13 Chapter 13

"Jacey, wait up!" Lorelei yelled as she tried to catch up to Jace who's now almost at their apartment building's entrance.

Jace continued walking but Lorelei had caught up to him in just seconds. "How long have you been staying here?" Lorelei asked with curiosity, "Oh, also what's your unit number? Gosh, I still can't believe I never see you around."

Jace glanced at her, "Why, you wanna see me that bad?"

Lorelei snorted at his silly assumption. "Oh, please. Don't be such an airhead, Jacey. I'm only asking out of curiosity and nothing more," she gave him a sweet but sarcastic smile. "You don't need to answer if you don't want to. It's not like I'm interrogating you or something," Lorelei rolled her eyes.

Jace put both of his hands inside his pockets, pondering if he should give her an answer or not. He thought maybe it would be better to exchange info with her since he doesn't have a choice but to live in the same building as her. They're bound to see each other more often anyway.

The two finally entered the building. They took the elevator at the same time. Lorelei pressed the button with "3" in it, indicating the third floor. 'Her unit must be on that floor,' Jace thought. The elevator doors opened, and Lorelei went out instantly but Jace called her, "Hey."

Lorelei turned her head back and raised a brow at him, waiting for him to say something.

"I live on the fourth floor, unit 405," Jace said, just enough before the doors closed.

Lorelei shrugged at his words, "Took him long enough, huh," she turned and continued walking towards her apartment.

Lorelei took a hot shower right away as soon as she got home. It was such a taxing week for her. She figured she could really make use of a good rest and just chill all weekend, but of course, she snapped back to reality when a notification popped up on her phone.

[Amari Kim added you and 2 others in the group chat]

Amari: [Hi! This is our group's gc for the history presentation next week!]

"Shoot. I almost forgot I already gave her Jace's contact details," Lorelei murmured to herself.

Amari: [Anyways, I'm pretty sure all of you are free tomorrow]

Amari: [Let's start preparing the presentation. Meeting at SB cafe 9 am sharp]

Amari: [Oh, and don't be late! Special mention to @Sam Hwang and @Lorelei Jung >:((( ]

Lorelei groaned in frustration and slumped her body down to her bed. She opened her phone once again to send a reply or else Amari would spam her again with messages if she doesn't.

Lorelei: [Got it! ;) ]

Sam: [Hey, I'm not always late, you know!]

Sam was busy defending himself in the group chat about his tardiness whenever they meet up. Notifications flooded Lorelei's phone and the dinging stop after five minutes or so. Lorelei's eyelids felt heavy, but just as when she was about to doze off to sleep, another notification popped up. She opened it to check what it was. It was a message to their group chat.

Jace: [noted :)]

Lorelei frowned at his reply. "He didn't look like the type to send emoticons though," she put her phone on the nightstand beside her bed. "But oh well, who cares," she mumbled and finally went off to sleep.

The weather was pretty chilly the next day. It looked like it was about to rain—bed weather indeed. Lorelei wrapped herself under her blanket, forcing herself to sleep more. She suddenly remembered about their meeting at the cafe, and her body shot up instantly. She grabbed her phone on her nightstand to check the time, and at that moment, she knew she was doomed.

"FUCK, IT'S ALREADY 8:50?!" Lorelei yelled hysterically. She rushed to her bathroom and started to get ready.

---

At the same time, Jace got off the bus stop near their meeting place. It was already 8:50 am, and he was almost late for their meeting. He was about to cross the street when someone slung an arm around his neck.

"'Sup, dude," it was Sam, who was giving him a boyish smile and obviously running late like him except that he looked like he didn't bother to fix himself. He was wearing black sweatpants, a grey hoodie, and a pair of flip-flops. Jace was certain Sam immediately ran off here as soon as he woke up, but he didn't say anything about it.

"Hey," Jace gave him back a small smile.

"Such an early bird! I didn't expect you'd arrive before the set time," Sam chuckled.

Jace removed Sam's arm from snaking around his neck, "Well, you all agreed with 9 am though. I can't possibly put you guys in a pickle because of my delay." He then patted Sam's shoulder and crossed the street. Sam followed him right after.

"Pfft," Sam chuckled, "don't worry! Those two would literally take forever to prepare themselves in the morning. I'm pretty sure we're the first ones to arrive," he assured. Jace didn't know whether to believe him or not seeing Sam's getup though.

A familiar ambiance and relaxing music welcomed them as they entered the cafe. Jace and Sam surveyed the cafe at once. The place was only had four customers, each busy doing their own business, and none of those were their groupmates.

"See! I told you we're the first ones to arrive," Sam grinned at Jace. He led the way towards the table with a couch at the backmost part of the cafe. Sam sat there and Jace did the same.

Jace grabbed his phone from his pocket to check the time. It was now 8:58 am, just two minutes left until 9 am.

"Amari shouldn't have set the time if she was going to be late," Sam complained.

Upon finishing his sentence, the cafe's door chimed. It was Amari who entered. She walked towards their table and sat beside Sam. Amari check the time on her wristwatch, "Perfect! 9 am sharp," she smirked at Sam and showed him the time on her watch.

Sam swatted Amari's arm away, "Pfft. As if! You're still almost late, slowpoke." The two would've continued bickering if it weren't for Jace cutting them off.

"Uh, sorry to interrupt you two but I think it would be best if we start now," Jace said in a rather shy way.

"Oh, my bad. Please excuse this little rascal, she's always like this," Sam explained as he let out a chuckle.

Amari pinched Sam's cheek while shaking his head, "Shut up, Sam. You ain't no different."

Jace held himself back in laughing at the two. The three pulled out their laptops and started doing their assigned tasks.

Amari paused typing, "By the way, where's Lei? Goodness, don't tell me she slept in now of all times?!"

Sam let out a sigh, "I haven't the faintest idea. Just let her be, it's not like it's anything new," he chuckled.

'This woman, really,' Jace shook his head at the thought.

It was almost an hour since they started their work. Amari was almost done with the presentation slides and Sam was just looking for extra details to support their discussion. Jace did the same thing but proceeded in making cue cards as their guide right after.

The cafe's door chimed again this time but the three didn't even bother to look at who entered. They just knew it was Lorelei when the girl approached their table, "Oh my gosh, sorry I'm late. God, the traffic was bad!"

Jace turned to her and scanned her from head to toe. She was dressed in her usual clothes with all the accessories and makeup on. "You really had the time to glam up?" Jace shot. He really didn't have a problem with whatever girls do or wear but he thought Lorelei could've at least woke up early so she wouldn't be late.

"Of course, I have! You should always make yourself presentable, you know!" Lorelei defended as she sat right beside Jace on the couch. "Where can I help?" She pulled out her laptop started navigating it to help her groupmates.

"Do the other half of our part. I'm almost done with mine," Jace replied. While all of them were busy continuing what they're doing, Jace's phone rang. It was his mom calling him.

"Excuse me, I have to take this call" he excused himself. He stood up and went outside the cafe to answer it.

"Hey, mom," he greeted.

"Hi, darling! Are you busy today?" Jace's mom greeted back.

Jace scratched his head, "Just doing this and that, why though?"

"Mango has been coughing for days now. I already took him to the vet and bought his medicine but I don't know how to make him take it," his mom added.

Jace took a deep breath and massaged his temples, "Alright, I'll go home today. Please make sure to feed him and my other babies."

"Alright, gotcha!" his mom replied with determination. "I'll end this call now, love. See you later. I love you!"

"Hmm. Love you too," Jace retorted. Just as when he was about to turn, he almost lost his balance because Lorelei opened the door.

"We ordered some food. My treat!" Lorelei beamed at him. Jace nodded and the two headed back inside. They returned to their seats as they wait for Sam to bring the food to their table.

"I'm really sorry for this, but can I leave early today? Something came up," Jace asked.

Amari and Lei turned to him, "Sure! You're almost done anyway," Amari replied.

Jace nodded, "Thank you." He grabbed his things and stood up, "I'll send the rest of my part later. Bye."

"Dude, where are you going?" Sam queried. Jace just patted his shoulder and took his leave.