PREPARATIONS (1)

< Athaire Starlight Hotel

UTC+2 0910 AM SAT

Room 700 >

The door fell into place, and a signal tone sounded to confirm its closure. Lightly, One Shot leaned back until his shoulder blades touched the cool door. His now empty room greeted him with complete silence. The smile that had been stuck like glue to his face sunk away as if gravity pulled him down. Damn. There it was again. The emptiness. Only a few steps to take him inside, but each one felt heavier than the next as if he was dragging weights around.

He stopped shot, perked up, and took a step back, staring at a space on the counter, craning his neck and staring at something that wasn't there before: A note left next to a business card. Curious, he reached for the business card.

"Angelica Storm," he read the name aloud, but ever so slowly as if he wanted to savor its taste of sweetness. The smile was back. Moonstepping back into his room, his foot hit the edge of the bed and he tumbled down on it, holding up the business card above his face with stretched out arms. Soon. Soon, he would see her again. He couldn't help himself. He let his arm drop and closed his eyes as his lips briefly touched the surface of the card before rolling around and staring at the card again. He knew he was behaving irrationally. Completely like a lovesick fool. How could anyone fall for someone they never met before?

Angy, Angy, Angy. It was all Jenny ever talked about ever since she entered college. In almost every single of his daily voice message, that she left him, she went on and on about how cool, how mysterious, aloof, self-confident, and amazing this other student was. One Shot wasn't interested at first, but the stories kept piling up, day after day, voice message after voice message. Angy. The one Jenny came to admire like an Idol and wanted to get closer to at any cost. And she succeeded. Eventually, they moved in the same room in the dorms, not out of a coincidence of course, but on Jenny's request to the dorm management. Jenny became close to a stalker in his mind and took the same classes and joined the same calligraphy club. Angy seemed like one wanting to mind her own business and cut out everyone else, but eventually, Angy came around, opening up to Jenny, helping her out for assignments, for advice, and literally, for protection. Jenny's descriptions made Angy into a knight in shining armor, a hero of sorts. Someone Jenny admired and wanted to become. It was nothing more than curiosity at first. Hearing stories was one thing, but at some point, he started wondering what she looked like. Her behavior was novel, she had no problem standing out. And he began wondering what she was thinking. What motivated her. And at some point, he was stuck listening to Jenny's reports over and over again, becoming disappointed when she for once wasn't mentioning Angy, but Joff instead. Joff, the model student, always all As. And so polite and handsome. Blah, blah. He couldn't give a damn, but it worried him. Because he knew his sister. She was falling for Joff. And the voice message she left next was not in her usual cheerful tone, but one in pain. Joff and Angel had gotten together. Why hadn't she confessed before? Now it was too late. She would never do anything to hurt Angy. Regret, yes, but also a certain stubbornness made her sound both sad but determined.

And now, Jenny had it all. Joff, whom she had always had a crush on. But the price? Her friendship with Angy should have been broken forever. Now, he wasn't sure what was going to happen between the two. Because of him, Angy would have to attend the wedding and she was probably having mixed feelings about it all. He couldn't blame her. Jenny was sweet and caring, and he loved her as his sister, but she could sometimes be a bit selfish. Though he had no right to interfere in either of their lives. He had hardly played a part in any of it.

Now the business card seemed like a wall, a formality built up between him and Angel. Angelica. Angy. Whatever she wanted to call herself. But today was a chance, his first and probably only one to get to know her. And he would be damned if he wasted this chance. He pushed himself off the covers. It was time to prepare for a wedding. And a birthday.