After the meeting, it was lunch break. Both new and old students gathered in the giant dining hall. It wasn't like a canteen or cafeteria. Students had to eat what they were given. Usually, every meal was top notch. Unlike rooms, everyone received the same food despite being poor or rich.
Zadhea tried to sit next to Evelyn since Lucas went somewhere saying he had something important to do. However the two chairs next to Evelyn's were occupied by two girls. The princess could only sigh and look for another seat. When she found one in a corner, she hurried there and sat comfortably.
When she grabbed some rice and filled her bowl with two scoops of them in silence, Zadhea felt like she returned to her old self. When she was in highschool as Minosha, she always shut herself from everyone. She just wanted to stay silently like she was invisible. It wasn't like she liked or disliked it. It's just she was used to be alone. Sitting alone, walking alone, living alone since her mother was in hospital, she was alone for a long time. Fortunately, she was still adjusted to such a lonely life.
She was an introvert pretending to be an extrovert sometimes.
When she was about to take a bite, she heard someone say, "Ungrateful."
Surprised, she turned her head to see someone whom she wanted to avoid the most.
Heidith.
"What are you doing here?" She asked unhappily while putting down her spoon.
"My shoulder is injured." Heidith looked at her pitifully. "Can you feed me?"
Zadhea almost stood up from her seat when she heard him. "Hell no!" She blurted out. "You have your best friend to feed you."
"Derek?" Heidith felt ridiculous. "Are you blind? See how he's filling his stomach." He turned Zadhea's chin to Derek's direction. "Look."
Sure enough, that playboy wasn't eating by himself. There were two brunettes sitting by both of his sides, feeding him while gigging from time to time.
Feeling disgusted, Zadhea tried to look away but her chin was tightly grabbed by an iron plier. She pinched his arm and yelled in a low voice, "Hey, let go of my chin."
"Oh." Heidith let out an awkward chuckle before releasing her. "Sorry."
Zadhea sighed and turned her body towards him. "Listen, vise president..."
"Eww!" Heidith wrinkled his nose. "Don't call me that. Just call me by my name."
"Dear Rodwef prince..."
"Gosh! Is that my name?"
"Your highness..."
"Seriously, Zadhea Edwin? Are you for real?"
"Then..." Zadhea grinned. "Future husband?"
"..." Heidith's ears turned pink as he became silent. He lowered his eyes, feeling too shy.
"Hee hee, can you say that again?" He whispered after he managed to overcome his shyness. He wanted to hear that again. Again and again...
If he could record it, he would listen to it for hours, maybe a whole day. He would listen to it every day without getting tired.
Simply, he loved it.
"What? Heidith?" Zadhea laughed cruelly in her mind.
"No!" Heidith pursed his lips. "You called me future husband, didn't you?"
"Oh really?" Zadhea scratched her chin. "Why I can't remember such a thing?"
"Zadhea!!! You are sooo mean!"
"Ha ha." She laughed.
Heidith looked at her laughing happily with a warm smile on his face. He loved to see her laugh. She looked like sun, shining brightly when she laughed. Cheerful and approachable, unlike her usual cold, ice cube self.
"I'm hungry." He rubbed his flat stomach and blinked at her, acting cute. "Wifey, can you feed me?"
Oh my god! Please someone help me! Zadhea cried rivers of tears in her mind. If he were to continue being cute, she wasn't sure how long she could act indifferent in front of him. What if he truly succeeded in moving her poor heart? She shuddered at that terrible thought.
Gosh! I need to stay away from him! I really need to stay away from him! Or else, he would surely bewitch me!!!
"No!" She glared at him. "Your shoulder is the one with a wound. Not your hand. So you can eat yourself. Don't pester me!" She grabbed her bowl, thinking of going somewhere else to eat. She almost lost her appetite because of this nasty prince.
Heidith quickly clung onto her waist, shaking his head. "No! I can't move my hand because of the injury. I don't know anyone else to feed me apart from you and Derek. Now only you left to feed me. How can you be so heartless to leave me alone when I'm in such a situation?" He sniffed.
Zadhea facepalmed herself when she heard him. She even felt ashamed when she saw others looking at their direction amusingly. Although, they were in an unnoticeable corner, there were still a few students around them and they were currently looking at the show Heidith performing with their jaws on the floor, even forgetting to eat their meals.
Zadhea felt like digging a hole and burying herself in it.
"Okay, okay. I'll feed you, I'll feed you." Zadhea pitied herself for her misery. "Now lemme go. Others are watching! Don't you feel embarrassed?"
Heidith obediently let go of her waist. "No. You are my future..."
"Hush, Heidith! Hush!" Zadhea almost screamed frustratingly. "You are so noisy. Don't address me like that. I don't like it. Although you are shameless, I'm not the same. I have my dignity."
The boy felt her accusation was unfair. "You are too much, Zadie. You started it first."
Zadhea slapped herself in her mind for being so dumb. "Whatever. Hey, wait a minute. Don't call me that. You aren't my friend!"
"Okay then. Zie Zie."
Zadhea's mouth twitched. It sounds more like a Chinese name.
"Listen, Mr. Rodwef. If you don't shut your mouth, I won't feed you no matter how much you pester me."
Heidith opened his mouth, motioning her to feed him. The girl dropped her shoulders with a sigh before taking another spoon, filling it with rice.
"Here." She moved the spoon close to his mouth, which Heidith ate with a smile.
"Mmm, delicious," He praised.
Zadhea rolled her eyes and said, "Tell that to the chef, not me."
"It's delicious because you are the one who feeds me." Heidith gave her a big smile. "Anything you feed me is the most delicious in the world."
"Oh, is that so?" Zadhea smirked devilishly as a savage idea popped into her mind. She turned to her other side and tapped on the girl's shoulder who was sitting next to her, eating silently, minding her own business.
The girl lifted her head from her plate and looked at Zadhea, puzzled.
Zadhea whispered to her ear, "Do you know what's the spiciest food here? Talk to me in a low voice."
The girl nodded and whispered back, "I'm also a new student. But I think it's the chicken curry. I only ate one bite and my tongue went fire. I had to eat my entire pudding to relieve the pain." She pointed at her tongue. "See. It must be red."
"No. It's fine. Don't worry." Zadhea patted her elbow. "Now eat, eat."
Heidith felt like Zadhea was up to something bad when he saw her talking to the girl next to her with a cunning smile on her face. Her intention was obvious. She was planning to do something to him. He told himself to get ready to whatever disaster waiting for him.
When Zadhea put the spoon in front of his mouth again, Heidith gave her a suspicious look that showed, 'I don't trust you.'
Zadhea pretended to be hurt. "Didn't you say anything I feed you is the most delicious? Why aren't you eating now?"
"I.. I think I'm full."
"No way, you only ate one spoon." She urged, "Be good. Don't make me sad. Eat it like a good boy."
Heidith had no choice but to obey her. When he tasted it, he felt it was a bit spicy. "What is it?" He asked. "It's a little spicy. But still... Delicious."
"Oh, really? Then eat another bite." Zadhea filled another spoon, this time only the curry with very, very little bit of rice.
Heidith wanted to slap himself for not keeping his mouth shut. He forced himself to eat it.
The girl didn't stop there. Smirking like a devil, she fed him rice with a huge amount of chicken curry.
Heidith felt tears fill in his eyes as he ate every bite she gave him. A burning sensation spread across his lips all the way to his tongue and he felt like a smoke coming out his ears. His forehead covered in sweat and his entire face turned red like a beetroot.
"What happened?" Zadhea acted clueless. "Why are you crying?"
Heidith sniffed as he said, "No. It's too delicious. I haven't eaten such delicious food in my whole life that it made me cry." He sniffed again. "Thank you so much, Zie Zie. It's all because of you." This time, he didn't hold his tears and cried to his heart content.
"..." Zadhea could speechlessly watch him cry like a baby.
Others started giving odd looks in their direction, making Zadhea curve her toes in embarrassment. She quickly grabbed her pudding and scooped out a bite before putting it before his mouth. "Quickly eat this."
Just like that, she had to feed him both her and his puddings to make him stop crying.
Zadhea felt worn-out when she finished feeding him. Her back hurt as she leaned against the chair with a very deep sigh.
"Aren't you going to eat?" Heidith asked, looking innocent as ever.
Zadhea smiled at him, cursing him in her mind. "No, no. I'm full, I'm full. Watching you eating made my stomach fill too."
Heidith smiled back. "Great."
When the lunch break was over, students could roam around the school for half an hour as an exercise.
When Zadhea went to find Evelyn, Heidith started following her like a puppy. If he had a tail, he would wag it too.
Zadhea felt like he was such a pain in the neck. She turned around and scolded, "Stop following me! I have my business to do. You go somewhere else."
Heidith looked at her with a cute pout. "We met eachother after months. So I want to be with you for a while."
Zadhea was already immune to his cuteness. She glared at him fiercely. "When did you learn such tricks to pick up a girl?"
Heidith was taken aback by her question. "What?" He asked, confused. "What tricks?"
"Don't pout like a girl." She rolled her eyes. "It disgusts me."
"Sorry." The boy lowered his eyes, feeling hurt. "What else? Tell me what else make you feel disgusted to be with me. I'll try my best to change it."
"Then change your whole appearance and personality." Zadhea turned her back to him and walked away, adding, "Maybe I'll consider about it after that."
Heidith could helplessly watch her walk away.
"Too much." He heard Derek say behind him. "She's too much."
Heidith exhaled a long breath as he turned towards his friend. "Don't talk ill about her."
"What did she do to you? She cast a spell on you? You weren't like this before. What happened? Don't let her control you like a puppet." Derek felt bad for his friend. "Gosh, at times like this, I'm grateful for being a playboy. Falling in love is such a horrible thing. Love changes people for worse."
"Don't say that." Heidith felt terrible too. "Nothing happened to me. I'm just sad because... No matter how hard I try, she doesn't give me a chance. Sometimes I can't help feeling hurt because of the things she says to me."
"Don't worry." Derek patted his back. "You have me. Hey, want a girl to vent your frustration on?"
Heidith glared at him. "No need."
"Oh, C'mon!" Derek urged. "Being with the same person is such a boring thing. Different girls have different tastes. It's boring to taste the same flavour when you have all flavours. Think of cupcakes. There are chocolate, strawberry, vanilla, and many more flavours. You'll feel like you have had enough when you taste the same thing over again and again. Girls are like cupcakes with different flavours. So try something new."
"What if you only like the chocolate one?" Heidith asked. "What if you don't want to taste other flavours? What if your heart wants to taste only the chocolate one and nothing else?"
"That's until you taste other flavours." Derek clicked his tongue. "Isn't it easy to understand? Do you like it if you have to eat the same thing over again and again? Don't you like it when you get something different to eat, ha?"
"Even after tasting different flavours, what if you still prefer the chocolate one? You'll regret wasting your time on other flavours when you had the best one with you all the time," Heidith said, making Derek speechless. "Zadhea is the one for me. I don't need anyone else, or else, I'll regret betraying her."
"What if she betrays you? What do you do?"
"She won't. Trust me, she won't."
"Don't be so delusional. Look at that silver guy who sticks to her most of the time."
"How do you know?" Heidith felt uncomfortable.
"Of course, I saw them sitting together in the main hall when I went there to find a beauty tonight. Look, I'm not as clueless as you. Sooner or later, you hear me? Sooner or later, he'll snatch her away from you."
"Shut up, Derek!" Heidith roared, anger flashing through his eyes. "Shut the fuck up!!!"
"Truth is always bitter." Derek shrugged his shoulders and walked away, leaving Heidith alone in his misery.