Chapter Text
“No.”
“Dali na Jhoanna, it wouldn’t be that bad!”
Rolling your eyes at your companion, you reach for your cup of coffee on the table and take a languid sip. The other girl sitting across from you merely sighs, letting her body sag against the booth’s backrest as she keeps her stare on you.
Sighing as you place your cup back on the table, you also lean against the backrest, but you keep your back straight as you cross your arms over your chest. And with every bit of defiance in your body, you meet your friend’s gaze head on, refusing to back down even when she starts giving you THE look.
“Kahit pa anong gawin o sabihin mo, hinding hindi magbabago ang isip ko Lucky. My answer is still no.”
“Oh c’mon! Wag ka ngang kj, Tin. Eto na nga yung perfect opportunity para maipakita mo dun sa walang kwentang ex mo na yun na hindi siya kawalan eh!”
At her statement, you couldn’t help but sigh. You can never figure out why but Maloi never really liked your boyfriend – er, ex-boyfriend – from the get-go. It’s baffling too, since Tristan is the sweetest, kindest, and warmest guy that you’ve ever met. Outside your family, of course
“Uh, newsflash Lucks, but I still want him back,” you say nonchalantly as you reach for your cup of coffee again.
“GAGA ANO?!”
Choking on your drink at her outburst, you hastily reach for some table napkins to wipe at some of the coffee that dribbled down your chin.
The patrons of the café sitting close to your booth are now looking at the two of you. Some of them are curious, some are scandalized, and others completely weirded out. You can only look away in embarrassment as you feel your cheeks warm.
“ Mary Loi! Keep your voice down!” you tell her in a harsh whisper, feeling your throat still burning when your drink went down the wrong pipe.
Maloi has the decency to look reprimanded and embarrassed, as she reaches for her own cup of hot matcha to take a hurried sip. Shaking your head at your best friend’s antics, you let your body sag against the booth’s backrest as you watch the other girl slowly finish her drink.
A moment of silence passes between the two of you, as you get distracted by memories – beautiful yet painful – with your now former boyfriend. Maloi, for her part, seems to be distracted by her own thoughts too.
Maybe five minutes pass in this manner, and you’re only brought out of your thoughts when you realize that you’re already finished with your drink.
Heaving a sigh, you turn your gaze towards your companion and find yourself puzzled when you see that she’s already staring at you. And her gaze is very intent, at that.
Then she smiles. The one that spells nothing but trouble , and you can already feel your temples throbbing with an incoming headache.
A bit dreadful at her behavior, and resigning yourself to the thought that Maloi is most probably gonna get her way again, you cross your arms over your chest again as you look at her expectantly.
“Ano na naman?” you ask impatiently when a whole minute passes by yet she doesn’t say anything.
“Anong ano na naman?” she asks back, looking all innocent as she even tilts her head a bit to the side.
Unfortunately for her, you know better. You've been friends since you were toddlers, so you know her antics like the back of your hand by now. And the look in her eyes right now screams anything but innocent.
“Di mo ko madadala sa acting mo na yan, Ricalde. Spill,” you say, complete with an eye roll.
And at the quirking of her lips into a smirk, you feel some slight annoyance bubble in the pit of your stomach.
She must’ve seen the irritation in your eyes, because she’s chuckling in amusement in the next second. Defeated, your body sags against the booth’s backrest as you feel the corners of your lips pull down into a frown.
Yep, Maloi's most definitely going to have her way again, and there’s nothing you can do or say that can deter her will.
You won’t even be able to put up a fight. And you’re sure as hell not going to. Not after what happened the last time you refused to go along with an idea of hers.
Sometimes, you still get nightmares of being lifted on her shoulders while the whole world had the perfect view of your Hello Kitty printed underwear. The memory alone is enough to bring tears to your eyes.
Yeah, you were merely twelve back then, but it doesn't change the fact that it's one of the most embarrassing moments of your life.
“Hey.”
At this, you focus your attention back on your best friend. Her smirk is gone, yet the look in her eyes doesn’t ease the dread looming in your chest. It's been years, yet you can never forget the horror from that single experience alone.
That time when she carried you on her shoulders to take you to Sheena so that the two of you could finally ‘kiss and make up’ as she said.
There had been a small misunderstanding between you and Sheena back then, and you hadn’t been talking for ten whole days when Maloi had enough and decided to intervene. As thankful as you are for her attempt at helping you out, the whole ordeal before the actual making up was traumatizing enough.
“What?” you ask, and you hate how your voice came out really shaky and unsure.
If Maloi had noticed, she doesn’t say anything as she proceeds to just slouch against the backrest and pin you with that smile again.
“You said you want to get that good-for-nothing ex-boyfriend of yours back, right?”
Although confused by her question, you still manage to hesitantly nod your head.
“Er . . . Oo . . . ?”
“Okay then, I have a plan.”
By the mischievous glint in Maloi’s eyes, you know that you’re not gonna like her idea one single bit.
When Maloi told you yesterday that she has an idea on how to get Tristan back, never has it ever crossed your mind that she meant this by that.
It’s been a solid seven minutes since the two of you stepped into this building, and five of those were spent with you just staring dumbly at the door of this office where Maloi dragged you to.
You’re broken from your daze when the door slightly pushes open and Maloi peeks her head out. You stare at her dumbly for a moment, before her brows furrow and she’s stepping out into the hallway again.
"Jhoanna Christine, papasok ka ba o gusto mong hilahin kita papasok?"
It slips your mind to reprimand her for walking straight into the room as soon as you arrived and leaving you out here for a good five minutes alone. Rolling her eyes at your unresponsiveness, she reaches out and takes a hold of your wrist before hurriedly pulling you inside.
Nothing could have prepared you to the absolute mayhem that greeted you as soon as you stepped foot inside the – surprisingly – large room.
The office building’s pretty famous for being pricey, so the floor to ceiling one-way glass windows with the perfect view of the city don’t really surprise you one bit. Not even the sight of lavish furniture or pricey rugs littering the marbled floors fluster you as you slowly take them all in.
The expensive stuff is a no-brainer given the nature of the suite. But what’s totally shocking are the people currently occupying the space.
Off to the left corner of the room, there are three girls seemingly absorbed in whatever they’re watching on the tablet that the tallest of the group is holding.
A little off to the side, there’s another girl obviously in a heated argument with a guy who’s at least a head taller than her.
Standing about a foot away from them and leaning against the concrete wall of the office, there’s a brunette who’s a few centimeters taller than the other girl, watching the squabbling duo defeatedly.
At the other side of the room, a group of four – two girls and two guys – are engaged in some sort of card game. There’s shouting and throwing of all sorts of items ranging from plastic cups to unpaired socks, as well as some tugging and pulling of arms and shirts.
Overall, that side of the room is very much chaotic.
Lastly, smack in the middle of all this mess, there’s a girl with long, dark hair in a high ponytail roughhousing – and totally whooping the ass of – a guy who’s almost double her size.
You don’t know where to focus your attention amidst all this mess and Maloi, who probably sensed your internal turmoil, takes a step forward, cups her hands around her mouth, and shouts at all the other occupants of the room.
All squabbles and shenanigans almost instantly stop at the sound of her voice, and the others only then take notice of your presence. Now with everyone’s eyes on you, you feel your heartbeat pick up its pace. You’ve never really been good with huge crowds and attention.
Debate competitions don't count, since you have the assigned topics and your teammates to distract you from the crowds watching and cheering your team on. Right now though, you don’t have a competition to focus on so you’re perfectly aware of twelve pairs of eyes staring at you in varying degrees of interest.
“Okay, tama na yang kakatitig niyo. You’re starting to creep her out,” Maloi says after another whole minute of staring goes by.
On the outside, your expression remains unchanging. Yet internally, you’re breathing a sigh of relief and taking a mental note to treat Maloi to her favorite frozen treats later on your way back to the dorms.
“Right, sorry about all that ruckus,” the girl arguing with the guy earlier says as she walks closer towards you with the brunette in tow.
There are genuine, warm smiles on their lips, and you feel your anxiety easing up in an instant. Letting your body finally relax, you try your best to reciprocate their smiles.
Although, you’re kind of pretty sure yours resembles more of a grimace. You could only cringe internally.
“Ikaw siguro yung Jhoanna na nabanggit sa amin ni Loi kagabi, yeah? I’m Liza, by the way,” the girl – Liza – says again, to which you could only respond dumbly with a nod of your head.
You can hear Maloi fail to stifle her snicker beside you, and it takes all of your self control to not reach over to pinch her side. And then Liza's words finally fully register in your mind and you turn to face your best friend so quickly that you almost get whiplash.
Maloi, for her part, squeaks in surprise at your sudden turn, taking half a step back as you squint your eyes at her in suspicion. Smiling your sickly sweet smile at your friend – she winces, because she knows that the smile never means anything good for her – you slowly turn to face Liza again.
“Huy wag mo akong tingnan ng ganyan, Jhoanna. Swear I didn’t tell them anything more than what was necessary!" Maloi blurts out in panic even before you could open your mouth, and you resist the urge to burst into laughter at the nervous expression on her face.
Liza merely smiles in amusement, nodding her head slightly to confirm Maloi's claim.
Still, it’s now sinking in that you’re actually about to do this . You can’t believe that you actually let Maloi rope you into going to this fake dating “ agency ” to help you get your ex back.
You’re using the term loosely because really, this agency’s mostly made up of people from your university’s academic theater organization. They’re rich college kids with ample amounts of time in their hands and have nothing better to do.
It's totally not legal, but they make all their clients sign some sort of contract and swear them into secrecy, never to tell another soul about the existence of the agency no matter what.
“It’s also good practice for our acting skills.” Maloi had said as she was explaining all the shenanigans to you the previous night.
Imagine your surprise when, after asking her how and why she knows so much about this fake dating hullabaloo, she tells you that she’s actually part of it too.
That she’s been doing it for the past two years.
The two of you have been best friends since diapers, even swearing to never keep secrets from each other, yet you’re only finding out about her side hustle now?
Naturally, it took hours before you could even grasp a thing about all that she told you. You’ve had a lot of questions for her of course, and Maloi was more than willing to answer each and every one of your queries quite enthusiastically.
So the two of you ended up staying up into the wee hours of the morning as she tried to explain to you how things worked at the agency.
Still, she kept on teasing you about how the first question that fell from your lips when you’ve come to your senses, was whether she was just fake dating her exes or not.
You’re brought back to the present by Maloi lightly elbowing your side. Looking back up, you see that everyone’s staring at you in amusement, which makes your blood rush to your cheeks. Utterly embarrassed, you shyly shift your gaze to the floor.
Liza laughs, fond and amused, whilst some of the others chuckle softly at you. The sounds manage to fluster you even more, so you reach for the hem of your shirt and start picking at the loose threads – a nervous habit you developed as a child which you never managed to grow out of.
“Anyway,” Liza says with a loud clap, silencing everyone in the room once more. “Welcome to Heartbreak Club, where you can find comfort and solace in fake feelings and relationships.”
She said the greeting so enthusiastically that it made you look up at her, puzzled. Liza's comforting smile is back, and when the brunette standing beside her walks towards the sets of couches by the front glass walls, everyone else follows suit.
At the bewildered look on your face, the same brunette girl who’s always sticking close to Liza laughs softly.
“Pretty catchy, right?” she asks with a chuckle. You could only smile at her hesitantly. “That was thought up by another member who’s unfortunately not here yet. Pero sabi naman niya malapit na daw siyang makarating.”
“Okay, time for introductions!” Liza interjects cheerfully before you can reply, earning her amused chuckles from some of the occupants of the room, and groans from the others.
“Oh hush you party-poopers. I think okay na if we start with the Arrows and the Unicorns, so we can narrow down your choices quicker.”
“Arrows? Unicorns?” you can’t help but ask, because Maloi never mentioned those terms once during your conversation last night.
“Corny, no? Pero proud na proud yang si Ate Nads na naisip niya yan,” the girl who’s roughhousing with the big guy earlier says with a playful eye roll and a warm smile.
“Bakit ba?! Cute naman ah. Bitter ka lang kasi lahat ng suggestions mo eh rejected by everyone except Loi eh~” Liza counters teasingly.
The other girl looks like she’s about to respond, but the tall girl sitting beside her holds her back with a shake of the head. Grudgingly, the former backs down with a sigh.
“Anyways, yes, Arrows and Unicorns. I think they're pretty much self-explanatory, really. Mej nakakagulat na hindi ka na-orient ni Loi about those but they’re just basically terms for specific members of the agency.”
Liza hums, sparing a moment to turn towards Maloi who just smiles at the two of you apologetically. Liza just sighs and shakes her head in amusement, before she turns back to you to continue her introductions.
“Arrows are for the heteros, like, " straight as an arrow " and whatnot. They're Jaz, Aiah, and Sam over there. Ah, si Maloi part din ng hetero squad.”
She motions towards the taller two of the girls who were watching the tablet earlier and the dude who got ass-whooped by that strong girl sitting on the other side of the couch.
“Those four over there – Jane, Colet, Jao, and Franz – on the other hand, are totally rainbows. So kung girlfriend man ang hanap mo, game sina Jane at Cols dyan.”
This time, Liza points to Miss Strong girl, the shortest girl watching the tablet, and the two guys who were playing cards with the others. Jane and Colet smile at you warmly, and you find yourself getting comforted at the gesture so you smile back.
“Andyan din yung team Spaghetti. Ayan sina Gwen, Mikha, at Elijah. Unlike the others, though, they don’t really give a damn about the gender of the people they’re gonna fake date. Collectively, we're called the Latibules, 'cause we provide temporary homes for heartbroken souls.”
A loud chorus of snorts could be heard at the end of Liza's explanation, making your lips quirk in a small, amused smile. But you don't dwell on it too much and focus on the more important matters instead.
The guy Liza was arguing with is Elijah. You think you recognize him from the streetdance club, but you can’t really remember correctly because interactions between the debate team and the dance club have been really limited ever since you started.
To be perfectly honest, the members of this agency look eerily familiar. You think you've seen some of them in various varsity teams, you just can't remember who and which. And besides Elijah, you think you recognize Mikha from the varsity women's volleyball team. You find yourself wondering about the others too, but store the thoughts away for later as you refocus on Liza again.
“What about you, though? And her?” you politely ask Liza, also gesturing to the brunette whose smile has never once slipped from her lips since you’ve arrived. You can’t help but ask since Liza didn’t mention the two of them once.
“Ah . . . Team Unicorn yang si Julia, and I’m with the Arrows. Pero pagdating lang sa fake dating na to. We’re girlfriends, so we don’t actually fake date other people anymore, unless wala na talagang ibang choice. These days, we take care of the managing and logistics part of the agency.”
You can only nod your head dumbly at her explanation, complete with a soft “oh” unconsciously falling from your lips. You’re so engrossed in your own thoughts that you fail to notice the amused looks that the members of HBC – as they like to call this agency – are directing at you.
“Oh! Bakit pala Spaghetti? Um, if okay lang naman itanong . . .”
It’s been bugging you since Liza mentioned it earlier. The Arrow and Unicorn make sense, but the last one doesn’t. Is it some kind of idiom? The Latibules share a look with each other, and Maloi kind of looks panicked beside you, so your curiosity is piqued even more.
When Liza turns towards you again, there’s an amused smirk playing on her lips. She also has that mischievous look in her eyes, the one that Maloi sports whenever she’s thinking of stuff that could get her – and consequently, you – in trouble.
Liza opens her mouth, most likely to explain, and you feel the anticipation burning in the pit of your stomach. But before she could even utter a single syllable, Maloi beats her to it.
“Hindi mo na kailangang malaman, Jhoanna!” she says in panic, and it makes your brows furrow in confusion, the corners of your lips lifting up in a small amused smile.
You rarely see her get this flustered so it’s always amusing when she does.
“O . . . kay,” you say as the whole room gets filled with snorts and giggles from the other occupants.
Maloi sulks, crossing her arms over her chest, but otherwise says nothing as she walks towards the couch and sits petulantly on Mikha’s lap.
The latter shouts a rather loud ‘oomph!’ when Maloi's body makes contact with hers. But she doesn't make a move to push your best friend off her lap. Instead, you find yourself actually surprised when Mikha merely shakes her head with an amused smile on her lips before reluctantly wrapping her arms around your best friend's waist.
“So . . . Jhoanna,” Aiah calls softly, distracting you from Mikha and your best friend. She looks so, so pretty smiling at you like that that you feel a light blush blooming across your cheeks.
Although her smile comes off as strained, and she's sitting so rigidly beside Maloi and Mikha, that it makes you pause and wonder what’s up. However, it's rude to stare so you quickly rid yourself of that thought and refocus on the conversation.
“Y-yeah?” you ask, cursing yourself under your breath at the obvious stutter in your voice..
“We’re assuming that Maloi's given you the run through of the mechanics last night?”
At this, you nod your head in agreement.
“Great. Do you want to have a little discussion with us, one by one, to help you in making a choice?”
“You can take your time. And since you’re a very good friend of Maloi's, Julia and I are even willing to help you with getting your ex back. He’s the men’s football team’s goalkeeper, right?” Liza interjects, walking towards the left end of the longest couch and taking a seat on its armrest next to Julia.
Shyly, you let your gaze roam around the room, taking your time in observing all the Latibules as they smile at you warmly. Liza, Julia, Aiah, Jaz, Jao, and Franz are already crossed off the list for obvious reasons. And, of the others left, you feel the most drawn to Elijah and Sam.
“Ah, oo nga pala Tin.”
Confused, you turn towards Maloi who’s still sitting on Mikha's lap, except now she’s completely leaning against the other girl and playing with her fingers. Quirking a brow at this, you tilt your head to the side and with your gaze, you ask what she wants.
If Maloi notices the look you’re giving her, she completely ignores it.
“Alam ko namang het ka pa sa het, but I think you should go for one of the girls. It’ll totally throw Tristan off-guard.”
When you’re about to argue – because you totally have no experience whatsoever in dating girls – Maloi raises a hand to shut you up. It’s not that the idea of dating a girl, even if only to pretend, is repulsive to you.
But you’d be completely out of your element, and it’s something that you totally don’t like feeling. Maloi perfectly knows that.
When the smiles slip from the Latibules’ lips at your prolonged lack of response, you feel an immediate need to explain yourself and reassure them that you are in no way repulsed by the idea. But you’re bad at things like this so you end up a blubbering, panicked mess.
Sighing, Maloi takes pity on you and stands on her feet again, walking towards you and slinging an arm across your shoulders while facing the others.
“Don’t worry,” she tells them, pulling you a bit closer and poking at your cheek with her finger.
“Hindi homokojic tong si Jhoanna. But she is kind of a bit of a scaredy cat when it comes to relationships, and is afraid of trying new things that are outside of her comfort zone. Tatlo pa lang kasi nagiging jowa netong isang to, and all of them are guys. Even her past crushes had all been guys.”
Although a bit vexed by the unnecessary information she shared, you’re thankful for her intervention because the smiles are finally back on the Latibules’ lips the next second. Some of them are even giving you understanding and comforting looks, which makes you relax even further.
Sighing in relief, you’re about to ask them for some alone time with Colet when the door of the office opens abruptly and clashes against the wall with a loud bang.
You cling to Maloi in shock and bury your face against the crook of her neck, feeling your heart race at the sudden loud sound. But it seems like this is a common occurrence in this place because everybody else doesn’t seem phased. You even hear Liza let out a loud, disdained sigh from somewhere behind you.
“Stacey Sevilleja! How many times do we have to tell you to open doors like a normal person would?!” Liza exclaims, and you hear her getting closer with every word.
As you feel your heartbeat returning to its normal pace, you slowly let go of Maloi and step back from your best friend’s personal space. Looking up, your gaze meets Maloi's and she smiles at you reassuringly.
“Sorry about that. Stacey’s got this bad habit of knocking back doors like she’s in some kind of cheap action movie,” Maloi says with an amused smile.
Shaking your head slightly to tell her that it’s okay, you turn to look towards the door where Liza is scolding the newcomer. Your gaze first catches the boots that she’s wearing, black adorned with accents of pink, before your eyes travel up her jean-clad legs.
She’s wearing a pink and black leather jacket, the ones that look like they’d cost the average person an arm and a leg. And underneath she has on a white fitted muscle tee that accentuates her obviously perfectly toned body.
Letting your gaze travel even upwards, you take note of how straight and soft-looking her long, dark hair is, before your eyes finally land on her face.
And then you feel the breath getting knocked from your lungs because holy shit, she looks so damn familiar.
The world seems to slow down as everything around you fades into the background, your attention solely on the girl with the darkest eyes and the most smouldering gaze you’ve ever seen.
And when her eyes meet yours, the whole world around you putters to a stop and there’s nothing and no one else you can see but her.
Her gaze is as intense as the very first time you’ve crossed paths with her way back freshman year - as if peering into and burning your very soul. And just like that first time many, many moons ago, you find yourself unable to look away.
Lindtsey Stacey Aubrey Sevilleja. Also more commonly known as Stacey Sevilleja.
She’s an enigma, that’s for sure. She doesn’t look like she has that many friends, but everyone on campus seems to know her. She’s quiet, mostly serious, and often brooding. As far as you’re concerned, she doesn’t really know how to smile.
In your three years of staying in this university, you’ve only shared classes with her twice. Well, given that she’s from the college of engineering and you’re from the college of mass communication, you two don’t really have that many subjects in common.
And during both times, Stacey was always the first to arrive in class and the first to leave. And she rarely talked to any of your classmates, so you figured she’s not the social type.
Despite her aloofness though, she’s really, really beautiful. Her skin is as white and smooth as ivory, with rosy hints that always make her look like she’s blushing, and features that look like they’ve been sculpted by the gods themselves. Stacey Sevilleja has quite the killer looks.
And according to a vast majority of your university’s population, she’s also rich, extremely smart and wise, known to drive very expensive cars and motorcycles, is a great cook, and has a very beautiful, soothing singing voice which makes anyone who hears swoon.
The older students also claim that she’s probably the best swimmer your university’s ever had. She was an MVP all throughout high school and became the ace of your university’s women’s swim team during her freshman year.
Unfortunately, for some reason unknown to everyone who’s not a really close friend of hers, Stacey quit the team right before her second year of university.
You’ve always been curious about Stacey, always wanted to get to know the other girl better. Because the two of you share the same circle of friends and your lives seem to overlap in more ways than one.
But you’ve never really had the chance to approach her. Because every time you try to approach her to converse, you always get cold feet. And mostly because Tristan didn’t want you to. For some reason, your ex-boyfriend never really liked Stacey – the same way Maloi never liked him.
You feel your heart skip a beat when you see the corners of Stacey's lips curl up into a slight smirk, as a glint of something dangerous flashes in her eyes. The way her gaze shifts into a more . . . teasing one is enough to send shivers down your spine.
You’ve been sure, for the most part, about your sexuality ever since junior high as you’ve never really been attracted to anyone of the fairer sex. Yet why, as Stacey continues to pin you with her smouldering gaze, do you feel this certain pull – much akin to attraction – towards the older girl?
The moment is brought to an abrupt stop when Maloi claps her hands loudly. Breaking your gaze from Stacey, you turn towards your best friend to see a scheming smile playing on her lips.
Still smiling oh so conspiratorially, Maloi then turns towards Liza. And, with the most annoying tone that she knows you hate hearing her use so much, she says:
“I think we found our latibule.”
What have I gotten myself into?!
That thought had kept you up the previous night after you’ve come back from HBC, festering in the forefront of your mind and keeping you awake into the wee hours of the morning.
It also didn’t help that Stacey had agreed almost immediately, leaving no room for any argument whatsoever. Liza was then quick to pull you towards one corner of the room to discuss possible arrangements.
Unfortunately, Stacey had someplace to be soon after so you didn’t have the time to discuss details about your “ relationship ” with her. Although, she did promise to contact you as soon as possible to iron out the details.
It wasn’t until after you’ve given up on rolling all over your bed and getting up for a mug of warm milk with honey that you were finally able to slip into dreamland.
Naturally, you’ve woken up quite late some hours later, so your mind has been occupied with getting ready as fast as you can so you won’t be late to your first class of the morning. It’s Philosophy 101 with that terror professor who’s a bitch and locks the doors at 8 o’clock on the dot.
And now, three hours and two lectures later, you’re finally able to have a breather with your two-hour break. Unfortunately for you, you decided to check your emails as soon as you occupied your usual place at the university’s main library.
Curiosity got the best of you when you saw an email from Liza, but you’ve soon come to regret opening the message as soon as you saw its contents.
It’s a scanned copy of the “ contract ” you signed the day before, swearing you into secrecy about the agency and all of your subsequent transactions with them. And also a copy of your payments for each bi-week until the end of the agreement.
And whew, that’s quite a hefty sum. Although, not one you couldn’t handle.
You’re in the middle of your self-pity and self-blame party – for letting Maloi rope you into this insanity – when you feel someone slide into the seat across from you.
Lifting your head from your arms, you slowly look up and barely manage to hold back a groan when you finally see who it is that decided to rudely intrude on your me-time.
You almost roll your eyes in annoyance when you’re met with the sight of Justin Arevallo's annoying grin.
He’s the executive vice chairperson of your university’s student council. And he’s been in pursuit of you ever since you’ve been grouped together in that sociology class last year.
Even though you were still with Tristan at that time. It seems that he took the breakup as some sort of sign because he’s been more pushy with his pursuit ever since.
A sharp pain shoots through your heart when you remember your ex-boyfriend again. The past few days, you had Maloi successfully distract you from the sadness and the pain whenever you remembered him and your breakup.
But unfortunately for you, you don’t get to spend time with your best friend until after your last class of the day later at five.
It’s been five months, but you’re still hurting from the sudden end of your relationship. You don’t know why it happened, didn’t even see it coming. Because honestly, you didn’t have any problems with your relationship at all and the two of you had been happy up until that point.
And then, about two weeks before he asked for a break, he started getting cold towards you. Naïvely, you assumed that it was just the stress of finals getting to him, so you thought it best to give him some space.
He has a new girlfriend now – they’ve just gone exclusive last week – and she happens to be the captain of the university’s pep squad. She’s pretty, smart, captain of a national champion team, and extremely popular.
To be honest, you can confidently say that you have nothing against her. No matter how much it hurts or how degrading it feels. But it’s the truth.
If you were made to choose between yourself and Ms. Perfect, you’re pretty sure you’re gonna end up choosing her as well.
“So, what do you say?”
Justin’s eager question snaps you out of your thoughts, and you try your best to see if you can recall whatever he’s said in the last five minutes but you come up with nothing.
Sighing, you start tidying up your stuff without so much as sparing him another glance.
“I’m sorry Justin, pero hindi kasi talaga ako interesado eh,” you tell him, barely managing to keep the exasperation from dripping in your voice.
“But–”
Whatever he’s supposed to say gets cut off when you feel a slight weight settling on your shoulder. Surprised, you turn your head to the side only for your brain to short-circuit when you feel something soft and warm – and sweet – gently pressing against your lips.
It must’ve taken mere seconds before the new intruder pulls back, but it sure does feel like forever to you. Your lips are still tingling from the sensation, and your mind registers the scent of cool, minty autumn slowly overwhelming your senses.
Looking up, you feel your heart jump to your throat when you see the one and only Stacey Sevilleja smiling oh so sweetly down at you.
“Hey, love,” she says in a somewhat gruff voice, and it sends shivers down your spine. “Sorry I’m late. Kanina ka pa bang naghihintay?”
She’s giving you a look, as if apologizing for her sudden brazen action, before she very discreetly side-eyes the other side of the table you’re currently occupying.
It suddenly clicks in your mind, why she did that. But it doesn’t change the fact that she kissed you so now you’re a blushing, flustered mess. Though, even through the embarrassed daze your mind is in, you still manage to discreetly shake your head at her.
Stacey’s smile widens a fraction, becomes much more genuine, and you can’t help but think about how much prettier she actually is when she smiles.
You’ve been so lost in your mindless admiration that you didn’t even take notice of Tristan leaving the table and storming out of the library like the little spoiled brat that he is.
“Thank God wala na siya,” Stacey says after making sure that he’s out of earshot, pulling the chair beside you and taking a seat haphazardly.
“By the way, sorry about, uh, the kiss. Nakita ko lang kasi na iniistorbo ka niya and I just thought–yeah . . .”
Chuckling at Stacey's unexpected awkwardness, you feel some of the embarrassment and tension leave your body as you tell her it’s alright.
Besides, your fake relationship starts today, so you might as well get used to intimacy with her as early as now.
At the sound of your chuckle, Stacey smiles warmly, and it sends a wave of comfortable warmth to your heart. Yep, smiling really suits her a lot.
“So, girlfriend . . .”
You can’t help but feel giddy at the term, but of course you try your best to not let it show.
“I’m sorry about abruptly leaving yesterday. Are you ready to finally discuss our relationship? ”