At Matt's house...
Ara's POV...
Zach and I arrived at Matt's house, and as we expected, it was already a full house. A lot of his friends are already hanging around inside his house. Some of them talking, while others are eating, drinking, and even singing the wrong lyrics to some popular songs.
"Welcome to the jungle, kids," Matt says as he walks up to us at the front door, looking all fancy with a black tank top, ripped black jeans, and a neon purple tie.
"Then can we meet the lion?" Zach ask with a playful yet sarcastic tone, making Matt burst out into laughter.
"You guys are face to face with him right now," Matt says while referring to himself as the "lion".
I couldn't help but burst out some giggle. And Matt could behave more like a junior these days.
Zach smiles. "Happy birthday, Bro!"
"Happy birthday, Matt," I say.
"Thanks, guys! Anyway, come inside and enjoy the wild life," Matt says, before taking a sip of his lemonade.
"Sure," Zach says. "Let's go, Ara."
Zach and I enters Matt's massive living room. I guess he really did transformed his house into a jungle, with yellow, green, and sky blue balloons hanging around, complete with the leopard pattern carpet. Not far, the feasting table can be seen with various dishes representing different continents. From Western, Asian, to Middle Eastern cuisines are all served perfectly, complete with the wide range of drinks to heat up the party.
"Alexa!"
A familiar sassy female voice tinkles through my ears. I turn around to see Grace walkings toward me in supermodel-like manner. Well, not to mention she really does look like a supermodel tonight. She decided to go with a mini black dress, black high heels, and her light brown hair tied into a ponytail.
"Ah, my favorite couple is here," Grace says as she scans her eyes all over me and Zach.
"Yeah right," I say in a sarcastic manner, while Zach just stood in silence while smiling. I noticed his cheeks are kind of blushing.
"Where's the witch?" I add. In my head right now, I just can't wait to annoy the hell out of Tracy when she sees that I've got myself a "boyfriend". Well, at least that's what I want to show to her.
"Somewhere in this house, I guess," Grace says. "Probably bad-mouthing a pity nerd along with Bianca."
"Well, we can't wait to actually make our debut in front of her," Zach says in a confident tone as he puts his arms around my shoulders, slightly making my heart skipped a beat.
"Nice," Grace says with her signature big smile. "Well, I'm gonna go see Peter first. See ya!"
With that final word, Grace walks away in a swift, leaving Zach and I to stood in silence. Zach eventually decided to pour two glass of apple juice for us, as my eyes continue to search for any sign of Tracy in the room.
"Where is that witch?" I say to myself, my gaze continue to wonder around the crowded room.
"Chances are she's upstairs, gossiping with the cheerleaders," Zach says as he walks up to me with two plates of gimbab, mac and cheese, and fried kibbeh. He hands me over one plate.
"Here," Zach says while handing me the plate.
I look down at the plate to see the interesting cuisines Zach had mixed. I slowly grab the plate from his hands.
"Thanks, Zach," I say.
Zach smiles. "No problem."
The two of us starts to dig in the mix cuisines on our plate. To my surprise, the mix of them on one plate is actually good. Well, who would have thought that gimbab could go well with mac and cheese and fried kibbeh? To me, it's a new knowledge.
"So...how are your lessons with Jay?" Zach ask, breaking the silence between us.
"Good," I answer casually, taking another scoop of mac and cheese.
"Improvement became my middle name," I add.
"That's awesome," Zach says, eventually forming a small smile, in which I noticed.
"Well, I have to thank him for actually having patience with me," I say, attempting to make it sound like a joke.
Zach chuckles. "More likely he should be thankful to have you as his student."
"Why?" I ask him.
"You seem like a faster learner," Zach says.
I roll my eyes at his comment. "Not too fast, but not too slow."
Minutes passed and we eventually finished our meals. Zach decided to get us another drink. This time, it's watermelon juice.
"Here you go, Miss Ara," Zach says as he hands me the glass of grape juice.
"And I really thought you were gonna get something crazier," I say while grabbing the glass from his hand.
"We can't be drunk and still annoy Tracy at the same time," Zach states.
"Damn, you're a genius," I say, literally impressed by his mind. "Why didn't I thought of that?"
"Because you haven't spot the little witch yet," Zach states, before bursting out a chuckle.
I roll my eyes hearing his statement, but couldn't help but burst out giggling since it was true.
"Ah, Brother's here," Zach says all of a sudden, making me turn my vision to the direction he's staring at.
From a distance, I can see Junghwa walking up to us, but to my surprise, he's not alone. A tall and beautiful girl can be seen having her arm mingled around his, with her gorgeous plump lips form into a sweet smile.
"Is that your cousin?" Zach ask.
"Yes," I answer in a rather low tone.
Yup, the beautiful lady walking together with my best friend is non other than my own cousin, Kim Hana. Seems like they're just getting closer and closer these days. To add more, I didn't even know he was gonna bring her to Matt's party, and not that I had a problem with that. The two of them then approaches us, with both of them having smiles on their faces.
"Looks like Zara is here," Junghwa says, making both Zach and I raise our eyebrows.
"Who's Zara?" Zach ask.
"Zach and Ara," Hana says before bursting out into a small laugh, followed by Junghwa.
"Junghwa actually made that up," Hana says, finally being able to catch her breath.
I notice that Junghwa started to smile shyly after Hana's statement. He glance at her with sparkling eyes, which is so obvious that his gaze are filled with affection towards the girl.
"Well, we're gonna get a drink first," Junghwa says to us.
Hearing that, I just nod while Zach casually lets out a simple "ok".
Junghwa then moves his vision to Hana. Again his eyes are sparkling with affection in the same way like Hana.
"Let's go," Junghwa says, before walking together with Hana to the feasting table, leaving Zach and I finally alone.
Zach's POV...
I glanced at Junghwa walking away with Hana. Their hands lock with one another, looking like a typical young couple madly in love. I guess he wasn't joking when he said he really likes her, which surprised me. It's not everyday I see Jay Hwang actually being madly in love with one woman.
I turn my vision back to Ara. Somehow her eyes look empty as she stood while holding her glass of watermelon juice, with her small lips not forming even a small smile.
"Hey! Are you ok?"
She turns her head to see me, snapping back to reality after what seems like she was lost in her own mind.
"What?" she ask, almost like she misheard me.
"I asked you, are you ok?"
"Yeah, I'm fine," Ara answers casually, though I could tell from her face that something is definetly not fine.
I stare into her dark brown eyes for a moment, and as silly as it sounds but I'm trying to read whatever can be read on her face at the moment. Hard to think of this in a way, but somehow why do I think that her empty eyes might have something to do with Junghwa? Or at least, that's what I think.
But Junghwa is with Hana now, and the reason they could even be a thing to begin with was because Ara was the one who got them together. Logically thinking, if she had a problem with that, she wouldn't do that in the first place. There must be some sort of other reasons.
I sigh. Not wanting to make the situation more awkward, I pat her lightly on her shoulder, slowly forming a smile on my face.
"We still haven't finish the plan," I say. "I hope you didn't forget."
She glance at me, her small lips forming a small smile. "Yeah, right. I wouldn't forget to annoy that witch."
I smile. "Then let's go find that witch."
I gently grab Ara's hand, making her form her signature warm smile. Knowing that we haven't spot any signs of Tracy downstairs, we decided to walk upstairs to look for her. To our surprise, we spot her looking all fancy in a yellow tube top and navy blue jeans, gossiping along with Bianca and some of her so-called "followers".
"Oh look, the little loser is here," Tracy says. I spot her eyeing Ara from head to toe with an intimidating look. It's not hard to read that she's obviously trying to make her feel insecure, which pissed me off.
"Well, if she's a loser, I'm sorry to ask but who are you to comment on her?" I blurt out, which made her widen her eyes.
"Oh my, Zachary here protecting over the little loser? I'm not surprised," Tracy says, before she takes a sip of her lemon juice.
"He's ready to get kicked out of the jocks club," Bianca says, causing Tracy and all her followers to start laughting.
"By the way, Kim Ara, what happened to your other bodyguard?" Tracy ask all of a sudden, making Ara raise her eyebrow.
"He dumped her for some new chick, Tracy," Bianca adds, again making all her followers laugh, while Tracy just stood with a smile of victory.
"For your information, we're just friends. Besides, he's not the only one who has a date tonight," Ara says in a bold tone.
Hearing that, I form a confident smile as I put my arm around Ara's waist, which I noticed got her shivering a little. I pull her closer to my body as I give a sharp look to Tracy and her friends.
"I hope I didn't interrupt your little gossip session. Just a quick reminder that Ara and I now are now dating," I say with a confident tone.
Tracy raises one of her eyebrows at me, before her face turns into an expression of disbelief.
"You gotta be joking right?" Tracy ask as she puts her hands on her hips.
"So you really want to get kicked out of the jocks club? This girl doesn't even look like she could get a guy even if she's naked on the streets," Bianca ask with a disbelief tone.
Fury starts boiling inside of me. I stare at the two annoying girls with a sharp look, again pulling Ara's petite waist closer to my body, wanting to show these witches that she's mine and I'm hers.
"That's none of your business. And FYI, you should stop teasing Ara. It's not gonna make you get a boyfriend anyway," I say, sounding half sarcastic. "One thing I know, is when I choose her, is because I see something in her that none of you have. You better watch your little mouths."
Tracy and Bianca became shock, but they aren't the only one to widen their eyes. Ara's brown eyes also widens after hearing my bold sentence. Without any other word, I turn around while keeping my hand still on her waist. We walk away leaving the now speechless Tracy and Bianca behind.
Downstairs...
Zach and Ara walks back downstairs to see most of the guests are now dancing. As the song "Love Me Like You" by Little Mjx is blasting out loud, everyone seems to be dancing like there's no tomorrow.
"Well that was awesome," Ara says as she stoods in front of Zach with her hands on her hips. A big smile forms on her small lips.
"Are you kidding me? That was lit," Zach says in an excited and happy tone.
Ara burst out a small laugh seeing Zach looking all victorious after getting back at Tracy and her minions.
"Yeah," Ara says. "By the way, thanks for helping me out."
"Hey, it was part of the plan. She also pissed me off," Zach says.
Ara smiles at Zach, before moving her vision to the crowd of people dancing. Just then she from a distance, she sees Junghwa and Hana dancing together, with Junghwa's strong arms firmly wrapped around Hana's waist.
Zach noticed how Ara kept staring at the young couple dancing the night, clearly looking like two souls falling in love. The smile that was on Ara's face before slowly starts to fade, as her brown eyes starts to show different emotions. For Zach, it wasn't hard to notice it.
Ara's POV...
I continue to stare at my best friend dancing beautifully with my cousin. Just by the way he held her, it was obvious that Junghwa really do care for her. Again I feel a deep sting in my heart, and thought it made me guilty, I couldn't deny that the uncomfortable feeling I experience is true.
"Are you ok?"
I turn my head and see Zach staring at me with a concern look. I could tell he probably sense that something is going on in my mind, or more likely my heart.
"Yeah, I'm good," I answer in the most simple way, not wanting to get more of his attention at this point. Though it wasn't the most honest answer, it was the simplest.
To be continue....