~Jillian's POV~
I was in slumber when a machine gun of message notifications woke me.
My eyelids were heavy, but I fought the urge of sleepiness and got up.
Yawning, I noticed my phone on my hand—oh God, I fell asleep again while watching TikTok. I really hate this habit, but I can't sleep without it so there's nothing I can do.
There's no point worrying about my bad habits, instead, I should focus on what's in front of me and look up who's spamming me text messages.
I opened my phone and the first thing I noticed was the time; it was 3:24am and below the time was 69 unread message notifications.
I don't even have that many friends, so I honestly don't have an inkling on who was spamming me this pile of notifications.
I was in the sleeping room of class-A female's dormitory. The lights were off and my classmates were asleep. The only glint of light that illuminates the room was from my phone screen, when suddenly, the unknown spammer called me, causing my phone to ring loudly.
Startled, I clicked a random button to stop the ringtone. Fortunately, my classmates didn't wake up. But unfortunately, the icon I accidentally pressed was the one that accepts the call.
Our line was connected and the stalker began murmuring, "Jillian… Help me… I'm hiding under the table in the dining room of your dorm… a killer clown is haunting me… save me, quick…" The call ended.
Her voice sounds familiar.
She was whispering to her phone, so I think she's in serious danger. I wanna help her, but I'm afraid of clowns too, I'm powerless.
But despite the adrenaline pumping through my chest, I got up to my futon and scaredly headed to the dining room.
As I trudged across the dark and silent corridor, I spotted the dining room across the intersection.
All lights in the dorm were off, except for the dining room that's gleaming a light through the door's glass pane.
With no particular thoughts in my head, I entered the dining room, expecting to be stabbed to death.
But to my surprise, I was met by my one and only best friend, sitting cozily on the chair with two glasses of milk on the table.
When she heard me walk in, she glanced at me with a mischievous grin.
"I'm bored, Jillian~... Let's have a milk date." she said cheerlessly.
I knew it was her. She knew that I'm terrified of clowns, hence she took advantage of my weakness.
I don't mind having a milk date with her since she's my bestie, but asking for it at 3am while pranking me that she's in danger was just cruel. I mean, it was raining cats and dogs outside, how did she even get here?
I calmly walked over to her while brushing my tired eyes, then sat next to her.
"Celiaa… Good morning." I smiled at her and she smiled back. "Milk date sounds nice, I'm down." I said.
She giggled, "You sure didn't read my messages. You just straight up came here even if you're scared… that's what I like about you, though."
"It's not like that. I just woke up at that time, and my brain was buffering, so I was baffled.
I took out my phone and opened her 69 delivered messages. Her text messages contain endless begging to have a milk date with her. Her messages were outrageous and she was too desperate; I was lucky I only read it now.
"So, Jillian, did you dream about pandas again?"
Disregarding her cute question, I pondered over the kindness she expressed towards me when we first met. She was the only person who's been honest to me, and it made me feel bad that I caused her misfortune.
"Uhm. Celia, I… I'm sorry that I'm the reason you're in class-B right now." I apologized.
"That's not important, Jillian. What's important now is your health—are you taking your meds?"
"Yes, but I don't think it's working. My hairline is starting to look like Vegeta's hairline."
"Awe, that's awful. I know you're afraid to know your illness, Jillian, but if your health gets worse, I myself will drag you to the doctor."
I grabbed one of the glasses of milk on the table and took a sip. "I appreciate your concern, but that's quite not necessary." I smiled at her with white moustache on my lips.
She only giggled, holding her mouth from cackling.
Celia then grabbed the other glass and drank with me. 3am milk just hits different, especially when drinking while talking with the person I'm most comfortable with.
"By the way, Celia, you're a Prime student, I thought Primes had a specific dormitory. I think it's called Costa de Casa" I said.
"Yea, it was overly luxurious, but sadly, every Primes at the Casa were dead serious—they're no fun. I would definitely die from boredom if I stayed there, so I'd rather hang out with you."
It's not a hindrance that Celia disrupted my sleep. Frankly, I'm glad she wanted to hang out with me. It's just the first night of the vacation, and yet, I'm kinda feeling lonely because my classmates treat me like a ghost. So having Celia around was a huge relief.
I'm 100% sure that Celia will never backstab me.
"Anyways, you're in flight 9, right? Rumors called it the Worst Flight 'cause only two students passed, so tell me, Jillian, how did you survive that?" Celia eagerly asked.
"I just got lucky." I answered.
"There's no luck involved there, it's pure skill. I know you're awesome."
"Thanks for the compliment, Celia, but actually, there's this guy that carried me throughout the test."
"Hmm?" Tell me about him."
"I can't reveal his identity, sorry. But I can tell one thing, he's super nice and cool."
"Ohh~" Celia smirked mischievously. "Sounds like you caught feelings."
"What? No way. I would never think of him more than just an acquaintance."
~That's the condition he sets, so I must not breach it. Even though I think I might end up lying to myself when I get closer with him.
But as of now, I will meet his conditions to maintain our transactional, secret, and non-romantic relationship.
"But actually, there's another guy that I wanted to be friends with." I said.
"You mean, it's not the same guy who helped you on the flight? If yes, then may I know his name?" Celia eagerly asked once again. She's too hyped when it comes to knowing new people.
"Yes, his name was Leo. I wanna be friends with him since we're quite similar and he's relatable—we're both introverts." I said with a tee-hee.
"Leo?" Celia paused as if she realized something, then she continued, "Let's stalk his account. Are you friends on Instagram? "
"We're not. But I can go check out his account."
Using my phone, I opened Instagram and typed Leo's whole name on the search bar. Every Aspro Academy student has their accounts verified, so I easily found Leo's IG account.
"Is that him? He doesn't have a profile picture." Celia mumbled.
I clicked his name to view his account, but there was absolutely nothing. His account was private and he doesn't even have a bio.
0 posts, 0 followers, and 0 following. I felt sad for him.
"I think it's a bug because he set his account to private." Celia said.
"A bug?"
"Yea. But I know a glitch to solve that problem. If you don't mind, may I borrow your phone for a sec? I'll just try it."
"Yes, sure."
I voluntarily handed my phone to her, but then, her lips curled upwards.
Celia snatched the phone out of my grasp and deliberately pressed the 'follow' icon.
Startled, I shouted quietly, "Celia! What did you do?"
I slightly stood up from my seat and leaned to her, trying to reach my phone.
But Celia outstretched her arms, getting my phone away from me.
"I'm just helping you, Jillian. Trust me, boys want girls to do the first move."
"That's not the case, Celia. I'm not even close with him yet." I said, still trying to reach my phone.
As Celia uses his forearms to keep me away from my phone, a notification sounded.
Curious, we paused our little, playful fight and checked my phone.
After looking at the notification, my eyes gaped and Celia ignited in ebullience.
"You see, I told you boys want girls to do the first move," she said cheerfully.
"He did follow me back," I mused to myself, still in disbelief.
"Of course he would, I'm a love expert, after all. I'm the incarnation of Cupid hehe~"
Having the ability to chat with Leo at any time was very convenient since I've been thinking of inviting him to have dinner at the coffee shop down the street. He did give me his phone number yesterday, but chatting him through that seems unethical and old-fashioned.
"Now you can chat with him freely. I'll leave that part to you since it's getting late." Celia stood up and took the empty milk glasses to the sink. "I'm heading back to the Casa, I'll see you tomorrow, Jillian, good night."
"Nighty night." I replied, thankful that she snatched my phone.
The heavy rain stopped at around 4am, so Celia returned to the Casa without troubles.
After she left, I contemplated the keyboard on my phone screen, thinking what's the correct words to invite him.
I thought of various sentences to open a conversation, but all of them seemed sloppy or forceful. But eventually, I came up with the best way to deliver my invitation.
"Hi" I sent separately.
Then added, "There's a coffee shop I wanted to try but I can't go alone, so I was wondering if you wanted to accompany me."
After carefully scrutinising my chat word-by-word to make sure there's no typos, I clicked the blue arrow button, sending my message.
"Sure." He replied almost instantly.
After seeing his reply, my heart throbbed like it's gonna explode. I felt fulfilled.
That night, I slept grinning, excited for tomorrow.
Then the next day, I spent hours searching for the nicest outfit I could wear with the help of Celia. We discussed that I'm going to meet him at the coffee shop's frontage at 6pm.
This is a big day, so I prepared myself the entire morning with excitement bombarding my mood.
I was smiling ecstatically, until at 4pm, he sent me a message that worried me, and at the same time, shattered my heart.
~~~~~
~Leo's POV~
With my plans being prepared, I headed back to the city which was 50 miles away from my current location. It's not that far considering my limitless stamina, so I bolted through the non-mossy part of the forest to avoid slipping due to the rain, and after venturing the depths of wildlife, I got back to the dorms.
I walked through the front door as the mud smearing all over my uniform dripped down. I headed straight to the bathroom to clean up as I soiled the floor every step I took. I ignored it and just planned to mop it after I clean myself.
As I was on my way to the bathroom, I noticed the only open lights at the reception room, and there I spotted Jacob, playing mobile games alone.
Since the bathroom was over the reception room, I frantically tread in front of Jacob as if I were a ghost.
But then, he talked to me while still focused on his game. "Where have you been? Clyde was going crazy because you're missing."
"I got lost in the forest."
"You're lucky you find your way back despite the darkness."
"Yeah. Anyways, I'm not used to staying up at 4am, so I might wake up late tomorrow. If that happens, may you tell our classmates not to worry and don't disturb my sleep."
"Sure, I can help you with that. For now, you ought to take a bath and hit the sack."
"Yeah."
I then took a bath and cleaned the floor afterwards.
Jacob was still gaming when I went into the sleeping room. I laid down my futon and checked my phone before I went to sleep.
Then, I noticed someone followed me on Instagram. I thought I'm lowkey enough to be invisible in social media, and yet someone found my account. This person must know me to find my account.
When I looked at it, it was actually Jillian. Without second thoughts, I followed her back.
For some inexplicable reason, she sent me a message, inviting me to accompany her at a coffee shop. At any rate, I have my word to protect her in exchange for her loyalty, so I shall go. But I suppose I have to play with her feelings a little.
I accepted her invitation and we decided to meet at 6pm at the coffee shop's facade.
And with that, I sprawled down to my futon and rested.
The next day, I woke up at around 2pm and took my supposedly breakfast.
Then at 4pm, I sent a message to Jillian, stating, "Sorry, I won't be able to accompany you to the coffee shop." Then I added, "I caught a cold last night."
This sudden cancellation of plans should make her feel disheartened.
"It's fine. We can move it on another day." She replied.
After that, I waited until the last 30 minutes before 6pm for the effects to sink in, and then sent her another message, "I'm feeling better now, are you still up?"
"Of course." She replied almost instantly.
I supposed it works. It's a toxic approach to strengthen her submission towards me, but as long as it accomplished the job, the process doesn't matter.
I suit up blandly and rendezvoused with Jillian at the coffee shop's facade. But when I got there, I was taken aback to see someone peacefully standing beside Jillian.
The person next to Jillian has sophisticated wavy long hair with the front row of her hair braided to the side.