Discombobulated Inquiry

Touchy

Third Person's P.O.V

Two days have passed since the five of them formed a bond. A bond where the others were jealous of. The five of them clicked, and their table had Nicole. Nicole caught everyone's attention. She was beautiful, by their standards, and they were all adults, obviously thinking of plans on getting her to bed.

"Are you alright?" Emerald asked Dani, who was beside her, shivering relentlessly.

"It's just too cold here."

"Tell me about it. The ac is blasting."

"Yeah, it's too cold."

Nicole crept behind Emerald and put Nicole's hands on Emerald's ears. Emerald was caught by surprise. She turned around and saw Nicole smiling. Astonishing was beyond Emerald's term. That was the first time that Nicole touched Emerald - it was the first time that they actually touched. She was even smiling, showing off her braces and her dimple on the right side of the cheek.

Nicole's lax body stayed near to Emerald's. Her eyes searching something in Emerald's - a reaction, but Emerald didn't have any emotion inside. Only mere surprise painted on her face. Someone from the other corner of the room saw the interaction and found the scene cinematic. To that spectator, Emerald and Nicole had brewed something that they couldn't see yet.

"Your hands are cold." Emerald stated with a lump in her throat.

"Yeah, and you're not cold. Why aren't you cold?"

"I like the cold."

Nicole retracted her hands unwillingly before sitting beside Will again. She glued her eyes to her phone, leaving Emerald puzzled. But that wasn't the only thing that she did. She grabbed Emerald's hands and intertwined it together with hers. They were not close for them to even link arms. Not even talking to each other for more than five minutes. Emerald was confused about what was happening.

"I'm cold."

"How cold?"

Will, Emerald, Avon and Nicole were waiting for Dani to finish her class. In the middle of the week, they were transferred to different classes and only Will, Avon and Emerald were the only ones who weren't separated.

"Feel it. Here,"

"Feel ho-" Nicole brought both of her hands to Emerald's cheeks and, again, they stared into each other's eyes.

The tension between them was building up. It was so apparent to the others that the two had chemistry, but Will wasn't as happy as before. Nicole was doing things that she didn't do to others yet, and it was Emerald who received such acts before Will, who went and beyond for her. Not even Avon had that kind of physical touch from Nicole, so Avon and Will were wondering what was happening between the two.

"Yeah, you're cold. It's hot in here though."

"Hey, I'm here!" Dani said, running to where everyone was. Nicole turned around and caused Emerald to wince with the lack of coldness, but not the coldness itself.

"Let's go. I'm already tired." Avon said, already heading towards the door.

"Hold up. I need to get my ID first."

Dani went to the guard to get her ID. Emerald turned around and looked at the door, already imagining how it feels to be at home. feeling comfortable lying on her bed.

"Alright, I'm done. Let's go."

But the next week, Nicole didn't come anymore. She left for her hometown and resigned formally. She gave the news when Emerald asked her through the group chat where she was because they were supposedly in the same room. Emerald was quite happy that Nicole wasn't in the company anymore. The lack of permission when it comes to touching was getting to Emerald.

"You're in this room, right?" Avon asked Emerald.

They stopped in front of Emerald's assigned room for the week, but Emerald didn't want to go in. She was nervous. It was going to be another set of faces. Another set of people that she wasn't acquainted with. She wanted to stay with the group. She wasn't a fan of meeting new people multiple times in a row.

"Yeah. f**k. I don't know. I want to stay with you guys."

"You're going to be fine. We clicked immediately when we talked, remember? You're more approachable than you think. Not even approachable. REALLY FRIENDLY. Plus, you're going to be with your crush, remember? Sit at the same table." Will answered with a smirk.

"Yeah. I guess. But still. I want to be with you guys."

"You're going to be fine."

Emerald saw someone sitting near the door, face planted on her phone.

"Excuse me. Are you also assigned in this room?"

"Ah, yes. You?"

"Yeah, me too. Thank you."

Emerald went back to Avon and Will and sighed.

"Finally. Someone is here with me. Unlike you guys who already have a lot of people waiting outside the room."

"Yeah, but maybe in a bit. People will crowd here anytime soon. We better go." Avon said, pinching Emerald's cheek before leaving with Will.

Emerald looked around, trying to find a familiar face and was successful in finding one. If she remembered correctly, she was in the same table as they were last week. She was the girl who was late and looked so menacing when she walked towards the table to take a seat.

"Hey, are you also in this room?" Emerald asked, mustering up the courage just so she doesn't feel alone.

The girl earlier looked too rich for Emerald to be be friends with, or at least that's what Emerald thought. People were still looking at Emerald. Emerald wasn't sure if it was because her style was neat, or was it because of something else. When people are acquainted with a person's looks, they usually turn a blind eye after quite some time.

The hallway was crowded with interns from different rooms. But Emerald's room has less people waiting compared to the other rooms.

"Yeah, you too?"

"Yeah, want to sit at the same table? I don't want to be alone." the girl grinned, nodding earnestly, finally having someone to sit with and not worry too.

After a few minutes, people were piling up and Emerald smiled when she saw her crush behind her, talking to the group that she was with last week.

But there was this particular scent that Emerald caught a whiff of. It was intoxicating in a good way. It soothed Emerald's nostrils. She wanted to walk a bit more to know whose scent that was. It was alluring and seductive at the same time. She looked around trying to, at least, find the direction where it came from.

But someone was already opening the door of their room and they were instructed to go inside - to Emerald's dismay. They went inside, coddled with uncertainty in their minds.

There's that scent again. Emerald turned her head towards the direction that she caught a whiff of it, but no one was already there. She sat with the girl that she spoke with earlier and looked around the room. The interior was the same. There were also laptops sitting above the table, stacked. Like on the first day, everyone was silent.

"Good morning, everyone. My name's Mel, and welcome to GCT. Is this your first week?"

"No, it's our third, Mel." someone answered on behalf of the class.

"Third? You guys don't talk? Or are you from different classes merged into this one?"

"Different classes." another one answered.

"I see. Well, you guys are so silent and so distant, and we can't have that here, so I want you guys to introduce yourself and I want you to stand up as well, so that everyone can see you."

Ah, f**k. Everyone was cussing inside their minds. They were unlucky. Had they talked amongst themselves, they could've spared from introducing themselves. It was always about introducing yourself that you just can't seem to know yourself in a sense that you don't know what to say in front of everyone.

"Okay, let's start with you."