𝐚𝐝𝐨𝐫𝐞 ||| 𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐯 (𝟏)

[ 𝟏𝟓 ]

I walked through the busy hallways of Pui Ching Middle School. Finally, reaching the bottom floor meant I was closer to getting out of this place. Huge crowds were always a pain in the neck. As if it was clustered enough, a bunch of squealing girls stampeded in front of me. Thanks to the flock, I lost my balance and got slammed against a wall.

"There you are!"

I looked up to a pair of friendly black orbs. The boy held his hand out and I took it right away. Fixing my pants, I smiled back at him

"Thank you, Hendery," I fixed my backpack and stretched my neck out in the direction that the crowd had run to. "Who were those people?"

"Those girls were probably chasing after some popular kid," Hendery shrugged it off as if this was an everyday sight for him. I squinted my eyes in the distance to get a better look and turned my head back to Hendery.

"That tall dude with a red jacket?"

Hendery nodded back and added, "He's an 8th grader. I think I've seen him somewhere before.

"Anyways, what took you so long?" I asked.

"Oh, nothing." He scratched the back of his head and stopped at the side. "I was trying to find something..."

Hendery rummaged through his navy blue backpack. A few minutes later, he retrieved a glittery sky blue box that shone under the sun.

"This," Hendery spoke as he handed it to me. "I thought I had lost it."

"For me?"

He nodded. Once again, Hendery's hand found its way to the back of his neck. I was not sure why he did that.

"I mean, we're friends, right? Besides, it's Valentine's Day. Everyone deserves a gift on Valentine's Day."

I accepted the box and opened it to find lots of chocolates inside.

"Wow, these look delicious! Thank you so much," I smiled back at Hendery. "Reminds me..."

My hands pulled out a bracelet from my skirt pocket. The beads were rose pink and in the middle, there was a blue and purple unicorn charm.

"For you," I passed it to him. "Happy Valentine's Day to you too."

Hendery's lips curved upwards and he put it on right away. His eyes twinkled at the sight of the bracelet and he hugged me.

"Thank you Mingxia!"

The two of us resumed walking towards the main gate and spotted our friend there. The brown-haired boy balanced many boxes of all colors in his arms. If that wasn't enough, there were numerous bags in his arms.

"Damn, that's a lot of chocolate." We rushed over just in time to save multiple boxes that were going to topple over any minute.

"What took you guys so long?" He asked as we grabbed a few bags in our hands.

"We encountered a huge crowd and Mingxia almost got run over," Hendery explained.

"Oh, by the crowd, are you referring to Wong Yukehi's fangirls?"

"Who's that? The tall 8th grader dude with the red jacket?" I asked and Yangyang nodded in response.

"Where did you get all these chocolates from?" Or who I should've asked.

"Mainly from girls I don't even know," Yangyang sighed and Hendery chuckled. "Oh and we're splitting this up between us three because one my parents aren't going to allow this much chocolate at home and two I can't eat these many chocolates anyways. That would be too unhealthy for me."

Both Hendery and I looked at Yangyang with widened eyes.

"Really? We can have some?" Hendery asked, surprised at Yangyang's statement.

Yangyang nodded and said, "Besides, I forgot to get you guys something because I didn't even remember today was Valentine's Day. So take this as a gift."

Hendery had already started taking some boxes and placing them in his backpack. I looked back at Yangyang and hesitated. He nodded as a confirmation that I really could have some of his chocolates. After that, I pulled out another bracelet from my pocket. This time, it was candy apple red beads with a white sheep charm in the middle.

"Um," I glanced at Yangyang. "This is for you."

"Oh, thank you so much," Yangyang said. "Can you put it on my wrist?"

He raised his hands which were still full of bags. I nodded and tied the bracelet on his wrist. Stepping back, I turn my face away from Yangyang to hide my slightly pink cheeks.

"It's really cute." Yangyang gazed at the bracelet with a smile on his face.

"Thank you."

"Yay! We all have matching bracelets now!" Hendery exclaimed as we started walking out of the school territory.

I nodded and looked at my right hand. There was a bracelet that had cornflower blue beads with a black and white panda charm in the middle.

"Are pandas your favorite animal?" Yangyang asked.

"Yes, I love pandas! I find them really cute!"

"You know, you even remind me of a panda, because you're-"

Yangyang grabbed my arm and pulled me towards him. I looked to my right and realized that I had almost bumped into a tree.

"Careful," Hendery noted.

After a few minutes, I entered home. Opening the fridge door, I placed the chocolates from Yangyang in the fridge. I went to my room after eating a light snack and decided to do my homework. I retrieved my books from the backpack next to my desk. While taking out my pouch from the front pocket of the bag, I spotted a shiny red gift bag.

Today, I did not get the chance to give these chocolates to you. But someday, I'll pull up my courage and give you all the chocolates you could ever want in the world.