Chapter - 1

Chapter - 1

"Yo, man... Stop staring at your phone and give me a hand," A boy walked into the room and found his friend glued to his phone, "Matt, Stacy will reply when she sees your message. You staring at the phone won't do a thing. Huh... Acting like a puppy."

The boy snatched the phone from Mathew's hand and pushed a tray into Mathew's arms.

"Take this and get back to work. Use that pretty face of yours to earn some extra cash," Barry frowned, looking at Mathew and spoke. If he had a face like his friend's, he would be a cash printing machine.

And it was indeed justified of Barry to feel a bit jealous. Mathew was one of the most, if not the most handsome boy in their school.

But despite Mathew being a candy for the eye, he hardly had girls fawning over him. And this was all because he was not born with a silver spoon in his mouth.

But while others would have regretted it all along, Mathew did not care about it much. After all, he already had the perfect girlfriend, the most beautiful girl in the school, Stacy. Mathew and Stacy have known each other since they were in diapers.

But what worried Mathew was that he had no time for Stacy. Mathew had to buy a nice expensive gift for Stacy soon. After all, it was their anniversary soon. They would complete four years of being together. He had to make that day special for her.

"You know ... The restaurant has been booked by a guy for the evening?" Barry spoke, which brought Mathew's head out of his thoughts, "We need to start preparing for that as well... So get your act together, will ya?"

"Do you know who it is?" Mathew tried to pry. This was a grand gesture to make anyone envious.

"How would I know?" Barry feigned ignorance and said, "It's not like I am the manager's favourite," and saying so, Bary turned around to leave without giving Mathew any chance of pestering him.

"Che... Liar," Mathew clicked his tongue, not believing Barry but still followed behind him.

"This should be enough," Barry looked at Mathew and said. They decorated the table with nicely fragrant flowers, dim lighting and everything else the customer had asked for. It was elegant but not too much to give away the surprise.

"Nicely done, guys... You have some good taste," While Mathew and Barry appreciated their work, the manager walked towards them.

"Manager!" Mathew and Barry greeted the manager and stepped away to give him way.

"Everything looks fine here," the manager nodded and turned towards two of his employees, "Now, after the guest arrives..."

"I know... I know... Mathew will take care of the guests while I will be in the back, cleaning the toilets," Barry spoke up and finished the manager's words.

"Ahh... Well, not today... Mathew, I want you to switch places with Barry today," the manager said to everyone's surprise.

"Huh... For real?" Barry asked.

"... Actually, the boy who booked the restaurant wants to propose to his girlfriend," the manager said to which Mathew nodded. He could guess the situation pretty much.

"... So, he specifically asked that no good-looking guy was anywhere nearby. Unless, you know..." The manager paused as he looked around, checking if anyone was hearing, and then leaned forward, "The girl got other thoughts... You understand that, right?" The manager whispered.

'So now he was too good-looking to serve the guests?' It was hard to believe. But Mathew was kind of happy cause he had more time to think about the gift he should buy for Stacy.

"Ughh... This shit is tough," Mathew sighed as he pulled off the rubber gloves and washed his hands.

"... I should get back to work as well. And right... Don't forget to take your paycheck from me later. I will add some extra for all the hard work," and giving Mathew a meaningful smile, the manager walked away.

*Buzz... Buzz...

'She finally replied...' Thinking it might be Stacy's message, Mathew suddenly forgot about the dirty toilets and found himself smiling. But as soon as he looked at his phone, his smile faded. It was Barry. He had sent him a link.

"What's this? School forum?" Mathew, when opened the link, he was taken to the homepage of their school's forum. It was a student-only website, and one could find every gossip there.

Mathew was confused about why Barry sent him the link, but it was short-lived as soon a video started playing on his screen. There was a boy in the frame in some restaurant. But for Mathew, both the restaurant and the boy were no strangers.

The boy who booked the restaurant was someone he knew. They were not friends, but they were in the basketball team together. He was in a class of his own. Rich, handsome and the captain of the school basketball team. It made sense that he wanted to make a spectacle of his proposal.

He was happy for the boy. Though they hardly conversed, Mathew knew how rich Georgie was. Whoever the girl was, she had totally hit a jackpot.

And that got Mathew to be curious about the girl. There were so many girls fawning over Georgie. So who got lucky? But the girl had her back towards the one holding the camera.

Other than the girl, what caught Mathew's eye were the expensive dishes on the table. From Abalone, caviar and turkey to Sauvignon Blanc, the costliest wine in the restaurant.

"Oh my god... I can't believe Georgie is going out with someone... I feel heartbroken."

"Who's the girl? I can't see her face... What's with all the suspense trying to hide her... C'mon, the one with the phone... Show us the girl's face..."

"Well, that's one lucky girl..."

"Which class is she from? She kinda looks familiar..."

Mathew read the comments and smiled at the curious nature of the students. But indeed, the girl looked somewhat familiar. Well, not that Mathew cared.

"It's finally here..." While Mathew read the comments, Georgie got on his knees and pulled out a bracelet in front of the girl.

"Say Yes..."

"Say Yes..."

"Say Yes..."

Soon, the broadcast was filled with comments.

"Yes..." Finally, the girl nodded her head and agreed. And as soon as she did, the guy holding the camera moved around, slowly showing the face of the girl.

"This... can't be right..." Mathew murmured. His hands shivered as he thought of what he just saw. Hoping that it might just be a bad dream, Mathew slowly looked down at his feet.

There lay his phone with its screen cracked, but he could still see the dreadful sight in front of him.

"Stacy?"

* * * * *