Chapter 21 - Pink…is your favorite color

Chapter 21 - Pink…is your favorite color

I finished picking out the food I was getting when I saw someone familiar from my peripheral vision.

‘Why the…’

I saw A blonde dude walking up to us and it took me a few seconds before I figure out who it was.

“Benny!” Natalie stood up and hurried towards the guy on my peripheral vision. I didn’t turn my head and looked straight on the menu as if nothing happened.

‘Why is he here? He’s not supposed to be here.’ Nova’s eyes went wide and looked back and forth from Natalie and her cousin.

I was shocked to see Benedict here as well. Our encounter from months ago wasn’t supposed to happen, and him being here isn’t supposed to happen as well!

Yvonne never met Benedict, they never crossed, seen, or heard from each other and besides, Ben’s scenes in the book happens in another ten years or so!

‘How the f*ck am I supposed to know the answer to that? It’s your novel.’ I slowly turned my head to the left whilst talking to Nova. I unconsciously hid my head on the menu and prayed to God that he doesn’t notice us.

‘Sh*t, I forgot, you’re the God.’ Who am I praying to anyway, a small cotton ball who knows nothing but to eat and chatter?

‘He CAN’T see us.’ I repeated this sentence over and over in my head. If he even remembers us as the girl from the mall everything’s screwed, I’m screwed! Natalie would know that I was in that mall during that day and the reason why her cousin was late.

That would be no big problem if it were anyone, but we’re talking about Benedict here. He’s a semi-lead, the “yandere” type to be exact.

If Lucas becomes obsessive, believe me Benedict becomes crazy, bat-shit crazy!

I remembered a scene from the book where he purposely followed Natalie around when they reconnected in social media. He set up cameras in her car, street, workplace, and even the bathroom! I felt shivers run down my spine when I remembered that.

‘Are you a sub?’ I looked at Nova who was floating around. He definitely looks like one and acts like one, he’s obsessed with “possessive men arch type”.

“Oh, I was just eating with Unnie, she did all the work earlier and I really felt bad so I brought her here. Why are you here Benny oppa?” I cringed at the word “oppa” real hard, I felt second-hand embarrassment from that.

“I just wanted to see you Natalie.” And of course he’s okay with that, he’s head over heels for Natalie after all.

“Unnie!” Please don’t come here, please don’t come here.

“This is Ben oppa, Unnie. And this Yvonne Unnie.” And of course, things just don’t go the way I want it. I folded the menu and stood up to greet Benedict when he just stood there and stared at me.

“Yvonne?” He said. He definitely remembers me, definitely does.

“Ah, Sunbaenim.” I greeted again and this time, he greeted back.

“Benny Oppa! Why don’t you join us?” Natalie grabbed another seat from an empty table and sat him down. I sat back down on my chair and didn’t look on my right as Ben was seated there.

‘My biggest wish right now is for him not to mention seeing me in the mall.’ I sighed quietly and hoped for the best.

‘Well…I could do that.’ I heard Nova whisper from my left ear.

‘Please, anything.’ I don’t even want to ask about what Nova’s going to do, I just don’t want Natalie to know that her pet Lion (Ben) and I met that day.

“So, Natalie. What’s your booth based on?” After staring at me for a few seconds he turned to Natalie who was focused on her menu.

“It’s a prison booth…” Natalie then continued to explain what the booth was for and where the funds would directly go after the festivities.

“How was your clothes by the way?” Ben turned to me after listening to Natalie. I looked at him and acted as if I didn’t hear what he just said.

“I’m sorry, what?” Let’s just pretend that we don’t know this guy, that’s the best idea I culd come up with right now.

“We’ve me-“ Ben suddenly cut off and stared at the table out of nowhere.

“We’ve mm…mm.” Now he seemed to have something stuck in his throat, he couldn’t even finish his sentence. Natalie and I looked at him and after a few moments I realized what was happening.

‘Are you doing that?’ I peeked at Nova sitting on my right shoulder.

‘HEHEHE, indeed it was I!’ Nova laughed like a maniac and danced around to celebrate. Nova used the last amount of his power to bring me in this reality. His powers were exhausted to the point that he could only float around not being able to affect the world he created himself.

‘If we continue like this I might be able to rewrite the book itself.’ Nova joked around. Before Benedict could talk again I raised my hand and called the student-waiter over to our table.

The young girl that came looked bored and out of it before she saw the blonde man.

“What would you like to get?” She suddenly turned attentive and took her notepad out.

“I plan on ordering the panda éclair, tiramisu and Black tea, they look appetizing. What do you want to get?” I simply ignored this told the girl my order. I asked what Natalie and Ben wanted right after.

Ben seemed to forget what he was supposed to say and Natalie didn’t seem to hear him say anything either. It was as if Ben didn’t say anything at all. They ordered and talked to each other and Ben never mentioned anything about seeing me at the mall all throughout the time they were talking.

“Pink…is your favorite color.” Ben said as he focused his gaze at my handbag.

‘What the f*ck is he on about?’ I said to Nova whilst wondering why he suddenly talked out of nowhere and started staring at my handbag, well, Yvonne’s handbag in this case.

‘I would also like to ask that question.’ Nova said and looked at Yvonne’s handbag that I was using.

‘Maybe it has something to do with the Ch*nel handbag?’ Nova said which made me look at the handbag I placed on the table. Well, he’s the heir to his family’s empire, maybe it does have something to do with it?

“You just seem to like pink.” After a moment of awkward silence, Ben followed up to support his statement earlier.

“Yeah… pink.” I agreed, although I didn’t really like pink I just agreed to it since I was known as “Yvonne” and not as Demi. I wouldn’t blame him if he thought I liked pink as well, everything from my clothes to my stuff mostly consists of pink since it was Yvonne’s stuff.

I couldn’t just replace everything since it would be suspicious if I did so. Yvonne was crazy for pink, and to see her in a different color was beyond imagination.

“Benny~ How was your internship by the way?” Before any of us could speak again, Natalie asked about Ben’s internship. Benedict graduated with a degree of Bachelor in Fashion following into his family’s footsteps. In the storyline, Benedict interned under one of his family’s main office before he took masters.

“It was challenging, being thrown into the work field itself and seeing the process with my own eyes and working with people was new and refreshing.” Although he’s the heir to the multinational business, he was no exception to the strict guidance and pressure of his family.

He even went crazy when his family tried to harm Natalie when they knew that their son was love-struck by a quote on quote “farm girl”. He was torn between his desire to appease his family an inherit the business and his desire to cage Natalie in his hands.

When things turned worst, his desire slowly turned into obsession. He secretly started stalking Natalie, hired a few men to “guard” her, and even illegally took pictures of where, when, and what she was doing.

Lucas soon found cameras in Natalie’s apartment and ordered someone to investigate it. His whole brand was demolished and his family’s dirty secrets were revealed in the process as well.

The Ch*nel business went down after almost a year of lawsuits coming their way. Although the business was run to the ground, Ben still had the audacity to meet Natalie once again and talk to her. Told her how much he meant to her and killed himself right in front of her.

‘The world of the rich is truly messed up.’ I told Nova while I recollected the scenes I’ve read from the novel.

The food arrived with the girl who had her gaze focused on Ben. She messed up Natalie and my order but got Ben’s perfectly. She had to go back to the kitchen and replace our food.

She quickly went back to us with our right food.

“Do you need anything else, sir?” She ignored us completely.

“No, thank you.” Ben didn’t even look at her and he dismissed her. I looked at the food in front of me and salivated. Having a sweet tooth is the most prominent similarity Yvonne and I had, I would never exchange sweets for anything in the world.

I reached for the cinnamon and lemon I asked for when Ben suddenly opened it and mixed the cinnamon with my tea. He mixed cinnamon and lemon in my black tea and mixed some with his too.

I just looked at him dumb founded.

‘Why the heck…’ I thought to myself. I was going to use cinnamon and lemon I my tea but why would he do it himself, how did he know what I was about to do?

“Cinnamon and lemon really goes well with black tea.: He smiled and put the lid on the cinnamon back.

“Yeah…” I just agreed to whatever he said and began to eat.

I didn’t talk for the whole mealtime and just listened to what Natalie and Ben were talking about. From Natalie’s new found hobbies to Ben’s career, they talked for most of the time whilst I finish my sweet treat.

Our break time went on like that as time flew by fast. After our break, we went out the café to go back to our post in the booth. Natalie insisted on sending Ben off and told me to go back first.

“I’ll just send him off to his car, you can go back first Yvonne.” Natalie smiled as she held Ben’s arm.

“Oh, it’s fine Natalie, you can go b-“ Ben tried to remove Natalie’s hold on his arm and wanted her to go back to the booth with me.

“I insist Benny oppa, you came here for me, of course it’s my duty to send you off.” Natalie insisted and held onto him. I just let them do their own thing and said goodbye.

I walked off towards our booth to resume my work.

‘That’s… weird.’ Nova seem to have caught on the situation.

‘I know. There was neither a spark nor an orb.’ From the beginning of the meal towards the end, there were no orbs whatsoever.

It could’ve been because the event didn’t exist in the novel that’s why there was no spark, but there were also instances where Ben felt uncomfortable with Natalie and distanced himself in some way.

‘It should’ve been the other way around.’ Ben should’ve been the one who clings to Natalie.

‘At least we have another clue on why we can’t get robs.’ I said to Nova. The problem wasn’t us not feeling the orbs, it was another factor stopping the spark from the encounter.

‘It’s most likely the change in the leads character.’ Nova replied. The change in Julia’s attitude, the change in Natalie and Ben’s interaction, and even the slow development of feelings between Lucas and Natalie.

‘If we can’t get orbs from them we might as well pack up and leave to another place.’ I said. If our purpose here wasn’t here in the first place, we might as well just leave and search for more leads.

‘It’s not like there’s no other leads.’ I said.

.

.

.

“I insist Benny oppa, you came here for me, of course it’s my duty to send you off.” Natalie clung tighter onto Benedict’s arm which made him uncomfortable. In fact, Natalie wasn’t really the reason why Ben was there.

Benedict, who fetched Natalie for their family dinner, saw Yvonne in the campus. When he discovered that Yvonne attended the same school and even the same class as Natalie, he would come every now and then to “accidentally” meet Yvonne. He would see her from time to time but she would always be talking to another guy with glasses, or would be busy with something.

Yvonne left right after saying goodbye and Ben didn’t have the chance to talk to her privately.

“You should just go back Natalie; I wouldn’t want to bother you.” He said to his little cousin. Without replying, Natalie just pulled him towards the school gates and talked about random stuff.

“I wore the shoes you bought for me by the way.” Natalie showed her feet and smiled brightly at Ben.

“That looks good.” Benedict said with a smile as he patted Natalie’s head. The shoes were actually bought by her mother who doted on Natalie. Her mother would bring foreign stuff back when she travels and would make Ben present it to Natalie as a gift.

“By the way, how long have you been friends with Yvonne?” Benedict didn’t know they were friends, if he did, Ben would’ve used it as a reason to see Yvonne every now and then. Ben was thinking if Yvonne, but Natalie on the other side wore a blank expression.

“Do you like Yvonne, oppa? You kept staring at her earlier and no your talking about her.” Natalie who had an unreadable expression asked Ben.

“Mhm, big brother likes her.” Ben said while smiling.

“Don’t go near her.” Natalie stopped in her tracks and looked straight at Ben. This action made Benedict laugh a little.

“Don’t you trust big brother? I would never harm Yvonne.” Ben, who thought that Natalie was being over protective over Yvonne smile and patted Natalie’s head. Natalie went silent after that and just followed Benedict towards his car.