It was an early Friday morning, and I was staring at my reflection in the mirror, getting ready for my university classes.
I slept quite late in the night, working on the details of the startup idea.
I had to get it perfectly ready and presentable to the investors and potential buyers of the idea within this week. So I was still a bit sleepy while doing my morning routine.
The mirror in front of me reflected a young man with reddish-black hair sporting a lethargic look. Even though the face of this young man was not enough to be a magazine model or anything, it was quite handsome.
He also had a well-trained muscular physique with a subtle healthy tan on his skin. It seemed to be the result of working out a lot.
"Ugh... My head hurts. Can't they keep the lectures a bit later in the day?"
Splashing my face with a handful of water, I complained to no one in particular.
It was true that my head hurt a bit. I was new to the whole business part of the startup thing, so I had to learn it from scratch.
I finished my morning routine and whipped up a healthy sandwich for breakfast.
...
"....Anyway, it's the weekend after today. I'm free to sleep tomorrow..."
After eating, I went to quickly wash the dishes and clean up everything. Checking the timetable for the upcoming lectures, I went out of my rented apartment that I moved into a while ago.
It was close to my university, as well as the main city where I got a part-time job.
I was studying as a freshman at a tech university for my bachelor's degree. It's been just over half a year since I moved into this city for my studies. It was difficult at first, but I was quite used to living alone and working my way around it.
I could proudly say that I was truly independent now.
Well, not exactly, but I was getting there. Only after I get the green light from the investors, will I truly be free!
While thinking about such mundane things, I reached my destination. I attracted quite the attention, as a lot of students were taking glances at me and whispering with their friends and classmates.
Not to brag, but I was getting quite famous as of late. It was inevitable.
While it was not a surprise for seniors to pitch their technological ideas to investors and start their own businesses, it was abnormal for a freshman to do so.
Even more abnormal was succeeding in drawing interest from multiple corporate giants!
What could I say... other than that I was a genius.
'Hehehehe...'
Anyways, that was the reason behind me becoming somewhat of a celebrity in the freshman populace. But with the pros, also came the cons of it too.
I was not a bookworm or a nerd type of person. But after I got famous, my image somehow became like that.
Not that I'm complaining, I didn't like parties and such stuff anyway. But the number of friends I could speak freely with became quite limited.
"Hey, Alvin, wait up!"
One of those friends was this guy, James Murphy.
He was a freshman in the university just like me, but he looked a bit older and kind of thuggish, completely unlike the image of a student, to be honest.
Although this guy looked quite intimidating, with his tall stature and body-builder-type physique, he in fact had a timid personality.
An accurate approximation of a gentle giant, I would say.
"Hmm..? Oh, hey James. What's up?"
"You completed yesterday's lab experiments, right? Could you please let me borrow your booklet? I messed it up yesterday and now I have to repeat it today!"
"Are you for real...? *Sigh* Fine, but don't copy-paste it, okay?"
"Yeah, I know. I'm not that stupid, you asshole!"
"Oh yeah, sure. I believe you."
"You..."
Meanwhile, we reached our classroom and I had to hand him my lab booklet. We talked about a few other things about the lectures scheduled for today and some other random stuff.
In a short while, the professor arrived and started the lecture.
"Good morning everyone. In the last lecture, we talked about wave functions. So as you all know by now, the particle-wave duality...."
And hence, began the series of boring lectures for today. Even though it was boring, I still had to pay attention to it all. I was quite lagging behind others to work on my own stuff, after all.
After a few hours, the series of lectures came to an end as I bid goodbye to the few of my friends that were on talking terms with me, and James who was busy compensating for yesterday's mess-up.
I went out of the university and into the main city to do my part-time job.
It was not a very fancy place, just a nice family restaurant. The owner's daughter introduced the place to me, who was my classmate during high school.
I know I might have taken advantage of her feelings, but I had no better option at that time. I could only repay her for the favor later.
I was not interested in romance at the moment anyway, it can be put away for later.
After entering the restaurant, I saw Cara. The owner's daughter was seemingly waiting for me. Her eyes lit up as she smiled and waved her hands excitedly when she saw me entering.
"Hey, Cara. How have you been doing? It's been a while since I last saw you."
"I'm doing fine, Alvin. Also, you don't even keep in contact with me often nowadays. I can get hurt too, you know?"
"Ahh... I'm really sorry for that. I have been a bit busy lately, you see. It has reached a critical point for my future career now, I have to make things work out perfectly."
"Yeah, you have excuses ready for everything. I should have known better than to worry about you. Hmph!"
"Haa... Okay, okay. Tell me what I have to do, and I will make it up to you."
"Hehe, now that's better. Me and Pa agreed that we are going to celebrate your birthday tonight. Since it's the weekend tomorrow, you won't have any problems, right?"
Hearing the unquestionable tone in her voice, I smiled wryly. "Right..."
"Oh, also congrats on finally getting your ticket to independence. You can also come to visit me at my place after you get over with that."
"Ah, yeah. Yeah, I sure will. By the way, did you come all the way over here just to celebrate with me?"
I was surprised that she was here, since her university was in a different city. It took almost twelve hours just to get here from that city, and she had motion sickness too. So, she just lived there all the time, seldom visiting her father when she had enough free time.
"Ha? How self-important of you to assume that, Mr. Carter. I can come here whenever I want, this is my Pa's place, not yours. Now go change and get working!"
"Okay, okay, got it. At least you could've told me that you're coming back...."
I said the last part in a small voice, but I'm sure she heard that, even though she didn't answer it.
To be honest, I was grateful for the care that she and her father showed me. She was a very sweet girl to talk to most of the time, and a very treasured friend of mine.
I knew that she liked me, but I was not capable of being in a serious relationship at the moment, due to circumstances. But I promised myself, that in the future, when I sorted out those circumstances, I would definitely do everything to make her happy.
That would be my life's next purpose.
With that thought in mind, I went to change into my work uniform, and started to tend to the customers. It was the weekend tomorrow, so there were not many customers in the restaurant. But the regular customers would still come here to meet up with their friends.
After my work shift was over, Cara invited me over for a small belated celebration for my birthday which passed last week, as well as wishing for my successful startup endeavor. I was obviously very happy that she remembered my birthday and even went so far as coming here to celebrate with me.
Currently, it was quite late in the night and I was standing at the front door along with Cara, who was reminding me again and again to constantly keep in contact with her.
"Remember to text me after you get home, okay? The crime rate around the place you are living is going up nowadays."
"Yeah, sure Mom. I will do as you say.", I said sarcastically.
Cara replied in a seductive tone, "Oh? So you want me to be your Mom, huh?"
My eyes twitched hearing her reply. What's with that newbie-level teasing?
Wanting to get back at her, I also replied in a serious tone, "Well, sure. You are half my sugar momma anyway, with the number of debts and favors I owe you. So, I have not a single problem nor complaint with that arrangement."
Cara's cheeks visibly flushed red hearing me calling her my sugar mommy. But she still recovered quickly to give me an eye-roll.
"Oh, and don't forget to keep in contact. If you ever give me that 'I was busy' excuse of yours, next time I'm going kick your ass!"
"Okay, I got it, geez. Why do you get violent all of a sudden whenever you're shy!?"
"I'm not shy!"
"Yeah, you are... Oka, okay, you're not, you NOT!", I quickly changed my tone seeing her make a balled fist.
We laughed together and bade our farewell, thinking that we would meet again tomorrow before she went back away the day after that.
Who would have known, that the celebration of that night would become my last supper...