After their first encounter at the school, Queenie and Ralph did not see each other again. Although Queenie felt sad about this, she was more at ease and calm now. She kept convincing herself that the things that happened between Ralph and her were not a big deal. Anyway, she was not the first one who had a one-night stand with a stranger. Maybe Ralph looked down on her, that's why he didn’t even bother to greet her or remember her name. At least, not seeing him will prevent embarrassment on her end.
As the day goes by, Queenie found out that the man who’s seated beside her is a cousin of Ralph but she heard they are not on good terms as well as their families. So, it’s clear now why they did not greet each other, and it seems like they were strangers when Ralph came to their classroom.
Eventually, her seatmate, Ryan, became her friend. He spent his free time in their café shop just to see her. Obviously, this man was attracted to her but maybe just taking his time to finally voice out his feelings.
One day at the café shop while Ryan and Queenie were busy chatting with each other, Ralph arrived together with his classmates. Since it was Queenie’s work break she didn’t bother to entertain them.
The group went straight to the counter to order except Ralph who sat down on the table next to them.
Queenie and Ryan looked at each other, and didn't know how to react to Ralph’s presence.
To avoid Ralph, Queenie immediately bid goodbye to Ryan. “I have to go now, my break time has ended.” Ryan nodded, “Go ahead, I will be leaving now. See you tomorrow.”
Queenie walked straight to their staff room, actually, her break time did not yet end but she wanted to avoid Ralph. She calculated the time and surely Ralph was already gone when she needed to go back to work.
Queenie steps backward when she sees Ralph was still there and leisurely sitting on the couch across the counter. There’s no way for her to push away the customer and unfortunately Ralph is a customer.
Knowing that Ralph was watching her every move, she felt awkward and conscious the whole time. She kept making mistakes that were not normal to Queenie during work. Her manager noticed this and called Queenie at her office.
“What’s the matter with you Queenie?” her manager directly asked.
“I’m sorry Ma’am, I’m just not feeling well,” Queenie bowed her head, trying to hide her emotion. How can she tell her manager that the reason for all these mistakes was their customer that intentionally stayed here to watch her every move?
“Okay, since we only have a few customers right now, you can go home early and take a rest. You have been working hard these days, you also need to take care of yourself,” her manager said.
“Thank you, Ma’am! I’ll go ahead now,” Queenie immediately bid goodbye; this is a good way to avoid Ralph.
It has been 30 minutes now when Queenie went out of his sight. Ralph looked at his watch from time to time. ‘What took her so long to go back to the counter? Her shift is not yet over.’ Ralph didn’t know at this time Queenie is now lying down in her bed, she took the back door out of the café shop so Ralph didn’t see her leaving.
Finally, Ralph couldn't stand waiting and walked close to the counter. “Miss, can you call Queenie for me?” he politely asked the girl on the counter.
“Sir sorry, Queenie has already left for today.”
“What?!” Ralph’s eyebrows met in annoyance and unconsciously brushed his hair with his fingers. ‘This brat girl really pisses me off.’ And immediately walked out the door after saying ‘thank you!’ to the girl.
When Ralph arrived at home, he went straight to his room and didn't even give greetings to those people seated in the living room.
Inside his room, he walked back and forth, thinking of how he can get back at Queenie for what she did today.
He was there to annoy Queenie but, in the end, he was the one left upset. ‘I will not let this thing pass by. Wait for my revenge Queenie.’
While Queenie was lying down in bed, she couldn't help but keep thinking about Ralph.
‘What is his purpose for staying in the café the whole day?’
‘Did he remember me now?’
‘Is he trying to pursue me?’
‘But he was cold to me when we met again at the school. He even embarrassed me in the whole class.’
“Ahh, damn that man! Get out of my head!” Queenie shouted in annoyance.
Exactly that time the door opened and Mia went in.
“Hey, who’s your enemy?” Mia curiously asked.
“Did you remember the man we met when we went to your province?”
“Yes, why?”
“He is the president of the Student Council.”
“Really, why didn't I know that?” Mia was puzzled as, why she was not aware. When suddenly Mia remembered, “Oh, wait. Is he the famous Ralph Harrison?”
“Yes, he is,” Queenie coldly said.
“Oh no, why didn't I recognize him that day.” Mia covered her mouth with her two hands in amusement. “But what is your problem with him? Shouldn’t you be grateful to meet him again, we enjoyed that night, right?”
“But, it seems like he didn’t remember me, he didn’t bother to greet me when we met in the hallway and even embarrassed me in front of my classmates,” Queenie’s face darkened as she remembered the day when they met again. And suddenly changed her face to sadness when she remembered that night… the night when she surrendered her precious gem to this man.