Falling for you

Getting to know Each other

At Ruth's House

“How was your first day at the university, dear? Was everything okay?” Ruth's mom asked her.

Ruth smiled and answered, “It was okay. It's not easy, but I know I'll get used to the new school soon enough.”

Her mom felt relieved after hearing that Ruth's first day went well at the university recommended by their family friend (Alex's Dad).

“Well, that's great to hear. And don’t worry, dear. Just let me know what you need for your studies, and I'll provide it,” her mom said.

Ruth smiled and assured her mom, “Don’t worry, Mom. I don’t need much at school, and all I really need is your support.”

“My child is so sweet,” her mom said proudly.

Her mom hugged her.

Jacob’s POV

“Bro, who’s that girl?” Jacob’s friend asked him.

Jacob remained silent, ignoring the questions from his friends.

“She’s beautiful. I like her,” his friend said.

One of Jacob’s friends approached him with a “love at first sight” look regarding Ruth.

“Can I have her?” he asked Jacob.

Jacob stared at his friend and said, “What do you think I am, a matchmaker?” He then rolled his eyes and turned his attention back to the book he was reading.

His friend laughed and said, “Bro, what's the point of keeping her if you’re not going to date her? Besides, you have Kaye already, so there’s no need to look for another girl.”

Jacob didn’t respond to his friend’s comment.

“Speaking of Kaye, when is she coming back to the Philippines? I already miss her so much,” his friend said.

“We don’t know, bro,” another friend replied.

“How about you, Jacob? Do you miss her?” one of his friends asked.

“Cut it out, will you?” Jacob snapped at his friends, standing up to leave.

“Hey, where are you going?” they called after him, following him.

Jacob and Kaye had been in a relationship for almost three years, but Kaye had gone to Europe for some reasons. Their parents were business partners. They hadn’t spoken for months, and Jacob no longer felt anything for Kaye, but she was still deeply in love and obsessed with him.

End of Jacob's POV

It was the end of the day, and most of Ruth's classmates had gone home. She stayed in the classroom to finish some papers due the next morning. She couldn’t do this at home because her dad would get angry if he saw her doing school tasks. When she checked her phone, it was already 6:27 PM. The campus closed at 7:00 PM, so she hurried to finish her work.

A few minutes later, she felt nervous when the lights in her room turned off. However, the lights outside the room were still on. Ruth didn’t believe in ghosts, but it was a bit scary to have the lights suddenly go off when she was alone. She quickly packed up her things and left the room, deciding to go home. Since the hallway was dark and the lights on the stairway down from the third floor weren’t on, Ruth used her phone’s flashlight to carefully make her way down the stairs with her belongings in her left hand. As she descended, she encountered a tall shadow of a man, and in her surprise, she dropped her book and phone, and fell on the stairs, screaming.

“Ahhhhhhhhhh!” Ruth shouted in shock upon seeing the shadow of a man in front of her, closing her eyes in fear, feeling as though her soul had left her body.

Unexpectedly, it was Jacob who was heading to their room because he had left his favorite book there. He bumped into Ruth, who was as startled as if she had seen a ghost. Until…

“Who’s there?” a male security guard shouted, hearing someone scream from the stairs leading down from the third floor.

Jacob quickly helped Ruth stand up, grabbing only her book, and they ran back to their room, closing the doors behind them, hiding beside the door where they couldn’t be seen if the guard used a flashlight to check if anyone was there. They were so close that they nearly kissed, but Ruth bent her head down to avoid it, and they both felt uncomfortable. However, they didn’t have a choice, as they would be accused of wrongdoing or theft if the guard caught them.

The guard found Ruth’s phone and returned to his post to hand it over.

Once they were sure the guard had left, they came out of hiding, and Ruth organized her bag and books.

Jacob sighed. “Why were you there?” Jacob asked Ruth, who was busy packing her books into her bag.

“I was just doing some work. I never thought it was you, so I screamed out of surprise,” she explained, still visibly shaken.

Jacob went to his desk and retrieved something while Ruth realized she had dropped her phone in her fright on the stairs, so she hurried back out of the room, with Jacob following her, worried she might be seen by the guard.

Ruth searched for her phone, feeling around the floor in hopes of finding it, unable to see it because the stairway was dark.

“Where is it!” she said, worriedly as she felt around for her phone on the floor.

Jacob watched her search for her phone.

“It just fell here,” she added as she continued looking.

Jacob turned on his phone’s flashlight and illuminated the area where Ruth was feeling around on the floor, and she could see clearly that her phone wasn’t there anymore.

“It’s not here,” she said sadly, her eyes welling with tears.

Jacob felt sorry for her and spoke up.

“The guard has it,” he said, turning off his phone’s flashlight.

Ruth looked at Jacob standing on the stairs and walked over to him.

“What? Oh no! Will I still be able to get it back?” she asked sadly.

“I don’t know,” he answered.

“How am I supposed to get home now? I can’t text my mom. I guess I’ll have to walk home,” she said to herself, but Jacob heard her.

They went down to the third floor and, to avoid getting caught, exited through the back gate where there was no guard.

Outside the Campus

“Okay, I’ll head off now,” Ruth said to Jacob and started walking.

Jacob didn’t say anything and let her leave. After a few seconds, his car arrived. From inside, he could clearly see Ruth walking, even from a distance. He realized it was too late for a girl to be walking alone on the street.

Ruth was surprised when a car stopped in front of her, the window rolled down, and she saw Jacob inside.

“Get in the car,” he said to Ruth.

Ruth got in the car right away, not wanting to walk home.

Inside the Car

“You’re actually nice, you know? I don’t believe what others say about you anymore because I can see your good intentions clearly,” Ruth said to Jacob from the passenger seat.

Hearing this, Jacob felt overwhelmed. It was the first time a girl had said something nice to him. Usually, girls wouldn’t approach Jacob because they were afraid of getting involved in any trouble he might cause, or they feared getting expelled by Kaye since everyone knew that Kaye and Jacob were together. Ruth was the only girl who had the courage to approach him out of all the girls on campus.

“I feel sleepy,” Ruth said, yawning.

Jacob smiled while looking ahead. “You’re the first girl who told me that. You make me feel overwhelmed,” he said, smiling at her, but she had already fallen asleep.

Jacob gently leaned Ruth’s head on his shoulder when he noticed her head bumping from the uneven road. It was the first time he felt comfortable with a girl, something he never felt with Kaye.

After a few minutes, they arrived in front of Ruth’s house. But Ruth was still sleeping on Jacob’s shoulder, so Jacob woke her up to tell her they were in front of her house.

“Ruth…” Jacob said hesitantly to wake her up.

“Hmm…” Ruth replied, slowly waking up.

She was surprised when she realized she had fallen asleep on Jacob’s shoulder. She felt shy and quickly got out of the car. Jacob closed the car door and left.

“I didn’t even thank him!” Ruth muttered to herself in frustration, then entered her house.

As She Entered Their House

“Well… well… well…” her mom greeted her with a knowing smile.

Ruth approached her mom and gave her a kiss. She didn’t know her mom had seen Jacob drop her off outside their house.

“Hi, Mom,” she greeted.

Her mom smiled and said, “You’ve only been at school for a few days and already found a suitor?” her mom teased.

Ruth sighed and sat beside her mom. “Mom, he’s not my suitor. He just gave me a ride because there weren’t any taxis passing by the university at that time,” she explained.

Her mom laughed and said, “Make sure that’s true, dear. But if someone does court you, just make sure to introduce him to me first,” her mom told her, laughing.

They both laughed and continued chatting.

The Next Day

Ruth was running late for her class. It was already 8:36 AM, and she was ten minutes late for her first subject, so she ran towards the third floor.

In Their Classroom

“Who owns this phone?” their professor asked, showing a full-screen gray phone with a wallpaper of Ruth as a child. No one knew whose it was since she was new, so their professor let the students figure out who the picture belonged to.