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The Late Girl

I see trees of green

Red roses too

I see them bloom

For me and you

And I think to myself

What a wonderful world

I see skies of blue

And clouds of white

The bright blessed day

The dark sacred night

And I think to myself

What a wonderful world

Manchester, England, 21 September 2017

My eyes immediately opened, I heard the sound of the alarm clock which had been ringing for five minutes.

"Hoaaam..." My mouth yawned widely while scratching my head which felt itchy.

Sunlight comes in through the gap in my bedroom window. It was quiet, all that could be heard was the sound of the wind and the chirping of birds perched on the balcony pillars.

It took me seven minutes to collect myself, my habit of sleeping a lot and being difficult to wake up was what seemed to make it difficult for my mother to let me go to college far from home. Moreover, I am not an independent girl who is used to being away from my parents.

My nose tried to sniff the aroma of the breakfast my mother used to make every morning. The sweet aroma of pancakes, freshly baked bread from the oven, or the savory aroma of meat omelettes, you can't feel it at all.

Plaaakkk...

I slapped my cheek to wake myself up. Mom won't wake me up every morning or make breakfast for me anymore. It might sound sad, but that's what I have to face as an overseas student.

Drrrrt...drrrt...

My cell phone vibrates. Seeing the name displayed on the cellphone screen suddenly made my eyes open wide.

"Yes, mom? What's wrong?"

"What's wrong? You still asking? You must have just woken up, right?"

"Hehehe..."

"Oh my God, this girl. Look what time it is?"

"Um...seven o'clock." I answered while looking at the clock on the table.

"Seven o'clock? What time is the first class today?"

"Half past nine,"

"It's half past nine and you wake up at seven? Oh God, quickly get up and wash!" Mother shouted in a loud voice that made me immediately take the phone away from my ear.

Hearing my mother's anger even though she wasn't around, still made my guts sink. My mother was a very talkative and extremely disciplined woman. No one dared to disobey mother, including my father.

I went straight into the bathroom, turned on the shower and let the warm water wash over my body. This is the second mistake I've made since deciding to study in Manchester, far from my family who live in Inverness.

The first mistake occurred when I arrived late at student orientation because I overslept. No half-hearted, I was almost three hours late and secondly, it might happen today. The day I officially became a student at the art faculty majoring in fine arts.

Five seconds after I stepped out of the bathroom, my cell phone rang again and the incoming call came from the same person, namely my mother.

"Yes mom, I've finished showering. If you keep calling, when will I finish?"

"What's the first class today?"

"Painting, why?"

"It's okay, don't forget the breakfast cereal that I kept in plastic. It's cold, don't forget to wear a jacket and thick socks!"

"Yes, mom,"

"One more message from your Dad, hang out with good friends. Your dad is afraid you'll be bothered by flirtatious men!"

"Dad, this is a campus, not a shopping center, who will bother me?"

"On yes, Daniel said he would use your room while you were away!"

"What? Why did you let him? He could ruin my painting, Mom. Just tell him to sleep in his room!"

"I told him, but he didn't want to. He said there was no need to worry, he wouldn't damage your painting. Well, you'd better get ready immediately. Study hard, my prayers are with you!"

"Thank you, Mom. Tell dad I miss him!"

"Yeah, I'll tell him later. Your dad just left for work."

"See you later, mom?"

"See you later, darling."


It was already 8.25 minutes and that meant there were only five minutes left to get to my first class. I ran as fast as I could, where the distance from the dormitory to the arts faculty reached 1 km, a distance that was quite tiring to cover by running.

Not to mention the books in my hands which are adding to the burden, making me confused. Today is my first day studying in class, but I have already experienced this. If today I am really late, you can be sure I will get the title of "Late girl" in my class, even at the art faculty.

Bruuukkk...

Because I was too hasty, I accidentally bumped into a man who was walking in the opposite direction from me.

"It hurts-" I mumbled whimpering as my butt hit the floor hard.

"Are you okay?" The man who collided with me immediately got up and stretched out his hand to help me.

"Thank you, I should be the one asking, oh my gosh, he's so fucking handsome-" I said, immediately stunned to see the face of heaven clearly visible before my eyes.

"What?"

"Ah no, it's nothing-" I smiled awkwardly, but my eyes were still focused on this man's beautiful face.

How beautiful, that sentence came to mind. Very sharp and clear blue eyes, shiny dark brown hair, tall and athletic body. Is this figure really human?

The man looked at me confused, but apparently, he quite understood why this girl kept looking at him like that and the only thing he did was keep quiet as if he didn't care.

"These books are yours?" The man asked after picking up my books that were scattered on the floor.

"Ah yes, thank you so much."

"Be careful next time!" Said the man as he stepped back.

"S-see you?" I felt nervous and subconsciously waved my hand.

"Wow...there's a guy like that here? That's going to be fun!" I muttered, still asleep.

"Oh my God, what did I do?" After realizing that I had lost a lot of time and this time, it was certain that I would be late.

"I-I'm sorry." I said while opening the classroom door. I was scared, I didn't realize that there wasn't even a lecturer in this class yet. All eyes were on me, looking at me with the thought that the figure who entered hastily was the same person during orientation.

"You're blocking the way!" Said someone standing behind me. Spontaneously, I immediately looked back, seeing who it was who had arrived late besides me.

"Eh d-did he?" I thought when my eyes caught the handsome figure with a cold face who collided with me five minutes ago.

The man looked at me with an incomprehensible, though stunned look in his eyes. But it can't be denied, I felt a little scared by the look in his eyes.

"Why are you daydreaming?"

"Ah s-sorry-" I said and immediately stepped towards the place where the students were sitting and observing.

"Pssst Soraya, come here!" Diana exclaimed while waving her hand. Diana gave me a code to take a place beside her.

Feeling like there was no time for small talk, I immediately walked quickly over to Diana and sat beside her feeling relieved.

"You're almost late," whispered Diana.

"Hehe...that was almost."

In front of the class, the figure who I thought was my classmate, remained standing and placed the books he was carrying on the lecturer's table.

"So, he's not a student?" I thought.

"Good morning?" The man said hello. But what was strange, his expression was flat and cold.

I gulped, even though it looked incredibly attractive. The atmosphere he shows tends to be mysterious and a little dark.

"Cool," Diana muttered. Hearing Diana praise the man, I immediately turned and looked at Diana who looked so stunned. I realized something after I glanced at my other classmates. Most even the average woman looked at the man with sparkling eyes and a smile full of admiration.

"Good morning, sir!" Said all the students in class. Without further ado, the man took one of the books he brought and a marker from the table.

"Today I will explain what the meaning of painting is, maybe most of you already know. But there's no harm in repeating it," he said.

"Wow..." All the girls including me felt the same way. After hearing the man say a longer sentence, the admiration doubled.

His voice was heavy and deep, it had a different color that made women fall when he heard him speak. Sexy, maybe that's the right word if you see the look in his eyes and hear his voice.

"Um, sorry sir, but we don't know your name yet!" Abigail asked. She would be lying if she claimed she didn't know the man's name. Even though you are a new student, knowing and recognizing the name of the lecturer who will be teaching the class is mandatory. But of course, Abigail had other intentions because they wanted the man to introduce himself directly in front of the class.

The man stepped towards the blackboard and started writing something. Strange, everyone felt palpitations as if they were waiting for something they were looking forward to.

"Levi William Stanley." Everyone reads the writing on the blackboard.

"Levi, huh? So his name is Levi. Oh yes, I've heard that name. Turns out he's the guy? Great, this cool lecturer teaches in our class," I thought. My enthusiasm increased greatly when I realized that there was a young lecturer teaching in our class.

"Any question?" Asked that man, still with his flat expression.

"If I may ask, how old are you, sir?" Sandra asked shyly. It seemed like he had been waiting for a question and answer moment like this.

"I'm 30 years old."

"Still so young."

"You, who were late earlier. Come here!" He said while looking at me sharply.

"Huh? M-me, sir?"

"Yeah, come here!"

"O-okay!"

I got up feeling restless. It's okay, I've been called to the front of the class.

"Oh, what's wrong with this? What did I do wrong?" I thought. My nervousness became even more intense when I was standing one meter in front of this lecturer.

"Draw this pattern!" He said while showing a picture of the book he was holding.

"O-okay, sir!"


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