Slow Dance.
"A type of partner dance that is typically for couples, or could also be for anyone who wants to get close to someone they'd like to know about. Slow dancing is sweet and romantic, but in some cases, it's rather awkward."
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JIMHUESH pushed his luck for the last time by asking Senthie to dance with him, and fortunately, she didn't refuse. Walking her to the dance floor, still holding her hand gently as if it was delicate and fragile, Jimhuesh got out of his way to make a starting ground with Senthie even if he hated crowds and loved only his personal space. He placed her hand on his shoulder and then put his hand on Senthie's waist. He was about to reach for her other hand but she shook her head and smiled awkwardly at him.
"I prefer to put my other hand on your shoulder, too. My hands are a bit sweaty and I'm a little bit uncomfortable holding hands," she explained as she slowly placed her hand on his shoulder.
Jimhuesh gave her a tight lip smile. "If you don't mind..." His gaze went to his held-up hand, and when Senthie nodded, he put his hand on her waist. Now both of his were on her waist, same as Senthie's that were on his shoulders. They both looked awkward as they swayed side by side, avoiding each other's gazes, with an unusual gap between them as if they were afraid of more physical contact, and they were stiff like a stump.
Silence.
Jimhuesh was fond of other people being quiet, but right now it wasn't doing any good to him. The silence from both of them was awkward as hell and he assumed it was the same for Senthie since she was peeking at him as if waiting for him to say something.
Jimhuesh cleared his throat. "Would you mind if I ask you something?"
Senthie's eyes lightened up a bit and nodded. "Sure, but not that kind of question... If you know what I mean."
"No, it's nothing like that, I assure you." Jimhuesh wouldn't make the same mistake twice. He wouldn't pry on her personal life. He realized that if he was in Senthie's shoes, he certainly wouldn't want other people to pry about his private matters, too.
"Okay. You can ask me, then... But before that, would you mind coming closer?" Senthie laughed awkwardly. "My hands are cramping and--"
Her words were cut off when Jimhuesh pulled her into him just like what he did when he was dancing with Kassandra, their body almost touching, and the music was about to hit the chorus right after his one step closer to her.
"Is this okay?" he asked.
Perhaps, she was just wearing flat shoes, looking at how much he was taller than her. Her head merely met his shoulder. He had just realized that Senthie's arm must have been feeling numb by now. He hadn't almost felt the weight of her hands on his shoulders--probably she was just touching him lightly like how he was touching her waist earlier.
But now, they seemed like a couple.
Senthie smiled awkwardly. "You're too close but it's tolerable." She turned her head to the side, avoiding any eye contact.
Jimhuesh furrowed his brows. "Tolerable?"
"I mean, it's fine. We look normal now," she said as she bit her lower lip. She turned her gaze at him, but when she saw that he was staring down at her, she averted her gaze again. "What do you want to ask?"
"Is it so hard for you to look at my face?" he asked. He was doubting if she did mean it when she said she had accepted his apology. In the way she was behaving, he thought she was just tolerating him just as how he remembered what she said earlier when he closed the distance between them.
"Huh?" Senthie looked up at him with a confused expression. "Do you want to have a staring contest...now? Is that what you want to ask me?"
"No, I thought you despised me. You won't even look at me when you're talking to me."
"It's because you're too handsome, I can't handle it," she mumbled, but Jimhuesh still heard it. Perhaps, she really meant it to be heard.
"You think I'm too handsome?" Jimhuesh raised his brows. He was somewhat confused.
Senthie nodded. "Yes, I'm afraid if look at you for more than ten seconds, I'll just stare at you until the music ends. If you remember, staring is one of my habits."
Jimhuesh chuckled. "No problem. I wouldn't mind it, anyway."
She smirked. "Are you sure? Then don't blame me if you get uncomfortable."
Jimhuesh nodded and prepared himself for the eye contact. He couldn't help but stare back at her big almond eyes and studied her face. Every part of it seemed to complement each other. Her small round face, her chubby cheeks that Jimhuesh had resisted the urge to pinch, her soft eyebrows that made her look so innocent, her perfect nose, her flawless skin, and her moist pink lips... He internally cringed when the thought of kissing her had almost crossed his mind if it weren't for her question.
"Did you already forget what you wanted to ask me?" she asked with a smile--like a teasing one.
Jimhuesh turned his head to the side to hide his embarrassment in case he was blushing. Then he cleared his throat and returned his gaze to her before he answered, "ahm, yeah, about that... Are you friends with Kassandra?"
She shrugged as she pressed her lips together. "Yes. We're friends."
He narrowed his eyes. The curious him was back. "How? I mean... if you don't mind if I ask how you two became friends."
She smirked. "Perhaps, you will learn about that later."
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RYCHIE tried to walk away and hide from other guests by heading to the bathroom after he had persuaded Senthie to meet Jimhuesh on the balcony, but whatever the circumstances were, a woman had followed him and dared to call his name. He was nearing his target hiding place when this woman still kept on calling him. Fortunately, there was no one in the passageway when he turned around to face her and was about to reject her instantly... But he hadn't had the chance since the woman stumbled, palms on the floor, almost kissing it, even.
Guilt flashed through him and he ran over to help her get up.
"This is so embarrassing!" she groaned.
That was when he heard the familiar voice from the woman. She was one of his customers. She was friends with Ms. Senthie, he thought. But he didn't recognize her face so he doubted if it was really her. Rychie wasn't good at remembering people's faces, or so, not good at identifying faces. Or perhaps, he had just not recognized her because she looked different as if it was another person--like totally another person. From an average-looking girl to a freaking hot lady.
By the time they had entered the party once again, the song "A Thousand Years" was already in the chorus. Rychie was assisting Cecile, her hand linked to his arm as they walked at her pace. It seemed that she had hurt her knees from the fall earlier. Rychie pulled out a chair for her and she gladly took it.
"Are you all right, Ms. Cecile?" he asked as he moved a chair across her and took a seat. He was correct to think that the woman was indeed her. She told him earlier while making their way back to the party that she was chasing him to thank him for coming up to Senthie to apologize to her for what he had said back in high school.
Cecile even told him that it was just a freaking dare for Senthie to confess her feelings to her crush. And it didn't end well obviously. What Rychie had said made Senthie's self-confidence hit rock bottom. "I'm sorry, I don't like you. And I will never like you."
Rychie knew that it was him being insensitive at that time. He was tired of getting attention, or worse, confessions, and the only thing he wanted was to make a bad impression so that no one would dare talk to him. What he did back then was intentional and he was only feeling the guilt now.
"Hey, Rychie, are you okay?"
Rychie snapped out of his thoughts. "Uh, sure I am. Sorry, did you say something before that?"
Cecile smiled. "I said..." she looked over at the dance floor and pursed her lips. "Look at those two looking so intimately romantic."
Rychie followed her gaze and saw Jimhuesh and Senthie having a dance. Cecile was right, they looked like what she had described them, he almost couldn't believe what he was seeing. They were looking at each other like they were the only ones in the world. Like they owned the night. Their gazes never left each other's and the way he was holding her was...very awkward. Rychie laughed. He had almost forgotten that his best friend loathed public displays of affection--not that he felt affection for her, he was sure--Jimhuesh just hated physical contact with the opposite sex and yet there he was, enduring the touch.
"Why are you suddenly laughing?" Cecile asked, amused.
Rychie shook his head as he tried to subdue his laughter. "If Jim heard you say that, he will be freaking mad."
"Why?"
"He hates any act of PDAs."
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"Why do you keep looking at them?" KASSANDRA asked, desperately seeking his answer, or could be just his attention.
Kenzo smiled faintly and shrugged, not even sparing her a glance.
Kassandra's last chosen man, or so, the 22nd lucky man who had taken her to the dance floor was Kenzo. He was also the only man that had the chance to dance with her for the second time. He was the luckiest man at the party--that was probably the guests' thought, and yet, Kenzo's half attention was on Senthie and Jimhuesh, and the other half only to Kassandra who was in front of him. Her arms wrapped around his neck, his hands on her small waist, their bodies and faces were closer than any partners on the dance floor since Kassandra was almost the same height as Kenzo-- she wasn't even wearing high heels and yet her height was beyond his eye level. Kenzo was just two inches taller than her.
"Are you worried about her?" she asked, nearly annoyed but had managed to hide it.
Kenzo turned his gaze to her and their noses almost touched. He flinched and averted his head a bit to the side. "A little."
She was offended by how he reacted. "Kenzo," she called, softly as possible. "Keep your eyes on me."
He looked at her and his cheek turned light pink. Their faces were a few inches away. Kassandra was certain that he was blushing because of her beauty. She smirked. "That's more like it. Don't worry about Sen, Jim is not a bad guy. I could vouch for him."
"Are you two friends?"
She shrugged. "Well...yes. Actually, he's my ex-boyfriend."
Kenzo seemed surprised. "Really? So that explains the good chemistry. You were comfortable around each other."
She giggled. "Yes, we were. And we are, even though we've just met again this day after two years."
"That's great. Your relationship with him wasn't ruined when you broke up." He smiled, but a sad one. Kassandra couldn't decipher what was on his mind. She was about to ask him about his ex-girlfriend, but Kenzo beat her to it. "Have you moved on? I mean... Was it hard for you to move on after the breakup?"
Kassandra furrowed her brows as she shook her head. "Not at all. We need not. We were never in love with each other in the first place."
Kenzo was left speechless and just stared at her looking confused. She chuckled. "That guy doesn't believe in love. And me? He's just not my type, though he's super hot. I'm more into someone pretty and cute."
His eyes widened. "You like girls?"
She laughed her head back. "Of course I like them, but not as much as I like cute, pretty men. What was I trying to say is that I like men like you."
He finally laughed. Perhaps, to his embarrassment. His hand left her waist and was about to place it on the back of his neck (the habit of his that Kassandra had noticed when he was shy) but he found her hand, instead. He flinched again when he realized he was touching hers. He apologized and then put back his hand on its original spot--her waist. Kassandra laughed again at how she found Kenzo extremely cute.
"You're so cute I wanna take you home." She teased.
Kenzo flushed again. "Stop saying things like that as if it's normal. Do I look like a teddy bear to you?" He chuckled.
She smiled and shook her head. "No, you're not. But you definitely look like my future boyfriend."
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Hello, Noomiells!
Thank you for reading this chapter. Hope you liked it. :D
What do you think of Jimhuesh and Senthie, do you think they have good chemistry--even just a bit?
So, Rychie was a heartthrob? I mean, even now. Do you agree? XD
What do you think of Kassandra and Kenzo's interaction? Did you find it funny? Cute? Or both? XD
I would like to know your opinion. Please, let me know! :D
OM! Kassandra and Jimhuesh were in a relationship! Are you up to their backstory? You will soon find out the how and why in a few more chapters. So, stay tuned! :)