Asma sat there in her dining hall, replaying the whole scene of the zoo again and again in her mind. Although she had prepared a simple bowl of ramen she had cooked with no interest after getting back to her apartment, she had no urge of eating any of it which was rather rare considering how she took food importantly usually.

 She picked up her cellphone from the dining table and started playing with the buttons while going through tons of pictures to distract her from her thoughts. While doing so, she came across the family picture; the only picture where all the family members were; with smiles very genuine and carefree. The empty feeling soon filled her heart and she started remembering the happy times with her beloved family. Two months, two whole months of not being able to see them but just exchanging telephonic conversations with them when possible, yes, it sure was, is and will be overwhelmingly sad for a girl like her who never left the side of her family as a whole for such a long time. Old friends left behind, true friends left behind, family left behind, no body to accompany her through her lonely breakfasts and dinners except the times when the crazy dorks forced themselves on her without invitations, yes, she sure was feeling lonely now of all times.

She glanced at the now soggy ramen in the bowl in front of her; waiting to be eaten, and a drop of tear escaped her right eye. She remembered how her younger siblings always fought for a few bites over her special ramen since she had inherited the cooking skills from her perfectionist mother. She remembered all the crazy times she had with her family in relation to a mere bowl of a ramen or any kind of noodles in general. Oh, how she missed those times, only she knew. Her mom’s naggings when she did things wrong, when she escaped a few of her cooking lessons from her mom since she started learning cooking at age 10, her dad encouraging her when she was not so good at studies in high school, him always siding her against her mom when she was right, giving her strength when she most needed, guiding her to the right path when she went wrong, her siblings always teasing her and troubling her and vise versa in a playful way, she missed all those precious memories.

But she was and is stronger emotionally; for she’s changed for her family for good. After all, the hard work to gain scholarship and a worthy transfer to her dream country was all to help her parents financially.

She took her chopsticks between her fingers and took a bite of the now cold ramen while a silent sob escaped her lips. 

“Mom, I miss your naggings. And dad, I miss you more than ever right now.” she managed to say to herself out loud and started to dig in the remaining ramen so that it doesn’t go to waste just because her gloomy mood wasn’t feeling hungry.

After getting done with the dinner and all the pending works, she noticed a few bandages wrapped on her right hand here and there and the thoughts about the evening came back to her. She had kept about it from the others to avoid them getting worried over a matter they weren’t supposed to be a part of. Nobody knew about the little girl, the rose she had given Asma, the note that got stained with Asma’s blood and what the content of the note was. Nobody knew but her and the owner and she planned to keep it that way.

Drifting off to slumber was rather Mission Impossible for her that night, but she somehow managed to at dawn. Thanking God that the coming day, apparently the present day to start, was a weekend; she drifted off to slumber to dream about the happy times she spent with her family and friends back in Dubai, trying to forget all the unhappiness she felt in Seoul so far.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

“And I thought I was your bestfriend.” MiNa spat disappointedly. She had learnt about the blood-stained note after accidently encountering it on Asma’s dressing table the next day when she came to spend some ‘friends-only-for-serious’ time with Asma at her apartment. She had initially ignored the bandages on Asma’s hand thinking it was due to Asma being clumsy in the kitchen while cooking and all. But after registering in the contents of the note, she placed the puzzle pieces together and the worry on her face now was no joke.

“I didn’t want to worry you over this matter. You worry over everything concerning me.” Asma pouted unintentionally.

“I worry about you because believe it or not, you are my only true friend and the bestfriend at that I’ve ever had in my life. Even though I’m rich and my parents and maids try to pamper me, I never felt loved as a friend and that feeling is what you give me. You made me realize that not everyone wants to befriend me for my riches or my grades, but for my true imperfect self. That’s why I worry about you. Got the point, you dumbo.” MiNa half shouted.

Warmth filled Asma’s heart instantly and she felt guilty about hurting her Korean bestfriend unintentionally. All Asma could do to make it up to her worried friend was to hug her and she was returned back with the warm hug MiNa had offered in return. Yes, MiNa hugs and shows affection to none. No, the ‘none’ doesn’t include her bestfriend. The only person apart from MiNa’s parents and Nanny to have received those warm feelings and affectionate skinships was only and only Asma.

“I’m sure you had a hard time sleeping last night, right? Knowing your character in these two months is not really hard and I’m sure I’m right at this one too.” Asma just nodded in awe at MiNa’s sentence.

“You sure read me like an open book there!” Asma exclaimed.

“Your dark circles and eye bags did the job actually. So, this weirdo here and the owner of those bouquets might be same? Asma, give me a few of those cards from the bouquets you received back then.” MiNa demanded. “Knowing that you hate wasting stuff and money, I’m sure you kept those cards a.k.a. papers to recycle them somehow.” she added.

“Wow MiNa, you sure are my bestfriend!” Asma adored her bestfriend.

After going through most of the cards and the note from the previous evening, MiNa frowned after coming to the conclusion of her thorough analysis.

“Congrats dear bestfriend, you have a new stalker who happens to be obsessed with roses and anonymous bouquets.” She concluded.

Asma stared at her, not able to understand the sarcasm in her friend’s statement.

“You mean I have 2 stalkers now?” she tried to confirm.

“It’s right in a way that you have more than 1 stalker but what I’m trying to say is that the owner of these cards and the owner of this note are both the same. It’s the same person. See, the handwritings are a perfect match in the note and the cards.” MiNa finished off her statement and stuffed the note and a few cards in her purse after showing them to Asma.

“Why are you putting them in your bag though?” Asma asked confused.

“It’s for emergencies as a proof when we complain about this to the police in case the matter starts getting serious.”  MiNa finished while placing the proofs safely in the pocket deep inside the purse where private *ahem* things were usually kept.

“You sure are practically clever chingu! I’m so proud to have you!” Asma happily lunged at MiNa in a friendly way.

“I’m glad you have me or you’d really suffer without me.” MiNa smirked playfully.

“Really? Really? Really?” Asma playfully teased and started tickling MiNa and her apartment was soon filled with laughter from both the girls.

A certain someone’s lips curled up into a smile upon hearing the laughter from his neighbor’s apartment. Though he didn’t know the cause of the laughs he could hear from the apartment next door, he loved the fact that he somehow was able to get his new apartment right next to the girl he had started to get obsessed with. How he thanked the flight back to Seoul, being able to sit next to the most beautiful girl he had ever encountered, only he knew about that feeling that he felt for her. Going to the heights of being the new trustee of the same University as her, buying a flower shop of highest quality roses, frequenting a café next to her apartment building, sending her fresh bouquets and cards to cheer her up for her exams, getting all the data about her life back in Dubai, threatening her as a last resort to accept a damn flower and now; shifting to an average looking apartment from his mansion-like house, calling him a stalker was an insult to this guy. He wasn’t a mere stalker but someone who was obsessed with a naïve, innocent, clumsy, hardworking girl called Asma. Her only fault, she was his seat partner in the flight. His only fault, he got obsessed with her after watching her sleep innocently during the 8 hour long flight, spell bounding him.

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A/N

This might possibly be the last update for the time being and I guess the next update will be either by the end of this month or the next month. Hope it was a worthy chapter. I'm still waiting for the Poll results from the previous chapter BTW so u guys better vote :)

Special mentions to my lil dongsaengs Shnerdy , roselusupagen and Ryukai for the precious comments.^^