"Oh my!" Zadhea was quite surprised to hear that. "You and Dreva are... Best friends?"
Sinadi nodded. "Yeah. And I know where she went. But I can't tell anyone much about it since I promised her to keep everything as a secret. Sorry Zadhea. I'm helpless."
"It's fine." Zadhea let out a sigh. "You don't have to explain things to them. I'll handle it myself."
Just like Sinadi said, others eventually stopped gossiping as the teacher started teaching how to sew.
Zadhea looked at the needle in her hand. Then her gaze fell on the piece of silk clothe the teacher provided her. She never bothered to learn how to sew although her mother asked her to. Now she kinda regretted her decision back then when she saw others sewing so professionally. She was the only one who didn't know what to do. Even the three boys were better than her.
'I was always better than others in every subject. But now... Aaah, this is such a shame!' Her face turned gloomy.
"What are you thinking, dear?" The teacher asked with concern. "You don't know how to do it?"
Everyone turned to look at Zadhea when they heard what the teacher said, making Zadhea even more embarrassed. She smiled awkwardly, her face turning red.
"Oh no. You really don't know that." A girl snickered. "Aren't you like.. a girl? It's like necessary for girls to learn how to sew. Like, what are you living for, lady?" She looked at her like she was looking at some kind of an idiot. "Like what were you doing all these years? Aren't you like fifteen or something? Are you like.. for real?"
The teacher didn't want that matter to get worse. Hence, she smiled widely and said, "It's fine. She can always start from the beginning."
Then she went towards Zadhea and sat next to her, devoting her entire attention to her. When she realized that Zadhea didn't even know the basics, she was taken aback for a moment. Recovering quickly, she showed how to do simple sewing. "First learn these steps. Slowly, slowly, you can get improved."
"I see." Zadhea smiled bitterly.
"You aren't the only one who didn't know anything. There were many students like you. But..." The teacher hesitated a bit. "They were all boys..." 'You are the only girl who doesn't know how to sew.'
Zadhea's face reddened again. "Then think of me as a tomboy."
The teacher's mouth twitched. "...Cowboy?"
"Nooo. It's tomboy. Not cowboy." Zadhea shed tears in her mind.
During lunch break, Zadhea found Evelyn in a front table. She felt worn-out and fell on the chair beside Evelyn like she was dead.
"Hey, behave yourself!" Evelyn looked at her disdainfully. "There are many people here."
Zadhea hummed and forced her body to sit properly. She placed her elbows on the table and her hands on her cheeks before letting out a loud sigh. When she glanced at the dishes, she didn't feel like eating. It wasn't that the food wasn't appetising. It was just she didn't have a mood to eat.
Evelyn put down her spoon filled with pasta salad when she heard Zadhea ask, "Do you know how to sew?"
"Why?" She asked back, feeling a little nervous.
"No, I just want to learn. That's why."
"All of a sudden?"
"Everyone knows how to sew except me, even boys! I felt so ashamed during home science class." Zadhea ran a hand through her hair. "Frustrating!"
"Oh." Evelyn nodded understandingly. "Don't worry. I know. I'll teach you. But I'm not that professional."
"Uuuf, what a relief!" Zadhea felt better. She was about to say that it was fine not to be professional when her words subconsciously got swallowed by her throat as her gaze fell on three people who entered the dining hall together.
It was the president, vice president and the secretary of the students council.
The president was the crown prince of Italy. He was a very good looking guy with blonde hair and a pair of grey eyes. His hair was shorter than Heidith's since it only reached the bottom of his ears. Most of the students joked about him and Stella since they had the same hair and eye colour. Every time Vincenzo, the president heard of it, he chuckled and brushed it off by saying his eyes were grey and Stella's were silver. Others had no choice left rather than surrendering. But they still nicknamed them as siblings behind their backs.
Zadhea narrowed her eyes at Stella who deliberately walked closer to Heidith as the three of them were immersed in a conversation.
'So close!' Zadhea huffed in her mind. 'Like they are a couple or something..'
"Wow! Italian guys are so attractive!" Evelyn sighed loudly, breaking Zadhea's thoughts.
"Whom are you talking about?" Zadhea raised a brow at her.
"Vincenzo!" Evelyn put a hand on her cheek and let out a sigh again. There was a silly smile on her face. "Our president."
"Isn't it quite surprising though?" Zadhea rubbed her chin. "Heidith is the male lead here. But he isn't the president, only a vice president..."
"Hush!" Evelyn looked around, scared. "You are too loud."
Zadhea shrugged and looked around as well. Her gaze again fell on the three people who were now sitting in a table not so far from their own, not even bothering to eat as they continued talking. Stella was next to Heidith while Vincenzo sat across them. Both Heidith and Vincenzo had poker faces while Stella smiled so widely which Zadhea found extremely ugly.
She hated pretending to be sweet kind of people. Chinese people called such women as white lotuses.
Maybe Stella wasn't pretending anything and it was just her nature. But Zadhea's woman extinct told her that something about Stella wasn't good. Like she was up to no good. Zadhea couldn't understand why she felt like that. Maybe she was just overthinking it.
Maybe...
Or maybe not...
"Vincenzo's leaving soon. He's nineteen thus he's at the final age. After that, there will be an election and Heidith will become the president. Most of the students voted him... like almost everyone. He's so popular among others after all..." Evelyn chuckled when she recalled something. "Forgot to tell you! It was a love triangle. Dreva had a crush on both Heidith and Vincenzo and they liked her too. It was fun to read. Vincenzo came to academy from time to time even after his departure, wanting to see Dreva."
"Wow!" Zadhea rubbed her butt against the chair, showing her enthusiasm. "What happened next?"
"Heidith couldn't take it anymore. He argued with Vincenzo saying that he must stay away from Dreva. Actually, they went along well in the past. But because of Dreva, they became enemies. Vincenzo told Heidith not to be so shameless. He said, 'You have a fiancée, don't you? Why are you chasing after another girl when you're already engaged to someone else? Aren't you being disrespectful?' and so on. Because of his words, Heidith became determined to break off the engagement. After that fight, the very first thing he did was meeting Mimosa and asking her for a break up. They weren't lovers to begin with but Mimosa went crazy."
"It must have been chaotic, right?" Zadhea rubbed her forehead. "Then it's a good thing that Dreva chose to leave the academy."
"You weren't the one that made her leave?" Evelyn still held doubts.
Zadhea glared at her. "Heck no! Are you crazy? You think I have nothing else to do?"
Evelyn hummed. "Whatever."
"By the way how did Vincenzo fall for Dreva? You said Heidith fell for her when she got bullied by others and he saved her... What about the president?" Zadhea asked eagerly.
Evelyn clicked her tongue. "It's the same with him. He also saved her from the bullies."
"Wow. She's such a damsel in the distress. Just wow!" Zadhea could only shake her head. "Why's author like that?"
"I know right." Evelyn nodded.
"Ah, one more thing." Zadhea glanced at Stella and turned her gaze towards Evelyn again. "You really know nothing about... Stella?"
Her question made Evelyn sigh. "As I told you before, I can't remember anything about her. I have zero memory. Sorry, Zadie." Then her gaze also fell on Stella as she mumbled, "Why do I feel like you're so interested in Heidith's life recently?"
"The hell you're talking about!?" Zadhea rolled her eyes angrily. "I'm not interested in him or anyone. Just being curious, okay?"
"Mmm." Evelyn wasn't fully convinced. "Come to think of it, why didn't he join you for lunch like on our first day here?"
"You saw him joining me?"
"Of course. You even fed him."
Zadhea became speechless. "His shoulder was injured."
"Now his back is injured too. Aren't you gonna feed him again?" Evelyn asked sarcastically.
"He couldn't move his hand that time! Now he can take care of himself. The wound is on his back not his arm!"
"Even if it was his shoulder, he could still eat by himself. There was no reason for you to feed him," Evelyn argued. "Why are you lying to me? You like him!"
"The hell, Evelyn!" Zadhea felt depressed. She subconsciously turned her head towards Heidith's direction just in time to meet his eyes. When she saw his gaze, her heart skipped a beat and blood streamed to her cheeks.
She blinked and quickly looked away, weakly mumbling, "I don't like him."
"Why are you blushing though?" Evelyn exposed her with a smirk.
"Gosh Evelyn!" Zadhea blushed even more. "You are having illusions. I feel cold. That's why my face must be red. Remember, winter is around the corner."
"Yeah. Winter was such a critical time period in the book. I hope it's not the same in reality." Evelyn felt a little restless. She prayed for Zadhea's safety in her heart. She didn't want anything bad happen to her. Zadhea was like a sister to her.
If one day she had to die for her, she wouldn't hesitate to do so.
When she was in Shensai highschool as Theresa, she wasn't close to Minosha. It wasn't because she didn't like her. She actually loved to become her friend but was afraid to do so since Minosha always shut herself from others. She didn't speak to others for too long, always wore a hoodie and had a cold, emotionless personality. If Theresa were to convince that she would be such a cold hearted introvert's best friend in the future, she wouldn't believe it.
But over the years, when she got to know about Zadhea well, she loved her so much. She could realise why she always acted cold as Minosha in the past. Her family situation made her turn into such a person. She endured so many hardships.
Because of that, no matter what, Evelyn wanted her to be happy. She wanted her to live a carefree life without hardships. That's why she wanted her to marry the prince and live a happy life.
When Zadhea ignored her for three freaking months, she became so angry that she thought of never talking to her. But the minute she saw her, she couldn't help forgiving her.
No matter what, she couldn't get angry at her for that long.
She forgave her instantly.
"Don't worry. With me here, everything will be fine." Zadhea patted her own chest. "I'm the lucky star Evangeline."
She was referring to the evening star that was shown in a Disney movie called, 'The princess and the frog'.
Evelyn giggled. "Yep. You're Heidith's Evangeline."
Unlike as usual, Zadhea didn't rush to deny it. She pretended not to hear Evelyn's words as she put some pasta in her mouth. However, there was a faint smile on her lips, almost invisible.
"Are you even listening to me?" A voice brought Heidith back to his senses and he looked beside him to see Stella staring at him with her lips pressed together as she held a fork with pasta in her right hand.
"Yes, what?" He gave her an apologetic smile. "Can you repeat what you were saying?"
Stella sighed and put the fork down on her plate.
"Why are you looking at her direction? Can't you remember how horrible she acted? Zadhea, your fiancée, cheated on you with another man!!!"
Others who sat around the same table as them gasped in shock. Vincenzo also raised a brow as a smirk formed on his lips. He actually didn't like Zadhea when he first saw her. He didn't know why but he really didn't like seeing her. In his opinion, she spread bad vibes. However his companion was her fiancé hence he didn't dare to badmouth her. But seemed like she was finally showing her true colours. He was busy with work and couldn't get to know about that steamy gossip and when he finally learnt, he was eager to know more.
"Oh wow! Is it true Rodwef?" He looked at Heidith with interest. 'Let's see what you are gonna say about it.'
Vincenzo pressed on it further when he realized that Heidith was abnormally silent.
"Come on, tell us." Vincenzo clicked his tongue. "Did she really cheat on you with another man? Did she accept it?"
'What a cheesy, lowly gossip!' He laughed in his mind. He was bored for a long time and now he finally got the opportunity to witness a nice drama.
The drama of a pathetic girl who got humiliated in school for her bad actions. Literally, for cheating...
Everyone gathered around the table stopped eating and started staring intensely at Heidith, wanting to hear his answer.
"Yeah. What happened when you met her to question her behaviour?" Stella added, trying to keep a poker face although she was snickering evilly inside.
'Aaah! I wish I had something crispy to eat while listening,' She thought regrettably.
A/N:
Fellow homies,
Your crazy author is back!!!
Let me shower you with tons of chapters from now on..
❤️
Btw, happy Valentine's day for us singles 🤧💖
(Let's continue watching others being lovey dovey before us 😭🤪😅)
Sending flowers and chocolates for you... 💐🍫
Love yourself the most. That way, you can love others genuinely too 🥰❤️