The Prince and the Plant Whisperer

Confession

... I need to confess something first.... she thinks.

She swallows and then speaks. "Earlier... before class..."

"... I snuck a picture of you, without your consent. Which was unfair. It's probably incredibly annoying, all those pictures people take—"

He's watching her with his dark eyes. His sharp gaze. She can't tell what he's thinking. At all.

So she continues.

"I'm really sorry. I'll delete it. I took your picture to send it to a... ah...em... friend. To try to motivate her to come to class. She really needs to take this course. For her professional goals."

His face changes imperceptibly. He frowns.

Meanwhile, she silently starts scolding herself: You've betrayed Lilly! There's no way Lilly wants this guy to know how much she worships him!

So she tries to backtrack, "Not saying that my friend specifically wants to... date you or, em... stalk you or anything—"

But how do you apologize to a six-foot-tall guy with broad shoulders and glowing skin for taking his picture without his consent!?

If you're going to dig your own grave, you might as well do it 100%.

So she keeps going.

"It's not like my friend's a stalker. I just thought your picture might convince her to come to class. Because you're..."

His eyebrows rise. Waiting for her to finish.

(Is she going to say... handsome?)

She plows ahead. "—You're.... You just...

... You just generally have a motivating presence."

<<Kai!!! WTF! a ... motivating presence?!?>>

At least she's done it! She's apologized. She'd been feeling so guilty. Because she isn't the kind of person who invades other people's privacy.

Kai, It's better to just accept your own humiliation and downfall, she told herself. Things might feel awkward here and now... but at least you can walk away with a clear conscience.

Now... she just has to endure silence from him. Which at least she's starting to get used to, a bit.

But he says, "Thank you." A smile. "I'm flattered."

Actually, he looks oddly elated.

Have I made him happy? she wonders. Was it what I said?

Is he happy to hear that he has a...

"... generally motivating presence?"

What a weird thing to be happy about!

"Let me know," he says. His deep voice bridging the distance between them

Let me know???

He clarifies: "Let me know if it works. Let me know if my picture gets your friend to come to class."

His voice is so calm. But there's so much meaning in everything.

Kai just nods quickly. "Ok. I'll—let you know."

She really wants to this exercise over and done with.

What she wants... is to go back to her dorm. She still has a lot to do. Now that she'd found the perfect rooftop, she needs to buy a few things. And then she needs to start moving her leafy green friends up. Up, outdoors. To their new home. One by one.

She looks at the lanky figure sitting across from her. This student who is so strangely idolized across campus. But no one treats him as a real person...

We all have no idea who he really is

Then she glances down at the psychology exercise questions in her packet.

As she flips through the pages, she doesn't see that he watches her delicate hands, almost like in a half-trance.

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