"When are you going to be shown to the world?" Lucian asked her. "I don't know. I guess I will ask my dad when we go home for Thanksgiving" Almora replied. "I'm sleepy already" she yawned. "Good night H3" she said and laid down on the blankets. She dozed off immediately. "Goodnight Mora" he said and also laid down to sleep.
It was morning already and Lucian was already awake staring at Almora's sleeping face. Almora's phone started vibrating. He checked it and saw that it was Evans calling her. After it finished ringing, Lucian removed the notification away and dropped the phone back.
Almora was finally awake. She turned to her side and saw that Lucian was already sitted up. "You're awake" Lucian said. "Nope, I'm still asleep" she said, sarcastically. "Nice one" he chuckled. She sat up beside him. "Do you have exams today?" she asked and he nodded affirmative. "Too bad. Well, the first year students don't have any exams today" she said, cheerfully.
"Here, take this" he handed over a rolled paper to her. "What is this?" she asked. "Just open it will you" he turned to her. She opened it and her eyes went wide. It was a painting of her smiling. "Did you draw this?" she asked, still looking at the painting. "Yeah, you like it" he said, casually.
"I love it. It's so beautiful. I don't even have the words to describe how I feel now" she turned to look at him teary eyed. "Are you crying?" he asked. "Yes, they are tears of happiness" she nodded as she wiped her face with her hands. "This painting is not just about how beautiful you are. It also shows your happiness, sadness, bravery, confidence and how fierce you are, Mora. Those are the things that make up of you" he said staring at her. Almora hugged him and he reciprocated it back. "Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you so much. You don't know the kind of joy you have given to me" she said, still hugging him tightly. She finally broke free from the hug. She looked down at the painting she held and said "This is my most prized possession now. I'm going to keep this close to my heart".
"We should go back now as you have exams today" she said, packing her bag. "You go first, I'll come down soon". "Are you sure?" she asked and he nodded. Almora carried her bag, took her phone and left. Her hair was a little messy as she just woke up. On her way to the hostel, she bumped into Melanie at the hallway.
"Watch where you're going Red" she said, irritatedly. "Oh sorry, I didn't see you there" said Almora. "Did you sleep out?" Julie asked, staring at her weirdly. "Why do you care?" Almora asked back. "Look I don't have time to chitty chat with you. You can come by later, I would have answers to your questions then. Right now, I need a shower" Almora said and walked away. "No wonder you were smelling so bad" Melanie scoffed. "At least I smell better than you do even after you take a shower" Almora said loudly. All the students at the hallway laughed at what Almora said. Melanie stormed away angrily with her two minions at her back.
Almora finally got to her room. "Why didn't you pick Evan's call?" Stacy asked when Almora entered. Almora walked to her bed and sat down "What call?". "He came here this morning to check up on you but you weren't around so he called" Amy explained.
She quickly checked her phone and saw that he had truly called. "Oh God, he called 6 times" she facepalmed herself. "The notification wasn't there that's why I didn't know. Let me call him back now". She dialled his number and called it. It rang for a while and then he picked. "Hello" Almora said. "Where are you? I called your number several times but you didn't answer" he complained from the other end.
"I'm sorry. I slept out and I swear I didn't even know you called because I didn't see the notification" she explained. "You slept out?? Where and with who?" he asked. "I can't tell you where but it was" she paused. "Who did you sleep out with?" he queried. "Lucian" she whispered enough for him to hear and immediately he hung up.
"He hung up on me" she said, sadly. "Yh he did. You have a boyfriend Almora. You can't be having a sleepover with another guy. He's bound to be annoyed" said Stacy. "I know guys get annoyed and jealous on things like this but he knows it's him I love" said Almora, resting her head on her palm. "Look Almora, you have to make him know that he's your boyfriend and nobody else. I understand how close you and Lucian are but you should give yourselves that space to show that you are just friends" Amy advised.
"Now what do I do?" she asked.