Lies over Love

Chapter 8

AILA

We had our dinner at our ancestral house where our grandfather and grandmother are living. We are not complete because today is Tuesday, and some of our cousins were not able to come home because they have their respective jobs on the next day. So we are the only ones who went here since our houses are just nearby. 

One of the family's new businesses, an architecture firm, opened so there was a small celebration wherein only the members are allowed. This way of celebration has been the tradition of the family. And there will be another fancy celebration for friends and business partners after a few days.

 “We heard that Romoss arrived yesterday. Is that true, Mino?” my grandfather broke the silence and asked my brother, Mino.

 “Yes. They have already decided to live here for good because he will be the one to take care of their family business so it would be better for him to just live here than in Las Vegas which is far from the company he is going to inherit,” Mino stopped eating first and politely talked to Grandpa.

 “Oh, that’s good! I can still remember Aila having a huge crush on him back when she was eleven years old. Hahaha!” my father poked fun at that memory which made me blushed.

Yes, I had a crush on my brother’s best friend, Romoss. But I was young back then! He was always with my brother in our house whenever they do not have classes, so he was also the one I always talked to within those days. I also had the guts and courage to be vocal about my feelings in front of my family because I thought that was the best thing to do! But that made me feel embarrassed and red-faced now that I have grown and knows the meaning of the word ‘crush’! It is really embarrassing to reminisce that again so I thanked their family for deciding to stay abroad. But now, I feel like I am going back to hiding when they visit us here at our home!

 “My God, Dad. Stop! That was almost six years ago! Move on already.” I said in embarrassment and I could not even look at them because I could still remember the incident where I said in front of them that I had already a crush and it was Romoss. I really did some makeup and made myself pretty enough that night and bought a pink ponytail to match my old-rose colored Chanel dress. That was really embarrassing!

"That is only natural, Aila. You were so young and innocent back then and did not know what those things really meant. But that was really a good memory for us to remember,” my mother added which made our other family members laugh.

Yes, good memory, for y’all. But for me, that was worse!

 “Perhaps you will like him again if you two will meet. Six years age gap is not really a big deal,” one of my aunties said.

 “Just stop. Please,” I pleaded so that this topic would end.

And they all just laughed.

 “Aila is still not allowed to have a boyfriend. She is just seventeen,” Mino said seriously while staring into my eyes. He glared at me as if I am going to disobey him.

 “Yes, she’s still young... and naïve. She does not even know how to do the laundry, yet she has the guts to get herself a boyfriend?” Ivan added. Sometimes they really help, but most of the time they will destroy your image first.

I just shook my head and laughed as well.

 “Of course, I won’t have one while studying,” I assured them.

"Just make sure of it," Mino said with an authority in his voice.

But out of nowhere, an image of a poker-gorgeous faced man flashed in my mind. When I was eleven I did not know the real meaning of crush, but now that I’m seventeen, everything is already clear to me. And for just a small period of time, I am sure that something is already growing inside me for someone. s**t! This should stop.

~*~

My eyes were heavy from sleeping late last night. Aside from going home eleven in the evening after dinner, the take-home activity given by our teacher made me pull off an all-nighter and stayed until almost three in the morning! That was the time I regretted not giving it to Sandro so that I will no longer have to think about it, but the past is past, I’ll just try to sleep early this evening. Ugh!

I was very grateful when Ynna entered the class today. Maybe she got sick because she’s wearing a jacket above her uniform. Her eyes were puffy and swollen, probably because she did not sleep well last night. When she saw me, she quickly looked down and I did not bother to ask her this early. Maybe her head still hurts a lot. I slowly pulled up my seat and put my bag at the back while I couldn't help myself but look at Sandro's behavior.

He was leaning cooly in his chair while his left hand is playing with his watch. This guy could really grab the attention of people in anything that he does and I'm one of them. Fudge? What did I say? Am I really sleepy that I am already thinking about these crazy things?

I was about to play with my phone because of boredom when Ynna faced me. I noticed a bruise on the right side of her face.

 “Ynna! What happened to you?!" my voice got louder that it grabbed Sandro's attention because I saw him turn to me.

 “Ssshh! Keep your voice low. Can I talk to you later? After dismissal, maybe?” I could see the fear in her eyes and I just nodded at her unconsciously while focusing on the bruise near his neck.

What happened to her? Is this one of the reasons why she is not answering her phone every time I call her? I also noticed that she often avoids me every time I say that I want her to go somewhere with me when we have no class.

“Sure. Let’s talk there later in the gazebo behind the Science Building because not everyone goes there.”

"Y-yes, please" tears were starting to form in her eyes. I do not even know the whole story but there are some various situations that were playing inside my mind why she is being like this.

Our conversation only stopped when our teacher came in and so as not to attract some attention to her, she quickly wiped the tears from her cheeks.

Every minute is equivalent to almost an hour because I felt that the time had been moving so slowly. I could not wait for this day to end to lend my ear to Ynna. The break time ended but instead of talking to me, she went to the school clinic first and spent an hour there until another subject had started again.

I also did not try to talk to her at lunch because she seemed to be avoiding me. Maybe she needed some time and courage so I let her have herself first. So here I am now, making myself busy watching other students preparing for the obstacles that will be used for the sports fest. That will be next week the reason why everyone is immersed in the upcoming school program activity. I wonder what my first sports festival experience will be.

I am facing the answer sheet for our activity answered by me. There were some questions that I am still not sure if these answers were correct or wrong. I could not ask Ynna about this. I was kind of saddened while staring into somewhere thinking that it would be so embarrassing if I will get a low score because of my answers. I was left with no choice but to ask for Sandro’s ideas. I needed to forget my pride and ask him about this and there is probably nothing wrong with it because he is my partner.

I got up and went to the place where I always caught sight of him-- along the hallway on the third floor. Not a lot of students are loafing around there because the class laboratories and Research Library were located on that floor so maybe he liked to stay there; a silent place.

I climb up the stairs without any hesitation but even before I stepped on the step, I saw him leaning his two elbows on the handrail. He seemed to be deeply thinking on some matters so I thought of returning back and leave.

But he spoke before I could make a move.

"Is that about the activity given yesterday?" he said in a serious tone and suddenly turned around to face me.

My eyes drifted on his snobbish eyes.

It was as if I was dazed off into something and not a single word came out of my mouth. s**t, what is that, Aila?

 “Ahh. Yes. Actually, I answered everything, I just want you to review my answers because you might end up blaming me if we will not get a perfect score.” I confidently said as if I was not worried before asking him for help.

He smirked and walked towards me. I took a step backward because every time he approaches me, I felt like I was running out of breath. What kind of effect this guy is giving me?! He seemed to be a warlock!

He stopped as we were just almost half a meter away from each other. He did not take his eyes off mine and I was not able to perceive that he suddenly pulled the answer sheet from my hand.

"s**t," I said in shock.

His eyes traced the answers on the scratch paper that I used for the solving. I got so anxious the way he scanned my answers that I appeared to be worried that he might see something incorrect. It just a shame on me because in the past few days, I kept on doing some show-offs and answering the teacher's questions but then now I would also ask for his help. So annoying.

The sound of a moving chair brought me back to my senses. Sandro pulled up the chair and sat down to check my answers.

I proceed toward a chair but before I could hold to sit on it, Sandro suddenly kicked it to make a space between us and for me not to sit beside him.

"Are you rude or gentleman?" I said smugly trying to provoke him.

"Just sit down," his stunned response.

"Well thank you!" I emphasized the words I said to bury it into his mind and self to wake himself up and have good manners!

I rolled my eyes and scanned around to divert my full attention from Sandro, but in less than ten minutes he slightly tossed the paper and the ballpen used in front of me.

"Items number three and nine are wrong," he said blankly while his emotionless eyes looked at me.

 “Why? The formula I used is correct!”

 “Wrong. Since the phenolphthalein is solid, the solution is percent by mass. Mass percent means the number of grams of solute per one hundred grams of solution, so the correct final answer should be zero point five grams.”

I raised my eyebrows as I realized that he was right.

 “O-okay. Then, how about this one?” I pointed the question number nine on the paper. I really had to almost lounge on the table so I could reach him, and also it was kind of hard for me to see because I was not wearing my eyeglasses.

He also leaned forward a little to help me see the changes and corrections he made.

“You forgot that magnesium hydroxide contains two hydroxyl groups. A one-half mole of magnesium hydroxide, therefore, accepts one mole of protons.”

The way he explained everything made him look so intelligent. I mean, yes, he is really smart but he looked smarter when he speaks. And because of our closeness, I could also smell his perfume entering my system. I was not able to listen to him well anymore because his scent caught my attention.

The next thing I knew is he was already looking at me intently without saying a word!

 “A-ahh yes! I forgot!” I reasoned out to cover up the dilemma!

 “You are always gazing at me. Do you like me, Rivas?” he asked curiously while trying to get closer.

I was surprised and suddenly stood up from my seat.

 “What ?! W-what are you saying? You are very windy then! I will never like you, duh!” I firmly defended myself. What does he think of me? Am I easy to fall in love with a person who does not have good morals? Ugh! Nah!

 “No? Good, because I will never like you either.”

I froze at what he said. I thought the next thing he will say was a joke. I thought I was going to laugh on it, but why on earth did I feel a pang of pain in my heart? What should I expect him to say?

I think I am going crazy.

 “F-for real! I am just going to leave you here. You talk a lot of nonsense things.”

I quickly grabbed the paper and hurriedly went down the stairs. I do not want to spend my time with that Sandro!