last words of a shooting star | tom hiddleston

i.first name basis

MEREDITH CHEN doesn't like her name.

She didn't like how it sounded so old-fashioned, nor did she liked the way her grandparents struggled to mention it. It's too western, they would argue over the phone with Meredith's mother, who was always tired and red-eyed by the kitchen counter. Yet according to all the schools she had moved into, it was never western enough. Maybe that's why when she was twelve, her mother brought her back to this tiny island in the Malay Peninsula.

Maybe that's why she didn't like her name.

Here in Singapore, Meredith Chen was simply enough. No one made a big fuss about it, except for her. She still made sure no one would call her Meredith. Every time a new school year starts, she would insist to be called by her family name. Others eventually went along with it, and the name Meredith was no longer but a silent consonant everyone knows but never speaks.

Meredith.

Even after she left the island to pursue her dreams abroad, she would always make sure her co-workers would call her by her last name. Her professors had no issues with it, but her peers on the other hand weren't so easy to persuade.

At times, it may strike them as odd, since most people believe that calling each other by their first names meant that they were on the same terms, that they were friends.

Meredith assured them that this wasn't to be taken as an insult, but it was simply a preference. Eventually, they gave in and never tried to call her Meredith anymore.

Meredith.

It was petty, she admitted, as it was a pet peeve she should've overgrown once she graduated high school. She didn't spare much thought about what others would think of her anymore, nor did she cared if it sounded like a Jane Eyre character.

But it was difficult, to love something she had rejected for a long time.

Until her blind date called her by her first name, the syllables rolling down his tongue in smooth ripples. He paired it with a shy smile that matched the playful glint in his eyes.

" Meredith," He spoke, holding out his hand," What a lovely name."

And for a split second, she forgot about the jokes her classmates would make in year five, and the arguments her mother would have with her grandparents in the middle of the night over the phone. For a split second, she was Meredith Chen.

Meredith.

Only then did she realize that it had a nice ring to it.

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THOMAS WILLIAM HIDDLESTON prayed that his date wouldn't treat him differently.

He wouldn't blame her if she did, people tend to when they recognize a celebrity, much more go on a date with them. The last date his friend set him up on didn't go so well, the food was tolerable, but the rest of the evening was a reminder of why he didn't go on dates anymore.

She was a nice woman, but just as he feared, treated him as if he was some kind of accessory to post on her Instagram. He was terrified when she started talking about how she told all her friends about it, and as if on cue a group of people started to approach them. In conclusion, the date had been set up for free autographs and pictures. Which, would've been nice if there was no promise of a quiet and enjoyable evening.

He had paid for the food and used a filming schedule as an excuse. After squeezing through the small crowd and flashing a polite smile, he took the black cab home and ate the boxed salmon in silence, wondering what had made him think this one would be any different?