Love Burned, She Rose Unscathed

The venue was set on the third floor of The Book Nook. Even before the event officially opened, a large crowd of eager readers had already gathered outside. A team of about a dozen security guards worked in unison to maintain order. Near the entrance, a large display stood prominently, neatly stacked with copies of Madge's new book, Seven Days. Additionally, there was a life-sized standee showcasing the book's cover alongside several key characters in cartoon form.

"Wow are there really this many people?" a young woman exclaimed as she stepped inside, visibly taken aback. Her boyfriend followed closely behind, letting out a frustrated sigh. "It's just a book signing, right? Why does it feel like we're at a rock star's fan meet?" The girl was a die-hard fan of celebrities, that is, with a rotating roster of pop idols she adored. Despite years of following stars, she'd never been this excited about a novel. That changed last week when she caught her dad engrossed in a rather eerie-looking mystery novel.

Her phone busted that day, making her bored as hell till they fixed it after lunch. Out of sheer boredom, she picked up the novel... and couldn't put it down!

She didn't even glance at her phone when it was finally repaired. She stayed up all night to finish the book and then went online to scour for information about the elusive author, only to find very little. Frustrated, she texted her boyfriend: "Is the author a hermit or what?! How can they not have any social media?"

Driven by curiosity about the mind behind such a captivating story, she delved into the author's other mystery novels. She had low expectations, considering they were a decade old and assumed they would be cliché and poorly written. But she was wrong-hopelessly hooked again!

In a week, she devoured all of Madge's novels except for one that was as unappealing as stale bread. The rest, especially the decade-old mysteries, were not only timeless but offered a gritty reflection on society's underbelly, something that would be controversial if published today. Those books blew her mind, showing all this crazy deep and colorful stuff about people she'd never even thought about.

When she heard about the book signing clashing with a meet-and-greet for one of her current idols, she was torn. After two days of deliberation, she chose the signing. Yet, as they approached The Book Nook, regret washed over her. Her boyfriend's quip of "Well, we're here now," did little to soothe her.

They planned to peek in and then dash off to the pop idol's event. But then... "Holy cow! Look at this crowd! Hahaha-where's my fan sign? Get it out! Quick!"

"Didn't you toss it downstairs a minute ago?" he asked.

Drat!

"What are you waiting for? Go get it back, now!" she urged.

"But... weren't we just going to look and then head to Abel's meet-and-greet?"

"Oh, forget that! What's a t

idol's

bayent compared to this? Į s to en.kikistorie net

the buzz here, tee-hee..."

"Women..." he thought, bewildered by her sudden change of heart.

"What are you dawdling for? Go get the sign!"

"Right, right..." he replied.

Soon enough, the boyfriend retrieved the discarded fan sign, just as the doors opened. Hand in hand with her boyfriend, the girl with her sign held high, charged to the front! And what they found was...