Chapter 25

"Iris?"

I knocked on the door three times after calling her. It opened in a matter of seconds and Iris emerged wearing a face mask.

"What?"

"I need your help with something. What are you doing?"

"Nothing. What exactly is it?" I immediately pulled her into her room. As expected, her room was always sparsely furnished; there were only a few items inside. Various skincare products were scattered over her vanity, which I believed she was now using.

"I already told you that Pierre had asked me out, right? I still don't have an outfit. I only have a few items of clothing, don't I?" I sat on her bed and laid down my body.

She was the first person I informed of Pierre's invitation to go out. She initially refused to believe me, but eventually came to believe. When she realized, she was even more excited than I was.

"I don't have any new clothes that will fit you. Should we go shopping? Not online. There are boutiques but no accessories stores here. However, I have a lot; simply use mine."

"Do we really need to go shopping? It will only happen once; we don't need to buy new clothes, Iris." I was certain that if we visited a boutique, we would spend a lot of money. Knowing Iris, she would not be content with a single shopping bag. Her minimum was five bags and her maximum was none.

"Of course! Given that this is your first date, we definitely need to prepare some appropriate attire for you. Let's go shopping after class tomorrow. Boutiques are located nearby." I had no choice but to concur. She was right; it would be the first time that I was going out, and hence I must prepare.

"Okay, I'm going to bed." I let her room and returned to mine. When I entered mine, I felt an odd chill inside once more. Since I slept in Pierre's condo, I'd always dialed up the temperature on my air conditioner. It was more comfortable, and it helped me to sleep comfortably.

It was Thursday already; Pierre and I had been planning this date for days but I still had nothing to wear.

The following morning, Iris and I awoke together. We had an early practice with the cheering team, which meant we had to leave early as well. Speaking of cheering teams, I could still remember what they did. To be precise, Nellie's cult doings. I wanted to make revenge, but I had something to prioritized. She should be thankful that my thoughts were preoccupied with what I was gonna wear on Pierre and my date. Additionally, I wouldn't be like them; I wouldn't seek vengeance by violence.

"Water break!" Iris shouted. We immediately proceeded to the benches. I unzipped my duffle bag and went in search for my tumbler.

"Where is it?" I asked irritably. Our water break was only 2 minutes, I didn't have much time to look for it any longer. I looked around, hoping my tumbler was just around the corners, but Nellie and her companions attracted my sight instead. They were all giggling as they stared at me.

They were unquestionably the ones who hid my tumbler.

Why are they hiding it? So I couldn't drink? Because they were aware that my body was frail and that if I didn't drink enough water, I might die suddenly?

This crazy woman.

"Here." I shifted my gaze to the side and saw Pierre holding a bottle of water. In the other hand, he had the tiny notebook he frequently carried around the school.

"What are you doing here? Are you going to speak with Iris?" I asked, confused. He should be strolling around the university during this time.

"Nope. Just wanna see you."

I ceased smiling and simply accepted the water he was carrying. I immediately drank it and then looked around. My gaze returned to Nellie, who was now frowning as she looked at us.

What were you looking at?

My lips curled into a faint smile as I cast a peek at Pierre. He fixed his gaze on me intently while I drank the water. He eventually tucked a strand of my hair behind my ear.

"Nellie did something to me because of you; she's staring at us right now, and I want my payback," I murmured softly after I drank. He cocked an eyebrow and cast a sidelong glance at Nellie.

"What did she do?"

"It's for girls only; are you a girl?" I asked cynically. He rolled his eyes and drew me in closer. He gripped my neck and pressed his lips close to my ear.

"Is this enough?"

I was sure it wasn't just Nellie who was shocked, because I, too, had not anticipated him doing so. Was he insane? He was undeniably near to me. If I were one of the gossips who were watching us today, I would believe he was kissing my ear. What I was hoping he'd do was fake a laugh to give the impression that we were happy here.

"What are you doing?" I gently pushed him and raised an eyebrow. I was sure it would quickly spread throughout the campus.

"Hey, your PDA is enough! Get back to practice!" Iris exclaimed. I no longer awaited Pierre's response and returned quickly to our formation. I even caught up with Nellie, who was making face because of what she saw.

"Girl, I had no idea Pierre was such a big time flirt. What the hell?" Iris asked incredulously.

"Neither do I; I didn't know your cousin is hiding his flirting skills."

The music had begun, and we were all rehearsing. I assumed Pierre had departed, but then noticed him seated on the bench next to my luggage, staring at me.

I averted my gaze swiftly out of embarrassment. Now that he was looking at me, it was as if I was no longer in the mood to dance. It felt embarrassing to dance when he was watching.

"Focus, Jenkins!" Iris exclaimed. In intense embarrassment, I bit my lip.

Gosh, this was what I'm saying!

I didn't look at Pierre again until the end of practice. When I returned to the bench, I noticed that he was not there anymore; perhaps he had left earlier.

Iris and I dressed in unison and exited the gym. We only parted ways when we were about to enter our own rooms. I immediately observed the peculiar way the women looked at me upon entering. What Pierre and I did at the gym must have rapidly spread. It was not as if we kissed or anything; it was just a whisper, but it looked like he was kissing me because of our closeness.

I sat in my seat silently. Pierre was already seated, silent and engaged in reading. Perhaps he was unconcerned that I was here because he had seen me already.

A glimpse of me was enough.

"Good morning. Please pass your homework." As soon as the teacher entered, that was the first thing she said. She was one of our terror teachers, that's why. Whenever she was teaching, the class was really quiet.

"Give me," I said, reaching behind my back and waited for Pierre to give me his paper. He gave it to me silently, he didn't even utter a single word.

The entire lesson went swimmingly. Our math teacher was terror. I was lucky because she was not saying anything about me or else, I would be humiliated daily. She was just very strict. In our math lesson, I always received a zero. I was always having a hard time understanding.

"That's your assignment for today," the last teacher who taught us today declared. My classmates almost shouted in annoyance because of the excessive number of assignments assigned by the teachers today. It was Friday, that's why. Their reason for this was that we had two days off, which meant we could absolutely do everything.

Pfft, my father used to tell me that weekends were for relaxing.

I slipped on my tiny backpack and was about to leave when my arm was suddenly seized. I glared at Pierre, who was looking at me intently.

"Why?"

"Don't worry about the assignments; I'll take care of them for you," he said. I raised my brows and crossed my arms.

"What do you mean?"

"I'll take care of it. You told me that you wouldn't go out with me if you have a lot of things to do, right? Don't worry about anything; I'll take care of them." I was about to say no when I remembered that Iris and I were leaving today to go shopping for my clothes. I quickly changed my mind.

"Are you sure?" He nodded.

"All right, then. I'll go home and get ready for our date tomorrow," I said. I lightly brushed his face with my thumb before I kissed his cheeks. I didn't wait for his response and left the classroom.

Iris was waiting for me outside. That was always expected. We didn't waste any more time and left the university. Iris got in her car and drove to the boutique she had mentioned the day before. I didn't know the address; all I knew was that we wouldn't have to travel to the city in order to get to the location.

"We've arrived," she announced as the car pulled up to a large shop with brown flowers on the side. The entire shop was surrounded by glass, which made the products on display clear to my sight.

Was this a vintage clothing store?

Iris and I went inside and browsed through the clothes. There were a variety of products on display, as if the sellers were aware that different types of customers were looking for different things.

"Here, try this," Iris said and handed me a brown tank top. Following that, she handed me a jeans that I believed were wide leg pants. The color was cream, which was a perfect partner for the brown tank top. She also gave me a pair of white rubber shoes.

Although I was skeptical at first, I eventually agreed and entered the fitting room. While I was trying the garments, I noticed that the color made my skin even whiter.

I walked out of the fitting room after wearing it all. I saw Iris sitting on one of the sofas, she was waiting for me. She was reading a magazine, it was obvious that it was for fashion since a lot of clothes were displayed on the cover.

"How do I look?" I asked and turned around. She was deafeningly quiet for a moment before she did a thumbs-up.

"This is fine with me. Let's go pay so we can leave. I wanna rest." She lowered the magazine she was holding and stared at me.

She looked at me as if I was the craziest person she knew. "Oh gosh. Are you sure you're okay with that? Three pieces, really? Geez, don't tell me you're saving money? A hundred thousand dollars for four months is a lot of money, and you don't even pay for your rent. Spend a lot of money while you're alive, Aurie. Or if you want me to pay for them, it's fine for me." She pointed to the clothes next to her that I had only just noticed. When I realized how many there were, my eyes expanded.

I was in shock. I simply walked into the fitting room, and that was how many she picked out right away? That fast?

"Why are there so many of them? It's just for a day."

There were even several sorts of shoes available to choose from. Moreover, it appeared that all of the clothes she chose were of a distinct style. Was this really for my date? Geez, I was not going to change my clothes every minute. This was too much.

"You know, Aurie, you won't know that Pierre might invite you on a date again. I told you, my anger isn't valid if you're in a relationship with Pierre. As long as you're happy, go! Don't save too much and buy it all! If you don't want to spend a lot, I'll pay." I blew air violently and looked at the clothes she had chosen again.

"I'm not saving, Iris. It's simply that's too much, even if we date three times a day, I won't be able to use it all," I reasoned out. She rolled her eyes and put down the magazine on the table.

"Screw it. If you're too lazy to try it on, don't bother. That's your size, so I'm confident it will fit. We'll just buy them all. If you don't want to, I'll simply buy them and give them to you as a gift for your advanced death anniversary.

She burst out laughing after she said that. I couldn't help but laugh along with her. Fortunately, I was not overly sensitive to these types of discussions. My death was constantly a source of amusement for us.

I didn't try every single one of them, as Iris mentioned. Everything, including the first clothes I tried, was paid for directly by us.

"I'll buy our drinks first. I'm thirsty as fuck," she said as soon as we got into her car. I just noticed that we were still dressed in our uniforms. We hadn't been able to change our clothes earlier because we had gone straight to the boutique.

Iris began driving to the milktea shop. It was right around the corner from our place.

"Two large okinawa, please," Iris requested, as she was the one who often do that thing.

"Here," Iris said as she handed the milktea to me before she drove away. We simply remained silent during the trip till we arrived at our house.

It was only five o'clock, but our entire house was already dark. I went to open the door, but Iris was the one who came in first. She had all the items that we bought earlier. I turned on all of the lights inside before I shut the door.

"Take that to your room, I'll change my clothes," Iris said as she handed me the shopping bags before she entered her room. I drank the milktea first and then went to mine.

"Gosh," I murmured as I sat on the bed with the paperbags. I went to the restroom to change my clothes, my uniform was already sweaty.

I wore a simple white dress; this was one of the clothes I brought with me when I ran away from home.

As with the shopping bags, I threw my body upon the bed. Despite that we didn't do much in the shop earlier, my body seemed to be exhausted.

My eyelids were about to close when my phone abruptly rang. I took it up casually and looked at the screen.

It was from Facetime.

Mr. Cardinal calling...

I sat down immediately upon seeing the caller's name. I knew that I looked ugly right now, but maybe he'd tell me something about our date, so I still answered it.

"Why?"

He was seated in a swivel chair and was wearing spectacles. He was dressed in a white shirt and his hair was slightly unkempt.

I was not sure how many times I'd mentioned it, but damn, he was really a hottie.

Iris infected me for admiring some men's beauty that much. I'd observed that I frequently expressed my admiration for Pierre's entire being. The only difference between Iris and me was that she didn't like men; she only admired their beauty.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"I'm about to fall asleep when you called." He leaned back on his chair and ruffled his hair softly.

"Should I hang up now, so you can sleep?"