4. You're the only one.

"I bet Denis easily got the girl's number, right?" asked Selena looking at Jamie and Jose, then turning to Denis, who continued to stride past people in the dance floor area. Just stepping on his charisma was strong. So how could someone refuse his request? Denis was too charming to be missed.

"I'll bet my life on it," Jose said hesitantly.

"Are you crazy?" Jamie couldn't believe it, and he clucked dismissively. "Too confident. Denis is with you every day. You don't even understand his character."

"I'm serious." Jose did mean it. Having interacted with the boundary-preserving Marra while delivering pizzas to Racher Art that day and having heard rumors that Marra had turned down many male offers, the girl must have kept to herself.

Jamie and Selena should have seen the enthusiastic way Jose watched the couple's interaction at the turntables, and foreheads furrowed with curiosity.

Before Denis reached Marra, the girl had already seen him from a distance–as Denis stared unblinkingly at a straight orbit as if Marra was the only one in his eyes–but under the occasionally dimming lights, even the voices calling her name were ignored by Denis.

Marra was indifferent. She had no business with Denis, they had only interacted briefly a few times, and nothing memorable came of it.

Marra took off the headphones now wrapped around the nape of her neck. The girl bent down momentarily to reach for a bottle of mineral water and took a sip–just as a towering man stood beside her.

"You want to order a song?" asked Marra, the same question she asked when Jamie approached her. If Jamie was straight to the point, Denis did not respond. The man was silent while looking at Marra straight on like a soldier ready to aim at an opponent using his firearm.

"Do you want to order a song?" Marra repeated the question, but this time using a higher voice because she thought Denis might not hear due to the music around him.

Denis still did not answer. Marra took a breath and took a sip of her mineral water. The movement of the small Adam's apple on the girl's neck did not escape Denis' eyes.

Because he did not answer, Marra took the initiative to stand on tiptoe while pulling Denis' T-shirt until the man bent over slightly.

"Do you want to order a song to keep standing here?" For the third and hopefully final time, Marra was not the convenience store cashier who kept repeating the same question to all customers.

Denis shook his head, and finally, the man responded.

"Then, what do you want to come here for?"

Denis unceremoniously held out his cell phone, but Marra didn't take it. They stared at each other. In Denis' pair of jet irises, there was a dominating sense of confidence, while Marra's was shrouded in a fog of doubt and feeling strange.

The cell phone was still floating in front of Marra, and this wasn't the first time someone had held out a cell phone, so Denis' intentions were immediately read even though the man hadn't opened his voice again. He glanced at Marra's completely motionless hands.

"Save your number in my cell phone," Denis ordered.

"What for?"

"If someone asks for your number, they want to contact you."

"Oh, but I don't have a cell phone." Marra moved to put on her headphones again, but Denis' voice stopped her, and she looked back at the man.

"Really? I saw you playing with your cell phone when you took shelter from the rain at Racher Art after delivering pizza that day."

A fact broke Marra's nonsense, and Denis unexpectedly remembered that day.

"I don't want to share my number with anyone."

"Really?" Denis smiled. Instead, he twirled his phone and looked at his friends. "Can't you share it with just one person?"

"No need." Marra's face was already sour. "If you have no other business, you'd better come down or let me work comfortably."

"I'll leave after you share your number." He held out the cell phone again.

"Give me a reason–why share my number with you. We don't even know each other and have nothing to do."

"You won't get to know me if we don't contact each other. I told you that if someone asks for your number, they intend to contact you. Consider it the introduction stage."

"No." Marra shook her head. "I'm serious, and I don't want to get in touch with you-let, alone get to know you." She managed to put on her headphones and started focusing on a series of pitches, but Denis still lingered there despite Marra's indifference.

Suddenly, Denis pulled on Marra's headphones, and they fell to the floor.

"What are you doing? I seriously don't want to share anything with you." Marra grabbed the headphones. "Now, let me get to work."

Not at a loss for words, Denis grabbed the headphones, and he refused to budge. He had to get the number at all costs.

"Give me that thing. Don't you realize you're interfering with my work? Do I also have to complain to Matthew so he knows what you're up to now?" Marra's eyes darted around–hoping to find Matthew, but if he were there, he would have already approached them because of what Denis had done.

"Just give me your number. Is that so hard?" He hid Marra's headphones behind his waist.

"Number again? Until then, you stop talking about numbers? I insist that I won't give it to you. Even though you know your friend got rejected, you still come here and ask the same thing?" Marra scrunched her waist, and this slowly ignited her temper. "There are many girls here. You can ask for their numbers."

"I just want your number. After all, the women in this place-many of them already know me. You don't."

"Wait a minute." Marra swallowed, taking a deep breath. "So, are you saying you want to explore every woman in this place? Who do you think you are? Don't think you can do that to me, don't you realize?" Her annoyance made Marra remember many things from the records in her head about Denis.

In some situations, Marra often saw the man with different women. Even earlier, he was sitting with Selena, right? Although it was not Marra's domain to judge too much, Denis should have kept quiet and not bothered others while women waited for him on the sofa, as if Marra was also easy like those women. This was too demeaning to her self-esteem.

Marra stood on tiptoe and pulled Denis' T-shirt back up until the man bent down. Marra spoke right next to Denis' ear.

"Listen to me carefully, and I don't like meddling in other people's problems and vice versa. I came here because I must work, not have fun like you. Who do you think you are to think it's that easy to make me your next turn? Just do it with another woman. I'm not even interested in you. Don't be so confident you can have everything, including my pride. If one day there is only one man on this earth, and he is you, I vow to be alone for life because you don't deserve it."

Marra released her grip and moved away, but they still stared at each other. A different aura appeared on Denis' face, and the man pinned his headphones, indicating his annoyance.

"Did you say all that to me?"

"Your ears are working fine, right?"

"You don't want to withdraw your opinion of me?"

"For what? I may be quiet, but I can judge a person, even seeing you every day without taking the names of the women you're with-isn't that enough? Don't make me the next target." Marra was completely sarcastic without wanting to tone down her insults.

"You're narrow-minded."

"Maybe. I'm just looking at it-how often you change women-even before my job is a week old."

"You won't regret telling me all those nasty things?"

"I'd regret it if I didn't say anything. You should have left after I refused to give you a number, just like your friend. She's fine, and I've never trolled anyone."

"Just because of a number, and you insult me? You don't know me that well."

"I don't want to know you. Go away. You're taking up too much of my time."

"I'll remember everything because you're good at judging others like this as if you're the only righteous person on earth." Denis dropped the headphones and walked away with his anger, the man's jaw clenched, his hands clenched.

Selena, Jamie, and Jose, who were waiting for Denis' return, had shown their respective expressions, but Denis did not approach them. Instead, he continued to walk away from people without caring if his name was called repeatedly.

"What's going on? His face looks grim," Jamie said.

Jose smiled wryly. "The life I risked is now safe, and I told you Marra wouldn't be easy. I wouldn't even dare lower my self-esteem to approach her, but if it's Denis who's the victim." He shook his head. "That's incredible."

"So, Denis didn't get her number? Just a number?" Jamie looked frustrated. "Maybe the earth will stop spinning after this."

Selena glared at Marra, who was back to dancing to the music cheerfully without caring if she had hurt someone's pride. The womanizer might have lost his womanizer title because of Marra Acosta's rejection.

Selena punched the sofa. "Damn it, if that girl hadn't acted up, Denis and I would have had a date tonight. Now that he's gone, she'll be hard to approach when angry like this." She grabbed her bag and left, following Denis, who had already left 24Night first.

After closing the car door, Denis opened the dashboard and took out a pack of cigarettes. He lit one - hoping the nicotine intake would ease his tension a little, then started the car engine and drove while puffing smoke from his lips.

Selena caught up too late. Just as she made it out of 24Night, Denis' car was already pulling away from the parking lot onto the highway.

"Argh, damn it! Denis is gone. When is he going to make time for me again."

Selena wasn't the only one who could grumble like that, and I wonder if Denis would still be at 24Night when he was in such a mess. Marra quickly undermined the confidence he had built up. Every sarcastic sentence from the girl's lips kept spinning in his ears - as if Denis could make it a dialog to say every day.

"Let's see how long you

will stay there with your arrogance. Can you fight me?"

***