The university cafeteria was surprisingly filled with the lively clamor of students who were eager to take a break from their hectic schedules.
Jane placed both of her palms on the sides of the steaming cup of hot Americano and looked out of the window, catching the flirty glances and winks of the older male students and responding to them with coquettish smiles and occasional halfhearted waves of her elegant hand.
She had grown accustomed to these shameless displays of shallow affection from others and didn't mind reciprocating with the same level of shallow pretense.
"Jane!"
Jane turned her head at the sound of a familiar voice and melted into a joyful smile as she watched her friend, Felicity, stride toward her with the graceful elegance of a renowned celebrity.
"Did I make you wait? Sorry, my last audition was on the other side of the city, so I got stuck in traffic."
Felicity placed her phone and car keys on the brown wooden table and let out a long, audible exhale, which was then followed by a cheerful smile and another sarcastically chipper remark,
"You won't believe the news I'm about to share!"
Although Jane was happy to see Fel and learn her unbelievable news, her deep, blue eyes were fixed not on her friend's pretty face, but on the set of car keys next to her hands.
"Didn't they give you a m-manager? Why are you the one d-driving?"
Felicity followed her friend's gaze, then covered the keys with her right hand, and laughed rather awkwardly.
"They did, but he would not let me come see you so I stole his car."
"What?! Fel!"
Jane knew Felicity's fiery nature, which had often landed her in trouble over the years. However, now that Felicity was on the verge of becoming a celebrity, Jane hoped she would tone it down, at least to some extent, for the sake of her future career.
"Geez, Jane, it was just a joke! Do you really think I would do something like this now that everything I do can impact my career? Have a little faith in me, seriously."
Felicity pretended to get upset by pouting her red, plump lips, then stretched them into a wide smile, leaned closer to her friend, and continued, now in a low voice,
"So, ready to hear the news?"
Jane nodded and moved closer as well.
"My mom is getting married to the CEO of our agency!"
"Oh..." Jane could not squeeze anything else out of herself.
The CEO of Felicity and her mother's talent agency was ten years older than Mrs. Walker and had a rather questionable reputation. In inner circles, he was known for striking dubious sponsorship deals with wealthy and influential individuals, often at the expense of his employees' dignity, and despite his persistent advances toward Mrs. Walker over the years, Jane still found him repulsive, and she knew that Felicity felt the same way.
"Are you upset?"
Jane finally looked at Fel whose nonchalant expression was already an answer.
"I mean... I can't say I'm happy, but... It's her decision. I'm too old to be concerned about such things."
Miss Devold was not satisfied with such a reply. What would SHE feel if her father were to tell her that he wanted to marry a woman she despised? Was not caring about such a significant decision truly a sign of maturity?
As if she had read her mind, Felicity tapped her finger between Jane's furrowed eyebrows and said in a somewhat patronizing tone,
"Wipe that look off your face, Princess. Not every woman in the world can land herself a Charles Chastain. Some of us have to settle."
"Neither you nor your mom needs to settle, you know."
Felicity only shrugged her shoulders and offered her friend a light scoff, either in an attempt to convince her that she agreed with her words or simply because she found them amusing.
Then, she glanced at the large round clock on the wall behind Jane and, as if recalling something important, gathered her belongings, rose from the chair, and adjusted her attire.
"I have to go now, let's talk more tonight, alright? I'll call you!"
"Bye!"
Jane waved her friend goodbye and watched her disappear behind the cafeteria door. She was left alone once again. It was upsetting.
***
The driver was expected to arrive ten minutes ago, but the traffic was still heavy, leaving Jane with no choice but to wait. She aimlessly wandered around the empty, silent halls of the university building and just as she was contemplating turning around and heading back to the exit, her attention was drawn to a solitary open door at the end of the hallway.
The temptation to peek inside was irresistible.
'Vernon Lin?'
The classroom was not as empty as she had expected it to be. Vernon Lin, whom she had not seen ever since that incident during their last tutoring session, was slouching over the desk, with his head resting on his arms, peacefully breathing in the serenity of sleep.
At first, Jane did not want to go in––there was no reason to. However, as she kept watching the guy's peaceful face, she could no longer help herself, thus, as if drawn by the unexplainable strong force, she caught herself walking towards his desk, trying to make her steps as discreet as possible.
'I thought I was the only one who liked to sleep in empty classrooms... It looks like we have at least something in common.'
The girl fixed her deep eyes on Vernon's face and felt a strange subtle trembling inside her chest.
'Now that I see him so relaxed, he is actually quite handsome. If only his personality weren't so terrible, he could have been famous for an entirely different reason.'
By a rather bizarre coincidence, as if he somehow managed to hear her inner thoughts, Vernon furrowed his eyebrows for a moment, then relaxed them again, and adjusted the position of his head.
The silence of the classroom was shattered by the vibration of Jane's phone, which, to her immense relief, did not disturb Vernon's slumber, and taking it as her cue to leave, the girl pulled out a small round candy, wrapped in a glossy pink wrapper, placed it next to her tutor's glasses, turned around, and exited the room as discreetly as she had entered.
When her steps finally faded away completely, Vernon opened his eyes and looked at the round pink candy left by the girl. He then sat up, picked up the candy, and after fidgeting with it for a few moments, hid it in the inner pocket of his jacket, and scoffed.
"What a joke."