Chapter 6

"Ahm..." Shin fixed his eyeglasses and looked away. "Hi, Rowie-san. I-I doubt that you knew me but in case you don't really know me, I'm Shintaro Yamazaki." He smiled. Rowie remained unmoving. She stared at him, still didn't know what to say.

Shin's smile faltered. He became conscious as she stared at him. "Ahm... what? Ah!" He handed her the ticket that he had been holding since a while ago. "I was just wondering if you want to go watch the movie tomorrow?" he asked hesitantly.

She looked down and a little smile appeared on her face. She bit her lower lip to prevent herself from smiling. What should she do? Her crush just asked her out on a date -- if you would call this a date. But for her, it was indeed a date.

It's not bad to assume, right?

Instead of agreeing, she chose to play a little hard-to-get. She crossed her arms on her chest and raised an eyebrow at him. "Why should I? Give me one reason on why I should go on a date with you."

He opened his mouth to say, it is not a date. But he shook his head to prevent on saying that. He glanced around to find an answer. And the deity must be on his side because he saw his best friend, Kazu, waving a paper on him saying, tell her you like her.

Shin shook his head again and closed his eyes. That was ridiculous! He didn't have any guts to say that to her that she barely knew him. "Are you okay?" His eyes shut open when she spoke in front of him.

"I like you." He said without even thinking. Their eyes rounded, both shocked on the statement. "I-I mean, no... what I mean is -"

"It's okay. I got that a lot. I mean, saying they liked or loved me but didn't really mean it," like my Dad. She swallowed the lump on her throat and tried to smile.

He saw the sadness on her eyes that's why he said something that he didn't thought about again. "It's true. I do really like you."

They stared at each other for like an hour but in fact, it was just seconds. Both of them looked away at the same time when they noticed they were staring for too long. Rowie picked the ticket slowly, not sure if she would go or not.

"I think it's already a good enough reason for me to say yes?" Rowie asked more like to herself. It was not like they were really going on a date or something. They were just going to watch a movie together, nothing more.

Shin smiled widely. He seemed happier than before. It's like winning a lottery when you didn't even signed up for it. "See you at the movie house, then."

"Sure." Rowie smiled.

Shin ambled towards Kazu who was smiling widely at his friend. He gave him a high five and smacked his head. Rowie didn't bother hiding her smile anymore. She was just too happy to prevent it from coming out.

This was the first time someone asked her on a movie together. Could anyone blame her? She's not a head-turner nor attractive to even date anyone. Going out with a guy was the least thing she ever dreamed about.

She skipped towards the gymnasium. She's on the mood right now to not even miss a single shot today. Her last day in school turned out fine and it turned total ecstatic when Shin approached her. There's nothing more she could ask for.

She shot it in the hook like a pro. She's smiling alone like an idiot. Sweat was all over her when she stopped, sat at the corner and drunk her water. It was four thirty when she decided to stand up and wrapped up the place.

The sun was almost setting when she went outside. The guards were almost on their way home. She greeted them all a happy Christmas with a smile. Her phone vibrated and saw her Mom calling. The smile on her face vanished and replaced it with a worried expression.

She immediately answered. "Hello?"

She heard her little sister's cry which made her more worried. Raven sniffed before answering, "He's here, big sis. He was asking for money or else he'll break everything inside our house."

Rowie cursed in her mind. "Wait for me. I'm on my way!" She almost screamed.

She rushed outside the waiting area. Good thing that the bus was already there. Shin called for her before entering the bus but she didn't seem to hear him. He shrugged his shoulder but when he saw the worried look on her face, he couldn't help but wonder.

It was five years since then. Her Dad was fired on his last job because of getting drunk over and over again. When he couldn't find any other job anymore, he blamed his wife and daughters. He would even hurt his wife for not being able to walk. Rowie would just shield her Mom with her own body because she couldn't say anything.

It was cruel but she couldn't do anything. Her Mom wanted them to ignore him because he was just upset. Rowie didn't agree, though. She wanted to place her Dad behind bars but she couldn't. Her Mom loved the bastard so much.

She stared outside the bus' window. There she realized that she couldn't really have a perfect life. There's no such thing as perfect. It was just an illusion. She couldn't be happy. She couldn't continue what was about to start when she knew that her family was suffering. She needed to wake up from this dream and faced reality.

She must know from the start that love would only be possible on books. They could only ask for a motherly love or sisterly love. A love from the opposite sex was impossible for her seeing her case right now. She needed to help her Mom first.

"I'm sorry," Rowie mumbled after wiping a tear that came out of her eyes.