"That's the one?"
"Yeah… Lives alone… Parents left years ago…"
"Damn…"
"Don't look… Something bad might happen to you if you do."
"So it's true then?"
"Yeah… Just do your own thing… Don't say anything. Otherwise you'll regret it."
I ignored the whispers and the gazes of my schoolmates as I walked down the hallway, this was a sight I was already used to seeing so it didn't bother me much.
Every start of the school year when new students would come in, they would all be curious about me and it ends up roughly the same way. The scene where they watch me like I'm some kind of exotic animal on display.
Since the last bell had already rung and I wasn't in any clubs whatsoever, I was already on my way out of the school grounds while this was still going on.
Walking past the students who were obviously keeping out of my way, I made my way back home on foot without minding the stares that I've already grown used to. Even the finger pointing by the crowd was not new.
A few minutes of walking later and I was already pushing open the door to my home.
"I'm home…"
Not like I would get a response from an empty house anyway…
I was already living on my own from a really young age.
Father had a gambling addiction and blew all of our savings on it. Mother decided that she couldn't stand it anymore and fled after finding another man.
Then Father decided that trying to live a debt-ridden life was too much for him so he simply just up and left one night without another word, handing over his debt to me.
At least he was too spineless to even consider taking out his frustrations on me so that's good I guess.
Normally I would be shoved to my relatives but after what my parents did, no one wanted to associate themselves with me. Mother was labelled as a gold-digger and Father was the spineless coward, thus by extension, the child must not be any better.
Yes, I was judged before they even got to know me.
Which actually suited me just fine because…
I closed the door behind me and sucked in a breath, "Hell yeah! Independent living! What should I eat today?! Oh! The groceries I ordered are already delivered! Guess I'll make fried rice today then!"
I hummed a tune as I put my school stuff away before arranging the groceries into the kitchen, leaving out the ingredients for my planned dinner.
Heh, heh! Gonna have some dessert later too! I had been saving a really nice vanilla strawberry cake I bought yesterday too because no one's here to stop me! Living alone is the best!
Yep, life was pretty crappy after I literally got dumped by both my parents, but at least they did leave me with one very important thing! A rather beaten down but still usable computer with access to the internet!
I've always been an avid fan of books at that time and when they left, I was so frustrated with my situation that I just went ahead to vent about my situation on an online book forum.
Somehow, my writing got mistaken as the premise of a novel and I had fans clamouring me for updates.
At first, young me thought they were mocking me so I got a little angry and went ahead to write more about what I was going through as an outlet. Sure, there were a few embellishments here and there, but hey, I was young and impressionable!
I strung them along with this incredible tale and even more people got more invested in my writing.
Then, as I went on, I finally realised what was going on and found my calling in writing novels.
From that day onwards, I wrote like I was possessed, penning down anything I could think of and weaving my ideas into a story that I could use to captivate my audience.
I would go so far as to try and experience as many interesting things as possible just so that they could serve as my writing materials. Be it climbing mountains, camping in the wilderness, learning every kind of skill I could and even travelling to remote places in the name of gathering research materials!
I may or may not have almost lost my life once or twice in doing such research but hey, the books I wrote from that all ended up being top sellers! You think you can become a good writer just by cooping yourself at home?! Don't underestimate a professional!!
And through that… Well… I not only managed to pay off that deadbeat father's debt, but I'm basically making more than enough on my writing to live comfortably. So much so that I moved out of that old dingy room my 'parents' were stuck with and into this detached house in this nice neighbourhood.
Jumping through the legal hoops was honestly a pain, who knew a fourteen year old trying to buy real estate was this hard? But well, it was nothing money couldn't solve in the end.
I still go to school of course, since I realised there was no such thing as too much knowledge when it came to life. I wanted to experience as much as I could outside just so that I could make my own writing much more interesting than the previous one.
Sure, the first year of highschool was pretty annoying since I get idiots who think that I was some kind of sad and pathetic human being for having no parents. Then there were those who thought they could get their own amusement through the suffering of others and made me their target since I looked weak.
Those idiots learned how quickly one's social life can be destroyed when I had the attention of several hundred million followers, not to mention the fact that I learnt how to physically hurt someone too. I did not write that BDSM novella without research you know?
Don't ask how.
Still, they should at least thank me for being immortalised as one of the most 'interesting' characters in that story.
That event did earn me quite a bit of infamy and most people stayed away from me after that, which was something I had no problems with.
Part of the reason was also because of the fanclub that formed later on, mostly consisting of my fans who sought to prevent more arrogant idiots from disturbing me again.
I honestly don't really need that protection but whatever, my writing was more important to me than anything else.
Still, it feels kind of weird that now I'm some kind of small celebrity within my school where my peers are both in fear and awe at me.
Which leads me back to today.
After a sumptuous dinner, I took a nice long bath before taking out that slice of cake I had been saving and sat down outside on my balcony.
Ah… Peace and quiet.
I'll need to get started on my homework soon but most of the teachers give me a pass since they knew I was mostly doing the school thing for fun and to find more research material. It's not like I'm a nuisance or disruptive in classes anyway and I wasn't depending on my studies to get further in life.
I looked up at the night sky, smiling as I brought the cake into my mouth.
Sweeeeet~ The blend of vanilla and strawberry just explodes in my mouth!
I smiled to myself while leaning back on my chair. Everything was perfect and there was nothing else I could ask for.
Hmmm?
That star… Is glowing brighter than the other stars… Like significantly brighter…
Is it just my imagination… Or is that star getting bigger and bigger?
Wait a minute, that's not a star?! Something's falling towards us! It's definitely falling towards us! What the hell is that thing?!
Eh? Is that… Is that… IS THAT A GIANT TRUCK?!!
That was the only thought I remembered before the giant truck crashed right on top of me and my vision went black.
The next moment I knew, I was in an empty room sitting on a couch.
I panicked, looking around all over hoping against all hope that it was not true, tears already starting to stream past my cheek.
A figure appeared in front of me as I was still looking, not even noticing my current state of duress.
"Greetings. Unfortunately, I do not have goo-- What are you doing?" The figure asked.
I sniffed, finally accepting the undeniable fact, "My… My cake… It's gone… I didn't even get to finish it…"
The figure blinked at me for a bit before snapping his fingers, causing my cake to appear in my hand.
I knew it was my cake because it even had that little bit that I had cut off for the first bite.
Immediately, I started digging in, moaning in delight as I tasted its sweetness once more.
That was when I finally took notice of the person in front of me.
He was definitely male, as evident by the fact that he was bare chested to reveal his muscular form, wearing only a pair of pants that ended at his ankles. Might have thought he was human with that except said ankles were not human ankles but cloven hooves.
His face was also one that people might call handsome but in the roguish way with his long hair cascading past his shoulders, hiding the roots of the antler horns that sprouted from the top of his head.
I gasped, "Are you… Not cold? Dressed like that?"
He blinked a few times at me before suddenly breaking out into laughter, "Ahahaha! You certainly are unique! First, the cake! Not even going to ask any question about your current predicament! But cake! And the next question is this? Ahahaha!"
What's wrong with this guy? It's cake! Cake! It's not even a cake that was a lie but an actual one! A Real cake!
How rude!
Ah… Wait a minute… Where am I again?