The next day, Heidith met the headmaster in his office and handed over the documents, completing his task. The headmaster was quite impressed because he finished the work within just a week. If it were someone else, it would have taken at least two weeks, possibly with the help of others. Heidith had not only completed the task by himself but had also done so within a short period, gaining the headmaster's admiration.
"I'm impressed, young man. You are quite reliable," Mr. Richards said, his lips curving into a proud smile.
Heidith expressed his thanks politely and added, "To be honest, Stella helped me with it. Not with paperwork but still... If it hadn't been for her, I would have neglected my meals."
"She's such a caring girl," Mr. Richards remarked. "She's so thoughtful of you."
"It seems like that," Heidith admitted. "And I'm grateful for that."
When he came out of the office and headed to the students' council room, Heidith was surprised to see Stella there with a box of food. As their eyes locked, Stella smiled sweetly at him before approaching his side gracefully.
"Good morning, Heidith!" She showed him the box she was carrying. "I made it for you."
For a moment, Heidith didn't know what to say. "Umm, Stella..." He hesitated. "I don't think it's necessary. I can join you guys in the dining hall from now on. No need to cook for me anymore."
"You don't like my cooking?" Stella's eyes welled up in tears as she looked up at him, pursing her lips. "Say it. I won't be sad." Her aggrieved expression betrayed her words.
"It's not like that," Heidith felt a little depressed, not knowing how to handle the situation properly. "I don't want to trouble you any further."
"It's not troublesome, I'm telling you!" Stella was determined. "I'd love to do it for you."
"Stella, please," Heidith was helpless. "I don't want to be ungrateful, but it's truly unnecessary. Don't waste ingredients..."
Stella cut him off, "Waste ingredients? You think I waste ingredients? All this time, you thought of it as a 'Waste'?"
"I didn't," Heidith shook his head with a frustrated look. He then took the box from her hands. "I'll eat it for now, but next time, I only want to eat what other students eat. Your food is delicious, but I don't want any special treatment. That's why."
"Oh," Stella gave him a knowing smile. "So it's like this. Why didn't you tell me sooner? Anyways, I understand now. I won't cook for you anymore. Not forever though. Let me prepare some desserts for you from time to time if you allow me."
"It's my honor," Heidith gave her a polite smile, masking his true emotions. Actually, her food wasn't delicious, just average. Sometimes she even forgot to add salt. But he would never tell her that to avoid hurting her feelings. Heidith despised hurting others emotionally more than physically and didn't want to be that person.
"Whom are your eyes searching for?" Evelyn looked at Zadhea with a curious gaze as she stuffed her mouth with some salad.
Zadhea rolled her eyes and then lowered them to her plate, poking a tomato slice using a fork. "No one."
"Liar!" Evelyn giggled. "Are you looking for Heidith? Are you wondering why he didn't come to have his breakfast?"
Zadhea snorted coldly. "I'm not a busybody." Thereafter, she quickly emptied her plate and stood up, seemingly in a rushed manner. "I'm late. I'll get going."
"Fine, fine." Evelyn playfully waved her hand, still giggling.
Zadhea didn't pay heed to her and went looking for her music class. Speaking of which, she didn't know her mother could be generous enough to let her attend a music class. Seemed like her mother wasn't that bad after all.
It was Zadhea's first time joining the music class, and she was excited.
The teacher hadn't arrived when she approached the stated location.
"Hi! It's my first time here," Zadhea whispered to a girl next to her as she settled down on the reed mat spread on the wooden floor. Zadhea couldn't help but feel a little nervous. "How's she or he?" She was referring to the music teacher.
"I have no idea," The girl said, appearing honest. "It's our teacher's first time too. He was absent all these days and finally came to school just yesterday. His name is Vishwajith. I guess an Indian musician."
"Wow! That's cool." Zadhea exclaimed, becoming even more excited.
She turned her head curiously when she felt someone poking her right shoulder. She gasped loudly when she recognized who it was. "Albino... I mean cabbage! What are you doing here?"
Sully's mouth twitched at her words. "It's Sully," He uttered with a poker face, apparently becoming unhappy with the way she addressed him.
"Oh Silly." Zadhea chuckled.
Sully rolled his eyes. "It's a waste talking to you."
"Don't say that." Zadhea hit him lightly on his shoulder. "Let's be friends, Mr. Sullivan."
Sully was stunned. "How do you know my full name?"
"I just made a rough guess." Zadhea was surprised too. "Why don't you tell me your complete name... Including surname?"
"I'm sorry." Sully lowered his head. "I refuse to reveal my true identity."
"So mysterious." Zadhea narrowed her eyes unhappily. "Aren't we friends now? So why don't you tell me, Mr. Weird creature?"
"Hush!" Sully looked around cautiously. "Someone might hear you."
"Am I the only person who knows you are an alien creature?" Zadhea was stupefied and somehow proud.
"Don't be so arrogant. You aren't the only one." Sully rolled his eyes again. "But you are the most annoying one amongst them."
"It's my honor!" Zadhea mischievously bowed to him with a smug smile on her face. "Dear friend of mine."
Sully didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "Listen, Edwina princess. We met only twice. I can't trust you so easily. Maybe in the future, I'll tell you who I truly am and other things you want to know about me. But for now, just let me be. Don't make me helpless."
It was Zadhea's turn to roll her eyes. "Who made you helpless? Crazy!"
Before Sully could say anything back, the teacher arrived, making their conversation come to an end temporarily.
"Okay, students." He smiled at them as he sat on a short stool before them. Then he carefully put a serpina on a small table in front of him before introducing himself, "My name is Vishwajith. If you find it difficult to pronounce, just call me sir or Sir Vishwa. As you can see, I'm Asian. To be precise, an Indian. I'm here to teach you music as well as..."
"What else?" A boy asked impatiently. He was fed up with the teacher's talking already. "Just teach the damn octave already!"
Vishwajith's smile froze. He commanded in a low voice, "Get out!"
"What did you say?" The boy couldn't believe his ears. "You asked me to go out? How could you?! Don't you know who I am? I'm a prince. Not just a simple prince, a royal one! A future crown prince!"
"I don't care." Vishwajith looked at him coldly. "In my eyes, you are students and I'm the teacher. And you must respect your teacher."
"My father will take care of you for humiliating me like this." The prince glared at him. "He'll extract your eyes as a penalty." Babbling and murmuring, the boy left the room, huffing and puffing.
The teacher watched him leave silently. When that nasty boy disappeared completely, his sweet smile returned to his face as he looked at the other students.
"Okay, let's begin."
At that moment, Zadhea concluded that he was a smiling tiger. 'Ufff! Dangerous.'
When the lunch break approached, Zadhea was worn-out. The music teacher not only trained them to sing Western music octave but also Eastern music, especially Hindustani music octave, saying that the Eastern way was much more effective and powerful for the vocals. That meant they had to sing not only Do, Re, Mi, Fa, So, La, Ti but also Sa, Re, Ga, Ma, Pa, Dha, Ni.
The voice training was truly tiresome!
Zadhea fell on a chair and hid her face in her arms, hoping to take a rest.
"May I sit next to you?" She heard a familiar voice ask, and she didn't need to lift her head to see who he was.
"You may," She answered rather lazily.
"What's wrong?" Heidith became a bit restless at her behavior. "What happened?"
"Nothing." She still didn't raise her head. "I'm tired. That's why."
"Oh." Heidith lowered his head, thinking of something. Then an idea came to his mind, and he excitedly glanced at her, saying, "What about going out with me? I'll show you some interesting places."
Zadhea finally lifted her head as she put her hands on her lap. "Really? You want me to skip evening classes?"
Heidith raised a brow. "You don't like it? I feel like you are not gonna attend the classes later anyway."
"Whatever." She shrugged. In fact, Zadhea really thought of skipping her evening classes. The thing was she didn't want to admit it in front of him. "We have talked things through. I don't see the need for another outing."
Heidith observed her closely. He couldn't help feeling like something was wrong with her. "Are you mad at me?" He questioned in a troubled voice, deciding that it was the only remaining possibility.
Zadhea was taken aback by his unexpected question. She herself couldn't understand why she felt irritated talking to him. He did nothing wrong to her. Could it be...
"Why didn't you come to have your breakfast this morning? Are you neglecting your meals?" She raised a question, hoping to change the topic, but Heidith thought she was angry because he didn't join her for breakfast.
Was that the real reason behind her annoyance at him? It couldn't be, right?
He felt confused. Surely, women are such complicated creatures! No one knows what is in their minds.
"Not really," he scratched his neck.
'Should I tell her that Stella brought me food? I think I should. In that way, I can find out whether she likes me or not.'
'Will you feel jealous, my wifey?'
"But I did have my meals this morning. Stella cooked breakfast for me," Heidith told her the truth sincerely, not adding anything exaggerated. As he spoke, he didn't forget to examine Zadhea's expressions without blinking his eyes even once.
Zadhea let out an 'Oh'. Sure enough, her face darkened as she lowered her eyes to the plate which was now filled with steaming noodles. "How thoughtful of hers," She praised rather sarcastically as she grabbed a fork and began eating indifferently.
Heidith's face lit up in delight. 'Does it mean... Does she like me? At least a little bit? I don't want to be narcissistic, but it seems like...'
'She has a crush on me for sure!'
His mind did a happy dance.
"Yeah. She's the best." Heidith glanced at her secretly, testing her again.
"Yeah, yeah. She's the only one who can cook. We are empty shells. If she's the best why don't you take her to see the so-called interesting places?" Zadhea uttered with an eye roll, feeling even more annoyed.
Heidith shook his head, acting like he was upset. "I'm afraid not. It's not appropriate. Remember, I have a fiancée."
"Who's your fiancée?" Zadhea asked, her voice muffled because of the food in her mouth. Then she quickly chewed it and swallowed before speaking again. "We have broken off our engagement. You said we should go our separate ways. You forgot it this fast?"
Heidith felt like a headache was coming. "I'm sorry. That time, I was blinded by jealousy. But I do know we can never annul our engagement that easily. So why don't we just accept each other? I still like you after all..."
"What?" Zadhea's eyes widened in shock. "What did you say?"
Heidith gulped hard. "Nothing."
"Okay. I think I should go now. Bye!" Zadhea stood up to leave, but Heidith firmly grabbed her wrist, pulling her back to her seat again.
"Wait, listen to me," He breathed out as his heart started pounding super fast. "Zadhea, I'm your fiancé. It's my obligation to love you and care for you, and I'm willing to do that. Please give me a little chance to get close to you. Not as a friend but as your future husband. Please don't deny. I can't listen to your rejections over again and again. I'm helpless too. Try to understand my situation."
"What are you trying to say?" Zadhea asked, becoming serious.
Heidith blew out a soft breath.
"Princess Zadhea, Let's date."