Lucas, campus heartthrob and young CEO, notices an unusual girl holding a mysterious plant. He's intrigued. But she's too busy with her secret life as a gardener to notice him back. So he sets a scheme in motion that might just lead to love. Will hi...
Kai rolled sideways in bed and glanced at her phone. It was October 5th. One year...
One year since... the accident...
Her chest tightened. A rush of memory...
Mom! Dad!
Beth...
All she wanted to do was to reach her arms upward like a baby in her crib. To see her parents' faces, there—smiling. Reaching to pick her up. All she wanted to do was to hug her friend—
Her gaze focused in on her flashing phone. A notification waited for her:
Sleepily, she rubbed her eyes. She rolled back into bed, holding her phone a foot away from her face.
The campus post office—they were saying she had two packages.
Right!
So, last week, Kai had gone on a little online shopping splurge. Maybe because she knew she'd feel awful this week.
She'd bought a mini, portable greenhouse.
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Maybe she could even start moving her plants up and outside that day...
A tiny, weak bubble of excitement almost broke through her grief.
The second package was probably the dress Lilly'd bought her. "You need something for the dance!" had said Lilly, scrolling through website after website.
"Let me see!" Kai said, walking toward Lilly's desk.
Lilly snapped her laptop shut and pulled it away. "It's a surprise!"
Which left Kai grumbling as she retreated to her side of the room: "I don't want to wear a dress to the Formal."
"Then what are you going to wear?"
"I'll figure it out," mumbled Kai.
"That's not an answer!" Lilly said. And then, Kai's evil roommate went for a truly low blow:
A guilt trip.
"Kai, you know why my Formal dress was so cheap? So I could buy you one too!"
WHAM! Guilt trip, for the win.
Kai buried her head in her hands. "It better not be revealing," she groused.
"It's not. I promise," said Lilly. Her voice turned joking: "The so-called future president of the United States is interested in you. Dress up, just a little!"
Lilly powered off her laptop, turned on her lamp, and crawled into bed.
Late into the night, under their covers, they'd talked about the dance. Lilly seemed fine that Taeyong said he was unavailable. "Guys are always not interested," she said, "until they're interested." She spoke like a funny-looking philosopher, wrapping her hair into a magenta satin turban for the night.
