Rosa Lin’s POV
ONE MONTH LATER
"Congratulations on receiving your first monthly salary!" Mia’s voice echoed in the secluded, private booth where we were both seated.
The glass of our drinks clinked together as she offered a toast to me, and then we took a sip before allowing our glasses to drop to the table in front of us with a thud.
"Oh my God, it has been a very stressful, ecstatic, wonderful month, hasn’t it?" she asked.
I found myself smiling, twirling the drink in my glass, unable to contain the joy surging in my chest right now. It had been legit. I had spent one month ensuring my job was done to the best of my ability, taking my time to explore the luxurious villa and living a life I never thought I was going to experience in a long while. It felt so good.
I felt Mia’s gaze on me the whole time and scoffed. "Stop staring at me like that before I explode," I said and used my hair to veil my face.
She chuckled. "Look at you, being such a shy girl," she said and took a sip out of her drink. "Anyway, I’m glad I’m no longer the only one who has to pay the bills. I guess I can order anything I want to eat right now, and you are going to pay," she said.
My eyes widened. "Hey, hey, relax, girl. Just because I received a boatload of money doesn’t mean I should spend it anyhow," I said.
She scoffed. "You can handle it, don’t worry. I don’t eat much," she said and then snapped her fingers, calling for the waiter.
Oh my God, I thought to myself and pressed my palm against my forehead. I am so screwed tonight.
She noticed my expression and chuckled. "Relax, babe. Come on, don’t be so stingy. Now that you’re going to be making a lot of money, you should actually learn how to, you know, buy some things for yourself. Look good, dress nice. Don’t keep looking like the shabby way you were before," she said, and then handed the menu back to the waiter. "Serve the same thing for both of us," she said.
The waiter nodded and walked away. I gave her a raised eyebrow. She winked at me.
"There is nothing wrong with the way I look."
"Oh trust me there is. It gives evil people around you reasons to pick on you."
I sighed and looked to the side. There was no arguing with her.
"You haven’t told me how you feel about this," she asked.
I looked at the table, tracing my fingers against the surface. "What can I say?" I replied softly with a smile. "I’m just happy—happy that I could prove to those who didn’t believe in me that I can actually make something out of myself," I said.
She smiled. "You deserve the best, Rosa," she said calmly, sincerely, taking a sip from her drink. "This is the time you should begin to work towards this semester and all of that, remember?"
I nodded my head up and down calmly with a bright smile on my face.
The waiter arrived a moment later with our meal, and we ate to our satisfaction, talking a lot about what the semester was going to entail. Mia gave me advice on how to handle the students, making mention that the news of the incident with Mac was still going to be topping the headlines since it had only been a month, and many students wouldn’t be willing to let it go. I was definitely going to face a lot of criticism. I have to get myself ready for it, I thought to myself, clenching my fists tightly.
Mia glanced at her wristwatch after a long night. "It’s getting late. I’m staying over with you at the villa. Why don’t we head out?" she said, and I nodded.
"Yeah, sure," I replied.
She snapped her fingers towards the waiter, wiggling her eyebrows at me. "Guess what time it is?" she asked.
I looked at her with a raised eyebrow.
She grinned. "It’s time to pay," she said.
I scoffed and rolled my eyes. The waiter approached our table. "How can I help you, ma’am?" he asked.
"We want to pay up," Mia said.
He frowned and shook his head. "Oh, about that, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you earlier—you don’t have to bother anymore. A man came over and paid for both of your meals," he said.
The both of us snapped our heads to look at him at the same time. "What?" we asked in unison.
The waiter chuckled. "Yeah, a man approached me and paid for both of your meals. He’s the one over there." He pointed over towards a farther section of the restaurant.
Mia and I turned our heads to look and saw a figure in another secluded booth, sitting alone, relaxed against his chair with his legs crossed, sipping his drink, his eyes glued to us. The moment he saw us staring at him, he dropped his drink and then smiled, wiggling his fingers at us.
The waiter walked away from our table, and I turned back to look at Mia with wide eyes.
"Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me," I muttered.
She chuckled. "Well, isn’t this so amazing? A mysterious guy suddenly paying your bills right at the moment of your breakthrough. Good luck is really following you everywhere, baby girl," she said.
I scoffed and shook my head. "Yeah, I do not trust his intentions," I said calmly. "I think we should leave right now. He’s weirding me out."
She looked at me and then shrugged before picking up her bag. "Don’t you think we should thank him or something?" she added.
Just as we turned and got up from our seats, we saw him casually approaching us with his drink in his hand and his other hand in his pocket.
Oh my God, I am really not in the mood for this right now, I thought to myself.
I tilted my head to the side, avoiding him.
Before we could leave, he arrived and smiled. "Hello, ladies," he said calmly, a bright grin on his face revealing a set of teeth that had been laced with silver.
I felt awkward looking at the ground, brushing my palm against my hand. The heat radiating off him was intense; the air around him felt so dark. My body couldn’t comprehend it—I had a very bad feeling about this guy.
Mia stepped in. "Yeah, we just want to thank you so much for paying our bills. We really appreciate it, but we have to go now," she said, tugging at my hand and trying to pull me away.
"Rosa Lin," he suddenly said out loud, causing the both of us to freeze.
My eyes went wide. I turned around to look at him to see him smirking at me. He tilted his drink up towards me.
"It’s very nice to see you finally," he added, took a sip, and then walked away.
Mia and I remained frozen, gazing at the empty space where he was previously standing. Then we turned to watch his back as he vanished through the back entrance of the restaurant, disappearing into the darkness behind it.
Okay, what the fuck was that? My brain felt scrambled. I couldn’t help myself; I left Mia and instantly rushed after him.
"Rosa, wait!" Mia called, and I heard her heels clicking behind me as she rushed to catch up with me.
I busted through the back entrance of the restaurant and tilted my head left and right. The stranger was gone—vanished, just like that.
How did he know my name? Who the hell is he? My heart was pounding intensely. My brain couldn’t keep it together after what I had just witnessed.
Mia finally came to a stop beside me. "Are you okay?" she asked.
I nodded my head. "Yeah, yeah, I’m good," I replied. "That was weird, wasn’t it?" I asked, turning to look at her.
"Yeah, tell me about it. Are you sure you don’t known him from anywhere before?" she asked.
I shook my head. "I swear I do not know him," I replied.
She scoffed. "Yeah, we need to be careful from here on out. Some people have a tendency to be weird stalkers, monitoring people and figuring out everything about their life before making those people their victims," she said. "We need to be careful."
I chuckled nervously. "Yeah, we really should."
A second thought came to my mind that made me freeze, and I turned to look at Mia. "Wait," I said.
She looked at me with a raised eyebrow. "What?"
"What if he was the villa owner?" I asked.
I saw the moment her face twisted, and then she pointed at me as though she was slowly agreeing. "Well, you are not wrong about that," she said. "But if he was the one, why not admit it to you upfront rather than acting so mysterious?" she asked.
"I don’t know about that," I replied, tapping against my chin. "Maybe we could rush back to the villa and find out," I suggested, looking at her with wide eyes.
She looked at me. "You think he would be back at the villa?" she asked.
I didn’t reply verbally, but I gave her my answer through the expression on my face.
"Yeah, let’s go back to the villa," she finally agreed.
We rushed around the restaurant and stepped into her vehicle at the entrance. She pulled away from the curb and sped through the expressway. It didn’t take too long before we finally got to the estate of the luxurious villa. She parked in front, and then the both of us stormed up towards the entrance.
I took out the key and looked at the door, twisting the doorknob only to realize it was locked. "It’s locked," I said.
She looked at me with a raised eyebrow. I unlocked the door, and then we both stepped in. Everything was exactly the way it was before we left to celebrate. There was nothing out of the ordinary.
I hurriedly checked everywhere as she waited for me downstairs. Nothing.
I came back to her. " Nobody."
"Yep, I guess it must have been someone else and not the villa’s owner," Mia said softly behind me.
I breathed out. "Yeah,I guess you’re right," I said calmly before shaking my head. "Anyways, maybe we should just forget about it. It must have been just a stalker. We’re not going to let ourselves fall short like that again," I said.
"We were so lucky tonight, and we have to watch our backs from this moment henceforth," she said.
I nodded my head in agreement and then tossed the key into my purse.
"We need to get some sleep. Remember we have our first lectures tomorrow—although I don’t have classes tomorrow, I still have to resume school to sort out some registration processes for my new year," she said. "But I will see you in school, though."
I smiled and nodded. "Yeah, sure. Thank you so much for everything, I really appreciate it," I said.
She smiled. "Geez, you thank me too much, girl. Give yourself some credit once in a while," she said and ruffled her fingers through my hair.
I shook my head and rolled my eyes. "I thought you said you were sleeping over?" I asked, noticing that she was heading back towards the entrance.
She froze. "Oh, yeah, right. About that—I actually have to go home. I have some things I need to sort out for tomorrow. I guess it slipped my mind when I made that sentence; I was so living in the moment," she said jokingly, and I chuckled, shaking my head.
"Yeah, right. Now I am going to be lonely," I said.
"Don’t worry, we can arrange a sleepover another time," she replied.
I smiled and waved her goodbye, standing at the entrance as I watched her vehicle pull away from the curb and then disappear into the far stretches of the estate. I closed the door and then locked it tight, heading back inside, looking around the opulent, luxurious place in front of me before taking a deep breath.
What a good month it has been, I thought to myself.
I got myself ready for bed, took a very nice, comfortable, warm shower, and then got into bed, draping the duvet over myself. But I couldn’t get a good sleep. For some reason I couldn’t explain to myself, I found it hard to. I kept tossing left and right, turning against the bed, unable to get comfortable.
And the only moment I got the chance to sleep, I had a terrifying image flash in my mind: I saw the face of the stranger—the one at the restaurant—only this time, his eyes looked weird. They looked bloodshot, with red rims lying at the edges, and there were sharp fangs extending from his mouth, snarling towards me like he wanted to rip my throat apart. Then his hands extended as he grabbed my arm and tore through my skin, his other hand landing clean against my throat and strangling the life out of me.