EP12

~~

[Alexus’ POV]

 

“Okay, I’m coming over.” I hung up. I was too tired to run. So, I walked as fast as I could back to the cafe near the wave pool. It’s a long way to get there on foot.

 

When I arrived, Arin was sitting outside. She looked like she was sulking since her head was resting on the table. Her hair was a mess. There were spots on her sweater. I think she got rained on until she could find shelter.

 

I sat opposite her seat.

 

She raised her head and looked at me. She was just looking at me.

 

“What?” I mouthed.

 

She straightened up. Then she leaned back her seat and was pouting.

 

“To tell you the truth,” I began. “I was really worried. Everyone was worried when we realized you weren’t with us. What were you doing, baka.”

 

“I was taking selfies near the flowers.” She answered, still pouting. “Gomenasai...”

 

“Did you run all the way here in the rain?” I ask her.

 

She shook her head. “I took shelter in the durian sculpture.”

 

“I went there, but I didn’t see you.” I said.

 

“Ah, when the rain stopped I went here.” She was still pouting.

 

“Did you call the others?” I ask.

 

“No, just you.” Her words echoed in my mind.

 

“Is there something you wanted to tell me?” I said these words as carefully as I could.

 

She nodded. “I talked to Seth.”

 

“Hah?!”

 

“When I took shelter inside the durian sculpture, he came in moments later. He separated from his group to call his girlfriend, but the rain came so he ended up there.” She said. “I told him what was going on. And he told me... something...” She then looked into my eyes.

 

“What?”

 

Then she shook her head a little and diverted her eyes. “He told me he noticed it, too. So we should just let bygones be bygones.”

 

She started staring at me again. “Cut that out.” I told her.

 

“Eh? Nani?”

 

“Stop staring at me.” I told her.

 

“Gomen. I wasn’t staring at you. I suddenly spaced out...” she muttered.

 

After a while, she spoke again. “I just thought... You ought to know about it first. So... I called you here.”

 

“I see...” It was all I could say.

 

“I already told Dani and the others where we are. So, they wouldn’t suspect anything.” She said.

 

“Good.” I took out my phone and checked it for messages.  There were messages from Hyo and the others. “They say they’ll meet us here.”

 

“Okay.”

 

I watched her puffing up her cheeks as she looked at the wave pool.

 

“I’ll be right back.” I told her.

 

I went inside the cafe and ordered a slice of cake. After paying for it, I brought it back and placed the serving before her.

 

“Eh? Nani?”

 

“Your birthday cake.” I told her. “I haven’t gotten you a gift, so I thought of buying you this instead.”

 

“Arigato...” she was smiling now. That feels more comfortable to see. “Itadakumasu!” she took a piece and put it in . “Oishi.” She smiled again.

 

“Look at you. A moment you were sulking, and now you’re all happy.” I told her.

 

“I wasn’t sulking.” She said. “I was just thinking about a lot of things.”

 

We talked about random things until our friends arrived. There they started asking a lot of questions. Arin would answer and sometimes she’d leave out a few things to make the discussions short. We had our snacks there before it was finally time to go back to the hotel.

 

~~

[switch]

 

“Thank you for all your hard work!” Miss Midorima says. After a few more words of encouragement, she dismissed everyone.

 

Our team walked back to our residence.

 

When we arrived in our room, Sehun greeted me and Dani. He prepared some drinks for us.

 

Dani threw herself onto her mattress. “Ah, it was tiring and really eventful.” She said. I could barely hear the words since her voice was being muffled by her pillow.

 

“I know.” I plopped onto my bed. I wonder what will happen next?

 

“Are you going home this winter break?” I ask. We call it the winter break here even though we’re in the Philippines. Hapburn is an international school and it follows three semesters every year.

 

“Yeah.” Dani says. “Say, December fourteen is Harmony Day.”

 

“Yeah, girls give chocolates to boys.” I told her. We have something like that.

 

“For sure, Chiaki will cook something up for her boyfriend. I want to give chocolate to all the guys in our barkada.” Dani got up. “Say, how about we buy together?”

 

“I just remembered.” I say. In that moment I just remembered. My sister Brianne used to study here in Hapburn, but she’s a graduate now. “My sister gave me a truffle recipe. She just improvises it every year. She gives out a lot of chocolate during winter harmony day.”

 

“You want to make chocolate?” Dani asks.

 

“We could do that.” I say. “I have the basic recipe. You can choose your own add-ons.”

 

“But they’re just the guys. They’ll eat anything.” Dani says.

 

“They’re guys, not goats.” I say. “Besides, we don’t get to give each other stuff every day. At least just this Harmony Day we give them something that’s definitely from us, don’t you think?”

 

Dani stared at me all of a sudden.

 

“What?”

 

“You’re really determined to make chocolate truffles?” she said.

 

I suddenly felt nervous. At the back of my mind I was telling myself, ‘I wanted to let Alexus try macadamia nuts just once.’ I wanted to show it in his face and make him admit that Macadamia nuts were the best nuts. He was always opposing me.

 

“Yeah.” I say, a little too enthusiastically.

 

“Hmm... to tell you the truth I want to see how good you are with this. Maybe Chiaki will like the idea too!.” She giggled.

 

“If I didn’t know better, I think you’re thinking about Hyo at this very moment.” With that said she stopmed her way into the bathroom.

 

Was it something I said? I noticed those two making passes from time to time, even though they’re always fighting about almost literally everything.

 

Maybe I was too blunt. Heehee!

 

~~

All our final exams have been finished, finally! Winter break is approaching. I have to go home for my brother’s wedding day. That aside, Harmony Day is approaching too.

 

I ordered Macadamia Nuts from home and some strawberries too. They’ll be add-ons for the truffle.

 

They arrived two days ago. Dani already bought her own add-ons and Chiaki too. That afternoon, we bought ingredients for the base chocolate.

 

“We can’t cook in the kitchen though.” Chiaki says. “There’re lots of girls down stairs, making chocolate.”

 

“I bought a cooler and some ice cubes. We can put the chocolate here.” Dani says. She put the cooler under the counter.

 

“Do we have hot water to melt the chocolate?” Chiaki was now putting the ingredients on the counter.

 

“My sister made me bring this chocolate melting pot.” I took a box out from the cupboard. It was big enough to melt enough chocolate to k=make for those four guys.

 

Ryu climbed onto the counter to watch us make truffles. He sat quietly next to the coffee maker. Chiaki didn’t want him poking around. So we let him go outside instead.

 

She was afraid one of her chocolates might get cat hair in them.

 

I couldn’t blame her for that. Ryu is five years old. He sheds a lot of hair anywhere he would rub himself against.

 

We made our truffles in silence. We mixed all the batter in one go and then divided it to three moulds. We designed our own chocolate truffles, then let it cool inside the cooler filled with ice cubes.

 

The next day, since there were no more classes, we had a lot of free time.

 

I made twelve equal slices of my own strawberry macadamia truffles. I will give three to each guy in our group.

 

The first one I gave chocolate to was Hyo, then Jaden, then Colin.

 

I couldn’t find Alexus in the building, so I decided to go back to the residence in case he’s locked up in his room again.

 

When I entered the lobby, I heard laughing from the common room. I decided to take a peek. There he was, talking to this strangely-accented girl.

 

I didn’t know if I was pissed off or not.

 

Why is he here?

 

They were laughing so much, I decided to interrupt. “Ehem.”

 

“Oh, Arin.” Alexus looked at me.

 

The girl also turned her head to look at me. “Ahhh, Arin?”

 

“AAAH!” Alexus’ ears turned red all of a sudden. “Yeah, yeah. Umm, this is Demetra. She’s Evelyn’s younger sister.” He says.

 

“Ahh,” I say. So this is her. I thought she’s in Italy? “Hello.”

 

“Ahhh, Bambina, you’re so cute! I’ll call you Bambi from now on!” She took my left hand and held it. “I have a feeling we’re going to be very good friends!”

 

She is as eccentric as her sister. She doesn’t look like a frustrated fashionista to me though.

 

“R-right. I don’t mind the Bambi thing...” I muttered.

 

“She’s transferring here and she will start next semester.” Alexus put in.

 

“Huh?! Why on the second semester?” I ask.

 

“Ah, I didn’t like it at first, but I realized it will be worth coming here now!” she says. “And besides, I found Bambi!”

 

“Eeeehh..??” was all I could say.

 

She started talking about me helping her with her projects and how her roommate looks so boyish although she hasn’t seen her in person. I wonder who this roommate is...

 

I got dragged into a conversation with her. She talks a lot. Literally, a lot. She never runs out of things to talk about.

 

It was late in the afternoon when she left to go back to the city proper.

 

“Wow. I enjoyed my jaw exercise there.” Alexus says.

 

“You bet.” It was fun, yet tiring. I wonder if Demetra’s jaw is immune to it.

 

I noticed some boxes on the table. “Are these your Harmony Day gifts?” I asked him.

 

“Yeah.” He sighed. “I let Demetra eat most of them.” He added. “They’re mostly from the girls back in high school.”

 

“Did your ex give you some?” I ask.

 

“Yeah she did.” He answered.

 

“Well, if you still have room in your stomach, I’ll give you these.” I handed him the box I made. Inside were the homemade truffles.

 

“Wow, thanks.” He said. “They look really expensive.”

 

“Of course it is. Dan, Chiaki and I made that.” I say.

 

“You made this?” He sounded really surprised.

 

“Yeah, we did. They haven’t given you theirs yet? We just made the base chocolate together, but we customized it ourselves. Dani made hers with marshmallows and some Nips. Chiaki added some grape juice to her recipe and topped it with nuts and raisins.”

 

“And you put strawberries and.. uh, what are these white things?” he held one truffle close to his eyes.

 

“Macadamia nuts.” I told him. “I didn’t pulverize them. I just crushed them a little bit.”

 

He suddenly laughed. “Fine, I’ll try them.” He said. He took a bite of the truffle.

 

“Well?”

 

I watched him chew and think about the taste of the truffle.

 

“Ma, ma.” He says.

 

“It’s just so-so? Hah. Hyo and the others really liked it though. I guess you ate—“

 

“Oishi.” He says. When I met his eyes, they were staring right into mine.

 

Alexus has never said anything rude to me. But hearing him say that in te way he is saying it now is making me feel weird.

 

[snip]