20/10/18
SATURDAY
JANA
"Wake up Jana," Serah shouts. I slowly open my eyes after a long night's sleep.
"Good morning! Wait, I mean bad morning Jana," she grins.
"How do you know that?"I ask groggily, still trying to wake up.
"Sandy texted me," Serah replied. I stay under the covers, not wanting to get out of the bed.
We arrived at the Hill Top Resort after midnight. Once we got into the room, I immediately got into bed and dozed off. I'm not sure about Serah, though. I didn't check up on her because I was too tired after the long traveling.
"There is something I need to tell you," she said. "I got one more letter yesterday."
I quickly sat up on the bed. "Where?" How come I didn't know about it?
"I found it in my seat when we got back from Cathels waterfalls. I kept it in my bag since Harry was with me," she responded. "I guess Ryan thought we are sitting together." She takes out the letter out of her bag and opens it up to read it. "I love you, Jana."
At first, I thought that was the actual message untilI saw her teasing smile on her face. "You liar!" I yell, making her laugh. "Give me the letter." I glare at her as she hands me the letter.
Wait for the surprise!
I gasp, mumbling under my breath, Proposal!"
"What if there is something more than that?" Serah asked.
I look at her in bewilderment, "What more?" I asked her as nothing other than the idea of the proposal came into my mind.
She shrugs, "Could be a promise ring."
"Oh Serah, please. You know right, I imagine a lot. Please don't get me my hopes too high. I don't want to be disappointed, " I beg. She nods understandingly and starts getting ready.
***********
I look in the mirror, staring at my dark blue jumpsuit. And then I look at Sarah, she is in her tomboy clothes. We both go down to meet Noah and Harry. We eat our breakfast together and quickly get onto the bus. This time, I sat with Serah, waiting for the surprise at any moment.
When get off the bus to go to the Bird sanctuary. I glance at Ryan in the distance. He's wearing a black full sleeve t-shirt with jeans. I sigh, admiring how good he looks in black. Plus, black is my favorite color. Does he know that?
"Attention boys and girls!" Ms. Susan shouts, stopping me from staring too long at Ryan. "You have 2 hours to spend in the bird sanctuary. Be back at this spot at noon!" With that, she let us go. All the students scatter around, excited to look around.
"Hey guys!" Ryan greets us with a wave.
"Morning Ryan!" Noah says enthusiastically.
"C'mon guys!" Harry says impatiently. "Let's go in!"
"I need a coffee first," Ryan announced. "Anyone want to join?"
"Jana told me this morning that she needed coffee, "Serah said, winking at me. I look at her and smiles, mentally appreciating how well she lied. She knows that I love coffee, but I never mentioned this morning. Good move Serah, I mentally thanked her for leaving us alone.
"Yeah," I reply, confirming what Serah said.
Ryan nods, "You guys go. We will catch up." We leave to grab a coffee from the nearby stall. We chat a bit, but nothing too important. After the coffee, we headed to the sanctuary. "You look pretty," Ryan complimented and I just smiled but I wanted to say that he looks so hot but I resisted myself fromdoing so.
The sanctuary is covered with many trees on either sides of a 5 feet path. It's a little darker in here than I expected. Most of the students already went in, so now it's just me and Ryan and I'm loving it. The sound of water flowing, the birds chirping, and also being with my favorite person altogether gave me a romantic feel as we walked.
We walked side by side, giving me butterflies in my stomach. Ryan grabs my hand, interlocking fingers with mine. We look at each other, smiling. Oh god, I literally just fell like love with his smile. Walking in the forest hand in hand is completely unexpected.
"I want to tell you something," he said. I hold breath. Is he going to reveal the surprise? I nod, urging him to continue.
"Okay" spill out boy, I was waiting for this.
He looks around, "Not now. After the campfire."
I pout, not wanting to wait. Since it's after the campfire, he will probably do a candlelight proposal. I get goosebumps just thinking about it. "I will be waiting," I reply.
We walk around the bird sanctuary without saying much, hand in hand the entire time. Mind wanders to how the proposal will be. I don't know what he has in his mind, but thinking of it , makes me blush.
"I love the way you blush," he says with a bright smile, making me blush a little more.
We finally reach the treehouse and climb to the top. There is a wonderful view of different kinds of birds and the valley. We watch in silence it for some time, but more than watching the beautiful scenery being with Ryan can make me feel something special. I'm looking at Ryan rather than the beautiful view over there.
We then got down the tree house and catch up with Serah, Harry, and Noah. Ryan leaves to catch up with his friends. "How did it go?" Serah whispered into my ears. She couldn't wait to know and I explained what happened in the sanctuary and the surprise tonight.
**********
The bus drives us to The Eros mountain, named after the Greek god of love. We walk 30 minutes to reach the destination. We have to climb 365 steps to get to the top. It's believed that if we climb 365 steps into the cave and if we make a wish to be with someone we love and then looking into the eyes of the person, we will live together forever. The 365 steps signifies that we will be together every 365 days, which means always and forever.
Harry groans, sitting on a rock. "I'm not coming to the top."
Serah sits next to him, "Me neither."
I look at them in disbelief, "Why not?"
"Dude, it's 365 steps!!!" Harry exclaims.
"But we can make a wish!" I argue. I love such kinds of places where we can make wishes.
Noah steps in, "Jana's right. Those steps will be worth it."
Serah rolls her eyes, "You both are mad."
"Hey, Serah." We turn our heads to see Alex walking towards us.
Serah greets him with a smirk, "Hey Alex."
"I need to tell you something," he says hesitantly.
"Okay, what's it?" She asked.
"Not here," he said. "At the top."
Serah laughs, "Seriously? Do you think I will climb those 365 steps to hear what you have to say?"
"Please?" he begs. Why can't he tell now? What is the matter?
"No way," Serah replies firmly.
"Serah, Noah and I are going anyways, so you can come join us. Plus, don't you want to make a wish?" I ask her, hoping that she will join us.
"C'mon Serah, it will be nice" Noah adds.
Serah sighs, turning to Alex, "Fine, but if you made me to walk all those steps for a stupid joke, I will smash your head against the wall." Serah warned.
Alex grins, excitedly. Noah chuckles and pulls Harry to his feet, "Harry, you are coming with us."
We started climbing the steps. It was fun at first as we tried to see who would be first to reach top, but we dropped the game when we nearly reached 100 steps. It's not easy as we thought it would be.
Serah stops, panting for air, "I don't want to make a wish. I'm going back."
I grab her arm, "No Serah. You already did 100 steps."
"Serah you can." Noah supported.
"Serah, definitely you can make it." Alex added, after all it was his need to get her there.
We start climbing again. I slowly lost all the energy I had. I drink water continuously, but it doesn't seem to help much.
We finally climbed those 365 steps. Just to make a wish? it is not just a wish, it is to be with my soulmate forever. I silently start praying, hoping it was worth the climb.
The cave is a limestone hill formed around 300 million years ago. There are countless of other beliefs assosiated with the 365 steps and cave itself. Either wat, thousands of people come here to make this wish to be with their soulmate forever.
I closed my eyes, wishing to 'Make him mine forever'. My eyes flutter open and turn to my right to see Noah next to me already looking at me. When I look up into his eyes, my heart beats faster. What the heck? Why am I feeling this way? I look away, reminding that I have to look at Ryan, then only my wish will come true. I spot Ryan behind Noah. We both looked at each other. As per the belief we just have to look at each other and we just did it, so I hope we will be together forever.
"Do you seriously believe in this stuff?" Serah asked, snapping me out of my thoughts and I simply nod.
Serah looks at Noah in confusion, "You too?"
"Yeah, I do," he replied. I wonder who Noah want to spend the rest of his life with?
NOAH
"You too?" Serah asked.
I nod, "Yeah, I do." I only came up here to make a wish to be with Jana.
"I didn't know that you wanted to be with-"
"Serah!" Alex calls out. I'm thankful to Alex, if he didn't interupt I don't know how I will reply to Serah.
She walks up to him. "What?" What does he wanted to talk about?
"I love you." She freezes in her place. What? Is he kidding? I look at Harry and Jana in shock. By the look on their face, I can tell they are lost as I am.
"Not funny," Serah manages to say. I swallow nervously, looking at his dead- serious expression. I don't think he's joking.
"I'm being serious," Alex replies. They hated each other, how can this happen?
Serah inhales sharply, "Is this why you asked me to climb those 365 steps?" she asked out of anger.
"This is a place where I can make a wish to be with you forever," Alex said softly.
"Alex, just stop the drama," she warned him. I can say she is not in a good mood.
But without saying anything more he takes out an envelope from his pocket and hands it to her. A love letter?
"So you wrote all those letters?" Jana asked out of shock and Alex nods his head. Letters? I didn't know anything about it, when did they start to hide things from us?
"Unbelievable," Jana mumbles as Serah opens the letter.
I always loved you and will love you forever
"I wanted to tell you this for a long time."
I can't understand why he is lying? They hated each other as far as I remember. "Alex, you hurt her feelings once," I say, glaring at him. I don't want him to hurt Serah's feelings again.
"There is a lot you didn't know about. Please just hear me out," he pleads, ignoring what I just said.
Serah nods warily, "Okay." Serah agreed to my surprise. I thought she won't but maybe she wanted to know what all things we missed.
He sighs, getting ready to express his feelings, "You didn't know that I loved you all these years," he paused, looking at her and she remained expressionless. "I had a crush on you in 9th grade and nobody knew about it. But you had a crush on Antony. When I heard you were about to propose him, I knew he would accept it. That's when I realized it is not just a crush- I can't even think about losing you to someone else because I love you. I was the one who made him reject you. You started hating me, but I thought you will get over it after some time. Then the Jenny incident happened, making you all hate me more. I knew I had to stop loving you, but I couldn't. That's when Jana transferred to this school and became friends with you guys. I thought flirting with your best friend may make you jealous, but you never cared. I thought it's finally time to confess."
I was just wondering how we didn't know about all these or did he made up all these? I guess he is telling the truth because I have noticed him staring at her at times but I always ignored it.
Serah stares at him for a minute, trying to decide if he was making up the story. "How can I believe you?" she asks under her breath
His gaze lowers, "I don't know how to make you believe."
"Alex, I..." she trails off. "I can't love you."
He frowns, "Yeah, I know. But I only have one request..." Serah nods, urging him to continue. "Can you stop hating me?"
I look at him sympathetically. I can't help but feel sad for him. It's sad when you love someone, but they don't know. But it hurts when you love someone who absolutely despises you.
Harry groans, breaking the sentimental moment. "Can you guys please shake your hands or something?"
Serah rolls her eyes, "We are not friends yet."
"C'mon Serah," Harry whines, forcing her to shake Alex's. By the small smile on her face, I can tell she's not upset anymore.
***********
Unexpected things happened at the Eros mountain, after all, it is a place for loved ones. By 7 P.M, we get back to the our resort. After some time we head to the campfire.
I look to see Jana in her hoodie, it's very . We all gathered around the fire and I sit next to Jana. Nobody is in a mood to dance or party, so we all sit around the fire as romantic music plays.
"Couples are welcomed for the slow dance!" a senior announces.
"Serah, can we?" Alex asked, offering his hand.
"We are not even friends," she replies bluntly.
His expression drops to a frown, "Just for a walk, then?"
"Serah, just go," Jana urges, trying to convince Serah to spend time with Alex. Seran eventually agreed and went with Alex.
Now it's just me and Jana. I feel the urge to hold her hands, but I decided against it. I start thinking when I will confess my feeling towards her. But I decided that let me wait until she realizes it herself.
I came back to reality when Jana huffy, "When will this be over?"
Who wanted to get over this beautiful feel? Before I answer, I hear puking behind us. Jana and I turn to see Rachel vomiting.
Jana gasp, "Is she drunk?"
I shrug, "I guess they had drinks without teachers' knowing."
She frowns, "She will be in a really bad condition."
"Ryan will take care of her," I reply dismissively. Jana nods slowly, turning back around. I nervously nibble on my lip. Am I boring her? Should I ask her to go for a am? After contemplating, I decided. "Hey Jana, want to watch the night sky with me?" She thinks for a few minutes before agreeing.
We walked where no one can disturb us and sit down under the clear sky. It is so nice to be here with loved ones.
"I guess it is better to lie down," Jana suggested. We lay down, getting comfortable. She's just 2 feet away from me. My heart beats a little faster at the thought of her close to me.
She points up to a constellation. "Thats Orion." Her phone start ringing. She takes her phone out and answers the call. She quietly talks into phone, but I only catch one part of the conversation. "It's okay. Take care of her. We can talk tomorrow." She didn't sound very happy, so I didn't ask her about it. We lay there silently enjoying the beauty of the sky.
"Why do you love to watch the night sky?" I ask, interrupting the silence between us.
"It reminds me of this quote. Someone is looking at the same moon as you." She explained. I suck in my breath. What if I'm that someone?
I grab my phone and start play the song 'Night Sky'
"Look up at the night sky
I see a star leave it all behind
But on the bright side
It left a couple wishes for you
And one for me...
I wish Jana could stay with me under the night sky forever. I look at her as she stares up at the sky and lost in her dreams. She looks back at me, letting our eyes lock. The perfect lyrics plays as we stare at each other.
I wish I could keep this moment forever
Oh, when it's just
You and me, and the night sky..."
AUTHOR'S NOTE:
Hey guys, I'm sorry I couldn't upload a chapter on Tuesday as it took a very long time to write this chapter and this is the lengthiest chapter I have written so far. If you liked this chapter don't forget to hit the star button below and also do comment and share.
Also, guys, my friend @san__DreA made an amazing video on Jenny's diary, check it out in chapter 8 and let me know your views.
Will Serah love Alex?
Will Jana realize that Noah loves her?