Pursued by Apollo

02

Chapter Two

In which he continued to f**k it up.

-

[Chasen Aclen.]

Flowers were displayed everywhere.

From where I was looking, it looked like what the book had presented. The whole floor looked like a haven filled with sets of beautiful flowers. From roses, peonies, and everything under the sun. It was well lit, with some branches holding an array of different lighting to press more ambiance into the location. I could never get the whole credit in thinking about this, as I had talked to a number of people to make this possible.

The people that I have hired were still preparing the place, covering every area of the room with flowers and some decoration to add more depth to what I wanted to happen. I had spent a number of hours in front of my computer, learning the proper ways there is to capture a woman’s heart. The most answers that I came across were flowers—it seemed like to fit every area of scope there is a relationship.

From anniversaries, apologies to spur of the moment. It seemed like a perfect thing to hold in such a situation.

Everyone has a different opinion on what kind of flower it was—so I did the liberty to order all of those things to be in this room. From what I did notice, Vien wasn’t uninterested in the idea of me. I do not think that she was openly rejecting me because of who I was. She found what follows with my presence is to be annoying, or a hindrance to her everyday routine. Which, I do understand.

My friends were used to the attention that I would catch whenever we are outside. It never came to my attention that most people are bothered by that. Then again, I would receive praise and love from people who support what I do. Vien, on the other hand, would not get the same thing that they were offering me. Since people would whisper about her, and could probably talk badly about everything she does.

Therefore, I wanted to show her that I am serious about her. It made me realize that I need a plan to cast me out of that damn seen zone, as they call it. I’ve been in that zone for a long time now, and with the flow of things, I could get stuck there for months and months.

“What on earth?” Braden walked in the room, looking around with his eyes big as they could be. His hands grabbed hold of his phone, before flickering his eyes back to mine. “Chasen, what the hell did you do?”

I smiled, flashing a broad smile, “I prepared this for Vien!”

The man did not even wait for a single second before ringing someone, and with the scream that followed, I gathered that it was Ayne. I walked close to the phone to see her hands covering her mouth, eyes focused on what Braden was showing her. The screen flipped to where I was, let me give her a soft wave.

“What in the holy name is that, Chasen? I swear to heavens, we left you guys for one month. One month!” She gasped, her voice still louder as I have remembered them. Before she could even utter a word, Lucas already wrapped his hand on her mouth. The action effectively stopped Ayne from saying anything else. He grabbed the phone away from her hands before walking away from where she was.

“Let the man marvel at his works, sweetheart,” Lucas commented, his expression seeming different than usual. I could still catch some muffled sound coming from Ayne, but I could hardly make any words that followed it. Lucas distracted me by offering me a look. With a careful tone, he asked. “How long did you plan this for, Chasen?”

With a confident smile, I answered. “Around twelve hours. My a—”

Ayne screamed in a distance from him, tackling the man to face me. “12 hours!? Twelve!? Twelve—! How does a pop star have all that f*****g time?”

“Language, sweetheart.” Lucas sighed.

“It did come better than what I expected. They did a good job bringing the plan to life.” I smiled, disregarding both people on the other side of the phone as I looked around the room, envisioning the smile that would cast on her face. Vien hardly gave any emotion whenever she is near me, so it had always been a big deal whenever I see her smile. That thought alone sends me in euphoria—to finally be the reason behind those smiles. “Oh, I can’t wait to see her reaction!”

Ayne grabbed the phone away from Lucas. Before the man could say something else, she pushed him away from her. Some soft crashes were heard from a distance, with Ayne cutting to the chase. “Chasen, did you even ask her if she liked flowers?”

What?

Doesn’t every woman like flowers?

All of my friends looked at me in a manner that seemed foreign to me. From what I understand, every woman seemed to enjoy receiving one. Even the staff who had helped me make all of these happen were happy to hear that this was all for a woman. I even heard several phrases that she will love it. Before I could ask them about their expression, I was called by one of the people who were fixing everything. Almost everyone was finished decorating, and I couldn’t cast the smile that was lingering on my lips when I saw what I envisioned to come true.

“Chasen, she’s here,” Seth announced as he barge into the closed doors. A phone rested in his hands, ready to mock up a tease. The second he reached the place, the man physically stopped at whatever he was doing. His eyes grew wide, spinning around to check if he was seeing right. Finally meeting my eyes, he exclaimed. “What flower shop did you rob, man?”

I chuckled. Before I could offer any sort of response, we were cued that she was near. All the staff scram away from the place, leaving me in the middle as my friends pulled themselves into the side. To my hands were a bouquet of red roses, one that signifies love. The door opened in a second, which was the cue for the workers to pop their confetti.

Vien stood there, frozen in her space. She looked around the room, her eyes wide and hands pressed to her side.

“Hi, Vien!” I greeted, walking towards her in a casual manner. A smile slipped on my lips, an automatic action when I am near her. Vien’s eyes were as big as they could be as she was staring right through me. “I figured that I wanted a way out of the—”

Then she sneezed.

“Are you—”

Another sneeze.

Confused, I was about to touch her, but she continuously reacted badly to what is surrounding her. It was different from how she usually reacted. Her eyes were getting glossy due to her sneezing, which set another panic to ring in my head.

What is happening?

“Vien? Why are you—oh my heavens!” Mxen looked around the room in horror. Confusion bore into her eyes before it stopped me. Finally realizing things, she pushed a handkerchief in Vein’s nose and muttered the answer to my questions. “S—she’s allergic to flowers.”

I didn’t even have another word to say before Vien dashed away to the place, while her friend mumbled a sorry to all of us and then ran towards her. My shoulders slumped, not even taking the time to think if she was allergic to flowers.

“Chasen, I am—”

“I will just have to try again,” I muttered, looking back at Braden with a determined smile. “I will need to find another way; maybe she would like presents? Or—”

“Or maybe,” Ayne’s voice slipped on the phone speaker, letting me face the screen. “You could ask her friend for pointers on what she would like, then decide to be creative there. I doubt that she will be the type to accept lavish gifts. The girl is a simple one.”

.

.

As I was thinking of ways to redeem myself to Vien, I found myself in the library.

My eyes were caught in the structure of the place that I soon forgot what I have come here, to begin with. The place was designed to urge students to study in the place or spend most of their hours here. Since Lucas does not fancy reading when he was a child, his family perfectly designed the place to encourage someone like him to engage in study.

With Lucas’s continuous academic excellence streak, I am guessing that it worked.

“Where should I start?” the words fall from my thoughts the second I spotted a familiar brunette not that far from where I was standing.

Vien is currently occupying one of the stalls. Tons of books were nestled on her table while she wrote things on her beaten notebook. It was a sight to see her so focused; her forehead would crease from time to time, and then she would smile as if she had found the answer to her questions.

She was adorable, and I couldn’t help but watch her.

“I’m... missing one.” She says softly.

Vien moved to one of the large shelves not that far from her, searching for some book. It took a whole minute before she found one, and that one is clearly off of her reach. Her small frame walked around the place, eyes squinting to all sides in a small attempt to look for the librarian or anyone taller than her. While she was doing that, I took the liberty to climb the ladders and grab the book.

What I saw, though, was something that I wasn’t expecting.

Tips on writing songs Vol X

I could only smile.

“You’re getting interesting as days go by, Vien,” I muttered before placing that book to a place where she could reach them.

I was thankful that I decided to get the books myself, because, after some seconds that I left that shelf that she was idling, Vien came back with a ladder of her own. With her height, that added help wouldn’t have made her reach the book, to begin with. Yet upon seeing that book on the shelves that she could reach, a smile spread into her lips.

Her head looked back and forth, searching for the person responsible for it.

It was good timing for me to receive her thanks, but I found myself unable to move. My eyes simply focused on the smile pressed on her lips, feeling good knowing that I was the one responsible for casting that from her face.

People always wondered why I continue to pursue someone who pays little attention to me, but the smile was the only thing I could answer them—because frankly, I was unsure of the answer myself. No matter how hard I try to keep my mind off of her, she always has this way to make me see her.

To watch her.

To see her smile.

And then I would fall, seeing those beautiful smiles.

I wanted those smiles directly into me, to make her smile and be the reason for her happiness. Having her love isn’t even my plan... I just want to make her smile. A red folder shined on my eyes, marking a smile to form on my lips.

Finally, I seem to have a plan that could work!