21 Alternative Love

It's already a minute since Camellia started staring at the book in her hand. If she could create a hole just by staring, by now the book might already have two big holes.

Being stuck in the room for five days straight, she decided to go out to get fresh air. But here she was, ending up in the bookstore. This was a healing way for her. She loved drawing but she also loved reading. She had been wandering around this big bookstore for more than ten minutes looking for something that might catch her interest before her legs brought her to this non fiction section.

"101 ways to seduce a man." She sneered, and couldn't believe what she had picked from the shelves. "Non fiction?" Mumbling to herself, she flipped through the first page.

"Make eye contact frequently." She read the first tips, "Didn't work, next…" Talking to herself, she flipped to the next page, "Smile? I think my muscles are almost cramped just for smiling in front of him." Finding the second tip was also useless, she decided to check the third tip, just for the last time.

"Wear clothes that flatter your figure…" She looked herself up and down. Nodded, she didn't think there was something wrong with her clothes. Camellia kept on reading, 'Don't throw yourself at him', then the next tip was 'Touch him often'.

"Nonsense!" She put the book back on the shelf, and realised that she had been wasting her time reading the book.

"How could I touch him often if I couldn't throw myself at him? Aren't they both related to each other?" She was nagging all through the way out of the bookstore.

Letting out a huge sigh, she stopped and stood stiff there. Suddenly recalling the question that was thrown to her by Alexander that night, she turned back and resolved to buy the book on the spot.

"Have you ever dated anyone?" That was the first question Alexander asked after the heated argument five days ago. When she honestly shook her head, he said, "Then I won't bother explaining what is love to someone who's never had any experience falling in love at all." Alexander left her that night, questioning herself whether she fell in love too fast?

Last night, her dad came to meet Michael as he was asked. She heard they were discussing their marriage and already fixed the date for the wedding. The first Saturday of next month and the fact that it was twenty days to go was overwhelming. Couldn't hear clearly from above, she saw how Alexander, the man that was supposed to protest this marriage, just sat there without saying a word.

"Ackk!" Camellia moaned in pain as a lady just bumped into her shoulder snapped her from her wandering mind.

"Sorry." The lady said with a shaky voice and teary eyes. She went away rushingly after apologising.

Then not long after, came a man from the same side. His eyes wandered as he was anxious and looking for someone. Camellia just watched the whole scene in awe, because it looked like the scene in a drama that she often watched.

Not wanting to waste more of her time there, she quickly walked out from the mall and went back home. She had about 5 days more to sew and finish her design. She was ready to welcome her panda eyes back.

Back at the mansion, she saw no one home. Everyone must be working and for her, she managed to stay home for five days straight because she skipped all the class. Full attendance before, helped her. But this time she needed to finish this project by any means.

Knock! Knock!

She couldn't hear the knock on the door as she was using the sewing machine to combine the last piece of the clothes. She pushed her eyes to the limit, they were red because of pressure and sleepy. Moving her neck to the right and left, she massaged her shoulder slowly.

Another knocking came, when she realised there was someone outside her room. Immediately she got up and went to open the door. She was shocked when Alexander was the one there, not Adam as she expected.

"Have you eaten?" He asked right after he saw her face.

Camellia replied to his question with furrowed brows. For five days, she decided to avoid seeing him and he himself didn't seem to want to meet her either. So what was he doing here, asking whether she had eaten or not?

"Oh, dad asked me to bring this to you." He brought the paper bag from behind his back. The paper bag looked like it was from some bakery shop.

'Must be dessert.' Camellia thought in her mind.

Alexander held out the paper bag until his hand grew weak, Camellia still didn't take it from him.

"What is that?" She asked in a monotonous tones.

"Ah, I guess something like cake, macaroon or egg tart?" He made a face like he was not sure, but the truth was, he was the one who bought it, not Michael.

"Thanks." She grabbed the bag from his hand and slammed the door shut, leaving Alexander dumbfounded.

She leaned on the door and held her chest. It was beating like crazy and it was so hard for her to pretend to play hard to get.

"Did I do it right?" She learnt the bonus tips from the book, the writer told her to just play hard to get once, if the first five tips did not work out. She didn't know if she had tried all the five tips, but she just decided to just use the bonus one.

Rummaging through the paper bag, she smiled. All the three desserts he said just now were there.

She pointed her finger to her face and said, "Harden your heart, you need to make this work!"

But then another knocking came from the door, leaving her curious.

"Ah Oppa." She said when she opened the door. "Did you just come back?" She glanced at the clock on the wall, it was already almost midnight, to be exact 11.45 pm.

"Hmm.." He nodded. His face showed the exhaustion from a day's work. "Have you eaten?"

She smiled because of the exact same question that she received from both the siblings. Even though their personality was different, there was still some similarity.

"Why?" Adam asked because of the sudden smile.

"Nothing." She shook her head, "I ate dinner earlier and just now, Alex gave me quite a lot of desserts."

"Alex? He did?"

"Yes, though he said it was from dad." She giggled, finding it cute.

Adam also smiled looking at her brightened face talking about Alexander.

"Don't you feel tired?" He asked, concerned, in case she pushed herself too much to finish the project.

"You look more tired than me." She replied.

"Ahh…really?" He chuckled, brushing his waxed hair with his fingertips. "Are you ready?"

His question caught her by surprise. "Do you mean marriage?" Her smile that had faded just now was formed again.

"Yes," He bobbed his head to the question. "Are you really okay with this whole thing?"

"Of course I'm okay, don't worry." She scrunched her nose along with a smile.

"That's great to hear." But his expression looked otherwise, like he was holding from saying something that was bothering him.

"Is there something wrong?" Adam was always the type of caring and cheerful, so it was hard to see that expression on his face.

"Hmm, can I ask you something?"

"Sure, what is it?"

"If a man asked you to date…" He stopped, watching her reaction since he was actually hesitant to ask.

"Aha go ahead." She said, half her heart was nervous and the other half was curious.

"If a man asked you on a date, and you knew all along you were just an alternative, would you still go with it?"