At Weston University....
Rachel and Sebastian are sitting in class listening to the lecture, when they hear the sound of the door opening, leading the whole room to have their attention to the person who enters. It's Alex.
Alex walks over and sits next to Rachel. "Hey, sorry I'm late," Alex says with a bit of a worried tone.
"No worries," Rachel says with a smile, finally feeling better that she is able to see her boyfriend sitting next to her.
Sebastian starts glancing at the couple who is now smiling at each other. He felt a weird feeling in his chest running around and making his heart feel hurt. To him, it's funny how he was disappointed too much that Alex arrived to college today when he was getting some time with Rachel. Somehow it makes him feel....jealous.
A few hours later...
At the cafeteria...
"So how's your training?" Alex asks.
"Good. My shooting is getting way better, as well as my fighting skills," Rachel says with a confident tone.
"Well, you have to thank the boys for that," Alex says with a small smile.
"I have to thank you too! You also trained me well," Rachel says, before taking a sip of her orange juice.
Alex chuckles. "But I haven't had much time to train you these past few days. My apologise."
"Hey, don't sweat it. I understand you have family matters. Family comes first," Rachel says.
Alex turns his vision down at the table upon hearing Rachel's words. He did told her that his dad had been calling him a few times lately, but he never tell her the reason, or did he tell her that Courtney was also involved. She doesn't even know he has a soon-to-be-fiancee, which he still struggles to find a way to tell her without hurting her. Just the thought of it already hurts him enough.
Just then, Alex's phone starts vibrating, signaling he has a message. He pulls out his phone from his pocket and see a message from Courtney.
"What time will you be here tonight?" - Courtney.
"8 PM? I still have some college work to finish with my friends." - Alex.
"Ok. I'll wait for you." - Courtney.
Alex puts his phone back in his pocket. He starts to feel anxious at the thought of tonight, in which he have to spend the night with Courtney and leave Rachel. He feels guilty for Rachel, but again he have to keep his promise with Courtney.
"Alex," Rachel calls his name with a rather curious tone.
"What?" Alex asks as he came back to his sense after zoning out thinking about having to meet Courtney tonight.
"You seem to be rather quiet," Rachel says, making Alex nervous. He is afraid that she'll sense something is up.
"Oh, sorry. I've just been thinking too much." Alex laughs nervously.
Rachel smiles. "No worries. Just don't stress too much."
"Yeah," Alex says, still trying to hide the fact that he's nervous.
Meanwhile, Sebastian and Alfredo are sitting together near the corner of the cafeteria as they discuss about their mother rushing them to succede with the plan.
"Momma's furious," Sebastian says with a sigh. "I'm a failure, Bro!"
"Don't say that. She already sent us more men. Now all we have to do is just kidnap her I guess, if making her fall in love is impossible," Alfredo says.
"At least we need to wait until that jerk isn't near her," Sebastian says, as he glance at Alex with a sharp look. "That Spencer kid doesn't know that he's dangerous."
Alfredo chuckles. "She doesn't know that WE are dangerous."
A few hours later...
After college...
Rachel is waiting for Alex outside of college. He told her he was gonna get some books first from his locker. As she waits outside while scrolling through her phone, a familiar male figure approaches her, surprising her from behind.
"Hey," Sebastian says as he grabs Rachel's shoulders and turns her around to face him, making her to stare at him with a surprised look. "I hope I didn't surprise you."
"You kinda did," Rachel says with an awkward look.
"Well, I was wondering if you would like to go out to dinner with me? I miss hanging out with you," Sebastian asks as he tries to give her his puppy eyes look.
Rachel lets out a sigh. "I'm sorry. But I still have some work to do after college."
Sebastian's smile soon fades upon her rejection. He felt like a bullet just hit his heart, which is weird to him since he never expected that feeling to come. He was only suppose to see her as the target. Why is he starting to develop other feelings?
"Ok. I got it. But just remember! If one day you happen to have time, I'll always be waiting," Sebastian gives her a half-hearted smile.
Rachel nods. "Sure."
Sebastian turns around and walks away with the a heavy feeling. He felt like a failure that he wasn't able to get Rachel in his hands, but other than that, it actually bothered him that she doesn't feel even a little bit attracted to him, when he's starting to question his own feelings towards her.
As Rachel watches Sebastian walk away, she suddenly feels a firm hand touch her shoulder. She turns around and smile at the sight of the person.
"You ready to go?" Alex asks with a sweet smile.
"Sure," Rachel says as she smiles back at him.
Alex and Rachel walks away from the college building and heads to the parking spot. They enter the car and drives off.
At the boys' house...
6:30 PM...
"Alright, that's good," Nate says as he is teaching Rachel self-defense.
Rachel continues to try and fight Nate as they practice. She is getting a lot better thanks to him and the boys. She strikes out a high kick which almost hit Nate's face.
"Ahh..careful," Nate almost screams.
"Sorry," Rachel says with an awkward tone, realizing that she almost kick Nate's face.
The two continues with their practice, when Jack enters the room. He starts to observe Rachel who had gained a lot better with her fighting skills. He is happy to know that she is getting better in protecting herself.
"Oh, Jack," Rachel notice Jack standing near the door.
"Hey! I just wanted to tell you guys that dinner's ready," Jack says as he turns his vision from Nate to Rachel, giving her a warm smile. "We're having seafood tonight!"
"Ah good, I was starting to get tired," Rachel states as she sits down on the floor while wiping the sweat on her forehead.
Nate lets out a small chuckle. "Then let's go!"
Jack, Rachel and Nate walks to the dining room to see the boys preparing the dishes on the table.
"Hey, Baby!" Rachel walks over to give Alex a kiss on the cheek.
Alex looks at Rachel with a warm smile. "Hey, Beautiful," Alex says, before he gives Rachel a quick kiss on the lips. "How was training?"
"Good," Rachel says. "My skills are getting better."
"Glad to hear that," Alex smiles.
"Ok, guys! Come on and let's start dinner," Liam says.
"Ah...yes!" Jack pulls out a chair to sit next to Rachel.
Through out dinner, Alex had been helping Rachel with her seafoods, making the others to look at them in awe, except Jack, who is anxious at the sight of the couple being cute to one and another. It's been hard for him to accept the fact that they are a couple now. But again, he thought about how happy Rachel had been, and so is Alex. Jack didn't have any other option then to be happy for the two people he cared about.
Times flies, and everyone finish their dinner. Alex looks at the time and realize that it's 7:45 PM.
Damn...I'm late!
Alex thought as he looks at the time on his phone. He quickly grabs his car keys from the table. He walks back to Rachel who is having a cup of tea in the dining room.
"I'll be out tonight," Alex says, before planting a quick kiss on Rachel's cheek. "Goodbye."
"Huh? Where are you going?" Rachel asks in confusion.
"I have something to do," Alex says, before he rushes out of the door.
That was weird. Rachel thought. "Where he is going anyway?"
"We don't know," Nate says. "But it's really weird."
Rachel starts to think about what Alex would be doing in the middle of the night. It made her a bit worried inside. She hope he is ok.
"Hey, you ok?" Jack asks as he approaches Rachel who is sitting still in the dining room.
Rachel turns her head to look at Jack. "Yeah."
Jack takes a seat next to Rachel. He turns his head and see that she looks anxious.
"By the way, we were wondering if you guys wanted to go with us to The Season's Market?" Jack asks in a chill tone
"What's that?" Rachel asks with confusion. She never heard of "The Season's Market" before.
"It's a festival market held for 7 days," Jack says.
"Ah..I haven't heard of it before," Rachel states, having no idea about it.
"This is actually they're first time helding it," Jack states. "Would you like to come?"
"Sure," Rachel says as she turns her head to look at Jack with a smile.
"Awesome," Jack says. "How about you guys?" Jack turns his head to see Liam and Nate on their laptops.
"We're gonna do some more research regarding the stalkers," Liam says as he continues to focus on his laptop.
"Thanks for offer though," Nate says casually.
"Ah, ok. We'll be back in a few hours. See you guys later," Jack says as he leads Rachel out of the house.
"Bye," Liam and Nate says together.
8:30 PM...
At The Season's Market...
Rachel and Jack arrive at the festival market. The decorations are pretty festive with ornaments of all seasons from spring, summer, autumn, and winter. They start walking along the market looking through the various items that are sell, from foods to souvenirs.
"Hey, Rachel," Jack says as he turns his head to see Rachel spacing out.
"Oh, what?" Rachel asks.
Jack chuckles. "Let's go look for some snacks."
Rachel lets out a giggle. "Sure. Let's go!"
Jack and Rachel starts walking around as they observe every stand. It feels kind of awkward for them to be walking together right now. It almost feels like a date. Though deep inside Jack knew that it is impossible for Rachel to see him more than a friend, he is happy enough to have some alone time with her tonight, just the two of them exploring the market.
The walk is filled with awkward silence, until the two of them spots an ice cream stand.
"Oh look! They sell ice cream!" Jack drags Rachel to the stand with excitement.
Rachel's heart skips a beat while being dragged by Jack, giving her flashbacks of their childhood memories where they used to drag each other during playtime. Looking at the guy dragging her now, Rachel knew that her best friend's inner child never change.
You're always such a child, aren't you, Jack? Rachel thought as a small smile slowly forms on her face.
The two stops at the stand where Jack ordered two ice creams. For Rachel, he had ordered her favorite which is chocolate ice cream. As for him, he decided to go with pistachio ice cream. After a few minutes, the lady in the stand gives Jack his orders.
"Thank you," says Jack to the lady in the stand.
"Here you go!" Jack hands Rachel her ice cream with a smile. She smiles back at him.
"Thanks," Rachel says as she grabs the ice cream from Jack.
The two friends starts walking around again, when suddenly Rachel spots a familiar figure from a distance near the ice cream stand. She recgonize this guy too well since she had seen him everyday. She walks closer to get a better look, but she is left beyond surprised by what she saw.
"Rachel, what's wrong?" Jack asks as he notice his friend is staring at something with her eyes widen.
Tears starts to fill Rachel's eyes as she feels a sharp blade just stabbed her heart. She couldn't believe what she is seeing. More than that, she couldn't believe the guy she is staring at is really him. The guy she tried not to believe that it's him.
"Jack....that's Alex.." Rachel stares at the guy with tears in her eyes. He is holding hands together with a girl with long auburn hair. The sight of them broke her heart.
Rachel's POV....
I stood in silence as I watch Alex holding hands with the girl and getting some cotton candies together. The girl looked really happy with a big smile on her face, while Alex looked like he really cared for her. So I guess this was what he needed to do tonight, that he didn't even have time to explain it to me.
My heart felt broken as tears starts running down from my eyes. I quickly wipe them away, hoping that nobody would see how terrible I look right now. I feel like an idiot for thinking that all this time, I was the only one in his heart, just like he was the only guy I loved. To all the times of happiness and sorrow we shared, did it ever mean anything to him? All the things he said and do, were they ever real?
I could no longer hold this pain. I decide to runaway from the sight while fighting back the tears that kept running.
"Rachel!" Jack shouts as he sees me running away with tears in my eyes. He starts to chase me among the crowd of people, but I got away faster before he could catch me. Right now, I just want to be alone.
To be continue...