"Summer, I'm so sorry for you~"
Carol –Summer's close friend and coworker– hugged Summer tightly with teary eyes, she heard Summer's story over their lunch break and shivered as she thought about seeing her friend in an open casket a day after Valentine's Day.
"Carol…" Summer wasn't quite sure which was worse, her brother's indifferent reaction to her story or her friend's excessive reaction to it. Carol looked at Summer as if she was a dead woman walking right now.
She rolled her eyes, "I'm not dead, Carol" 'not yet', "I really didn't tell you about this to upset you, I told you because you're someone with more… experience. The thei- I mean the fortune teller implied that I was dense when it comes to men,"
Summer waited for another strong reaction to come her way, she wanted to hear her friend cursing the Gypsy or something, but the only thing she got was a strange expression on Carol's face and a set of frightful eyes.
"Oh, Summer! You're so young!" Carol hugged her friend with tearful eyes again, a small sob escaped her this time around. Hearing Summer saying how the fortune teller knew that Summer was a 29-year-old virgin and a completely clueless person when it comes to the other sex only confirmed Carol's initial thoughts. 'The woman is not a fraud at all!'
Carol strongly believed that the Gipsy was someone sent Summer's way to give her a chance to change her fate. She left Summer's shoulder and held onto her hands.
"We will find your true love even if it was the last thing you do!"
Summer stared at her friend with a sour expression, for some reason, she didn't find comfort at all in Carol's words. But then, her bluntness was a part of her many charms.
Having an honest person around in an environment that wasn't void of toxicity was an asset for Summer. She could always rely on her faith in Carol. She always spoke her mind around Summer praising her ideas when she did well as the team leader and calling her out on her BS when she was just making stuff up as she goes. It was, in many ways, what brought balance to their unit in the marketing department which was a highly competitive section of Hosek Holding.
"You're a good friend Carol, thank you for everything,"
"No! Don't give up just yet! There's hope… there's hope…" Carol chanted to herself a couple of times more before a light bulb shone over her head. "I know! I know just the guy for you! How come I never thought about him? He even asked me about you the other day, why don't I set the two of you up on a date?"
Summer was suddenly super hopeful, the idea of going out on a blind date would've been a nightmare for her just 24 hours ago, but now, it was more like a dream coming true, salvation finding its way to her.
'Carol is an angel, a true heaven-sent,' "Do I know the guy?" Summer said with shimmering eyes, there were happy tears there that she barely contained, her survival instinct kicking in hard, "I mean, you said he asked you about me, it means that he at least saw me once or twice, right?" Summer started sorting through her memories trying to prepare herself to hear the name that was about to come out of Carol's parted lips.
"Of course, you know him! How can you not? You see each other here every day! I'm telling you, that lady you saw definitely knows what she's talking about…"
"Carol…"
"Hey, do you think you can take me there? I REALLY want to meet her and have her read my hand too!"
"CAROL! Carol…honey… I can take you there for sure! But I think what we should do right now is prioritize, right? My lifespan that is getting shorter by the passing minute is in more need of our joint effort, hm?" Summer squeezed her friend's hands a bit too hard.
"Yes, of course," Carol sounded dejected, inwardly, she thought that both things can just go in parallel lines, but since it was a matter of life and death, she decided to keep her mouth shut.
"So? You were saying that I know him? Who is he?" Summer asked with an eager tone.
"Andy! He asked me about you just the other day… what a twist of fate! Fate is not to be ignored…I tell y-," Carol couldn't finish her thought, the light in Summer's eyes dimmed significantly.
"What's wrong? I know you don't like him, but I'm sure he has some feelings for you! You were the one to highlight my experience and your lack of it…"
"…Andy, as in Andrew Wilson?" Summer said a minute later as images of red slicked-back hair and a set of reddish brown eyes popped into the front of her vision, she desperately hoped to see a head shake, but instead, Carol nodded.
Andrew Wilson not only happened to be a team leader like Summer only for a rival team, but he also happened to openly bully her on many occasions.
"What is this expression?" Carol asked disappointedly, "Andy might be blunt at times, but is it so bad? I mean you and I get along just fine and I'm a lot like him…"
Andrew and Carol were distant cousins, but they grew up like siblings, and so, it hurt Carol that Summer would dismiss her suggestion without even trying to go out on a date with the guy and see if he was the one the Gipsy was talking about.
Summer peeked around to make sure that no one was listening to their conversation and then leaned forward, "…You do realize that at one point, he ate the lunch that I brought and placed inside the shared refrigerator for almost two weeks straight, right?" her words were just above a whisper.
"You're right, that was strange before all this, but don't you see that it all makes sense now?"
'NO!' Summer really didn't see it.
"He must've been eating your food because it's YOUR food, get it?"
The look on Summer's face let Carol know that she still didn't get it.
"He likes your cooking! Honey! He's definitely your true love who's right around the corner!"
'More like a devil sent straight from hell to torture me', Summer held her breath as she paused and tried to think about the position of the refrigerator in the kitchen on her department's floor, she sighed in relief remembering how it was placed in the middle of the shared kitchen against a completely flat wall behind it, she took another greedy breath. 'Definitely not him.'
Summer never thought that taking a 'true love' candidate out of the list of possibilities would make her feel this good.