MY SIMPLE LIFE

Axel is back!!

I couldn't say a word. My body suddenly felt numb, and this perfect figure had completely taken away my ability to respond. He bent over, worry etched on his face.

"Are you alright?" he asked again, and I could only stutter.

"Y-yeah, I'm fine."

"Are you sure?" he asked once more.

I nodded.

"But you're bleeding. I'll call an ambulance," he said, starting to get up. Before he could, I grabbed his arm.

Oh my God! What have I done?

He immediately paused and turned to me slowly.

"Please don't. This pain is nothing compared to what I've experienced tonight."

"Huh?" He looked at me, confused.

"What I meant is, I'm fine. Just a little first aid, and I’ll be good."

"Okay then." He stood up, went to his car, and drove off.

All this happened in seconds, and my head forgot to capture a memory of it. I watched as his car drove away. I've lived in Everwood all my life and have never come across anyone like him. Maybe he was just passing through. I stood up, my knee hurting badly. I gently picked up my scooter and rode it back home.

I crashed onto my bed, and all the thoughts of what happened today came crashing back. My heart throbbed as I remembered my first pain—my long-time crush dating my high school enemy! Then the second, crashing into an expensive car that belonged to an expensive-looking, gorgeous guy.

Soon, a notification sound popped up from my laptop, and I immediately rushed to it. Had my book been approved by one of the editors I sent it to? Recently, my book had received a lot of rejections, but each one made me stronger, even though I would throw myself to the floor and cry like a baby. Just yesterday, I sent it to another publishing platform, hoping for a contract.

As I opened my laptop, the big red sign of rejection hit me hard. I had been rejected again. I wanted to cry so badly, but the tears didn't fall. Maybe because I had wasted all of them on Kelvin and Anita's stupid shenanigans. I closed my laptop and crashed onto my bed, hoping sleep would carry me to my world of fantasy, where I had the perfect life and a mother to teach me life's morals and good manners.

Speaking of manners, sorry I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Sarah Jonathan Miles, but my friends call me Crazy Girl—you probably know who that is. You can call me the Queen of Rejections when it comes to my books and publishing platforms. I'm an average girl with long brown hair and eyes. My body isn’t very curvy; sometimes, I look at Megan Thee Stallion's body and sigh.

I have nothing interesting in my life since it mostly revolves around me, my brother, Kelvin, and my workplace. Simple life, isn't it? Let me take you a little into my background. My mother passed away when I was six years old, and my father was arrested for money laundering as the city mayor. I have nothing special going on in my life, except for the fact that the love of my life—the guy whose millions of pictures are at the back of my wardrobe—is now somebody else's boyfriend, or let me say, future husband.

See? Nothing special.

I bounced off my bed when I heard another sound coming from my laptop. I lazily got up and reached for my laptop on the desk. I opened it and noticed I had received an email. I opened the message, only to see a contract invitation. I had been approved!

Has the Queen of Rejections just received a contract invitation?

Tears of joy flowed down my cheeks. Finally, something good had happened to me today. I immediately accepted the invitation and signed the contract. That night, I promised myself to write 100,000 words. But I slept off at 5,000.

The next day, I woke up to find Stephen annoyingly staring at me.

"Ugh, Stephen, what are you doing?" I mumbled, rubbing my eyes.

"Are you okay? You seemed pretty upset last night," he asked.

I sat up, trying to shake off the remnants of sleep. "Actually, something amazing happened. I got a contract for my book!"

His eyes widened in surprise. "No way! That's awesome, Sarah! I'm so proud of you."

"Thanks," I said, smiling. "I still can't believe it."

"See? I told you not to give up. Persistence pays off."

"Yeah, yeah," I said, rolling my eyes but feeling warmth in my chest at his words. "Now, get out of my room. I need to get ready."

"Alright, alright. Just wanted to make sure you were okay," Stephen said, backing out of my room.

I got out of bed, feeling a sense of purpose and excitement. Today was Sunday, which meant it was park day. Normally, it would be me, Kelvin, and Stephen hanging out together, but now I needed to cut off my feelings for Kelvin.

After a quick shower, I dressed in casual clothes—a simple white blouse and jeans—and tied my hair back into a ponytail. I slipped on my sneakers and grabbed my glasses. The mirror reflected a determined face. Today, I was going to start moving on.

I headed downstairs, where Stephen was waiting, munching on a piece of toast.

"Ready to go?" he asked.

"Yeah, let’s go," I said, grabbing my keys and helmet. We walked out to my scooter, and I noticed the faint scratches from last night's crash. I shrugged it off and started the engine.

Stephen climbed onto the back, and we rode through the city to the park. The ride was peaceful, the wind blowing through my hair and the city waking up around us. We reached the park, and I parked the scooter, feeling a mix of nerves and determination.

Today was the start of something new. I had to let go of the past and focus on my future—starting with enjoying a day at the park without Kelvin.

When we arrived at the park, it was oddly quiet. Instead of the usual mix of families, couples, and groups of friends, there were only a few guys playing frisbee.

"This is boring," Stephen said, kicking at the dirt. "Where is everyone?"

"Beats me," I replied, looking around. "Maybe there's something else going on today."

After a few minutes of wandering around, we decided to leave. The park wasn’t the lively, cheerful place it usually was. We hopped back on my scooter and headed towards the Everwood Hub—the coolest and busiest bus stop in town, usually buzzing with activity.

As we neared the Everwood Hub, we were greeted by a surprising sight: a lot of girls looking weirdly good. It was as if the entire town had decided to have an impromptu fashion week. Girls were milling about, wearing everything from trendy thrift store finds to high-end designer outfits.

"Is today some kind of fashion week?" I asked aloud, more to myself than to Stephen.

"Doesn't look like it," Stephen replied, eyeing the scene. "The girls from the thrift store look just as stylish as the ones from the boutique."

Confused, we stood there, watching as a Sunday seemed to morph into a bustling Monday. It felt like the entire social hierarchy of Everwood was on display—poor girls at the thrift store, average girls at the mid-tier shops, and the rich ones flaunting their new purchases from the most expensive stores.

As we tried to make sense of it all, I spotted Meredith, a regular customer at the bookstore where I worked. She stood with a group of girls, holding a shopping bag that clearly contained clothes.

I pulled Meredith aside. "Hey, Meredith, what's going on?"

"Oh, hey, Sarah!" she said, her eyes sparkling with excitement. "Axel Harrison is back in town."

"Axel Harrison?" I repeated, shocked.

"What... he is back in town?" I couldn't hide my shock. Axel was the one and only mighty mayor's son. He was proud, rude, and gorgeous—so gorgeous that it was hard to remember his exact features because he seemed too perfect. And you know what's crazy? One time in elementary school, he taught me how to ride a bicycle and later that day, he asked me out. I rejected him. Don’t blame me—I was just ten years old then and blinded by a stupid crush.

"You better go get ready for the conference he’s hosting this evening at 7," Meredith shrieked.

"It’s just a conference, not a date. Why are all of you buying clothes like some kind of model audition?"

"Don’t you know?" she shrieked again. "News got out that he's back in town to find a girlfriend or even better, a fiancée."

I could swear this girl was going crazy. "Alright, that’s good," I said simply.

"Aren’t you going to pick out an outfit?" she asked, scanning me from head to toe with a disapproving look on her face.

"Nah, I'm not interested." I turned to leave.

"It’s not like he’s going to pick you anyway," she scoffed.

For the first time, I let an insult pass me by. I went over to Stephen, who was now getting bored of the whole "Axel is back" shenanigans. We rode my scooter back home, and I went straight upstairs. After writing a few chapters for my book, I dazed off on the bed.

Meow meow meow.

Argh, I had set my alarm for 7 o'clock. It was supposed to be the time Kelvin and I would go to the art gallery to view the new portrait, which was no longer possible. This foolish cat alarm wouldn’t wake me when I wanted it to, but it would whenever I didn’t want it to. Bad luck!

I went downstairs to grab some brownies or maybe some ice cream when I saw Stephen leaving the house with my scooter keys in his hand.

"Hey... where do you think you’re going with that?"

"Umm, somewhere."

"Doesn't that somewhere have a name?" I glared at him.

"Just calm down. I want to go to the conference. Are you not?" he asked.

Oh, that had totally slipped my mind. "Just a minute." I ran upstairs to change my clothes, and we left.

When we reached the conference, the entire population of Everwood seemed to be present. It was strange; these people never attended meetings regarding the city, but they all came for Axel Harrison. We joined the crowd, feeling the energy buzz around us.

Soon, Axel appeared on the stage, and the entire group of girls started shrieking like he was some K-pop artist. He came in wearing a formal white suit adorned with shiny jewelry. Even a blind person could tell he was rich just by his presence. His long black hair and cold blue eyes made him look like he was the god of models or something.

Then suddenly, my heart stopped. These features were familiar... the cold blue eyes, the stare, the hair... He was the guy from yesterday.

Oh my god!

As if he sensed what I was thinking, he turned to look at me amid hundreds of people. Maybe because I had run to the front row. Our eyes locked, and for a moment, time seemed to stand still. We paused, staring deeply into each other’s eyes, a silent recognition passing between us.