C4

In the evening when Robyn woke up, she felt very hungry and she was craving spicy food. She got dressed and went out to buy spicy crawfish. She walked back to her apartment silently. She was a bit traumatized by what she saw in the morning, she could still see the little kid smile at her.

She felt a strange tension in the air - it seemed like people were watching her. She quickened her pace and only relaxed when she got into her apartment.

She got a phone call from her friend Ashley. She and Ashley were college mates and they always hang out together. They did literally everything together studying, shopping, sleeping and more. She hadn't spoken to her the last few years after the graduation. She wondered why Ashley would be calling her now.

"Hey babe it's been so long I can't believe you didn't miss me". Ashley sounded excited and sad at the same time. Robyn immediately recognized her voice. "No it's not that I didn't forget you Ashley - I did miss you. You were the one who didn't contact me". Robyn tried explaining herself.

"Yeah I'm sorry about that. I actually moved to Paris with my mum you know after the stuff with my dad's death. So I didn't have time to contact my old friends". Ashley explained.

They both chatted for a very long time. They wanted to catch up about every single thing. "So.... tell me how is your relationship with David going did you guys finally do it?. Ashley asked. Oh I broke up with him a few days ago. He's not the right person for me. Robyn said sounding a little sad.

"What do you mean he's not the one for you. You guys were dating for 2 years and now you suddenly realise he's the wrong person?". Ashley was surprised. She never expected them to break up, they were so close to each other.

"You don't understand Ashley it's not because of me it's because of him and his sexual orientation. I recently found out he liked men but he didn't tell me. He has been secretly dating this other guy behind my back, so I felt breaking up with him would give him the freedom to be with the person who makes him happy". Robyn explained.

"Aww...that's so sweet I would actually want to meet him and his partner so I can ship them. You did the right thing babe". Ashley was excited she was a die-hard fangirl.

" what the fuck Ashley, I thought you would actually outgrow this. You're still a fangirl and shipping guys". Robyn said rolling her eyes. "You wouldn't understand the joy that comes from shipping kiddo, don't worry when you actually grow up you would understand". Ashley said laughing.

"So what is your actual reason for calling me today". Robyn asked. "Okay..... guess". Ashley sounded really excited. "Did you get a new boyfriend?". Robyn asked.

"Why would you think that, Robyn?!" Ashley sounded annoyed. "Well, because you only ever squeal this happily when you get a 'cute new boyfriend'". Robyn said.

Ashley laughed. "Okay maybe I did behave that way in college, but not anymore. I'm calling to invite you to my wedding". Ashley was very happy to break the news to her best friend. "Your wedding! You're getting married?!".Robyn was surprised.

"Yeah I'm getting married. We are three months pregnant, and we have to have the ceremony before my belly gets too big to fit into a wedding dress". Ashley said excitedly.

"Wait just one moment.... you did it with a guy? Robyn asked. "Of course I did it with a guy Robyn, would I be pregnant if I did it with a girl?!". Ashley didn't understand why Robyn would ask such a stupid question.

"Well I'm just a bit surprised. You know, you said you would never date anyone again after Mark used you in college. You said you had given up on love and relationships". Robyn explained.

"Yeah... I also thought I had given up on relationships too, but then my mum and I moved to Paris, and I met this super hot guy and then we got to know each other a bit more and we fell in love. Ashley sounded dreamy as she spoke.

"Ok I wish the both of you happiness I just hope he's not marrying you just because of the pregnancy".

Robyn was a bit concerned about her best friend. Ashley had the habit of falling in and out of love very quickly. "It's not because of the pregnancy Robyn, we were already planning the wedding before we found out we were pregnant, so we decided not to delay it any longer".

"We'll have the baby shower when I am 7 months. That's four months from now". Ashley was happy so Robyn didn't want to tell her about her own problems.

After the call ended Robyn's crawfish had gone cold she had to reheat it. After dinner Robyn took out her college photo album to look at photos of she and her classmates from 3 years ago.

There were so many nice people in her class, and she was friends with a lot of them. There was a guy standing behind her in the photo. His name was Greg. Robyn had a crush on Greg in the first year of college.

But then she found out shocking news about him. All the girls Greg had ever dated had their nudes all over the internet. He would break up with them for no reason, and share their photos on the school website, and all over the internet.

One of the girls Sarah, committed suicide, as. she couldn't take the shame and disgrace is brought on her family, as people kept talking about her. The other girls moved out of the city, or changed colleges. Her crush on him slowly faded away. She didn't want the same thing to happen to her. She felt really bad for those girls.

Robyn laid on her bed, and slowly fell asleep. There was strong wind and lightning outside.

The sound of thunder frightened Robyn the most. When she was 8 years old, her mother had left her at school one night. The school had locked all the doors as well as the gate. She was the only one left in school, and there was a thunderstorm. She hid under the table and cried till next morning.

Robyn couldn't fall asleep because of the sound of the thunder coming from outside. She was scared. She hid under the blanket, and covered her ears with a pillow, but it still couldn't drown out the sound.

Her phone rang and she got startled. She checked the caller ID. It was Yansheng. "H-Hello.." she said in a frightened voice. "Don't be scared Robyn, the storm will pass. Close your eyes, put on your headphones and listen to some music. If you want, I could sing you a song". Yansheng said to her comfortingly.

"H-How did you know t-there was a storm here tonight?". She asked him. "I saw it on the weather forecast". He explained. "Don't be scared I'm with you". Yansheng said to her. He was always there when she needed him.

She took out her noise cancelling headphones, and connected it with Yansheng still on the call. She turned up the volume and listen to him sing to her. His voice was soothing.

She fell asleep after a long time. The storm had stopped and it was just light showers outside. Yansheng wondered if she would ever realise how much he loves her from all the things he did for her. He couldn't wait to propose to her. He constantly felt like someone else was going to take her away from him if he didn't move fast.