She is Stronger

"And... done," Ran tapped the last key on her keyboard before stretching out her arms in satisfaction. She was currently typing up her resume on one of the free computers available in the public library. It was about time she's gotten a new job, especially since she's lost her old one. After dropping Rowan off at his apartment, Ran felt that she needed to start moving forward with her own life. She too wished to live a luxurious life like Rowan in a comfortable apartment. And she has the money for that but not the stable job.

Even if the pieces of her life fell apart after getting fired, losing her house, her friends, Ran still needed to eventually pick up those pieces and get her life together. After all, the world won't wait for her to heal up. And she won't make that same mistake twice.

"Send please," Ran started to communicate with the inanimate object. Though it may seem strange, it was her way of having fun doing mundane tasks. Currently, she was filling out job applications for multiple companies to try out her luck. She watched her last application send through and let out a sigh of relief. Filling these out were always annoying for her, no matter how many she's done.

She got up from her chair and left the library. Her stomach yelled at her for the past hour, and it was time to eat dinner anyway. Ran walked onto the main street and started to ponder over her choices. It took her a while to make a decision.

"Convenient store dinner it is then..."

She needed to conserve her money, at least until she got a job.

...

"I said want to live a good life earlier but here I am munching on some convenient store two dollar sandwich," Ran grumbled to herself while eating the unexpectedly delicious sandwich. Or at least in her taste buds, it was delicious. She's gotten way too used to the conserving lifestyle.

"Curses," She fakely wailed in despair while testing out her card again in the atm. It was unusual (and concerning) since her and her mom's card still failed to work. The machine would swallow her card and immediately spit it back out.

Ran put on a pouty face as she tucked her cards away in her wallet. It was late in the evening, so the banks were all closed.

"Guess that's another item to put on my to do list," Ran left Con-VT while thinking about her imaginery to do list. But she wasn't too pressed since she's done the most concerning item first: getting a new job.

"Now, to wait for the results," She made a drumrolling gesture while heading back to her motel in a pleased mood.

...

A few days later, Ran got a message from one of the companies she applied for informing her about her interview. She was extremely surprised to get a reply from this company, since she only sent in her application without expectations. After all, it was ATE, the grandest and influencial of them all.

Once she read the message and its sender, Ran skipped around in her new furnished one bedroom apartment feeling escastic. She found this place while staying in her last day in her motel. In fact, she stayed in the motel all day in order to find the cheapest place until, at least, she's gotten a job.

"Clothes? I need clothes for an interview!" Ran quickly remembered about her near empty wardrobe and hurriedly got dressed to go shopping.

She grabbed her wallet and checked if her card was inside. "Ah!" She remembered when she thought about the last few days, "Right. My card has a problem. Oh no, I was too busy finding a place that I totally forgot about going to a bank."

She hesitated about heading out, especially since she hates the idea of using her parents' money to buy personal items such as clothes and makeup.

"...I'll just apologize to him later," Ran left her apartment with an apologetic expression. Though, it completely slipped her mind that calling him once before failed to work. She was too focused on dressing her best for her interview.

...

"Your total comes out to be 200," The cashier spoke these torturous words.

Ran swallowed back her despair of spending so much on clothes in one sitting and handed her dad's card to the cashier, her hands shaking. She's usually only shopped in cheap places that still sold cute clothes. In fact, it was her first time coming inside one of those larger brand stores in a shopping district.

"Sorry Dad!" Her eyes followed the cashier's hands as he swiped the card. Ran's guilt only grew more overwhelming as she accepted her card and left the store with heavy steps.

She walked down the street linking the main street with the shopping district's street towards the direction of her apartment, one hand holding tightly onto her purchase. She felt nervous since the shopping district was infamous for being the home of countless of thieves. It was more dangerous at night when there were fewer police and people to protect her. Ran walked until she felt an abrupt tap on her shoulder and jumped in fright.

"Ro!" Ran turned around and saw the familiar figure in front of her, feeling relieved that it was somebody she knew, "You scared the living hell out of me!" She was also confused as to how the hell she somehow always runs into him during the night time.

Rowan quickly retreated his hand when he saw the frightened Ran. He only walked up to her after seeing her familiar back view and decided to thank her for acting as his escort. Her reaction also frightened him, though he didn't dare show it on his face.

"I apologize for scaring you," He awkwardly put his hand back down and stared down at her with apologetic puppy eyes.

"No, it's okay! Totally okay. Please don't show me those puppy eyes, ugh they're my weakness," Ran covered her eyes to hide from his expression. She's a huge animal lover and felt powerless every time she saw an animal's adorable, fragile expression.

"Your weakness?" Rowan saw her flustered expression and felt extremely amused. He inched closer to her and purposefully softened his voice.

"You—" Ran quickly put her hands down as she sniffed again. She recognized another scent mixed in with Rowan's usual cigarette + cologne smell. "Are you drunk?"

He tilted his head to the side while showing a clueless expression. Ran checked the time and looked back at Rowan with a flabbergasted look. "Aren't you supposed to be working right now?" She uttered out the words that made her feel so surprised.

"Work? What's that?" His voice carried a placeful tone that he lacked in all their other interactions together. He pouted his lips as he got even closer to Ran. With just another step, he could place his chin directly on top of her head.

The alcohol smell coming out from him also grew stronger. She took a step back to lighten up the stench, only for Rowan to take another step forward.

"Are you running from me?" His playful tone disappeared as Rowan lowered his body so that his head was in level with Ran's. His deep growl and raised eyebrows caught Ran off guard. Ran felt him grab her wrist, as if he was preventing her from fleeing from him.

"Ro. I'm not," She twisted her wrist and managed to undo his grab, "What are you doing? Snap. Out. Of. It."

Rowan frowned unhappily at her cold words. He didn't grab her again, but he got back up to his original height, stepped closer to Ran, and placed his chin on her head. His bone was surprisingly sharp, which hurt the top of her head, so she tried to shake him off. She also frowned when she realized that he remained so stubborn.

"I'm sorry for making you mad... Forgive me?" Ran stopped shaking her head upon hearing his apology. She let out a sigh of frustration. Interacting with drunk people always proved to be a headache inducing experience.

"Forget about it," Ran snuggled her way out from Rowan's chin-grasp, "I'll escort you back to your apartment. Let's go."

She grabbed his hand and started leading him back to his neighborhood. He followed her obediently, like a chick following its mother. He didn't let out a peep until they almost reached the front of his apartment.

"I'm on my smoke break, so I don't have to head back to work yet," He stopped following her and let go of her hand. He shrugged and showed a childish smile.

"Who in the world has this long of a smoke break? Hurry and grab my hand again or I'll leave your drunk self to wander the streets by yourself" Ran lightly hit his shoulder and reached out to grab his hand again. But before she reached him, he suddenly grabbed out and held her hand first.

"Oh! You surprised me again," She laughed and was ready to lead the way, except she realized something was off, "Wait, I gave you the wrong hand. Grab my other one."

She waited for him to let go. But he didn't.

"..."

"Ro?" She tried to free her hand, but his grip was too strong.

"..."

"Rowan?" Rowan's silent treatment and unchanging expression started to worry her now.

"..."

Rowan suddenly pulled her closer to him until there was almost no distance between them. He slowly leaned down until his lips were right next to her right ear.

"I thought you weren't going to run away from me."