Shifting to a more comfortable feeling, Rhian's elbow hit the pillow, hoisting herself up with her eyes focusing on the book she's reading. Reading the last paragraph of the last page of the book, she smiled upon knowing that the story had a happy ending. She closed the book with a sigh and stand up, heading downstairs.
"Hey Rhian, want some?" Chynna asked, while spreading peanut butter onto a bread.
She chuckled lightly. "That's what I'm here for, actually. So yeah, and can you please make it two?"
"Chynns, can you also make us some popcorn? Specifically with caramel?!" Lovi called out from the living room.
"And also make some orange juice!" Katrina added.
"I thought you guys wanted sandwiches? Chynna questioned.
"We are." Julie-Anne said.
"Then what's with the popcorn and the juice?" Chynna said.
"We also want them." Julie-Anne answered.
"Oh sure! Its not like I needed help here and that I'm perfectly capable of doing all these things by myself." Chynna sarcastically said.
"That's my girl!" Katrina yelled.
Chynna groaned. "You girls suck."
Lovi chuckled. "We love you too Chynns!"
Rhian smiled at their interaction. "I see you guys are getting along with each other."
"Eh, they're not that bad." Chynna shrugged. Rhian smiled, knowing that she enjoys the company of Rhian's friends even though she didn't admit it.
"Where are the others?" Rhian asked, deciding to help Chynna in fixing their snacks. She put the orange mixture onto a pitcher and stirred, before putting ice.
Chynna sighed. "In the game room."
Rhian's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "They're still there?" In answer, she heard distants shouts like 'Take that!' and 'That's what you get, bitch!', accompanied by cheers.
"Wow, they sure are getting addictive." Chynna said to which Rhian nodded. It was true, considering that the guys had spent the whole day in the game room yesterday.
By the time, the popcorn was ready, Rhian had finished her sandwich and offered to bring the juice and the popcorn while Chynna handle with the sandwiches and the chips. The two placed the snacks on the table to which the three thanked them.
Rhian left them and went upstairs. But instead of going in the direction of her room, she went to a room across from it and stepped inside.
The room was the usual color of grey with borders of white. Paintings hang from every wall. Two long tables situated on the left while a couch and two bean bags are on the right. Across from her are two large circular windows overlooking the grasslands of the town. But the most that capture Rhian's eyes were the bookshelves. The room is filled with lots of it, and Rhian couldn't help but sigh at her safe haven.
"Rhian?" The brown-haired girl turn her head to the left and saw Josh standing there with a thick brown book on his hand.
Realization hit him instantly. "I'm sorry if I didn't ask for permission. This is so silly of me. I should go." He put the book and was about to head for the door when Rhian stopped him.
"Hey no, its fine. You can use the library whenever you wish." She said. Josh sent her a thankful smile before he took a sit across from the book he got.
Rhian went to the right side of the corner where mythology books are found. After all these years, she never once paid attention to any book or movie about mythology. But recently, while looking for something to watch on netflix, she came across a movie called Percy Jackson and reading its short description, it has all that mythology vibe. Normally, she would've ignored it and move on to a movie worth watching, but then curiosity got the best of her, so she watched it and surprisingly, she enjoyed it.
Once she saw what she's looking for, she went to sit across from her friend who's eyes are heavily pasted on the book he's reading.
"What are you reading, Josh?" Rhian asked.
"Oh, just a bunch of poems. My readers are asking me when I would start updating, since I haven't publish a chapter for a while. I was hoping I could get some inspiration in here that would help me continue." Josh answered, flipping on the pages.
"Any reason why you haven't publish a chapter?" Rhian said, simultaneously reading a paragraph about Egyptians' lifestyle.
Josh sighed in response. "You are aware of the genre of my book right?"
Rhian nodded. "Yeah, its Sci-Fi. What about it?"
"Well, majority of my readers commented that I should add some romance in the story. So being the good author that I am, I agreed. I already have the two characters they asked, but, I don't know where their romantic story goes. Hell, I don't really know much about romance." Josh rambled, messing up his soft hair. "So here I am having a writer's block, stuck in something I don't even know the solution to."
"Why don't you ask Dennis? I'm sure he can help you." Rhian suggested, knowing that the guy knows more about romance stuff.
"I thought so too. But he didn't take it seriously and kept joking around, constantly teasing me. You know how he is." Then he turn his gaze at Rhian. "What about you? Would you help me?"
"Oh Josh, I'm not really expert on that kind of stuff, you know that. I'm really sorry." Rhian apologized.
"Its alright. I guess I'll just stick with this one." Josh raised the thin book and sighed in defeat.
He didn't know why he even bothered asking Rhian. Out of the five people in their group, the two of them are the only ones who doesn't participate in any romantic things, as well as entertaining people that admired them a little too much.
Rhian felt a little guilty at her friend, but what could she do? She's equally ignorant to those sort of things as he is. Not knowing what to say next, she continued on reading.
Completely engrossed at the book she's reading, Rhian was now halfway through, finding the book interesting. Josh was now lying his head on the closed book, his right arm extending on the table while the other was on the side of his face, shielding himself as he sleeps.
Just then, she heard the door squeaking in open then being closed noisily. Josh gaze up at the person with squinted eyes, groaning before rubbing his eyes.
Rhian watch the person stare with complete awe and amazement until it fell on her.
"Wow! This room is bigger than my house!" Glaiza said
Noticing that he had drift off to nap, Josh decided to continue his sleep in his room. Rhian said good luck and hoped that he find the inspiration he's looking for to which Josh just sent her a nod before heading out.
Glaiza gave the brown-haired girl a questioning look but Rhian shrugged and went back to her reading. The latter knew that the short-haired girl went to roam around the wide room. She sighed in relief, thankful that she wouldn't be dealing with her just yet.
But it didn't last long much to Rhian's dismay when Glaiza sat on the table just beside her.
"You do know the purpose of these chairs right?" Rhian said, her eyes fixated on the book she's still reading.
From the corner of her eyes, she saw the short-haired girl shrug and just to irritate her more, Glaiza hoist her feet up and rest her arms on her folded knees.
Rhian glared at her. "Seriously?"
Glaiza smiled smugly and ignored her comment. "What are you reading?"
"I'm not answering your question until you get your feet off of the table. Like seriously, I don't want germs from your feet on this table." Rhian said.
"Fine." Glaiza rest on her stomach, her elbows propped up, her face in both her hands with her feet folded up.
"What? You said my feet, not my body." Glaiza said smirking when Rhian rolled her eyes.
Reading the title of the book herself, Glaiza asks, "What has gotten you interested in egyptian gods and goddesses?"
"I watched a movie about it and had me curious about them." Rhian answered, her nose still buried on the book.
Glaiza raised her eyebrows in surprise. "But I thought you said you hate those kinds of stuffs. Now you're watching and reading it?"
"What are you talking about? I never said that." Rhian said, refusing to acknowledge that the short-haired girl is right.
"Uh yes you did. Don't you remember? We were having a sleepover at your house and I suggest that we watch that movie called The Clash of Titans and I specifically remember you saying, and I quote, We're not watching that. You know I don't like movies that doesn't increase our knowledge about important things. That includes movies about mythology and fantasy." Glaiza said. " You even forbade me to watch those kind of genres whenever I use your tv, even though you're not gonna watch it anyway."
Knowing that her mouth is slightly parted from the surprise that the short-haired girl remembered her saying that, Rhian cleared her throat to hide her embarassment from lying. She ignored the smirk on Glaiza's face as she flipped through the next page.
"Whatever. Its not like I actually hate it, I just... don't like them. There's a difference." Rhian muttered.
Glaiza smiled. "That's understandable. I know you can't resist anything when it comes to books. I remember when we were little, you would beg your father to take you to the bookstore during the weekends and I've seen you thrown a fit when he said no. Its funny because, most young girls would wish for barbie dolls, and then when it comes to you-"
Rhian cut her off and place her book down. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean this to be rude, but can you stop talking for a while? Just for, I don't know, three to five minutes? I'm trying to concentrate here and I couldn't understand what I'm reading with all your talking."
Glaiza's mouth formed into an 'o' in understanding and nodded. Rhian let out a thankful sigh before continuing on reading. The former sat up, feeling the pain on her elbows with her feet now dangling from the table. She look at Rhian and decided to copy her.
She disappeared between the two wide bookshelves and grab whatever nice book title she could find. Then went back to sit across from her.
"Alright." Glaiza sighs. "Lets see what this is about."
Pausing her reading, Rhian look up, narrowing her eyes at the short-haired girl, but the latter just shot her a quick smile before dropping her eyes at the book she got. Rhian shook her head then went back to her own book.
During her reading, Rhian could hear the constant sighing and the rapid flipping of the pages. She would sometimes peek from her book and find the short-haired girl scanning the book with a bored look.
By the time Rhian finishes the entire book, she look back at Glaiza and saw her cheek rested on her fisted hand. Her head was bobbing back and forth as she fought the urge to close her eyes.
Glaiza's back immediately straighten up as she heard the slight slamming noise of Rhian's book.
"I uhm..." Glaiza cleared her throat."You done reading?"
Rhian nodded. "And you? What book are you reading?"
"African History." Glaiza answered, taking a glimpse of the book cover.
"Uh-huh. And what about it?" Rhian leaned back on her chair.
"Uhm, y-you know, its about Africa and the h-history of its... people." Glaiza smiled sheepishly.
"You just literally paraphrase the title of the book." Rhian said. "You didn't really read it, did you?"
"Yes, I did!" Glaiza said defensively. Rhian raised her eyebrow, seemingly not convinced at what she said.
"Okay fine." Glaiza sighed in defeat. "You're right, I didn't really read it. But in my defence, there were a lot of words but less pictures in it. I mean who does that?"
"Uh majority of the authors do." Rhian said in an obvious tone. "Take for example, our books?"
"Oh right... " Relaization hit the short-haired girl. "Well, but still, they should add more photos to make the book less boring... You know what? I should probably tweet that. As a reminder to all the authors out there."
Rhian stare at her in amusement. "If you find books so boring, why'd you even pick it? Last time I check, you don't like reading."
Glaiza sighed and close her book. "Well, I was in the gaming room with the guys. For a while it was fun but then I kept winning against them so it got boring. Then I went here. Imagine my surprise when this room was a massive library! Then seeing you so concentrated, I thought maybe I should give books a try and that maybe I'll find it interesting. And damn was I wrong."
"Not suprising. Only few people appreciates books like I do. I don't blame you though. I guess it just depends on the person." Rhian said and stood up, carrying the book. Glaiza mimic her and followed the brown-haired girl to the bookshelves where she return the book.
"Give me that." Glaiza hand her the book she's holding, following her once again in a different bookshelf and put the book back on its original place.
Glaiza stared at her in surprise. "How'd you know that's where I got it from?"
"I helped my father turn this room into a library. Every bookshelves is categorized genre after genre. And every book in a particular bookshelf is lined up alphabetically according to its book title." Rhian smiled proudly as she scan the library. "Everything in this room is arranged according to my liking."
"Wow, that's- you really are a literature enthusiast, huh?"
Rhian only smile in response before she went out, with Glaiza behind her. Before the latter could say something, someone appeared, cutting Glaiza off.
"Rhian! Oh there you are! Come with me, you've got to see what Jason did!" Lovi frantically said, pulling her cousin. Curiously, Glaiza followed them.
Everyone was crowded in the living room. The girls occasionally squealing while the boys nudging each other staring in awe at something on the table. Jason sat across from all of them, a proud smile on his face. When his eyes find Rhian, he was quickly on his feet and approach her.
"Hey sweetheart." Jason grab her hand and stole a quick kiss on the back of her palm. Not fast enough to pull it back, Rhian made a disgusted look and cross her arms.
"Don't call me that." She said then nudge her chin towards her busy friends on the living room. "What's going on there?"
Jason shrug with a smile. "See for yourself."
Shooting a questioning look at her cousin, Rhian only receive a smile. Approaching the small crowd, Sam and Julie-Anne made way for her to see it. Rhian's eyes widened at what she's seeing.
The table, all four corners of it, is full of sweets and desserts. All of it comes in different shapes and sizes. From the small wrappered-candy all the way to large boxes of cakes.
"Woah." She heard the short-haired girl muttered.
"Damn Rhian! You are so lucky!" Katrina said eyeing the things on the table.
"Yeah." Chynna and Julie-Anne agreed in unison.
"That's a lot of... diabetes food." Josh mumbled, adjusting his glasses.
"Hey Rhian, you really got yourself an amazing suitor. Ain't that right dude?" Paul said, nudging at Dennis while unwrapping a Ferrero chocolate.
"Oh yeah, she sure has." Dennis answered, slicing quickly on a chocolate cake and stuffing it on his mouth.
"Hey, slow down you two! You're ruining my gifts for my sweetheart!" Jason shrieked, shooting daggers at the two guys.
As soon as his attention went back to the brown-haired girl, Julie-Anne went behind the two boys and smack both their heads. Dennis immediately stop eating and rub his head while Paul glared at the girl, complaining why she hit them. Julie-Anne crouch at their level and whispered something, pointing fingers at both of them.
At the corner of her eye, Rhian saw the situation unfold and she had to bite her inner cheek to prevent from smiling. To her, it looks like her friend, Julie-Anne, was scolding like a mother to her children, who now, had their heads hung low like two guilty small boys.
She was brought to reality when she felt a nudge on her side. Rhian look at her cousin questioningly to which the latter motioned her chin towards Jason.
Rhian blinked. "Sorry, what were you saying again?"
"I asked if you liked my gift. Mother had a good friend of hers who owns a store that sells only the most expensive and the most delicious sweets in the world. I purchase one pack of each with my own money and of course, me being her favorite boy, Tita gave me a couple of cakes." Jason chuckled. "Although now that I think about it, she does spoil me a lot and I love it."
Rhian and Lovi exchange a look before the former answered, "Look Jason, I appreciate your effort on this, but I'm not really into sweets."
But good God, those are so tempting!
"Its alright. I know that some time, you'll eventually crave for it. So it'll still be yours. Besides, I figured that you're missing out on these since..." Jason then smirked, his gaze went to Glaiza. "I know that your precious girlfriend is, let's just say... struggling financially. I'm sure that buying you expensive gifts like these is probably the least thing that would cross her mind. Or well, maybe it wouldn't cross her mind at all, considering the money issue."
Brian immediately stood up from his seat and face him. "Dude, stop. We don't cross that line."
Jason smiled innocently. "I'm not crossing anything. I'm just stating a fact and being an understanding friend. A girl like Rhian should be treated like a royal, showering her in gifts and things she wanted and deserve. Clearly, she couldn't receive any of these from a girl like Glaiza."
At this, Paul clench her fists and glared at the arrogant guy. "Shut the fuck up, Jason. I'm warning you."
Jason ignored him and laughed bitterly, "A little tip Rhian, if you're gonna have a fake relationship, at least pick someone who's worthy of challenging me. Not someone, who in this case, is a mere poor girl who's status is equal to that of a garbage man."
Hearing this, Katrina lunge at him, both of them falling down the couch. Anger rose from the girl as she kept on punching the guy at his chest.
"No one, and I mean no one, speaks to my best friend like that! You fucking asshole! If I ever hear you again saying something like that to her, I won't hesitate in cutting off your filthy tongue! You sick bastard!" Katrina spat.
With a final pull, Josh and Chynna had manage to pull back the enraged girl while Dennis and Paul held back Jason who wanted to lunge at the girl and take revenge. The rest of the girls went to calm down Katrina.
"Stop! That's enough, Jason!" Rhian shouted when the guy kept spitting curse words at Katrina and saying that he meant every word he said.
"Hearing hurtful and below-the-belt words coming from your mouth Jason, makes me wonder what the hell my father see in you." With this, Jason stop struggling and look at the brown-haired girl. "Seeing the way you acted, I'm glad that I didn't accept your hand in marriage. Now I'm even disgusted to be in a same room as you."
Jason stood up with slight wide eyes. "Rhian, no, I'm sorry, it wasn't my-"
The brown-girl held up her hand and said, "Its not me who you owed an apology."
Jason turn to Glaiza and gave a sigh. "Glaiza, I'm sorry."
The short-haired girl who had been silent for a while, scoffed internally, her eyes on the guy who had insulted her for the past two minutes. Brushing off the clearly insincere apology, she slowly walk up to the guy, letting Lovi's hand on her arm drop, stopping a few inches at Jason.
"Its alright. You're forgiven." Glaiza swear she saw a faint smirk on Jason's somewhat serious face. "But I hope you wouldn't do that again. I am aware of my social status and my financials, so you don't have to remind me."
"Of course, of course." Jason replied with a hint of amusement.
Glaiza frowned.
Here I am accepting his apology and this guy finds the situation funny? The fuck!
"You know what, Jason, you were right on some of those things you said. I'm not worthy enough to challenge or compete with you. You have the looks, the money, and all of that. But I also have that you don't."
Jason tilted his head in curiousity. "And what is that?"
"Well, the person I love has mutual feelings for me. You say you have everything to offer to her, and yet I'm the one she chose. Unlike you, she doesn't need to be forced in order to get her love. That unlike you, I actually got the girl." Rhian was now by Glaiza side and held her hand, smiling proudly at her. Glaiza smiled back before turning back to Jason with a poker face look. "So insult me all you want, I'll still have Rhian by my side. And I'm confident that she'll stay with me. I guess you'll just have to deal with that."
Seeing the look at Jason's face, with his thick eyebrows furrowed together in anger and his fists clenched together, Glaiza couldn't help but smirk. Giving one last look at the angered guy, she turn back and walk away, with Rhian behind her.
Closing the door behind her, Rhian smiled in awe at Glaiza who sat on the bed, sighing in relief.
"Woah. What you said back there, that- that was unexpected. And you were so calm and confident. I don't know how you did that." Rhian said, shaking her head in disbelief.
"Yeah, well, that's how amazing I am..." Glaiza winked to which Rhian roll her eyes. "But, it wasn't easy. It took a lot of self-restraint to punch his stupid face and shove a foot down his neck."
Rhian's smile faltered, remembering Jason's words. "Right, I'm really sorry about Jason saying those words to you. Its so shitty of him to do that."
Glaiza sighed and Rhian swore that she saw pain on the short-haired girl's eyes, but it dissapeared quickly. "You don't have to apologize for him. Its not your fault. Besides, its not the first time someone had said that to me. I've heard worse."
Rhian paused, not knowing what to say.
What did she mean by that? Did someone verbally abuse her? Was it when she was still in the U.S.? Why didn't she tell me? Oh right, we weren't in speaking terms that time. Wait, is that why she wouldn't speak to me? Had she suffered from depression?
Questions swam in Rhian's head. She wanted to know. But just before she could open her mouth and voice the questions, Glaiza spoke, "But anyway, that's in the past. And I've learned to handle people like Jason."
Rhian hesitantly nodded, figuring that the short-haired girl was not ready to tell her. But would Glaiza tell her eventually? Right now, she still don't know where the two of them stands. Are they friends? Enemies? Acquaintances? Best friends? She didn't know if Glaiza would trust her again to tell her own secrets like before.
She wouldn't lie when she say that she misses their relationship in the past. The closeness they had before. She misses hanging out with her best friend. And now she hope that they could be like that again. She remembered Glaiza saying that, on the day the two of them had reconciled. But now she don't know if what Glaiza said is whether true or not.
Rhian truly hopes that it's the former.