A week later, I finish my exams. I slither through the crowd of students leaving campus keeping an eye out for a tall, brown haired man. Ever since that party, I do not want to meet Kystan. What can I say after kissing him and bolting? Thank god Jade was there to take me home, albeit while laughing at me.

My body crashes into someone else. I look at the person with dread. Let it not be him; I beg mentally. Luckily, it's Asher.

"I am so sorry." He apologizes as he takes a step back. The light overhead cast part of his face in shadow but does not hide the tiredness in his eyes.

I look behind him to see if no one else is coming. No one is. "It's cool." I right my crutches.

"Have you talked to Jade recently?" As her boyfriend, I don't think he should be asking me that.

"Is something wrong?" I easily assume the worst and gauge him defensively. If he did something to Jade, I will-

"No. She has been looking for you." The way he looks at me with pity, I am certain it is bad.

"Oh. Let me hurry then." I bid him farewell and continue down the hallway. I chance a glance backwards, only to see him standing with Kystan. I turn around quickly before he sees me looking.

The apartment is stark and cold the moment I walk in. I can already see the bad news rolling off the walls like wallpaper. Jade is not in her room. I start looking for her in every room. I find Jade standing at the kitchen sink. She is gazing into space with a far off look with tears trickling down her cheek. In her left hand she is holding a glass half-full with water. Judging by the angle she is holding it at, it is the last thing on her mind and it might tumble any second.

I start by taking away the glass. As I take it out of her hand, her eyes leave their stellar location and refocus on the earth. She wipes her tears away so fast; she looks embarrassed that I saw her crying.

"I didn't see you there." She laughs nervously. She circles the counter and makes a beeline for the exit.

"Are you alright?" I ask with concern.

"Yeah." She answers then hurries out of the door. I seek to follow her but reason that she might be in need of some alone time, so I let her have it.

Fuck alone time, it has been fifteen minutes since Jade went to her room and I haven't stopped pacing. The entire time I've been hearing sniffles coming from her room and I am fed up not knowing what's up.

I open her door as softly as I can so as not to alarm her. The room is cast in darkness except for the street light coming through the open window. Jade is lying on the bed with her head on the pillow. I sit by her side and pat her hair. She looks up from the pillow and I witness her splotchy eyes and the rivulets of mascara flowing down her face. She hugs me and I try to give her as much comfort as I can. As her tears dry up, the mascara sticks to her face. I untangle myself from the embrace and go search for makeup remover from her bathroom. The normal Jade would definitely not like to see herself that way, in a way I am doing her a favor.

I wipe off her make up for her then help her get comfortable in bed. Upon her request I go and get her a tub of ice cream, the only comforter better than I'll ever be. I sit beside her to keep her company.

After she has taken a satisfactory number of scoops, I start on the main reason I am here. "Forgive my bluntness but in the past couple of days I have felt this odd feeling that there is something you are not telling me and... I just don't like it. And seeing you crying today, it confirms it." A thought strikes me just then, "Does Asher have anything to do with it?" If it does, that boy may be losing some of his vital organs soon.

She looks surprised by this, "No, he is just great." She says with a smile. I am relieved to hear that. You're off the hook Asher. Her smile doesn't last long though. Her sad expression returns like a poltergeist intent on getting vengeance.

"I think you should move out." Jade mumbles, I almost don't hear her.

I am caught off guard. "Why?" Her face is downcast, I don't know whether I did something wrong or.

"When I was born," she starts to narrate as I listen with confusion. "my heart was weaker than the average heart. I had to spend almost a year in postnatal care before I could go home. So my parents were worried and kept me away from any triggering situations." I don't know where this is going. "But after I broke your leg, I had some discomfort in my chest and I experienced shortness of breath for some time." I am horrified by that information. Why didn't she tell me? "I went to my cardiologist, and she advised me to separate myself from any uncertain situations. The bottom line is, she advised me to separate from you."

I don't know what to say; for one, I am shocked to find out about Jade's conditions. I would have pegged her to be the healthiest human I know. I can't even feel bad for myself at all. Her life is on the line and I'll have to do whatever I can to protect my bestfriend. I don't know what I am going to do and where on earth I am finding a place with the prices skyrocketing because of the summer season, but I'll do anything.

All I can say is: "I understand." She hugs me, uttering endless apologies.

"Don't apologize." I tell her for the hundredth time. "Pass me the ice cream." She lets go of me and hands me the tub of chocolate relief. Tomorrow will be a stressful day but tonight I'll watch The IT crowd with my bestfriend and pretend that I am not literally homeless.

The next morning, I wake up feeling queasy. All the ice cream I had last night is making my stomach upset. More so, today is the first day of my internship at Abercrombie and Fitch. For my outfit, I choose a steel blue silk blouse, and a black pair of loose dress pants. First impressions matter.

I leave the house with forty minutes to spare. A thirty minute taxi ride leaves me standing in front of a large opulent house in the middle of a busy London street. On the ground floor is a display store. I pass through there and find an elevator at the back of the shop that leads me to the second floor, the main lobby.

I approach the reception desk to ask for directions. A middle aged lady smiles at me from behind the counter. "How can I help you darling?" her infectious smile brings out one of my own making me feel at ease.

"I am here for an internship." That has her scrambling out of her chair. She picks up something from her desk and comes to my side.

"Right this way." She leads me to the elevator and presses the up button. "So what is your name?" even while making small tall she doesn't stop smiling.

"Liza Murray ma'am." I reply.

"Stop with the politeness. We are going to see a lot of each other from now on, it's better to be casual. Okay?" The elevator door opens and we step inside. She presses for the third floor. "I am Amanda, and you'll be working with Cynthia this summer. You'll like her. She is a really nice girl." Amanda strikes me and the talkative type.

We arrive at a very busy and loud floor. People are milling about carrying fabrics, papers, talking to each other; it is extremely chaotic up here. "You'll find Cynthia at the end of this corridor. I have some errands to run up here."

"Um, what does she look like?" I ask before Amanda turns and leaves in the opposite direction.

"Silly me." She laughs good naturedly at her mistake, "You'll see a dark skinned, slim lady. She's wearing a beige turtleneck today." Nothing misses this woman. It's troubling.

"Thank you." I reply unsurely. She takes a detour and leaves me standing in foreign territory alone. I take a deep breath before making my first step into the A&F design department. I follow Amanda's instructions and sure enough see Cynthia at the furthest and arguably the largest work table in the room. I am surprised by how young she looks, she can easily be my age.

"Hello." I greet while barging into a conversation she was having. Her attention turns to me and I catch a glance of sharp brown eyes. She looks like a woman on a mission. I shouldn't have interrupted.

Her face breaks into a smile. "You're here." She dismisses her previous interlocutor and focuses on me. She offers her hand for me to shake which I do hesitantly. "You'll be working with me from today. I hope to make this fun for you and be chill. You know?" She says so fast, I am not sure I heard everything she said, but I nod.

"Great. I am happy to be here." I reply stiffly.

"Loosen up girl. We are here to have fun. And earn some cash." she adds with a wink. I chuckle. "There you go." she shows me to my station where I'll be working with her. In no time I am settled in.

"Do you have a boyfriend?" Cynthia leans in and asks.

Caught off guard, I stammer while answering. "N-no."

"How so? You're too pretty to be single." she exclaims with surprise. "No worries though. You are in for a remorseless treat." She winks mischievously.

"What do you mean?" God, I sound so green.

"Eye candy. The models here- Damn." An excited smile comes onto my face. "There are so many models, it's never tiring."

I am pulled into her story, I start acting casual around her, "Is there a favorite for you?" I ask her. I am surprised to see her flustered. Is this a crush alert?

"There are these three guys, they are like the face of our branch, they appear in so many commercials and ladies love them basically. One of them is like, so funny and nice." She starts rumbling about this guy, I am certain she is in love with him.

"You have a crush." I exclaim with glee. "Have you talked to him yet?"

"Yeah a couple of times." my eyes almost fall out of their sockets, she notices. "No, not about that." She adds like it's the most irksome thing ever.

I lean back in my chair with disappointment. I thought I was going to get some major tea on my boss, but I guess not. "So what should I be doing right now?" I ask her.

"How about I take you on a tour of the model's lounge?" my eyes light up at the idea. We head for the elevator immediately. "Stay close to me or else you'll meet the devil herself up there."

"Who is that?" I ask with dread. No place doesn't have one of those.

"The manager. She is in charge of almost everything the models do and she is decidedly the most irritable woman on the planet." From the way they talk about her, I know I should avoid her at all costs. The elevator takes us to the fourth floor. We enter a calmer area with less traffic. Everybody on this floor looks stunning, I start feeling small. The ladies are so tall and slim, and very fashionable. The guys, god save us. It should be illegal for this many good looking people to be in the same place.

Floor to ceiling windows adorn the space, there are multiple smaller dressing rooms, makeup rooms and photo studios all furnished expensively. There are mannequins around the room displaying unreleased clothing.

One of the models stops to greet Cynthia. "Oh, hi." I am thrown off by her high pitched tone.

"Belle, good to see you." From the look on Cynthia's face, she'd rather be anywhere but here.

Belle gives me an up and down appraisal, "so who is this with you?" Her sweet tone falls flat.

"She's my intern, Liza." Cynthia turns to me, "Liza, Belle." We shake hands curtly. I suspect Belle will wipe her hands the second we leave from the repressed distaste she is giving me. "We have errands to run, now. Nice meeting you here." I give her a parting smile which she returns.

"Is she always like that?" I ask with confusion. If all the models are like that then this won't be as smooth sailing as I thought.

"Mostly. She is an only child from a rich family so that's that." the entitled kind, i get it. "But the others are way more chill than she is. You'll like them." That comforts me a little. We go around meeting more people and greeting them, sure enough all the others are pretty nice to me.

"Kystan!" A woman somewhere behind us exclaims. My whole body freezes. I can't even dare to breathe lest he is the one here.

"Belle, darling." The only Kystan I know answers, with a lot of joy in his voice. 

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