. Shelly thinks to herself. These two years have been torturous for her. She loved Alex from when she was in high school.
He was already in second year when she joined the school. On a rainy day, Shelly forgot her umbrella and she was alone in her class waiting for rain to stop. She gets bored and walks around the building and she spots a boy wearing slightly faded uniform sitting behind a desk in one of the classrooms. He was immersed in his books and did not notice her. She stares that handsome boy who is in second hand uniform. His books are not in good condition as well. Maybe they were second handed too. The petrichor lingers in the air. (Petrichor is the unique earthly smell associated with rain. Yes I googled it.)
His brows furrow. Maybe he noticed that someone was staring him. He looks at Shelly a bit confused as he didn't recognise her. Shelly realises that she had been staring rudely at him. She stutters a bit and speaks"A-ahem, th-this I forgot my umbrella so I was walking around the school. I didn't mean to disturb you." His brows relax and he nods in understanding. He reaches out to his umbrella and hand it to her. "I can lend this to you but you need to write an IOU first." He says.
She was speechless. 'Who would write an IOU for an umbrella?' she thought. And I didn't look at you for a umbrella. But if I refuse to borrow his umbrella he might think that I didn't borrow his umbrella because I don't want to write an IOU which will make me look suspicious. "Okay" she says and writes an IOU. "I will return your umbrella tomorrow after school in this class." Shelly took the umbrella and went home.
Next day she went to school with two umbrellas. She kept think of they boy during the day and didn't pay any attention to the classes. 'Will he come today?'
'What if he is absent?'
'What should I do if he is absent?'
'Should I leave the umbrella on his desk or return it tomorrow?'
Her mind kept wandering and she was looking forward to meeting him again.She went to his class after school hour and there he was. He was sitting in his chair and looking at his book. She didn't go over but first looked at her pocket mirror and looked at her face to see if there was anything wrong. She tidied her hair and smoothed her clothes. She went to the boy and gave him the umbrella. "Thank you."
"Oh." Just an 'oh'? Can't you say something more? Shelly mumbles inwardly. The atmosphere was awkward so she leaves.
She inquires and finds out some information about him in few days because she can't help but think of him everyday. She heard that he is a orphan who got scholarship. He doesn't have any friends because he is always studying in school and is the first ranker in his cohort. He seems to be working part time to pay for his other expenses. School rules prohibit students from working part-time but everyone closes one eye in his case. He is an orphan, so anyone who reports him would be viewed as a villain or atleast a bully.
Few teachers know about him but they ignore it too because they don't see any reason to stop him from working. The rule was made so that students put their efforts in studies for them to get good results in the nation wide exams. Alex is always gets good marks and the school put hopes on him to secure a top ranking. Plus he is well mannered, a teacher's ideal student, so why would they make it difficult for him. School will also not take any action if they find out about it. They will at most give a warning.
Hearing about Alex's situation gave Shelly a idea.