Eυɳσια | ᴄᴏʙʀᴀ ᴋᴀɪ

03. an enigma

Carmen smiled at the girl while nodding her head. She was about to dig into her food when she noticed Miguel's reddened hand.

"What happened to your hand?" she asked.

Miles pressed her lips into a thin line as she took her glass of water and chugged it, her eyes glancing at her mother and Miguel.

"Um..."

"You don't wanna know," Rosa muttered, causing Miles to look at her in confusion. The older woman looked at Carmen knowingly.

"What?" the twins asked at the same time.

-

The twins were having lunch with their new friends Demetri and Eli when the counselor suddenly took her chance to speak to the students.

"Cyberbullying is no laughing matter. Sending a cruel message to someone online can be just as hurtful as saying it to their face," she said, causing Miles to frown in confusion but it deepened once the counselor spoke again, "I'm not gonna name names, but the other day a mother called me up because her son was crying after some kids online made fun of his facial deformity."

Murmurs enveloped the cafeteria as they stared at Eli who hid the scar on his lip. Miles shook her head at the counselor, feeling bad for her new friend, "But today, our goal here is to make this school a safe space for all students."

"You know, if you're sick of getting bullied, my karate dojo's looking for recruits," Miguel offered to Eli.

"Yeah, right. You hear that, Eli?" Demetri scoffed, "A little karate training, and you're gonna kick some major ass."

"It's not about kicking ass, you can learn karate for different reasons," Miles said, giving the brown-haired male a smile for comfort.

"I'm serious, Demetri," the twin brother sighed, "My sensei's the real deal. I'm sure I could get you both discounts."

"As enticing as that sounds, I think we'd rather spend our afternoons playing Crucible Control than getting hit in the face," Demetri replied.

"And one last thing," the counselor spoke, earning Miles' attention, "While we're all looking forward to the Halloween dance, let's make sure our costumes are culturally sensitive. For example, instead of 'sexy nurse', maybe try 'gender-neutral hospital employee'."

Miles scoffed and turned to her brother, "Oh, gee. But I want to be a 'sexy witch'."

Miguel laughed, shaking his head.

"What about you, Miles? Are you learning karate, too?" Demetri asked.

"I don't have a reason to learn it, so... nope," the twin female answered, popping the 'p' at the end, "But if you want to learn something new, give it a try. Who knows? You guys might like it."

Her twin nodded in agreement as he looked at the two males.

"No, thank you," Demetri immediately said, turning back to his food.

Miles glanced at Eli who met her gaze. She gave him an encouraging smile, causing the male to smile back at her.

"Hey, E."

Miles glanced up to see the familiar guy whom she always caught her gaze. He sat down beside Eli who smiled back at the boy and fist-bumped him.

"Hey, Aries," Eli spoke, "What's up?"

"Not much."

Demetri scoffed, "Don't tell me you're going to ask us to help you with Dungeon Lord again?"

Aries smiled, shrugging, "Maybe."

He turned his gaze to Miguel who nodded at him, "Miguel."

"Aries."

The twin brother turned to his sister, "And this is my sister-"

"Milena? Right?"

Miles cleared her throat, "It's Miles. No one calls me that."

Ever since she was young, her nickname Miles was stuck in her. Milena was her full name but no one calls her that aside from teachers and other people she doesn't personally know.

Aries nodded, smiling, "I see."

The twin girl fought the urge to roll her eyes at his smile, more like he was smirking at her.

"How'd you two know each other?" Eli questioned.

"We're in the same class in History."

Miles nodded for confirmation as she looked at her brother.

"Don't you have basketball practice, man?" Demetri asked, looking at Aries.

The latter winced and sighed, "Yep. I guess I'll catch you guys later."

He stood up and patted Eli's back as he left. Miles turned as she watched his figure getting farther away from them.

"He's literally friends with everyone," Demetri spoke. The girl turned to him with a raised eyebrow.

"What do you mean?" Miles asked curiously.

"We've known him ever since. He's athletic, smart, good-looking, and quite famous with girls."

"He's not a bully, right?" Miguel asked as he saw Aries greeting Kyler and his friends.

"Of course not. Dude's nice, don't worry," Eli said. The twins were surprised to hear him speak for Aries.

Miles slowly nodded. Though she found out he was quite famous in their school, he was still an enigma to her.

Because of it, she was somehow drawn to his presence.

-

Being drawn to him was an understatement when they became partners for a project in their History class. Miles let out a sigh as Aries pulled his chair and placed it across from the girl.

"So, Lena, how do you think we can start the presentation?" Aries asked, causing Miles to look at him in confusion.

"Lena?"

The male stared at her for a few seconds before letting out a laugh, "Well, I figured since no one calls you Milena, I can call you Lena instead."

"You can call me Miles, you know," she replied.

He pouted and shook his head as he crossed his arms over his chest and leaned closer to her, causing Miles to instinctively move away a bit, "I don't want to."

"What?" Miles asked in disbelief.

"I think Lena sounds better," he replied, shrugging, "Besides, I'm the only one who gets to call you that."

The girl smiled, rolling her eyes, "What? You want to feel special or something?"

His smile widened as he met her gaze once again. Miles wanted to look away but somehow she found herself looking deeper into his eyes. She was trying to dig for anything to know him but to no avail.

"You were trying to read me, weren't you?" That caused Miles to snap out of it and frown.

"What?"

"I knew it the first time we made eye contact with each other. It was always when we met each other's eyes."

Miles scoffed, shaking her head, "No, I wasn't."

Aries tilted his head, still looking at her, "Really?"

"I just wanted to finish this project, please," Miles calmly told him.

The male frowned, wondering if she was sincere. He was also trying to read what was going on in her mind but he couldn't quite place if she was being genuine to him.

"Are you okay?" Miles asked, frowning in concern at the boy before her.

"Let's start," Aries said, clearing his throat.