“Maybe I was falling, or maybe not.”
LISA
“Uh-uhrm,” I cleared my throat when Jennie stopped running. She was still holding my hand. We are at the oval and it’s freaking hot!
“What?” she faced me when I cleared my throat again. There wasn’t anything on her face that I can read. It was blank.
“Y-you’re still holding my hand.”
She let go of my hand straightaway. She also took a step farther away from me. It’s as if she was burnt by feeling my skin next to hers.
She sat down on the bleacher. I sat next to her. She wasn’t talking again. She was just looking at the field that was enveloped by the sun’s beaming rays.
I smiled at the thought that she knew my name. I don’t know why but it somewhat tickles my heart everytime I remember how she shouted my name through the crowd.
“Stop smiling. You’re starting look like an idiot,” Jennie broke the ice.
“That’s harsh jagiya.”
She turned her eyes on me, her eyebrows crimped.
“I told you not to call me that.”
“I love calling you that.”
“I hate hearing that.”
“You hate everything. I’m not surprised.”
“This conversation is over,” she stood up but I held the edge of her skirt using my thumb and pointy finger without looking at her.
“You brought me here without my consent. Let’s stay for 5 minutes more.”
She didn’t talk, she didn’t move either. She was thinking. Then she sat again.
“Why did you run away from your suitors?”
“It’s none of your business.”
This is driving me nuts! How am I supposed to drive a conversation if she’s gonna talk back like that?
“It is. You DRAGGED me here.”
“You were in the crowd.”
“That doesn’t give you the right to get me involved.”
“You looked at me.”
“Everyone was looking at you.”
“But you’re the only familiar face amongst them.”
“Don’t you have any friends?”
“I do. They’re going back next week.”
“They got suspended?”
“No, stupid. They attended a competition.”
Am I the only one who is interested to keep this conversation longer? Maybe I am because I’m the only one who kept on asking. And Jennie? This girl beside me? Yes, she’s answering my questions but her tone, it always sounds like she’s uninterested to keep this going.
“Good thing you’ll be with your friends starting next week. I’ll surely befriend them too.”
“Don’t you ever do that.”
“Why not? I want to know your friends too.”
“Do you want to die?”
“Of course not!”
“Then keep your distance from my friends.”
“I won’t. You’re the person that I like and I want to know what kind of people do you keep close to your heart.”
“Stop saying that you like me. It’s obvious that it’s insincere.”
“I know that you won’t believe me that’s why it’s easier to say it in front of you.”
“I’m gonna kick your ass.”
“You’re so harsh, do you even know that?”
“Why am I even talking to you? You’re not worthy of my time.”
“But you’re still talking with me.”
“Oh shut up.”
“The bell’s ringing. We should return to our classes.”
She stood up and walked ahead of me. She’s like a kid that is easy to tease. She’s cold and a bit antisocial but there’s something in her that draws me closer.
“Aren’t you coming?” she turned her head toward my direction when she noticed that I was still nailed on my seat.
“You missed me already?” I joshed.
“You’re nuts! Stay there forever!” she marched away from me. I just laughed at her as I tried to keep up with her pace of walking.
“I’ll see you at the office later,” I said before she entered her room without even looking back at me.
Cold and snob as usual.
Some students were still looking at us. Some were gossiping, and some were flirting using their eyes with me. I just shrugged off all those unwanted attentions.
I walked away from her room with a smile plastered on my face. A one of a kind smile of success, of progress.
Just a little more and I’ll be having a Jennie Kim drooling over me. Just a little more time is needed before I totally melt the ice queen’s wall.
6:00 P.M.
“Report,” Bam jokingly said on the other line.
“I’m at their office, she might barge in and caught me off guard.”
“She won’t even know what we’re talking about. So, any progress?”
“I don’t think if it’s a progress but I get to keep her talking with me for minutes.”
“Hell, yeah! That’s my bestfriend!”
“I didn’t know that a difficult girl like her still exist. If it was somebody else, an hour would do to make her mine.”
“Jennie is a challenge even to you Manoban. You’re the flirting expert here but you’re still struggling.”
“Are you mocking me?”
“No no no no. Let me ask, did impressing her worked?”
“Don’t even talk about it. That was a failure.”
“What’s your next plan then?”
“I’ll try being a nice girl. I hope it works though.”
“Well, goodluck with that.”
“How are you doing at your new school?”
“I’m loving it here. I’m famous.”
“That’s great. I’ll talk to you later. I still have to finish sorting at least a chapter till eight.”
“Yeah sure.”
I ended the call and kept the phone in my pocket when I heard someone opened the door.
PLAN #2 — Be Nice!
“I have to go home early today. You should go home too,” Jennie said while staying at the door waiting for me to get out so that she can lock the office.
“Oh, that’s great news.”
I grabbed my things and walked outside. Jennie locked the door after and started walking toward the front gate. Her ride was already there waiting for her.
“Bye,” she said before she got inside her car. She was about to close the door when I grabbed it, stopping it from closing.
“Here. It’s Camellia. I picked it myself.”
I gave her a bouquet of freshly picked white and pink Camellia. She looked at it before she held it in her embrace.
“Thanks,” she said before she finally closed the door leaving me alone.
The Next Day
Jennie was sitting at the left corner of the cafeteria near the exit with her books and laptop on the table when I found her. There were only few students around and everyone was quiet about the commotion yesterday.
“Coffee helps you activate your mind,” I placed the iced coffee on the space left on her table. She just looked up at me then she quickly averted her gaze on her laptop screen.
“And here, macarons. I baked it this morning,” I put the nicely wrapped petit four beside the coffee before I left to attend my class.
Lunch Break
“Chaeng! Where’s Jennie?” I asked when I can’t find Jennie in the cafeteria.
“Ew Lisa, you’re totally whipped! What happened to the cassannova?”
“She became a nice girl. Tell me, where is she?”
“I saw her at the bleacher,” Jisoo said.
“Okay, thanks!” I said before I throw them the macarons that I baked.
“Yah! Be careful!” Chaeng hissed.
“Sorry! See you later guys!”
I saw Jennie from a distance. She was just staring blankly on the field. She was startled when I opened a mat on the ground and slowly placed the lunch that I asked from our restaurant.
“It’s not nice for a top student to skip lunch. Here, you should eat.”
“I have no appetite.”
“Come on, just taste it. My father cooked this himself. I asked him personally to make this lunch.”
Jennie picked up the spoon in defeat and before I could say another word, she already started devouring the food like a happy little kid.
“I didn’t know that your father is a superstar chef. I know this taste. It’s from my favorite restaurant.”
“Really? You like my father better than me?”
“Bingo!”
“That hurts my pride Jennie-yah.”
“Thank you for this.”
“No worries. I have never saw someone eat like a kid before. You’re such a wonderful sight.”
“I’m not a kid!”
“You’re cute.”
It stopped her from complaining. I noticed how her cheeks turned red and so I worriedly touched it. And to my surprise, it was softer than my pillow!
“Are you okay? Your face is red. Are you allergic to something?”
“I-it’s nothing,” she snapped my hands away from her face.
“It’s just hot here that’s why.”
“Here, drink this.”
I gave her the canned juice that I was holding which she gladly accepted. I didn’t realize that I was already looking at the movements in her throat. It was so sexy! The way she tilts her head upward a little makes me feel like I am watching a celebrity shooting a commercial of an ice cold juice. I swallowed hard looking at the sight of Jennie simply doing something that humans naturally do— drinking.
I patted my chest when I felt the loud beating of my heart inside. The unfamiliar feeling is occupying me once again and it’s too hard for me to control.
I didn’t realize that I had already walked away from Jennie. I even heard her shout for my name but I was more worried with what I’m feeling now. This fast heartbeat and cold sweats, is this perhaps what they called…crush? Infatuation? Or could it be more than that?
No freaking way!
This is impossible!
It’s only been three days. Nobody falls in love within three days right?
Please tell me this is just a feeling.
How can I continue the game if my heart trembles when she is around?
I have to distance myself for a day, at least.
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