Chapter 9: The Result Came In
The next day arrived, and with it would arrive the result of Liam's fate.
"I hope that everything goes well," He muttered, as he wore his running shoes and headed outside.
He was still motivated enough to keep running, he enjoyed the feeling it brought him.
"Even though, I can barely run for ten minutes before gassing out. I'm still happy with it, soon I will be able to run for longer."
...
Nine minutes later, he was seen panting near the same unlucky lampost as always.
"To think that I would break my previous record, and hit eleven minutes at least," He muttered as he shook his head.
As he was catching his breath, he failed to notice that a certain dog slowly crept next to him.
The owner was holding the dog on a leash, but she was too busy on the phone and did not see where the dog was going.
The dog seemed to have a slight smirk plastered on its face, as it stopped right next to Liam who was panting with his eyes closed and...
"Pisss-"
Liam frowned as he heard an awfully familiar sound that he only heard in the toilets.
He opened his eyes to see what was happening.
His face distorted in an instant as he moved away whilst throwing curses.
"What the fuck! Your dog just pissed on me!" He shouted, as his eyes threw daggers at the dog that seemed to be smirking at his misfortune.
The owner finally glanced up from her phone, frowning as she heard Liam curse.
"Why are you cur-" She stopped midway, as she glanced at what her dog did to Liam's trousers.
"Oh no, I'm so sorry!" She said, as her feet shifted not knowing what to do.
Liam gritted his teeth but said nothing, still in a staring contest with the despicable dog.
Looking at her little 'cute' dog, she said with her eyes showing disapproval.
"Liam, why did you do this." She said.
Liam was too focused on the dog when he heard her call his name.
His neck snapped at her.
"What did I do? It's your ug-dog." He almost cursed her dog in front of her but refrained from it.
'I can't curse her dog in front of her, otherwise when I become famous. They will think I'm a petty person.'
Looking at the owner, he realised that it was the same ugly dog from last week.
'I forgot, this ugly one was also called Liam.'
"Your name is Liam? What a coincidence, I think my dog likes you. So that's why he... you know... did that." She said, fidgeting with a wry smile on her face.
"I think he is just marking his territory," She muttered, as she nodded her head as if she understood it now.
Looking at her expression, Liam gritted his teeth even harder.
'You don't understand shit woman, this is no blutbad. This is a damn abomination." He thought, a certain show flashing in memory.
"I'm so sorry sir, I wasn't focusing on him just now and let him do that to you. Is there any way I can fix this?" She said, her eyes practically sparking from the guilt she felt.
Although she said that he was marking his territory and that he liked Liam. She didn't really mean it, she was just trying to lighten up Liam's mood and it clearly backfired.
Liam shook his head, as he moved his hand in dismissal.
"It's fine, it's fine. I will just go wash my clothes and take a shower anyway. Please make sure you take care of your dog next time."
He walked off after saying that, not bothering to continue chatting with her.
The woman's eyes revealed a small hint of interest as she looked at his back.
"He is quite the interesting fellow," She muttered, as she thought about how he didn't even react to her beauty.
"He didn't even use the dog pissing on him as an excuse to treat me out or something...What an interesting fella." She muttered as she walked her little dog.
She had seen him around the neighbourhood for the past year or so, but she never paid him much attention. But their encounter today, really made her interested.
...
Inside his house, Liam threw a couple of stray curses around that the dog caught.
"This damn dog, not only is he ugly. He is also flipping rude!" He muttered as he took off his clothes carefully, placing them in the bathtub.
Time went by quickly, as Liam slowly brushed and washed his clothes to make sure they were fully clean.
It took him hours to do that, after he was done his back felt like exploding.
"Ouch, how did mum do this every day before? This shit kills my back,"
He then left the clothes to dry outside and headed to the shower to clean himself.
...
After he finished, two notifications arrived on his phone.
> Upcoming Shift At StarCoffee.
> New Email Recieved +1
"Oh no," He said out loud, as his heart started beating rapidly.
"There is no way that I will open this now." He said as he left the door heading to his shift.
"If it's a rejection, I will most likely beat up anyone who pisses me off at that place, and let's just say they all piss me off."
He decided against checking the result until he came back home.
During his shift, Liam's mind was always occupied with the message, but he firmed it and kept going.
...
The day slowly came to an end, as Liam used his keys and entered his house.
"Finally done, I can finally check that damn email," He thought.
Looking at his phone, his hand hovered over the email app.
'Let me take a shower first and relax, then I will open it." He shook his head and placed his phone down.
In reality, he was too scared to open it, he was too scared to be rejected... again.
...
Sitting on the sofa, after showering.
Liam placed his laptop on his lap and opened the Gmail app after a long time of contemplation.
Opening the new email, his heart pounded as he read the message.
After making sure he wasn't hallucinating, he closed his laptop and placed it on the table.
"Sigh!"
"I was right after all," He thought, as the email's content echoed in his mind.
'We are sorry to inform you that you have not qualified for the next stage. All the best!'
He didn't try to think about it, nor about the consequences of not qualifying.
So he just slept to remove all worries, and emotions he had been feeling.
...
The next day, Liam woke up groggy and not in the mood to do anything.
He didn't bother to brush his teeth or anything.
After staying in bed staring at the ceiling for close to an hour, he decided to go on his phone and scroll for some dopamine.
"I might as well fry my dopamine receptors even further," He thought, as tried to open tiktalk before something caught his eye.
> New Email Notification +1
"Hmm," He muttered, in confusion.
Curiosity got the best of him, so he pressed on the notification.
> New Email From Simon Marlowe
> Subject: Acting Opportunity
Reading the subject of the email, Liam got up in lighting speed his mood shifting by more than three hundred and sixty degrees.
As he read through the email, excitement ran through his veins.
"There is no way!" He shouted in excitement, not caring whether he annoyed any of his neighbours or not.