บท 3: Captivated By His Red Eyes

A few years later.

"Shit— Ah, I'm sorry!" A woman shouted in panic as she turned her direction from left to right, trying to stop those reckless cars from bumping into her. She was even waving her hand at them, trying to tell them to stop driving for a while since she needed to cross the streets.

Louisanna knew this wasn't the best option since she could go to jail because of this, but this might be the only choice she could risk. She was five minutes late for her first class, and the professor wasn't even considerate enough to let her in even though she was not there yet. For nursing students like her, time is gold and shouldn't be taken for granted.

"What the hell! Do you want to die?" A man in his 40s let his head out of the car's window as he shouted. "Get lost!"

The man looked annoyed as his eyebrows furrowed, and it looked like he was ready to drag her down anytime. Louisanna couldn't move her body at the moment as she was consumed by her fear, but still, she was able to move her eyes as she stared at the people looking at him, particularly car drivers.

She's creating a scene, and she's fully aware of it.

"I'm sorry— fuck! Don't drive carelessly!"

Louisanna couldn't help but curse one of the car drivers who almost hit her by driving too fast to the point she was almost bumped by it. She clenched her fists as her breathing became ragged. Why was she here, anyway? She shouldn't have put herself in this kind of danger in the first place!

"You should tell that to yourself, woman!" she heard the driver shout back at her.

People were pressing their horns hard as they were staring at her. That's her cue to run as fast as she can so she can cross the long road. She even almost stumbled onto the floor as she tripped on one of the small rocks on the road. Louisanna, being a good and concerned citizen, even had the time to pick the rock from the ground, and take it with her as she finally reached the end of the intersection.

"I'm sorry!" That's the last apology she had said before running onto the school that was a near distance from her position.

It's her alarm clock's fault. If it only rang at the right time, she shouldn't be running right now, panicking a bit as their professor for their first subject was quite a terror and strict. She even felt the hairs on her skin shivering as she remembers the last time when someone was kicked out of the room for the same reason— being late.

Would she have the same outcome? She'll find out soon.

"Ah, I made it…"

Louisanna sighed in relief as she saw that only her classmates were in the room as she went inside. Based on what her classmates are doing, it looks like the class hasn't started yet. Some of her classmates were even using their cell phones and chit-chatting with their seatmates.

Feeling tired and exhausted, she immediately went onto her seat as Gianna, her seatmate and best friend, gave her some wet wipes and a bottle of water for her to drink.

"Thank you, Gia," she said as she breathed heavily before taking what Gianna handed to her.

She's just so lucky to have a friend who helps her with initiative.

"Anything for you, dear," Gia answered back as she leaned her body towards her. "But that was so close! Why are you late?" she even added to ask.

"My phone was set to alarm at four p.m. It should be a.m." Louisanna leaned onto the chair as she stared at the ceiling. "I was so dead tired yesterday I couldn't even notice that crucial mistake I made."

She placed her hand on her forehead to massage it. She didn't even have enough sleep yesterday. Being a working student was so hard to balance, not to mention that she needed to go to the hospital to visit her mom. She's been hospitalized for a long time, which is the reason why she needed to take those extra hours to work, so she could afford all of the hospital bills and her college expenses.

"My girl..." Gia held her head and caressed it a bit.

She closed her eyes as she felt something warm Gianna smeared onto her forehead. When she opened her right eye to look at her best friend, she noticed that she was placing an oil to help her ease the pain a bit.

"Your body couldn't cope with the things you need to do every day." Concern was evident in her voice. "I told you, you can stop studying for now and just continue when you have enough time."

Her mother told the opposite when she visited her in the hospital before. Her mother wanted to be discharged from the hospital. She told her she was dying, and the cancer cells scattered so much on her body. Even the doctors say that they can prolong her mother's life, but not fully cure it.

She can't accept that fact. They're not a God to say that there is no hope for her mother to live longer than they expected. If she needs to sell her soul to the Devil, she'll gladly do it to save her mother.

"I don't have enough time, Gia. They always said that time is infinite and merely a concept, but I always feel that I'm running out of it."

Maybe it's because of her situation. If she'll be able to achieve her plan to be a doctor, she might find a cure and save her mom herself. She still believes in miracles. No matter how hard her life will be, and how long the path she needs to take, she believes that she can make it.

"Louisanna... You're not running out of time. You're just passing through it," Gianna whispered to her ear in a low tone, but enough for her to hear. "Think about it."

In a split second, Louisanna opened her eyes and in her amusement, the headache she felt earlier suddenly vanished. It feels like she's a new person. Her breathing went back to normal like she didn't run earlier. It was a weird feeling, but at the same time, she was glad because she didn't feel weak anymore.

"What you do mean—"

She wasn't able to finish her sentence as their professor, with her usual grumpy face and intimidating voice, entered the room and she slammed her hand onto the professor's table. This wasn't good. If she didn't make it to the class in time, she knows what's gonna happen.

"Get a one-whole sheet of paper and stop chit-chatting with your seatmate."

Louisanna sighed as she pulled a one-whole sheet of paper out of her bag. Gianna, even though it doesn't show much, was nervous because she didn't review her notes last night… because she didn't even have one.

With that, her tiring day begins.

"You literally passed out after our classes," Gianna said while watching Louisanna stretch her arms as soon as she woke up.

After their third class in the afternoon which took three hours of their time, Louisanna went onto the mini-park inside their school, lay down on one of the benches to rest for a minute, and told herself that she'll have just a nap. But the minutes became hours… and little did she know, it was almost five o'clock.

Her night job starts at seven o'clock, and she still needs to do some errands before going to work.

"Are you sure you can make it to your job? Resting is also productive, don't forget that," Gianna reminded her for the second time as her heart slightly aches for the girl. All she can do for now is to watch over her and support her in her dreams.

That's her job as her best friend, after all.

"I can, and I should. Working is exhausting, but the stress is threefold when I don't have money to pay my expenses," Louisanna explained as she stood up, cracking her neck for a bit. "Don't worry about me. I'm a strong, independent woman."

She even laughed as she said that. Gianna just rolled her eyes at her jokingly as she shook her head. Louisanna is a hard-headed woman. No matter how much she reminds her to take some rest for a while, she won't even listen.

After that, Louisanna ran to her locker as she needed to place some of her books in it. As she went on her afternoon errands before calling a taxi, she felt goosebumps on her body as she felt someone was watching her from afar.

'It's because I'm tired. This hallucination is unusual,' she told herself as she shook her head before opening the car door of the taxi that stopped in front of her.

"On Anderson bar, please," she told the taxi driver. He nodded before starting the car.

It took her almost an hour before she reached the place. The traffic was so unusual, and it felt like there was something on her day. Something bad was happening to her from the moment she woke up to the day she went to work. Gladly, she's still surviving.

"Good evening, everyone!" She greeted her co-workers.

"Hey, Louisanna!" Ella, one of the waitresses in the bar, greeted her back. "You're liking this shift?"

"No, honestly..." she answered as she placed her bag in the locker. She quickly went into the comfort room near her and she quickly changed her clothes. She needs to be quick so she can help the others prepare the place. "If I have a choice, I'll choose the morning shift again."

"Oh, it's because of your classes." When she went outside of the comfort room, Ella gave her a thumbs up and even winked after that. "Your hard work will pay off soon."

"May your sentence be true in Angel's name." Louisanna smiled back at her. She looked at the edge of the bar, and saw Clark, their boss, drinking whiskey while staring at the people who entered his bar.

"By the way, was Sir Clark always alone?" she asked Ella who was already standing beside her.

Ella nodded. "Yes. Why do you ask?"

"It just feels... weird," Louisanna muttered as she remembered someone who loved to go to this place before. "Didn't he have a best friend?"

"No, he only has himself," Ella answered without hesitation.

That guy was always with Clark every time she had her shift. She couldn't remember his face, but she can remember how arrogant that guy was, playing with every girl's life.

As soon as she tried hard to remember the things playing with her mind, her eyes widened as she saw two pairs of eyes at the corner of the place, where no one was around, and where darkness was evident.

But instead of being scared of it, she found herself smiling… as she finds herself being captivated by his red eyes.