Fate

"Hehe," Rose giggled as she hugged into Ryan's arm. "I'm glad you accepted it."

It was a hard battle but she won, standing her ground. She always liked giving presents so being able to buy something for Ryan made her visually happy.

"Hmm, I didn't have a choice," Ryan admitted, looking around the stores. "Do you need to buy anything for yourself?"

"Nothing in particular. Why?" Rose questioned, finding his random gazes suspicious. "Are you worried that we will stumble into Miss Lisa and her friend?"

"Actually, yes," Ryan confirmed, squeezing her hand and pulled her to the side corridor in between the stores. "I don't want them to know we date. Lisa is harmless but her friend, Jennie, is dangerous."

"Don't worry about me. Did you forget my father was in the army? He has a lot of connections. She would be in trouble if she did anything to me," Rose assured him, rubbing his cheek before catching onto his chin. "On the other hand, you should worry about yourself. When did you plan to tell me about them?"

Ryan didn't mind the question and replied calmly, "I wanted to tell you everything on our date later. There is much more that you still don't know…"

He took a deep breath while holding onto her hands and expressed softly, "I am still thinking about how I should tell you about it… A huge opportunity happened in my family and the only way for me to take part in it was having a girlfriend."

Rose's eyes widened in surprise so he quickly added, "I didn't think too much about it at first but when we met, you really wanted to help me so I agreed. I don't want you to think that I'm only with you because of this opportunity. I really like spending time with you. Even if we end up losing this chance, I want to still be your boyfriend. Longer than just a week..."

Ryan took off his sunglasses and stared at her sincerely, hoping to see some reaction from her but Rose seemed to be frozen.

"Are you okay?" Ryan asked confused, pinching her hand to wake her up.

Only then did Rose respond in a whisper, "I'm sorry, can you tell me one thing...? Does your opportunity involve taking over a company…?"

Hearing her question, it was Ryan's turn to get flabbergasted, not expecting her to ask so randomly and be so spot on. "Yes…? How did you know?"

"I'm speechless…" Rose muttered in disbelief. "Our meeting looks more than a coincidence now. Did someone plan for us to meet each other or was it really fate?"

"What are you talking about…?" Ryan got ultimately confused. "Didn't we meet randomly on the street?"

"What if I told you that I'm in the exact same situation as you?" Rose confessed, making both of them a bit spooked. "I also wanted to tell you about it later today. I was waiting for a good moment…"

"Are you serious...?" Ryan hesitated, knowing how huge this news was if it was true.

Wouldn't that mean that both of them got the chance to inherit a company?

"Yeah… In my case, I need a boyfriend so he can take over my grandpa's company…" Rose nodded uncertainly, patiently awaiting his reaction.

He was definitely as shocked as her and commented, weirded out, "And I need a girlfriend to take over my grandma company… How is this even possible?"

"A really big coincidence…?" Rose proposed, not really sure herself.

Ryan was about to agree when they heard two loud high-heel steps, coming from the inside of the hallway. They both turned around but they saw no one. The hallway was empty from the moment they entered it.

"We shouldn't talk about this in public," Rose announced, grabbing Ryan's hand firmly. "Can we find a place and talk about it privately? We still have some time until my next class."

Ryan didn't hesitate and quickly decided, pulling her towards the exit, "Let's go then."

As they left, the hallway was empty for a few seconds before someone stepped out from behind the pillar, two bright red high-heels showing from beneath a black cloak. The person stared at the exit with their face covered by the hood and pulled out a phone from the cloak's pocket.

Slender hands and well-done nails with bloody red color showed the person was a female. An alluring voice only confirmed her gender as she spoke when the phone call connected.

"Hello, daughter. Can I speak with you? I have some questions about your Ryan."

———

"Oof, we made it out safely," Ryan sighed in relief as soon as they left the mall. They were almost seen by Lisa and Jennie but escaped unnoticed.

"I think they wouldn't recognize you anyway," Rose commented, looking at his new stylish outfit. "Where are we going? A restaurant or a cafe?"

"Oh, you choose. I'm not really familiar with the place here," Ryan replied and Rose pulled him in a certain direction.

He didn't know if Rose was also contemplating what just happened but his thoughts were all over the place. If both of them had a similar situation at home, wouldn't that mean he would lead the company of Rose's Grandpa and she would take over his grandma's?

With such a situation, the chances of them being together, in the end, were really sky-high. He kept thinking about it and couldn't help but get happy. Wasn't it every man's dream to have a beautiful, smart and understanding wife whom he can enjoy the rest of his life?

What made him even more excited was Rose's reaction. She didn't seem like she was against it at all.

"Why are you grinning to yourself?" Rose asked curiously, squeezing his hand to gain his attention. "You look happy."

"Because I am," Ryan confirmed, pursing his lips. "I have such a beautiful girlfriend. Who wouldn't be happy?"

He infected her with his smile as she seemed to like his compliments and leaned on his arm as they walked. Rose didn't shy away and praised back, "And I have a handsome boyfriend."

She didn't let him speak and continued, "You know, maybe our meeting was really fated? I don't want to lie to you but since the moment I met you, I felt something strange about you."

"Strange?" Ryan repeated.

"Yeah… I told you about it already. From the moment I looked into your eyes, I had a feeling as if we knew each other since childhood. I don't think I would have talked to you otherwise…" Rose confessed, kicking pebbles off the sidewalk. "What's more… Something was attracting me to you. I don't know what. Some strange feelings. When I ran out of the house, my body seemed to know where to run and then I met you."

"Maybe we are soulmates?" Ryan teased, finding it indeed weird. He didn't think Rose was lying but he didn't have an explanation for what she felt.

To his surprise, she didn't reject him and wondered out loud, "Hmm… Maybe. I don't really know what it is. I still feel it even now. At first, I thought it was love at first sight but then I realized I felt it even before meeting you. Whenever I was sad, I had a small urge to jump out of the window and run in a certain direction."

He wanted to comment but he didn't disturb her, knowing she was not done talking.

She led him through the street and added when they reached the other side safely, "I naturally resisted it and I didn't pay attention to it at that time. Only now when I started thinking a lot did I recall those urges. Whenever I am close to you, this strange feeling is only getting stronger."

"Why are you only telling it to me now?" Ryan questioned. "If it happened for a while, you could tell me."

"I thought you would consider me crazy so I kept quiet until I confirmed my theory," Rose replied simply, looking in the distance with a gentle smile. "Now I'm pretty sure of it. You were the one I was getting attracted to all those years. I thought you should know this. After all, with our problems intertwining, the thing between us would become more serious each day…"

"So you also thought about the future…?" Ryan paused, placing his bags on the ground and turned Rose by the shoulders to face him.

Her face was slightly rosy but she didn't avert her eyes.

"Of course I did. I am not a kid anymore," Rose nodded bravely but her body couldn't lie. She nervously rubbed the top of his hands as if to find something to distract her troubled thoughts.

She waited for a pedestrian to walk past them before asking, "Isn't it pretty obvious that in the end, we would have to marry the person that we choose?"

"Yeah… It is," Ryan agreed, already thinking about it for a while.

He knew that the whole time but didn't know how Rose would react when she learned about it. Turned out he worried for nothing.

Ryan was about to ask her a really important question when his phone started buzzing inside his pocket, playing a chill piano music.

"You should pick it up. It might be your mother," Rose suggested, releasing one of his hands. "I'm not leaving anywhere."

"Okay, give me one second," Ryan agreed, both of them taking this opportunity to breathe out the tension and pulled out his phone. The caller turned out to be, indeed, his mom.

"Answer it," Rose encouraged with a smile.

He accepted the call and before he could even say anything, his mother called out happily.

"Ryan! Your Grandma called to ask about you!"

______________

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