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Part 25
It never really occurred to me how stupid I had been all this times.
I mean, it was already suspicious why Daniel started to suddenly talk with me in the first place when we had never approached each other before, and now it was pretty obvious that Daniel didn't truly like me. It had all been just an act, from the way he treated me like a jerk during our first few encounters and suddenly changed into the sweetest guy after.
But then again, he seemed so sincere when he was with me. I guessed there was really no way for us to tell when a guy was just playing with us.
As I found myself crying inside a stall of the guys' bathroom, because of the feeling of betrayal, shock and hurt, my cell phone started vibrating, the screen saying that it was an incoming call from Daniel.
It was either he found out about me eavesdropping on his conversation and was going to explain, or he was asked by Jessica to call me and continue his job.
I went for the latter, seeing how it was impossible for him to know I was there since he was so engrossed with talking to Jessica.
I rejected the call, but right after I did, another thought suddenly formed in my mind. Daniel still had no idea I knew of his mission. And if I kept avoiding him, he'd definitely notice something was wrong. It wasn't the right time for him to know yet, so when my cell phone rang once again, I picked it up and tried to sound normal as I answered. "Hello."
"Arthit! Why weren't you answering your phone?" he asked, sounding friendly and sweet as usual.
"Oh, it's because I didn't notice my phone ringing until now." I remarked, faking a laugh as I unlocked the stall and walked out. "Why did you call me?"
"Do I have to have a reason to call you?" he asked jokingly. But he didn't let me answer that. He continued talking. "I was just wondering, what was the color of the flower's wrapper I gave you yesterday?"
Remembering the rose Jessica was holding earlier, I could recall it was baby blue wrapper around the pink rose. "It's blue, baby blue. Why do you ask?"
"You've just guessed that, didn't you?" he suddenly responded. Then he sighed and his vice suddenly turned disappointed. "Why didn't you tell me you didn't receive my rose?"
I was really tempted to say that it wasn't really 'his' rose, but Jessica's, however, I reminded myself that I shouldn't let the cat out of the bag because I wasn't ready yet. It was time to pay him back. Two can play this game. "Um, it's because I didn't want to upset you. You seemed so eager to get my reaction that I was afraid if I told you I didn't get it, you would really get hurt." I lied, though it was quite true, since that was how I felt before I found out about his twisted ways.
"You should've told me so I could get it back for you." he answered, back to sounding normal. "I wonder who stole it. Do you have any idea?"
Suddenly, I thought of a way to scare him and mess with him a bit. "Maybe it's Jessica. She once stole my notes from my locker, so maybe she's the one who stole the roe." I remarked, walking back and forth as I spoke.
As I expected, he didn't speak right away. In fact, he took a while before he spoke and when he did, he didn't give a reaction to what I said. "Look, I need to go. I'll just see you in class later, okay?" he said, then he hung up.
Hah, I really scared him there!
It never dawned to me that all the times Daniel and I talked, we've never really stumbled upon Jessica as our topic. What if I had mentioned Jessica in our earlier conversations, would we have been awkward then? Would he feel uncomfortable? But then again, when Jessica was attacking me, he intervened and protected me from her. Was that just a big act? Gosh, it must've been...
I took a deep breath, wiped the tears off my face and decided to accept this as another lesson in my life that would only make me stronger.
As I opened the door of the bathroom door to exit, my swirling thoughts continued to confuse me. But when I stepped outside, I was surprised to see Kongpob Suthiluck standing a few meters away, leaning against the wall as if he was waiting for someone. And as he was standing there, he would wave to the people who greeted him. I couldn't help thinking that he was waiting for me all this time.
"Hey, why are you waiting for me?" I asked him as I neared him.
When he heard me, he turned to me and raised his brow. "Who said I was waiting for you? I'm not." He remarked, but his piercing eyes were taking in my puffy red eyes and dried tears on my face.
I crossed my arms as I stood in front of him and also raised my brow at him. "Oh yeah? Then what are you doing here?" I asked him, knowing that he was really waiting for me. I mean, what else could he be doing there? His classroom was on the other side of the building.
"I'm leaning against the wall, waving at people I know and just hanging out." He answered simply, that smug smile back on his face. "Is there something wrong with that?"
I was about say there was, but I suddenly changed my mind. If I treated him the way I usually did, he'd definitely leave me here. "Not at all." I replied with a small smile.
Kongpob turned and just looked at me like there was something wrong with me so I decided to pretend to be nice to him was useless. I turned back to my usual approach towards him. "Just tell me, how did you learn about it? Have you known it for long?"
"Learn about what? About your love for chocolates with almonds?" He responded with a naive expression and that twinkle back in his dark eyes. But I knew that he was aware of what I was talking about. He was just teasing me again.
"Never mind." I exclaimed angrily, turning around and starting to walk away from him.
That was when he turned serious again. "I heard them talking about it, the day of the varsity's first game." He finally answered my question.
"Then why didn't you tell me then?!" I blurted out, turning back to him. "No, wait, why would you tell me now? Of course you wouldn't tell me, since you seem to enjoy making me feel like a fool. I bet you probably even planned this thing earlier, didn't you?"
I didn't know why, but there was something about Kongpob that always made me throw my anger at him. I knew for a fact that I shouldn't be mad at him because it was Daniel who was my enemy right now. But somehow, I always felt emotional around him and simply wanted to vent out my anger at him.
He really was messing with my feelings a lot.
Before I could drag us into an even bigger fight, I turned to walk away, feeling extremely frustrated. Everything Daniel had told me before, the cake, asking for my number, all of them were just a result of Jessica's plans. How could she be so insensitive to play with my feelings like that? I know it was all because of her jealousy towards me and Kongpob, but it wasn't as if I'd steal Kongpob away from her. I wasn't the type of person who would date a best friend's ex, and she, of all people, should know that, after I let myself be humiliated by doing my mission of destroying Kongpob just for Nam. Jessica knows I dislike Kongpob! Heck, everyone does... So why does she still hate me so much?
Before I entered my classroom, Daniel suddenly called me from behind, causing me to put on a fake smile as I turned and greeted him. "Hey!" I spoke enthusiastically.
"Sorry about earlier, Michael suddenly asked me to help him with his homework." Daniel apologized as he and I entered the room side by side.
I faced him without removing my smile. "It's okay, I understand." I lied. Then I waved at him and headed for the seat beside Nam. When she saw me, she smiled brightly and nudged me lightly. "What did he tell you?" she asked excitedly.
For a moment, I couldn't believe how she could still be like that after what I learned of Daniel. But then I remembered that no one knew about it yet, except for me, Kongpob and Jessica. (And maybe Kongpob's fan club) and so, I decided to once again, pretend like nothing was wrong.
"Nothing, he just said hi." I lied, avoiding her eyes by rummaging through my bag so I wouldn't be caught lying. "Do we have any homework today?"
"Wait a minute, you've just cried, haven't you?" she suddenly exclaimed as she looked at me with squinted eyes. She must've noticed my voice quivering though as I was trying hard to hide it. "What happened?"
Just as I opened my mouth to explain, the teacher suddenly walked in. And so, I just took out a clean sheet of paper and began to write what happened earlier. When I handed her the paper, the teacher was, luckily, facing the board, writing an equation. But she almost called everyone's attention when she exclaimed in shock upon reading it. "What???"
"Shh!" I whispered to her as I held her arm.
"How could Jessica do something as evil as that?" she asked me in a whisper.
I shrugged in reply, afraid that if I uttered a word, our teacher would hear me and confiscate the paper. Nam realized that too, and started writing her words on the paper. She wrote that she should've realized it earlier, remembering the kind of mean and attacking treatment Jessica gave her when she was still dating Kongpob. "She is really desperate for Kongpob and now that he isn't with me anymore, she'll do anything just to get him." Nam wrote.
Once again, my mischievous brain started to function. If Jessica was so obsessed with trying to win Kongpob, then if someone was to race her and end up winning against her, she'd definitely be real pissed.
And if I would do that, then I bet she'd be absolutely furious.
It didn't matter that I didn't really like Kongpob, because in this way way I could get revenge on Jessica and on Kongpob for playing with Nam's heart.
It was like hitting two birds with one stone.
I continued to formulate my revenge plan, while our teacher discussed about the equations on the board.
When the class finally ended, I tapped Nam's shoulder excitedly and told her about my plan. And when I did, she just gave me an unreadable expression.
"So, will you help me?" I asked her, hoping that she would say yes. After all, she was the one who probably knew more details about Kongpob after dating him, so she would definitely be a big help.
She thought about it for a moment as she rubbed her chin. But then she gave me a smile. "I'm in." she answered, then followed, "Operation Seduce Kongpob is officially starting."
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