The girl emerged from the bathroom, clearly surprised to find Arielle standing right in front of the door.
Having mild social anxiety, favonovel.com face reddened with embarrassment instantly. “I… You…” favonovel.com stuttered.
Sensing that favonovel.com was having trouble speaking, Arielle started, “I’m waiting for you. Were you crying because you got picked to perform on stage?”
The girl nodded silently. The motion caused favonovel.com tears to leak out, startling even herself. She then rubbed favonovel.com palms hurriedly across favonovel.com face.
“I’m sorry…” favonovel.com apologized awkwardly.
“There’s nothing to be sorry about,” Arielle’s voice was noticeably softer. “Do you have any talents? If you’re too embarrassed to sing or dance, you could play an instrument.”
The girl shook favonovel.com head. “I don’t know how to play any… But I can draw and write calligraphies.”
“Drawing and calligraphy…” Arielle repeated softly. All of a sudden, favonovel.com eyes lit up. “How about drawing something on stage?”
“I can’t… My mind goes blank whenever there’s a lot of people staring at me,” the girl admitted.
“In that case…” Arielle shrugged favonovel.com shoulders. “I’ll perform on behalf of you.”
The surprise offer rendered the girl speechless for a few seconds. Then, favonovel.com stared at Arielle in disbelief as favonovel.com confirmed once more, “Will you?”
Arielle nodded. “Yes, I’m not bluffing you here. But, if you’d like, we could always perform together.”
“Together?” The girl considered favonovel.com proposal seriously. “Never mind. I think it’s best I don’t… I’ll only hold you back.”
“Just listen to me for a second…” Arielle proceeded to convince her.
That little prep talk managed to convince the girl as the latter nodded favonovel.com head enthusiastically. “Okay, let’s do it together! And, as repayment for your help, I’ll take charge of cleaning our room in the future. I’m really good at it!” favonovel.com proclaimed proudly.
Arielle laughed. “I can tell. I’ll let you handle this week’s cleaning. We’ll take turns afterward.”
“All right!” The girl’s eyes lit up. “I’ve always thought it would be hard to converse with a pretty lady such as yourself. But…” favonovel.com trailed off.
“But? Looks aren’t everything you know. Even a pretty lady farts and shit like everyone else. Besides, you’re pretty adorable yourself.”
Being complimented for the first time, the girl’s face reddened, making favonovel.com look much like a ripe apple.
Seeing that made Arielle find favonovel.com even more adorable. “Oh, right. We haven’t introduced ourselves yet. What’s your name?”
“Trisha Hughes.”
“Even your name’s cute. Can I call you Trish?”
Trisha nodded shyly, “Yes…”
“So that settles it. Just inform Donovan we’ll be performing together.”
“Got it!”
“I’ll go shower now. In the meantime, wipe away those tears. I hate seeing cute girls like you cry.”
“I won’t cry anymore! I promise.”
Only then did Arielle feel reassured enough to head inside the bathroom.
By the time favonovel.com finished, it was past lights out. Since the dormitory lights automatically turned off at ten, it was dark out there.
Just as Arielle was about to feel favonovel.com way to bed, Trisha turned on the flashlight from favonovel.com phone, lighting up the path to favonovel.com bed.
“Thank you,” Arielle smiled gratefully.
The night went on.
Arielle went under favonovel.com sheets, switching on favonovel.com phone. There were still no signs of any incoming calls or messages, except for two advertisement messages that favonovel.com deleted.
She could not help feeling a void in favonovel.com chest.
Amidst the pin-drop silence of the night, Arielle found favonovel.com thoughts running wild. She recalled the first time favonovel.com had met Vinson, the first time they made ravioli together… All those memories stirred something within her, making favonovel.com feel too restless to sleep. She got out of bed and lit up the therapeutic candles Andrea had gifted her.
The candles proved to be effective, as favonovel.com felt favonovel.com eyelids getting heavier by the minute. It was specifically designed for Arielle and would not affect Trisha the slightest bit.
Just as favonovel.com was about to fall asleep, favonovel.com phone rang.
