Gale

Amidst the crowd walking on the brightly lit and glitzy streets of L.A. was a lonely figure of a girl.

She had her hood on that covered her dark hair with a tinge of ash pink color on one part.

Her eyes were swollen red and her make up was a mess. No one would ever think that this miserable girl was none other than the celebrity, Gale Sanderson herself.

She had cried for who knows how long since she caught her boyfriend banging a rising starlet in her own condo and on her own bed, for goodness' sake!

As she kept on wandering along the boulevard, she shivered when the cold December breeze blew past her.

"Ugh... what the hell? It's cold." she muttered as she grimaced. "I think I shouldn't have run off..."

"Shit!" she loudly cursed upon realizing something important, causing the people near her to momentarily glance at her.

"Why am I the one who left? It was my place! Those mother fuckers should be the ones to leave!" she mumbled between her gritted teeth.

Gale was always calm and all smiles most of the time, but when she gets stressed out, her mouth would start spouting vulgarities-- a trait that only a few people know.

She absent-mindedly stared at the path in front with such unmotivated look and dead-fish eyes.

Around her were blinding lights, glittering and flickering together with a merry sound of the upcoming holidays.

Besides the flashy and fancy decorations, there were also a lot of happy couples in almost every angle that she'd look.

"Tch. Treating this like it was valentines... Damn you all!"

As her cheating boyfriend's face flashed through her head, she felt her eyes warming again. She sniffed and rubbed her sleeves on her nose like a lost child crying on a street packed with strangers. she almost felt like she's on a scene from a movie where the aerial shot shows the sad heroine pouring out her sorrows while blurring out or fast-forwarding the surrounding people. "What a crappy motherfucker..."

And as she was wiping her tears off, she got bumped by someone.

A perfect encounter indeed.

However, this is reality. Rather than bumped, it was more appropriate to describe it as being tackled for she literally fell flat on the pavement, and no one had saved her from doing so.

"Fuck it! Are you blind?!" she yelled and looked back only to find that the guy who caused her to fall didn't even look back.

"Asshole!"

---

"Ah~ this is the worst... I can't do this anymore..." Gale grumbled as she finishes off her fifth glass of whiskey. "I can't take any more bullshit today."

Her alcohol tolerance was never high. Therefore, a few shots made her drunk and her head was fuzzy.

"Hey, another glass," she ordered and the bartender obliged.

'Pak!'

Although the music at that night club was loud, a faint slapping sound was heard on her right side.

When she turned her head, although the lights are dim and she had a blurry vision, Gale discerned that a man was casually sitting on the stool one seat apart from her and in front of him is a beautiful woman who looked like she's going to shed tears anytime soon.

"I thought... I thought you love me..."

In contrast to the emotional woman, the man's expression was impassive like he couldn't care less about anything and asked. "Did I ever tell you so?"

Hearing that question, the woman bit her lower lip and tears fell on her cheeks. "You're the worst!"

After that, the girl left in a hurry but the man in the suit only smirked and turned towards the bar.

As if he felt that he was being observed, the man glanced at Gale's direction just to see an unkempt girl glaring at him. This caused him to raise an eyebrow. "What?"

Rolling her eyes, Gale cursed yet again. "Fuck. Guys should just fuck off and die."

Instead of getting angry, the guy chuckled unexpectedly. "Hey, that was mean, you know?"

"A mean person like you doesn't have a right to call another person as mean." she retorted.

"I'm not mean. I'm just honest." he corrected as he gently shook his glass of wine. "I really didn't tell her that I love her."

"Don't talk to me." she harrumphed before she drank another shot. "You prick."

"You talked to me first." he reminded her.

"I'm going to stop talking to you now."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"Oh. You answered." he pointed out with a smug look on his face.

Gale shot him a dirty look. "You're annoying."

"I thought you won't talk to me anymore?"

She glowered at him. "The hell's wrong with this guy?! He's too infuriating!"

"Fuck you." she answered without looking at him, showing him that she had already lost interest.

"You've got a dirty mouth right there, huh?" he commented while sipping on his wine, his eyes never leaving her.

Gale had decided to ignore the guy and didn't answer.

"You also seemed to hate guys and was too affected earlier." he continued, not minding that Gale had ignored him. "Are you perhaps... cheated on?"

"Cough! Cough! Cough!" Gale choked on her drink when the guy hit her sore spot.

"I'm right?" he looked genuinely surprised. "No wonder you look like that."

"Wha? What do you mean?"

"Oh. You talked to me again." the guy told her with amusement.

Gale threw him a menacing look. She could feel her veins popping up on her forehead while this guy was smiling at her.

"It was because of the shitty liars like you that women had to suffer from heartaches!" She knew that this guy was clearly toying with her but still, maybe because she's at her limit, she decided to just rant.

"Hey, I told you, didn't I? I'm an honest person."

"You telling me those words is evidence that you're a liar."

"Hahaha! What's up with that messed up logic?"

"Don't laugh! I'm serious!"

"You're interesting."

"Your interest sure is weird."

"So you're telling me you're weird?"

"Am not!"

"Then my interest isn't weird."

Gale glanced up to the face that was still unclear and smiled.

"What the hell? This is so messed up. There's nothing to say but nonsense." she laughed.

The guy beside her stared at her for a moment and chuckled. "Sometimes, nonsensical conversations can cure loneliness."

"...yeah." she whispered.

"So... you're lonely?"

"U-hm." she replied as she placed her head on the table while still looking at him.

"My date had ditched me too," he stated in a matter-of-fact tone.

"That was your fault."

"She was just clingy."

"I got dumped because I wasn't clingy enough."

"Want to ease that loneliness?"

"Should I?"

"Will you accompany me?"

"...'kay."

---

"What am I doing?" Gale asked herself while she was standing in front of the night club entrance while she waits for the guy who went to get his car.

After getting drunk and suddenly talking to a stranger, she ended up agreeing to have a one night stand.

It was a ridiculous outcome. She had been a virgin for 24 years just to be laid by a complete stranger.

"Ah... I don't even know his name yet..." she laughed dryly and slapped her forehead for her own stupidity. "Should I ditch him, then?"

She was pondering about it when she got 'tackled' yet again, making her take a few steps back and land on her butt.

Her head throbbed and she felt weak.

Her hand got a hold onto a table and she used it to stand herself up.

When she looked, a black woman with golden eyes was staring at her with a smile.

Although she had a bizarre appearance, Gale paid it no mind since she's used to street performers with different gimmicks to attract customers.

"Hello." the woman greeted her.

"H-Hi." she replied out of habit.

"Waiting for someone?"

"...I guess..."

"You looked troubled."

"I..."

"Here." the woman gave her a small red bracelet with a small round gem with golden patterns of phoenix inscribed on it.

"I'm not buy--"

"It's not for sale." the woman spoke and with a kind look, she placed it on her hand. "This kid chose you so, please take care of it."

Gale stared at the charmed ornament and found it pleasing to the eye but she still intended to return it.

"I'm sorry but I can't..." Gale's eyes widened in disbelief.

It's because the woman who was just in front of her was gone and the place where her table stood got replaced by a wall.

"Wha... What the hell?" to her shock, she took a step back.

In doing so, she bumped into someone.

'The heck?! This is the third time!'

However, this time, she's not the one who fell.

It was a guy who was walking along the pavement.

He fell but the place where he was doesn't have a railing so when he fell, it was straight to the roadway.

And like a movie, a truck was fast approaching.

Without thinking much, she ran and pulled the guy off the road but then, she suddenly felt an impact on her shoulders.

Before long, she could only feel pain and dizziness...