Three weeks later since that incident, Dia was in the middle icing vanilla and chocolate cupcakes when she randomly thought of the stranger she encounter those many nights ago.
'I hope he's doing okay,' Pieces of what happened that not were a little fuzzy, but Dia knew for sure that the ambulance finally showed up and hauled him away before she made her way home.
Speaking of home, since that night, Dia dreams seem to have gotten worse. Waking up each morning drenched in sweat, but everytime she opened her eyes. The details of her dream would be lost to her.
All that remained was the lingering sense of cold fear and it was starting to annoy her. Especially since her brother was starting to take notice of the bags underneath her eyes.
Asking her question that she rather not answer, luckily she was able to dodge his interrogation by blaming it on school applications. Which wasn't too much of a lie.
'None of the high schools I applied to have sent back a response, and summer vacation is almost over! What am I going to do if no one accepts me?!' This thought has been racking her mind for the longest time, causing her to stress and lose sleep over it.
'I don't know how Lisa can stay so calm despite being in the same boat as me.' So caught up in her own thoughts, she missed when the doors chimed open.
A foot stepped through the door and drew her attention, but her eyes did not land on the beautiful bouquet of roses the person held in their hands but on the person wielding it.
"Oh fuck me silly," Dia heard her co-worker Izzy mutter with a moan.
Each step the man took, the eyes of every woman and some men, young and older, couldn't stop following him, eyes dripping with lust, and Dia couldn't blame them. Hell, she would've been doing the same if she didn't recognize the stranger.
'Wait! I know that good-looking face! Isn't that the guy from three weeks ago?!'
Dia believed she would never encounter the guy again, happy that she did a good deed, but now the guy was literally standing a few feet away from her. Not a hint of a bruise on his flawless pale skin. The aura that surrounded him spoke that he didn't like others getting too close to him.
'How come he looks even hotter than before!?' Dia's heart stirred, cheeks flushed with heat when those piercing blue orbs met directly with hers.
Now that she looked at him again, she swore a face that perfect and flawless should be illegal. The perfect mixture of cute and handsome. Striding forward in a pair of black cargo pants with chains hanging from the pockets and a black long sleeve shirt.
That's when she noticed the direction he was walking toward and began to panic internally.
'Wait! Why is he coming my way?!' Dia could feel her heart beating irrationally, looking anywhere but the dangerous hot stranger. She had her eyes glued to the screen of the cash register when a hand thrust out the bouquet of blood-red roses.
"Umm..." Dia felt like an idiot for staring at the bouquet before shyly moving her eyes to the guy's apathetic face.
"These are for you," the guy spoke, and Dia swore she saw one of their female customers faint.
'Such a deep voice does not match that sweet-looking face! And here I thought only 2D anime guys could be this hot!' Counting down from five in her head, Dia prayed that she didn't stutter as she opened her mouth to reply back.
"Thank you." Dia couldn't stop her hands from shaking as she reached out to retrieve the bouquet of roses.
Once in her arms, she ran her finger over the soft petals and was amazed by how pretty and vibrant they were. A chuckle drew her attention and she saw what looked to be a hint of a smile appear on the cute guy's face.
"Cute." The man's blunt response had Dia blushing from the roots of her hair down to her toes. Unable to meet the guy's eyes or she would combust.
'Did a guy like that just call me cute? Am I dreaming? Cause in all manga and webtoons I read, a girl like me is never the main lead! She either has pale skin or a nice graceful figure! The pretty girl next door type!'
Dia began second-guessing her hearing and believed that she heard wrong. Blaming that it was just her mind playing tricks on her. "If you don't mind me asking, what brings you here?"
She didn't have big expectations for herself, and while she didn't consider herself ugly, she knew she wasn't drop-dead gorgeous or the type to catch the attention of guys who were extremely attractive and looked like one of those famous eastern male idols that girls were going crazy over.
A part of her honestly believed the guy stopped by because he found out she was the one who called the ambulance and wanted to thank her. Yet nothing could prepare her for when the mysterious man seemed to hesitate before saying the words he wanted to say.
"I've fallen in love with you and would like to ask you out."
3... 2... 1
"Huhhhhh?!" yelled Dia, her co-workers, and all the customers inside the shop.
- -
"Wait! Come again? A mysterious, beautiful guy comes up to you, bearing a $200 dollar bouquet, and suddenly asks you out? What is this, the opening to some cheesy romance manga?!" Exclaimed an attractive girl with long raven hair cascading down her shoulders and lower back.
The girl's attire was composed of a yellow sweatshirt redesign to be cropped short and pulled down to reveal the brown skin of her shoulders. Paired with matching shorts. Her flat-toned stomach showed off a gold belly piercing.
The two girls sat inside a small but cozy cafe with pop music faintly playing in the background. Across from Dia in the booth was her best-friend Lisa, who she was retelling the events of what went down at work. Elbows on the table, eyes looking tired, Dia sipping on the straw of her peach iced tea.
"Okay, and what happened after that?" The excitement in Lisa's voice had Dia rolling her eyes and proceeding to tell her what happened next.
"Well, I pulled the guy outside and politely turned him down—Ouch! Why'd you pinch my hand?!" Dia glared at Lisa, nursing her hand, not that Lisa cared.
"You dummy, you're living every otaku girl's dream, and you turned it down!"
"And that's why! A guy that hot, saying words like that to a girl like me is a straight-up setup! If he was saying it to you, I could see—Ow! Will you stop pinching me?!" cried Dia.
"You know I hate it when you downplay yourself like that. Dia, you can't let that bastard bring down your self-confidence!" Lisa berated the other girl.
Dia knew what Lisa was saying held some truth, but the wounds from her last boyfriend still hurt and damaged the way she thought about herself. Of course, everything was that bastard's fault, but the hurt he hurled at her left wounds that damaged her self-confidence.
Seeing how the light in her best friend's eyes dimmed, Lisa knew she was reflecting on her past relationship and wanted to get her mind off it. "So did Tall, Dark, and Mysterious walk away after you turned him down?"
Lisa was happy to see this did the trick as life regained itself in Dia's eyes. "No..." Dia recalled the scene of the boy taking her rejection with a nod of his head.
"I see. But... I meant what I said, and I vow that no matter what it takes, how long I must endure, I will win you over until you are completely mine." Dia was speechless by the burning gleam of possessiveness that illuminated the boy's icy blue eyes.
"Kyaaa, so romantic! Something straight out of a corny romance book!" Lisa clasped her hands and swooned to which Dia rolled her eyes.
"More like stalkerish!" Dia threw out, to which Lisa returned with a sarcastic look.
"Which is right up your alley! Every anime guy you got a crush on all has a slight yandere personality. Besides, this guy seems to be really into you! I think you should give him a shot!" Lisa stabbed her fork into her chocolate cake and took a bite, only to grimace.
"The cakes you make are better. Oh, I just remembered!" Lisa dug inside her purse and took out two white envelopes with fancy wax seals on the back and slammed them on the table.
"What are those-Wait! Is that what I think it is?" Dia voice grew excited as Lisa match her expression and nodded her head.
"After many late nights, staying up writing essays, filling out forms, waiting for someone to contact us. We finally got our first letter!"