Still Into You

CHAPTER 11

"Khai!" Von calls Khai, and Khai turns his head in our direction. He looks at Von then at me.

"Hey, why are you standing there? Come over!" Von says loudly, inviting Khai to join our table.

No. No way! Don't come!

"Let him, Von. He may not want to eat with us." Steph says. That's right, Steph. Don't let Khai join us.

"Come on, we are in the same class. We should invite him." Von says and calls Khai again.

"Why the hell on earth did he invite him?" I heard Steph's whisper while rolling her eyeballs secretly. Khai, on the other hand, walks over to our place.

"Hi!" Sab greeted him while smiling and waving her hands. Khai just nods his head and sat on the chair next to Von, in front of me. He keeps his eyes on me, but I didn't look at him. What's wrong with him? He always puts me in an awkward situation.

"Gosh, you're so cold." Sab mumble.

"Should we order food? I'm hungry." I say, breaking the awkwardness.

"Right. Let's..." Steph wasn't able to continue her sentence because Khai spoke.

"I will order. My treat." He says which makes me look at him. He gives a small smile. What's gotten into him, huh?

"Wow! Really? Oh my god, you're the best man!" Von says with a giant smile, tapping Khai's shoulder. "Let's go. I will help you to choose."

"Babe, have a little a shame," Sab told Von.

"What did I do?" Confusion traveled his face while scratching the back of his head.

"It's okay. Let's go, Von." Khai says as he stood up and walks to the food counter. Von followed him.

"Khai is somehow kind, I guess," Sab says, smiling.

Steph scoff. "Kind? That is the funniest word I've ever heard." Steph laughs sarcastically.

"What do you mean?" Asked Sab spontaneously.

I look at Steph and she looks so tense. Von should not have invited Khai.

"Well, just based on my opinion, I think that guy isn't nice at all. Who knows, right? Maybe he is just acting to be nice." Steph says while shrugging her shoulders, pretending to be innocent, but little did Sab knows, she is ranting Khai. Gosh, Steph. Please don't make it obvious.

"Jeez. We have this saying 'do not judge the book by its cover.' Khai is a cold-hearted guy but I think he has a good heart." Sab replies.

Again, Steph scoff, followed by a sarcastic laugh. "No comment."

"It looks like you don't like Khai?" Sab questioned.

"Yeah. I don't like him." Steph answers without skepticism. Well, that's her. She talks frankly.

"Why?" Sab asks in confusion.

"No reason. I don't like him, that's it."

"What are you saying? Trust me. I have this gut that he's a good guy." Sab says and Steph just shakes her head, meanwhile, I remain quiet. I cannot tell if Khai is indeed a good guy, however, I cannot also tell if he is a bad guy. I'm also confused.

After a few minutes, Khai and Von go back to our place bringing trays with lots of food. Too much. Why did he buy a lot of food?

"This is too much," Sab says with a bit of concern. "Khai must have to spend a lot of money."

"It's okay, babe. Khai doesn't mind it anyway. Right, bro?" Von asks Khai.

"Yeah. It's okay." Khai answer with a small smile grew on his lips, then he looks at me but I look away immediately.

"Hey, babe! You are not bullying Khai right?" Sab raised a question to Von while raising her eyebrows.

"What? Of course not. Why would I do that to my friend? I'm a nice guy." Von winks at Sab, and then looks at Khai and put his hand on Khai's shoulder. "Bro, starting from today, we are friends."

Khai just chuckles.

Steph sighs in annoyance and took a plate of spaghetti and a can of soda. "How much is this?" She questioned, looking at Khai sharply. It makes me nervous, knowing how much Steph hates him, and Steph might not control herself and she will gonna hit Khai or what. It's not that I am concerned with Khai, I just don't want a scene.

"No need to pay me. It's my..."

"Well, I don't want to owe you anything. Cass as well." Steph cut his line. "So, how much is this?"

"Hey, Steph. It's his treat. You don't have to pay for that." Sab says, looking at Steph then to Khai in confusion.

"85 pesos," Khai says.

"Count this too," Steph picks the plate of bacon with rice and a cup of strawberry juice, and then she gives it to me. This is my favorite.

My goodness. Steph is making things obvious. Sab and Von are starting to look at them both suspiciously.

"Well, Steph is not the type of person who accepts a treat from someone whom she doesn't know so, yeah, bear with her, Khai," I told Khai while forcing myself to smile at him just to change the mood that wraps us. Then, I secretly pinch Steph's leg and give her a don't-make-a-scene-look, but she just ignores me. Gosh, she's stressing me out.

"I understand," Khai says.

"So, how much is it all?" Steph inquires again.

"A total of hundred forty," Khai says. Then, Steph took the money from her wallet and handed it to Khai.

"We don't owe anything from you now," Steph says, smirking. Khai just nods his head.

"Let's eat. The food might get cold." Von invited and we start to eat.

In the middle of our eating, we heard a phone ringing. It was Khai's phone.

"Who's that? Aren't you going to answer the call?" Von asks him. I don't know what is he doing since I am not looking at him. I am just focused on eating my food. Steph as well. She is eating silently and seriously.

"It's not important." I heard him say and I guess he turns off his phone and put it back inside his pocket since he didn't answer it. Lifting my head, I take a peeked at him. He now goes back to eating his food.

"Why? Who was that?" Von asks curiously.

"Babe, you're being nosy. Stop intervening in someone's personal life. Just eat." Sab nags and she puts the chicken leg in Von's mouth.

I laugh secretly because of that. They are so cute.

Looking back at Khai, I wonder if who called him. Was it Vivian?

---

"You were so crazy. Why did you act like that?" I ask Steph as we enter the comfort room. After we eat lunch, we went her, while Von, Sab, and Khai head back to our room section.

Entering the second cubicle, Steph reply, "why? What did I do?"

I turn on the faucet and washed my hands. "Stop pretending. You know what you did before. You should've not done that to Khai."

I heard the flashing sound in the toilet, then Steph comes out of the cubicle. "Which one?

"Are you concerned with him?" She asks.

Turning off the faucet, I face her and say, "of course not. But the thing is you were making things obvious in front of our classmates. I was worried that other people will know about it."

"What are you trying to say?"

"Just let it go. The past should stay in the past. Let us just..."

She cut my line. "He hurt you, and I hate him." She says emphasizing each word.

"I know. I know. But isn't it too childish? We were in high school when that thing happened. We are in college now. Can't we just let it go?"

"Hey, don't tell me you already forgive him?" She asks while raising her eyebrows.

I left speechless. I don't know the answer either. I hate Khai for hurting me, but I don't know if I already forgive him or not.

"Cassandra," Steph calls.

"Of course not. I didn't. But I don't want to recall the past again. Let us just let it go. Can you do that?"

She sighs loudly, rolling her eyeballs. "Okay. Okay. I don't want to recall the past either. But I can't stand to see Khai interacting with you as if he did nothing. It makes me angry."

"I know that. Don't worry. I don't care about him anymore." I say. But why does what I said seem against my will? This is absurd. Never mind.

"Alright. I believe you," she chuckles, and I laugh a little.

"Let get back," I say.

"Yeah. Let's go."

Then we exit the comfort room and head back to our room section. When we got to our room section, my eyes meet Khai but I suddenly look away. Steph and I sat in our chairs, and in just a few minutes, the bell for class to begin soon rang and our Professor for managerial econ arrived and start his discussions. Until the time comes for my most favorite subject, the dismissal! Finally, it's time to go home.

I am now heading to my locker because I have to put there these two books of mine. Steph, on the other hand, went to the parking lot first.

On my way to the locker, I suddenly remember the food I ate earlier in the school cafeteria. The bacon with rice and a can of strawberry juice. So, Khai hasn't forgotten my favorite food? So what? I know it was nothing.

"Yeah, it was nothing. That means nothing." I whisper to myself.

After I put my book inside my locker, I directly went to the parking lot, and Steph and I went straight home. Nothing much happened today, but I feel so tired. I can't wait for the weekend to come.

The next morning, as usual, Steph and I go to school early, but we don't have much class today because our professors have an important meeting today with the dean. Presently, Steph, Sab, and I are here on the school field watching soccer. Just a friendly game. And Von and Khai are among the players.

"Did you know, Von likes to play soccer? Actually, he was an ace player during high school days, but he quits and never play again." Sab says.

Curiosity gets the best of me and I tilt my head in concentration. Before I could ask her, Steph was already ahead.

"Why is that?" Steph asks. She is also curious as I am.

"He was afraid that the past might repeat itself."

"What do you mean by that?" This time it was me who asked.

"How can I say this? Well, to make the long story short, Von was the reason why his team loses in the final game. He missed the penalty kicked. So, his team blamed him for losing the game and not be able to get the gold medal. They even bullied him. It was a nightmare for him. Because of that he suffered from depression and leads him to quit playing soccer." Sab sighs.

"But it's in the past. He can start over again." I say.

"That is what I told him. But no matter how much I tried to convince him, he doesn't want still. He keeps saying it wasn't easy."

I understand, Von. It wasn't easy to start over, even if you know what you have to do. But it's bad for not overcoming it.

"The fears stop him from going back to the things he likes. However, he should face it. He shouldn't be running from it. Just because he made a mistake, doesn't mean he's a mistake. It doesn't make you a hypocrite. It's in the past. You have to let it go for you to grow. Von shouldn't let people use his past to invalidate his current mindset. Well, everyone makes mistakes in life, but that doesn't mean they have to pay for them for the rest of their life. You know, we are just human." I say.

"Wow! Where did you get that?" Sab giggles. "But you are right, Cass. I think I should keep on pushing him more to go back playing soccer."

"Right, you should. He likes it. He should keep on liking it." I say and smile. Looking back at the play, my gaze focused on Khai. And I don't understand what I feel now while I am watching him. It's funny how I'm good at giving advice to others, but when it comes to helping myself, I don't know what to do. I sigh out.

"Excuse me, girls. I need to go to the comfort room." I say and stood up from sitting.

"Okay. Hurry." Steph says, and Sab just nods her head while smiling.

I walk down the bleachers' seat and walk to the exit door, but I stop immediately when I heard a familiar shout from the field. I looked at the field and my eyes widened when I saw Khai lying on the grass while being punched. Von, on the other hand, tries to stop those guys. Oh my god, what is happening!?

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