I woke up with dozens of notifications on my phone, mostly missed calls from Cerise and her messages.

I rubbed my eyes lazily. I went to the bathroom to wash my face and brush my teeth while checking her texts. I scrolled through it uninterestedly. It was mostly her getting scared, rambling about how Kristen was hunting her down.

​​

Turned out, Kristen actually went to Cerise's home last night. She only stood outside and terrorizing Cerise with calls and threatening texts. Most of them were death threats, Cerise said.

She even sent me a screenshot of one of the texts between them.

—

Cerise: Please, please leave me alone!

Kristen: Why are you so scared? I just want to ask you about few things.

Kristen: Come out of your hiding. I know you're inside your house, bitch.

Kristen: I will ask you nicely before I break into your house and strangle you in your sleep.

Kristen: I will make you the second Helena, so come here before I lost my patience, coward bitch!

—

"My, so hostile," I chuckled as I read the chat. It was so obvious that both Kristen and Cerise were now busy with themselves.

Kristen must've concluded that Cerise gave the phone to someone else, and that person was the one terrorizing Kristen.

Thankfully, I already told Cerise to toughen up a bit because if Kristen found out that the phone was in my hand, then we were done for.

But I still had to show some concern to Cerise. Thus I called her, and she picked up after few beeps.

"G—Good morning…." Cerise's weak voice was heard from there.

I immediately acted worried as I started bargaining with her with my concerns, "Cerise! What happened now? Are you still okay? Did she actually break into your house? How about your mom?!"

My barrage of concerns seemed to make Cerise trembled a bit. Her voice was shaking as she reported to me, "K—Kristen didn't break into my house, but she stayed until late at night, and then my mom came from her night shift, then she finally left…."

"Oh no, glad that you're alright. But you really need to hide now Cerise, you do realize that Kristen is going to kill you if she caught you, right?"

"E—Em! Don't scare me like that!" Cerise hollered. But she must've known that my words were correct. So in the end, she said, "I—I will skip school for few days, my mom has night shift for the whole week, so she wouldn't notice me. Please finish this as soon as possible, Em! I trust you!"

Trust… huh…

"Don't worry, keep your perseverance, Cerise!" I encouraged her.

After a few more pep talks, I hung up the call and prepared myself for school.

I went downstairs and saw Mom was eating toast. I sat with her and ate mine that had been prepared.

We were eating in silence until Mom suddenly said, "Sooo~ pretty girl, I didn't know that you have a boyfriend."

I frowned when I heard the word 'boyfriend.'

Because that was something simply unbelievable. I was too busy with Kristen and Cerise. How in hell could I find a boyfriend?

"I don't have one, mom."

"Really?" Mom grinned mischievously. "Your Grandma said there was a boy who came to our house in the late afternoon, an hour before you arrived. She told Grandma that he is your friend, and she gave a rose to Grandma, saying that it is a gift for you."

"Oh how chivalrous, you Grandma has a bad eyesight, but she said that boy looks really handsome and dreamy!" Mom gushed over this random man that came to our house.

…

Huh?

Did I hear it correctly?

A boy came to our house and gave a rose to Grandma? I didn't even know that I had a boy coming. No, I didn't even know that a boy knew my address!

Unless…

…

No, that couldn't be Mason. I remembered that I saw him (and his fans) practicing in the schoolyard with his new team for the whole day after school was over since he was a new member of the school's American football.

Besides, it was just strange for him to give me a rose out of the blue. That was so out of his character.

…

"I don't have a boyfriend, so just ignore that guy if he comes again. I will tell Grandma about this," I warned. I didn't know who this guy was,

After breakfast, my mom and I went our separate way. I used the bike and went to school.

The moment I parked my bike, someone patted my shoulder from behind. When I turned my head, I was startled by the grim face of Kristen.

"Wha—K—Kristen, you shocked me!"

"Em…."

"Kristen? You look… tired…." I mentioned. She had noticeable dark circles under her eyes, and she looked lifeless right now.

"Have you seen Cerise anywhere? I really need to talk to her," Kristen asked.

"Well, Cerise said to me that she is going to her aunt's home for a trip for the weekend. What is it? I heard from Cerise that you're hunting her and such…."

Kristen clenched her fist, "I have a problem with her. Tell me if she actually comes. Maybe she is hiding somewhere," Kristen said. She patted my shoulder and then walked to the school building.

I grinned when I saw Kristen's stressed face. She must've been paranoid right now.

Thus I went to the bathroom and turned on Helena's phone, and connected to the wifi. The moment it was connected, I got several missed calls from Kristen from the night before.

And there was a WhatsApp text from her from last night, around 2 o'clock.

—

Kristen: What do you want from me?

—