"You are one funny guy, Jerry," Ariana said as she shook her head.
"Yeah, I've been meaning to ask, why do you call me Jerry?" Jared looked at her.
"That's not your name...?" Ariana grimaced.
"What? No, when did I tell you my name was Jerry?" Jared frowned.
Ariana gritted her teeth as she swore inside her head. This is all Freda's fault!
"No, you didn't, I just named you that because you look like Jerry," Ariana said.
"I look like a mouse?" Jared raised an eyebrow.
"Yes, a really cute and handsome mouse," Ariana let out.
"That's...odd" Jared shook his head.
"I am odd," Ariana said as a matter of fact.
"Speaking of which, why are you dressed like that? You said you were working earlier, but I don't get why. You were also working in the cafe yesterday," Jared muttered.
"Uh..." Ariana contemplated on whether to tell him or not.
"I doubt you are doing it for the money," Jared added.
"It's not for the money, it's because I want to," Ariana let out.
"You want to work? You are the CEO of two perfectly successful companies, why would you want to be doing such lowly jobs?" Jared frowned as he couldn't detect why she would want to do that.
"Listen, I have lived my whole life being helped by servants, guards, and workers who do everything I need in a go. I haven't really had any experience of my own, like dealing with lowlifes just like yesterday or even meeting someone doing drugs and running away from the police. I haven't had any of that and finding out I have just a few months to live, I decided to give myself a chance to live all that I couldn't live and do all that I couldn't do," Ariana mumbled as she looked down.
"Like a bucket list?" Jared asked.
"I call it a to-do before death list, but yeah," she laughed.
"That's...remarkable. It's very beautiful," Jared said after a few thoughts.
"Thank you, and sorry," She murmured.
"Sorry for?" Jared raised an eyebrow.
"For yesterday. I was quite rude to you because that moron mentioned my parents, but I didn't mean to cut you off so brutally," Ariana said.
"Apology accepted," Jared smiled and Ariana turned to face him with a smile of her own.
"Can I get your number?" Jared asked as he brought out his phone from his pocket.
"Okay...I hope this is not a secret plan to rub me off my properties. I haven't still forgotten you're my rival," Ariana joked as she reached out for his phone with skeptical eyes.
"After interacting with you a few times, I have learned to never get on your bad side," Jared said as he placed a hand on his heart.
"Good. I'm glad you noticed that without being told," Ariana chuckled before she handed him his phone back.
"I need to get going. I'm sure the staff must be looking for me," Ariana said as she got up from the bench and Jared followed suit.
"Sure, try to wash off the vomit before you get close to anyone though," he grimaced as he looked down at her stained dress.
"Yeah, I need a thorough shower," Ariana cringed.
"By the way, I'm Jared," he brought his palm out for a handshake.
"Jared Antiano," Ariana took his hand into hers.
"I'm still gonna call you Jerry," Ariana whispered into his ear before she walked off.
"Good night, Jerry!" she yelled as she moved out of the park.
"Good night, Miss Ariana," he muttered with a small smile.
________________
Jared used the towel in his hand to wipe his damp hair as he stepped out of the shower with another towel dangling down his torso.
He was relieved to have been liberated from the crazy date that he had met and her ear-splitting singing.
He made sure to wash his body very clean after the parade of puke she had spilled on his clothes which he didn't even bother to wash and threw away immediately.
A smile stayed on his face as he began to think of the latter part of the night which ended up much better than he had imagined.
He met Ariana Jatropesh, and once again, she surprised him with her out-of-the-ordinary behavior.
He couldn't believe she had thought of jumping down the building in that situation. Who was he going to tell that he had just got out of a hotel from the fifth floor through the window?!
It was outrageous and so ridiculous that the more he thought about it, the more he couldn't stop laughing.
He stepped forward to check himself out in the full-length mirror as he looked closely at his face.
He stared at the chocolate eyes with his high thin nose and thinner lips with his angled jaw.
The more he stared, the more he couldn't get how he looked like the cartoon mouse, Jerry.
Miss Ariana had said he had a resemblance with the mouse, hence, she called him Jerry but he couldn't see it.
Well, at least she thought he was cute and handsome, that bit reassured him.
He took his phone from the nightstand as he opened the new number on his dial, about to call when he thought against it.
It was a bit late and it might be inappropriate to call her by this time.
He dropped his phone as he remembered what she had said the first time they met.
She had a few months to live.
That was something that most people couldn't accept so well but she seemed to be very okay with the fact that she wasn't going to live anymore.
In fact, she was so full of life and energetic that one wouldn't believe it if told she was soon going to die.
Jared took his phone and sent her a goodnight message before he moved to get dressed.
He had had a long night and meeting Ariana was the best part.