chapter 6

The air was thick with haze. She held up her hands to cover her mouth and nose from breathing in the intoxicating fume. As she walked she felt herself falling closer and closer to the ground. There’s a shadow not far from her. Who was it? Bryan? She walked faster and faster towards the shadow. There he was again, standing in the middle of the long grass meadow, almost blending in with the environment that was slowly clouding in darkness. He turned around and smiled a sad smile. His hands held up to reveal a red bloody rose. As every second passed the rose started to rot and die in his hands.

Clover opened her eyes to the surrounding of her room. The window revealed it was already night time. She opened the window and lean against it. She thought to herself as the clouds move toward the bright silver moon, completely devouring it and set the sky into a hazy grey.

‘Didn’t I dream of this earlier? Why does he keep appearing in my dreams?’ thought Clover to herself.

Clover slept the whole day since she came back from the park. She felt her stomach grumble and walked to unlock then existed her room door. To her amazement, the living room was filled with furniture of a light brown color. She just stood there stunt with no recollection of anyone planning to buy furniture.

There was a wardrobe, a tall grandfather clock, a wooden coffee table, a small round table, an office table and a dining table which was the only one made of glass. Lily came out from the kitchen and smiled widely.

‘So who is it from?’ asked Lily, sipping coffee from her mug.

‘Beats me. Are you sure it’s not from your admirers?’ said Clover.

‘I thought it was but then again they wouldn’t send me a card addressing whether you liked it or not?’ Lily said unwillingly, handing the card to Clover. Clover took it and read it.

It said ‘Dear Clover, I hope you like it. From A.Z’

Clover let out a huge sigh and said ‘that rich idiot!’ under her breath.

‘It’s from Alex Zoru,’ said Clover after noticing Lily was staring at her.

‘Who?’ asked Lily.

‘You know the rich guy who hangs out with Adrian and Jimmy,’ replied Clover.

‘Oh, you mean the dark and mysterious one. He’s rich??’ asked Lily again, surprised.

‘Yea, he’s father is the CEO of Zoru shipping company if I’m not mistaken,’ said Clover, walking pass Lily into the kitchen.

‘so why is he interested in you? I mean you’re so plain and big, till it’s ridiculous!’ said Lily, in a matter of fact way.

Clover turned her back to Lily at that speech. Her lips twitched into a smile at the fact that Lily might actually be jealous.

‘I guess he likes me, since we kinda made out the other day,’ said Clover trying to not sound to happy.

‘whhaaattt??’ slurred Lily into her coffee. Clover chuckled silently.

‘I’m not telling you,’ said Clover cheekily.

Lily was about to say something when the door bell rang.

‘Ah, I’ll get it!’ said Clover again, happy to get a small revenge against Lily for being so friendly with Bryan. Clover opened the door and standing all tall and handsome was Bryan.

‘Yo lucky Clover. Uh.. Is Lily at…,’ asked Bryan slowly.

‘Hi Bryan dear. Sorry Clover. He’s here for me. You’re early!’ interrupted Lily, kissing Bryan on the cheek. Lily looked at Clover at the corner of her eye as she kissed Bryan and saw a painful look stretched her face.

Bryan walked in and said ‘whoa? So this is where they sent the furniture’.

‘You know something bout this?’ asked Lily, walking and sitting herself down on the couch.

‘Yea. I got a part time job at the furniture shop in town. Somewhere near the café where you work Clover,’ answered Bryan while looking at Clover.

Clover searched her memory for the furniture shop and recalled that it was called ‘Wooden and Original’.

‘That shop sells only the highest quality of wooden furniture and all their designs are custom made to the customer’s desires,’ added Bryan.

‘We had a big order today from some rich teenager which cost my pay for two whole years! I didn’t know it was for you though,’ said Bryan again looking at Lily this time.

Lily looked away angrily and Clover said quickly ‘it’s for me’.

Clover walked to the furniture and observed it closely. To her astonishment, the wood work was flawless to the very last carving. She let her hand run on the smooth surface of the wardrobe and felt a small groove. It was her name carved into it.

‘it has my name on it! That’s so cool!’ said Clover, excitedly.

‘Hey Bryan can you help me move it in my room? We can put the coffee table here in the living room and the grandfather clock against the wall and the…’ said Clover, all moodiness gone from her eyes.

After a few minutes of pushing and arranging, the living room looked much more complete with the grandfather clock ticking happily and the coffee and dining table gleaming against the light.

Lily just sat on the couch and observed instead of helping but Clover was too happy to noticed, which pissed Lily even more.

‘Hey Bryan darling! Come on into my room. Help me pick a bikini for our next trip to the beach,’ said Lily in a high voice, pulling Bryan’s right hand.

‘Oh yea! Hey Clover, we are going on a trip to the beach this weekend. Do you want to come?’ asked Bryan, trying to stand his ground from falling due to Lily dragging him.

‘Errr…’ said Clover, looking at Lily.

‘Sure!’ said Clover again, Lily’s face darkened and she yanked Bryan’s hand harder.

‘Okay! Bring your friends along if you want to,’ said Bryan happily, allowing Lily to lead him into her room.

Before Lily closed her room door, she said loudly ‘why did you asked her to bring friends? She doesn’t have any!,’. The door shut in a loud bang and Clover walked to the kitchen.

Her heart was swarmed with jealously and pain from Lily’s last words. She opened one of the kitchen cupboards and found that all she had left was cereal and biscuits.

‘Oh yea, it’s already night time,’ thought Clover. She felt hungry before, but she wasn’t hungry anymore. She left the kitchen and walked into her room. Her clothes were all scattered across the floor. She gave out a big sigh and bent down to select some clothes. She changed out of her big clothes into a casual and sporty look.

‘Hmm maybe I should put all my clothes into my new wardrobe,’ thought Clover.

‘Ah after I come back I’ll do that,’ said Clover under her breath. She just wanted to get out from the house, away from Lily and Bryan.

After putting on a jacket and a quick scan of herself in the mirror, she walked out to the living room.

Clover saw Bryan’s shoes at the doorway, which means that both he and Lily haven’t left yet.

‘I’ll just tell them I’m going out now,’ thought Clover. She walked towards Lily’s room, held up her right hand to knock but stopped before it touched the door. She thought she heard a small sound emitting from the room so she put the ear near the door and listened. It was a soft moaning sound and the occasional creaking from the bed. Clover pulled back her ear, shock and disbelief ran through her veins.

‘I must have heard it wrong,’ thought Clover. She put her ear at the door again, this time nearer. It was clearer than before. She could hear Lily’s moaning voice getting louder with pleasure and the creaking of the bed getting regular and faster.

Clover put her hands to her mouth and ran to the front door. She unlocked it as fast as she could and slammed the door after she went out. Instead of the elevator, she ran down the stairs and continued until she reached the main road. Her eyes burned and big pearly tears fell down to her face. Her chest squirmed, pulled and kicked, it was as though it was going to explode. She allowed her legs carry her to wherever it wanted to go.

Unconsciously, she came to the park again but she didn’t mind. All she wanted was to be alone and cry to her heart’s content.

‘You know, this isn’t a crying central for heartbreaks and pathetic excuses,’ said a shadow from the trees.

Clover whipped around to face the shadow and backed away step by step. The trees rustled and a shadow of a man emerged. Without another word, she turned and ran.

‘Oi! Wait!’ shouted the shadow. It reached out, grabbed the ends of her jacket and pulled her back. Clover hit the ground with a thud and held up her hands in defense.

‘I’m not gonna hurt you! When will you learn to trust me?’ said the shadow again, this time a little hurt.

Clover looked up and felt her mouth hang down.

‘Alex!!’ exclaimed Clover.

‘For a girl, you can really run,’ said Alex, smiling slightly.

‘I have to say I’m impressed,’ said Alex again, pulling Clover up to her feet.

‘Yea, I have a lot of practice in running when I was younger,’ replied Clover, walking towards the stone chair. She sat herself down and was slowly joined by Alex.

‘So what got you interested in running or should I say sprinting?’ asked Alex.

Clover chuckled then felt her eyes fell to the ground. It was something she didn’t want to remember. All those years, running was what kept her sane and alive till now, or was it running away?

‘I had reasons to keep running and running away from everything else,’ said Clover after a long pause.

‘A bad past? Mind telling me what happened?’ asked Alex, looking up to the night sky. It was already filled with clutter and clutter of stars.

Images and screams flashed in Clover mind, she kept quiet.

‘if you won’t tell me, I’ll find out anyways. I’m Alex Zoru remember?’ said Alex, looking at Clover.

Clover turned to look at Alex, his brown eyes reflected kindness and warmth unlike the cold expression he usually wears.

‘Why do you want to know so much?’ asked Clover.

‘Simply cause you have to let it out eventually or else it’ll eat you alive,’ replied Alex quickly. Clover let out a hearty laugh.

‘Hey! You shouldn’t laugh at people who are concerned with you! That’s rude!’ snapped Alex, his cheeks blushing.

‘That’s cause you being so concern with someone doesn’t fit your character at all!’ laughed Clover.

‘What’s that supposed to mean?’ snapped Alex again.

‘Look at yourself! You have dark features that don’t smile sincerely. If it’s not for your brown eyes, you would’ve looked like a devil’s son,’ said Clover brightly.

Alex kept silent, finally defeated.

Clover smiled and asked ‘so tell me, why do you really wanted know so much about my past?’.

Alex let out a big sigh and said ‘because you hold so much sorrow in your eyes, you look like you’re about to fall apart if you were to leave my sight even for a second, yet you still act tough everyday. I know I can’t do much but I do want to share your pain to ease your burden’.

Clover looked hard at Alex, shocked that he was capable of such words.

‘Hahaha.. I always say stupid things when I’m with you,’ said Alex quickly, facing the sky.

‘The last time you came to my house, you said you preferred a person like me who could ignite a flame in your heart,’ said Clover, her voice low and serious.

‘Yea I said that. And so?’ replied Alex.

‘Did you mean it or was it just some line you use on all the girls?’ asked Clover with the same tone, still looking hard at Alex.

‘No… I told you already! I say stupid things when I’m with you!’ said Alex loudly, his face turning red at every second.

Clover grinned to herself, she never expected to meet a boy who could say something like that so sincerely and still try to hold his dignity together.

‘Hey Alex, don’t look somewhere else when I’m talking to you. That’s the real definition of rudeness, you know!’ said Clover, smiling slightly pushing herself to get closer to his face.

He turned to face Clover, then backed away slightly, shocked that her face suddenly got so close. Clover put one finger in his collar and pulled him closer.

‘This is revenge for that day,’ whispered Clover. She closed her eyes and kissed him lightly on the lips. She pulled herself away to face a stunted, red faced Alex.

It was so hilarious that Clover laughed till her guts hurt so much that she had to hold on to it.

Irritated, Alex held Clover up and kissed her passionately. They kissed many times that night, everything else doesn’t matter anymore.