"Have you heard? The school belle Johanna confessed her love to Rosendo today. I can't believe that a wealthy girl like Johanna would fall for a loser like him". "You know, nowadays rich girls all like pretty boys. If you were as handsome as Rosendo, maybe Johanna would confess to you too!"
"Big news! Johanna from the second year of the Business Administration department confessed her love to Rosendo in their class and was rejected by him."
"A major event at the university in New Mountain City! The school beauty Johanna, who has a stunning appearance and graceful demeanor, confessed her love to Rosendo, who is handsome but useless. Can you guess what happened next?"
"What happened?"
"Rosendo rejected Johanna without hesitation, which made her cry so much that she ran out of the classroom after class ended. Some even say she disappeared."
"Big news! Is Johanna missing?"
The news about Johanna and Rosendo spread throughout New Mountain University in a short period of time thanks to social media - everything can be known in no time these days. Some students made fun of their situation and created various scenarios which caused some of Johanna's admirers to search for her all over campus.
Ring ring... Suddenly, Joanna's phone rang; she quickly took it out because she was only ten meters away from Rosendo and didn't want him to notice that she was following him."Hello."
"Johanna, don't do anything stupid! It's just a pretty boy! There are plenty more fish in the sea; why hang yourself on one tree?" An anxious voice came through on the phone.
Johannas head filled with question marks - what is this person talking about? She didn't understand anything they said."Cheryl, what are you talking about? I don't understand anything," Johannas said confusedly.
"Johannah, how could you lie at a time like this? Everyone in the school knows that Rosendo rejected you and now you're so upset that you want to commit suicide. Johanna, no matter what happens, please listen to your sister: there are plenty of other options out there." A worried voice came through on the phone.
Now Johanna finally understood - it turned out that her confession to Rosendo had been leaked and he had rejected her. But she didn't want to commit suicide! What was going on?
"Cheryl, don't you know how much Harold in our class annoys me? He's always bothering me, I couldn't take it anymore - so I used Rosendo as an excuse. It was all fake; I never really liked him. But I didn't expect Rosendo would actually reject me. As for why people outside say I'm suicidal, I have no idea what's going on either. You too...you should know who I am; how could I possibly kill myself over someone like Rosendo?" Johannas explained.
"Where are you now? What are you doing?"
"I...I'm in the garden at school and about to go back!" Johannas said hesitantly.
It was almost time for class, and Vanessa and Rosendo slowly walked back to the classroom. On the way back, many people pointed at Rosendo, but he didn't care because he thought that it must have been something sensational that the previous Rosendo had done, which was why these people were pointing at him.
When Rosendo returned to the classroom, Johanna was still in her seat. He turned to Vanessa and said, "Let's sit on the left side. You go first; I'll get our backpacks."
"Okay," Vanessa sweetly replied. This choice made her very happy as she no longer had to worry about Rosendo leaving her.
Rosendo went to their previous seats with Vanessa and picked up their backpacks (which were both messenger bags).
"I'm just someone you hate?" Johanna suddenly spoke while pretending to read a book.
"You used me as a shield against Harold so that he would stop bothering you. Have you ever thought about what would happen if Harold hurt me because he wanted you? What if I got beaten up or even killed? Would you take responsibility? Have you considered the consequences? So now do you know whether or not I hate you?" After saying this, Rosendo ignored Johanna and carried both backpacks towards Vanessa.
Johanna stared blankly at Rosendo; she hadn't really thought about what he said before. She felt guilty now because what Rosendo said was true - if anything happened to him due to her actions then who would be responsible? She realized that Rosendo was actually very smart - smarter than herself since there were things she hadn't even considered yet which had already crossed his mind.
After class started ringing bells, a middle-aged woman wearing glasses walked into the classroom; this should be their homeroom teacher mentioned earlier since she immediately looked towards the back of the classroom. It was obvious that she had been asked by their homeroom teacher to check if Johanna was still crying.
Rosendo fell asleep again during this class, and the teacher didn't care. This is how it worked at University in New Mountain- as long as you don't cause trouble and pass your exams, anything goes.
During morning classes that day, Rosendo slept through them all. Afterward, Vanessa took him to the school cafeteria where she ordered vegetarian dishes only. When Rosendo asked why she only ordered vegetarian food, Vanessa told him that she was on a diet. Knowing that Vanessa wanted to save money, he then ordered many meat dishes until his plate could barely hold any more.
After choosing a table in the cafeteria, Rosendo placed his tray on it and kept putting meat from his own plate onto Vanessa's plate while saying with a smile: "You're so thin; you should eat more nutritious things."
"No need for you to do this for me; I'm really trying to lose weight," said Vanessa shyly but feeling touched by Rosendo's kindness towards her.
"I'll give you however much I want you to eat; otherwise I'll get angry," warned Rosendo seriously.
Outside of the cafeteria, Johanna explained her situation with Rosendo to her friend Cheryl while walking towards it together. By the time they got there after picking out their food options though, it was already crowded inside.
"Johanna let's go over there and see if we can find another spot," suggested Cheryl.
Just then someone sitting next to Rosendo finished eating and stood up leaving an empty seat beside him which caught Cheryl's attention immediately who pulled Johanna along quickly towards it saying: "There's just one seat left here! You sit first; I'll wait."
"You go ahead! My stomach isn't hungry yet." replied Johanna kindly refusing Cheryl's offer.
Rosendo heard a familiar voice and turned around :"Johanna".