Chapter 128. Rosa’s Birthday (1/10)

It was currently Wednesday and two days had passed since winter break ended, today being the third day of the first semester. Operation Supernova had been executed on Sunday as planned and had gone off without a hitch. As for the results of the operation, only time would tell. 

Regarding the specifics of the operation, I still considered them to be top-secret classified information. For the time being, I didn’t dare think of or remember the events that played out on that day, fearful police would soon come knocking on my front door. I’d taken many measures to ensure my safety, but I knew many holes could potentially be exploited if I’d been unlucky that day.

I hadn’t attended school for the last two days. With Operation Supernova completed, my attention was now focused on other pressing matters at hand. One being my unfounded fear of transfer students. I’d been paranoid about them over the last two days.

Rosa said there hadn’t been any transfer students, but I wouldn’t lower my guard. I wouldn’t fall for such a cliche development.

An assassin transfer student? Hah! Get real, I’m not calling for that twisted joke. Did I look like an idiot who’d walk right into that one? I’m onto your games, world. You like to play too many tricks. I won’t fall for it. The second I return, I’m sure a transfer student will coincidentally appear on the very same day.

As that was the case I’d gone to the university every day to pass the time in the museum. I used the spare time I had to focus on writing.

However, I couldn’t do that today. My number one most pressing matter today was the second subject on my mind which left me with no spare time to think about writing anything. Today was... Rosa’s birthday, she was still in class though. Up until now, I hadn’t thought of what to do for her birthday. What do couples do on each other’s birthdays? Go on a date and give them a present?

Well… tomorrow she had her interview with the Owner. Should I maybe do something related to that?

If she did get hired, she planned to get her learner’s permit right away and even finance a car. I’d already run the numbers and showed her she’d be able to fully buy it out in a bit over half a year depending on how much she was willing to spend on it.

As for Alicia, she’d already submitted her application and resume. She was just waiting on a call back from the owner to see if she’d get an interview.

She was in a similar position to Rosa. If Alicia got a callback today, she’d probably have her interview tomorrow with Rosa.

But that was for tomorrow. Today’s subject was Rosa’s birthday. I had a blank document open. I’d been staring at it in a state identical to the document itself.

Blankly.

Yes, blankly.

I had no idea.

I never celebrated birthdays.

My one birthday was just another unimportant day to me.

I’d tried searching online for ideas, but they all sounded awful. Who the hell thought of these? The best I could think of was getting her a cake, but Alicia had secretly baked one for her yesterday. 

I was lost.

A lost little lamb.

For the first time in a long time.

I was someone who could come up with an elaborate plan to destroy a celebrity's entire career… yet I couldn’t come up with a plan for my girlfriend’s birthday. How pathetic was I?

Well… to start with I took out my phone and sent her a text. 

‘Happy birthday, Rosa!’

That was the only thing I had though. I didn’t know what to do.

I hadn’t said it to her in the morning because I only remembered it was her birthday when I got here. I spent two hours straight brainstorming and researching, but I’d gotten nowhere.

Even though she was in the middle of class I got an immediate response.

‘FINALLY! I THOUGHT YOU FORGOT!’

‘I would never forget. You’re my precious girlfriend.’

It was a lie that I hadn’t forgotten, but I felt like I’d be murdered if I revealed that to her.

‘♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡’ She sent me a long string of hearts.

Phew. I breathed out a long sigh of relief.

At least I hadn’t completely screwed up yet.

‘Did you have anything you wanted to especially do for your birthday?’

‘♡ You. ♡’

I broke out into a coughing fit when I received her single-word reply. What the hell? You want to do me?

‘Stop messing around.’

‘I’m not messing around. I’m serious. I don’t care to do anything else. Book a hotel room for just the two of us. We’re going after school.’

‘I… get it. I’ll book one. Let’s meet up at home after school first.’

‘Okay, I’m looking forward to it. ♡’

Our text messages ended with that.

What the hell? Book a hotel room, she says. It’d be hard for me to do that on such short notice. I could do something about the age with one of the fake IDs I’ve made, but I’d need a credit card. I can’t use my debit card.

In this case, I suppose I could only turn to Irene. She was at work though. She’d have a thirty-minute window where she could do it though.

I sent Irene a text.

‘Hey, Irene, could you help me book a hotel room? Rosa made an unreasonable request for her birthday. I’ll pay for it, I just can’t do much about the credit card requirement.’ 

I’d already crunched the numbers and instead of being in the red $95 every month, I’d be in the green $710 by renting a room at her place. Coughing up $150 for a night wasn’t so bad. Plus, January was when the hotel prices were the cheapest in this city. If we made the reservation through a booking site or checked the hotel’s website for offers we might also get a discount on it.

While I waited for a response from Irene I searched around online for hotels that looked nice nearby with affordable prices. I eventually found one that was on the pricier end of the spectrum for my budget. It was advertised as two beds for $200 regular price, but it was discounted down to $150.

By the time I settled on the one I wanted and sent Irene a follow-up text with the listing, It’d been twenty minutes since my first text. I hadn’t received a reply back yet. I had no choice but to wait until she had a chance to see it. She’d probably notice it on one of her breaks or lunch.

About an hour later I got a message back.

‘Sorry! I didn’t see your text until now.’

‘But ohhhh!’ 

‘What’s this~, what’s this~? A hotel? A hotel~?’

‘How nice~!’

‘I’m soooooo jealous~’

‘I want to be taken to a nice hotel like this for my birthday too~’

I received a rapid burst of text messages one after the other in under a minute.

‘Will you book it for me?’

‘Hmmm~ what should I do? An underage boy and girl all alone at a hotel? That sounds pretty suspicious, don't you think~’

‘We’re not going to cross that line or anything.’ I hope.

‘I don’t know about that. Don’t you think you’re a bit too optimistic, maybe you don’t intend to cross that line yet, but Rosa seems pretty eager to if she requested a hotel.’

‘I’ll make sure it doesn’t reach that point.’

‘Well, it should be fine with the present I gave Rosa for Christmas even if you do cross it~’

I facepalmed when I recalled the present Irene discreetly gave her on Christmas in secret.

‘Shouldn’t you be advocating for us to wait until we’re older and more mature?’

‘Telling kids your age to not do something these days is like telling them to just go and do it. Instead of letting them go and do it behind your back in an uncontrolled manner, I believe providing them with the means to do it in a safe manner and giving them more freedom is the safer option. The allure of it is greater to children when it’s something forbidden or considered a bad thing. Children just love to be bad because it gives them a thrill.’

‘Well… I can’t say you’re entirely wrong. The more pressure you put on someone to not do something, the more likely they are to eventually snap and do it.’

As Irene herself got pregnant when she was 16, her words were more convincing than anyone else’s. She’d likely been in a similar situation in the past. If anyone could understand Rosa, I’m sure she could.