EP21

~~
[Arin’s POV]

 

He didn’t answer my question.

 

Instead, he suddenly put an arm around me. “Even though it’s summer time in the Philippines when March approached April, you shouldn’t be too careless with what you wear. It still gets cold at night.”

 

I was only wearing a short sleeve jersey shirt and skinny jeans. But yeah, it was getting cold tonight. Isn’t it because it’s night time?

 

I’m starting to feel conscious of him, doing this.

 

Out of impulse, I got to my feet. “W-well, I really feel cold now. Shouldn’t we go back to the residence now?”

 

He looked up at me. Those eyes of his... They always leave you the impression of an intense gaze. It’s like his eyes are always full of emotion. Those must be emotions he can’t show anyone. Emotions he’s scared or embarrassed to let anyone see them; that they’re building up in his eyes.

 

“You go ahead first.” He said.

 

“Okay...” I was about to leave but he suddenly stops me.

 

“That’s what I wanted to say. But even if you know judo, I can’t let you walk back home this late.” He says. He gets up and brushed his jeans. Then he started to clean up and pick up his things.

 

My heart... It feels weird.

 

What is this?

 

~~

We arrived at the residence faster than I anticipated. He was about to climb the stairs to the boys’ wing and I was about to climb the stairs to the girls’ wing. We stood at the foot of the stairs, face to face.

 

“Mata aa.” He said.

[see you tomorrow.]

 

I laughed. “You’re really getting into it, huh?” I tell him.

 

He smiled shyly, “I can’t help it when I’m with you.” He scratched the nape of his neck. “Ja...”

 

“Oh!” Hyo’s sudden appearance surprised me. “Did you two come home together?”

 

“Something like that.” Alexus says. Then he starts to go up the steps to the boys’ wing.

 

“Oy! Wait!” Hyo gave me a meaningful look before following his roommate to their room.

 

“Who are you looking at?” Dani suddenly appears, snapping her fingers in my face.

 

“Hora!” I thought I was gonna have a heart attack!

 

“Were you planning to follow after Alexus?” She asks.

 

“EH?! Muri!” And I stomp my way up the stairs.

~~

 

After washing up, I arranged the clutter on my desk. Ryu was on my chair, sleeping and curled up like a large ball of fur. Dani was programming. She’s always studying in advance—one semester advanced.

 

While I was doing my task, Dani suddenly talks about Spring Harmony Day. It’s the day when boys give chocolates to girls.

 

Come to think of it, it’s almost March fourteen. Should I be expecting something? Somehow I felt excited thinking that Alexus might give me something; an obligatory gift perhaps? I did give him something during Winter Harmony Day.

 

I think Dani is trying to tease me again. So, to have the upper hand, I went ahead of her. “Are you expecting something from someone?” I ask her.

 

“Huh?! No!” She says. She stopped typing and her fingers were awkwardly fidgeting over the keyboard of her laptop.

 

“Ah, sou.  I actually think that someone is planning to give you a surprise...” I was finished with organizing my things and was ready to jump onto my bed.

 

Dani gave me a really pointed look. “What about you? I bet you’re expecting something?”

 

Somehow, she really knows how to tease me better than how I .

 

“Nai.” I say, simply.

 

“Ahh... arasso...” She smiled at me in a really creepy way.

 

“Nani, baka. Oyasumi.” I stomped towards my bed and hid under the covers until I fell asleep.

~~

 

SPRING HARMONY DAY!

 

So many guys are going around asking the girl that they like out for a date. So many girls are blushing by themselves after receiving gifts from the guys.

 

“Here.” Hyo places a box on my desk.

 

“Ah, arigatou!” I tell him. He smiles then excuses himself to return the favors he got from winter harmony day. I opened the box and inside were four Ferrero Rocher chocolates. Hyo Britania is a very mysterious person. Not even Alexus knows him very much. He has so many secrets, it’s too fishy. But one thing I do know about him is that he is a rich kid.

 

I’m going to eat these later. I put the box back inside my bag and continued doing the seatwork in our calculus.

 

While I was at it, another box lands on my table. I looked up. This time it’s Jaden.

 

“Woah, thankyou!” I tell him.

 

“I made that! It’s graham truffles.” He says. “I made that name up too!” Jaden may seem girly but, that’s part of his charm. Maybe that’s the reason Chiaki loves him so much. Sometimes I get goosebumps watching those two flirting. I know it’s natural and normal for them because they’re boyfriend and girlfriend. But it just creeps me out because it gives me the thought of ‘is that really what it’s like to be in love?’

 

I thanked him again, and he left to give chocolates to the other girls in the class.

 

I went back to my work again. I hope the next person who interrupts me will appear after two hours. I have to finish this seatwork. Just because it was written on the board that the deadline will be next meeting doesn’t mean I’m not going to finish this now. I’m going to slowly eradicate my procrastinating habits with this.

 

I was down to two more problems when another person arrives.

 

This time it’s Colin. I was a little surprised, though. Ever since Demi told me she thought that Colin liked me I became conscious of him.

 

What if that thing they say about being liked by someone you never noticed before will make you like them even in the tiniest bit of a fraction? But I am sure that I’m not being conscious of him for that reason.

 

We greeted each other then he handed me a handful of Flat Tops chocolates. Colin is the kind of person who is very practical about things. He is very reliable, like an older brother. Maybe, his being dependable and his maturity is what made Demi like him.

 

Even though he is quiet and shy most of the times, a lot of girls like him. But they can’t come close to him because he is quite introverted and he rarely laughs.

 

He sat down the chair in front of my table, facing me. “Arianne, can I ask you about something?” He asks.

 

“You’re already asking.” I tell him.

 

“Right.” He chuckled as he pushed his glasses up the nose of his bridge.”Well... How do you say ‘I love you’ in Japanese?”

 

“EH?!” That was sudden. “Why? Is there someone Japanese that you want to confess to?” I ask.

 

“Huh?! Ah, no. Um, she’s not Japanese.” When he said the last sentence he suddenly looked away, looking flustered about something. It was like he spilled some beans without intending to—like he tripped on a rock and dropped the bowl and spilled its contents.

 

I could be wrong, but maybe the girl is...

 

“A-anyway, my sister likes someone Japanese and she wants to be casual. How do you say it casually?” He says. Normally the usual excuse would be that he’d be saying he has this friend who has this problem, but in reality it was him who was looking for advice. But saying it’s about his sister I don’t think I can , even when it’s obvious that it was just an excuse. Plus, he looks really irritable right now. It would be bad timing given that when Colin gets pissed off he tends to generate a black atmosphere around him—about five meters in radius.

 

I decided to answer his question. “Normally it’s ‘aie imasu’ but if she really wants to be casual, daisukidesu is better.” I tell him.

 

He stands. “Ah, okay. Thanks.” He then leaves.

 

That was fast. Could his sister really ask about it? I know his sister; she could’ve just asked me on messenger. And I don’t think there was anyone that his sister was really interested in at the moment.

 

After I finished my seatwork I stretched out. Finally! More free time tonight!

 

I checked my plans for the day. I still have two more classes in the afternoon. Then, I’ll have my lunch now.

 

I cleared my desk and put my things inside my bag. Most of my classmates have left the room for lunch time. While I was at it, my girl friends come into the room.

 

“Woah! This is new.” Dani says to me.

 

“What’s new?” I ask her, picking up my bag, and swinging it to my shoulder.

 

“You stayed in here the whole period and did the seatwork. Very unusual.” She says.

 

“Yeah, did something happen?” Chiaki asks. “Are you sick? Do want me to call the ambulance?”

 

“EH?! Is it bad to study every once in a while?” I say.

 

“No, it’s just that...” Dani’s voice trailed off as she and the two other girls shared glances.

 

“It’s just that it’s sudden.” Chiaki finishes her sentence.

 

“I don’t think I answered them correctly, though.” I say.

 

“I’ll check your answers tonight.” Dani says. “Let’s go down for lunch.”

 

The afternoon passed uneventfully. It was time to go home now. We decided to walk back to the residence. Since the guys are busy because of Harmony Day, us girls will walk back by ourselves. We talked about the guys that gave us chocolates and gifts on the way back to the residence.

 

Along the way, guys would hand over chocolate and flowers to Demi. She’s quite popular. After all, she’s really pretty and she’s an athlete, too. She joined our college’s swimming team when she started the semester.

 

When we arrived at the lobby, I was surprised to see Seth, standing there.

 

“EH?! Seth!” I ran towards him, to the confusion of my friends.

 

“Is he a friend of yours?” Evelyn suddenly shows up. “He told me he was waiting for his friend, so I let him wait here.”

 

“Yes, I’ll talk to him now. Thank you.” I tell her. Evelyn nodded and left.

 

“Wasn’t he...?” Chiaki began. I heard Demi mutter something in French. I only know a few words so I don’t know what she’s saying.

 

“Sorry girls, let’s hang out later.” I grab Seth by the arm and dragged him to the garden at the back.

 

“Was there something you want to talk about?” I ask.

 

He smiled. “Your friends know about it?”

 

“Yeah, they forced me to talk about it when they caught me sulking over it.” I say.

 

“I guess we’re okay now that you’re talking casually about it.” He laughs.

 

“Very funny. Where’s Natalie?” I ask.

 

“She’s resting. She wanted you to have this. It’s reverse Harmony Day chocolate.” He says. He hands me a curte pink paper bag. “I told her you didn’t like this color, but she insisted.”

 

“Natalie’s so sweet!” I take the bag from him. “If you make her cry I’ll bash your teeth.”

 

“Kowaii.” He pouted. “Just because you know judo doesn’t mean you can resort to violence.”

 

“I know, I took an oath.” I told him. I took a peek inside the bag. “It looks delicious!”

 

“She made that last night.” He adds. “She wanted you to have something today. I made it along with her so it’s a gift from the two of us.”

 

“Thanks!” I say. “I’ll savour it!”

 

“Say, you have quite a protective guy huh?” He says.

 

“Huh?”

 

He pats me on the head. “I’ll go now. Natalie might be awake already.”

 

“Give her my thanks!” I waved at him as he made his way to the door to leave. “WAH!” I thought my heart would burst!

 

Alexus was sitting on one of the chairs at the patio table, playing Don’t Wake the Llama by himself. For a split second, I thought he was glaring at me. But when I blinked, his expression was relaxed as he pondered his moves as he played.

 

“What?” He asks.

 

“Nothing. I didn’t know you were here.” I say. “I’m going inside. Ja...”

 

“Kon ya doko ni ikimasu ka?” Those words made me stop in my tracks.

 

“EH?!”

 

[SNIP]

 

Oh no, what did he say?! Nani?! NANI?!

 

Hahaha! Domo! It’s me Jinri again. I just want to disturb you while reading. Heehee! Anyway, how’s the story so far?

 

Vote and share and tell me what you think!

 

Thank you!

~~

“Hah?! Did we talk about going somewhere tonight?!” I ask him. He just asked me where we should go tonight.

 

He shrugged. “It’s going to be tiring to ask you if you’re free, then ask you where you want to go.” He says as he pulled a block carefully out of the stack of blocks that are holding the Llama statue.

 

“Eh...” What is this about?

 

“It’s for Harmony Day.” He says. “I don’t know what to give you, so I’ll take you out somewhere you want to go.”

 

“Uhh... eto...”

 

“It’s okay if you don’t want to. I’ll treat you another time.”

 

[SNIP for real]