Chapter 20: Lunch Together!

Both of them seemed to be in a good mood, a nice atmosphere surrounded them. The atmosphere around them was bright and pleasant. They were smiling at each other. Both of them could feel how at ease they felt around each other, it was comfortable.

"Are you free at lunch today? Do you wanna have lunch together?" He smiled, with his eyes gentle and then wide as if he was expecting a positive response. He awaited a positive answer from her.

"Oh! for lunch you could join us. I eat lunch with my friends," She smiled back at him, both of them were in a pleasant mood and in sync with each other at the moment.

"Really? Are you sure they won't mind?" he raised his eyebrows and then he made a puppy face, his eyes wide, and begging her to say yes. He was a little bummed but this was still a good opportunity. All he wanted was to spend some time with this mysterious girl that intrigued him. He wanted to get to know her better.

"Yeah, I'm sure", she assured him with a grinning face. She suddenly stopped in the middle of the hallway, "Okay, I'm this way," she pointed her index finger towards the right direction and added, "see you at lunchtime then", she smiled gently before turning to leave.

"Oh! I'm that way. Yeah, see you at lunch. Btw, where do you guys usually eat? Where should I meet you?", he was dumbfounded at first, then he quickly picked up his pace to catch up and shouted to her before she walked further away and couldn't hear him anymore.

"Oh! Right! Meet us outside our class then we can go together. I'm in 1-A. We usually eat at the garden downstairs", she turned behind her to inform him, provide him with the important bit of information she almost forgot to share with him, before continuing towards her class.

With that, both of them went on to their respective classes. Rei was certainly more excited about having lunch together than Alena. He couldn't wait for the lunch break to arrive; he wasn't able to contain his excitement. He wished he could just skip to the good part as soon as possible.

He threw a victory punch in the air which gained him stares from those around him making them wonder if he had gone crazy all of a sudden.

Rei couldn't concentrate properly on his classes. He was constantly looking at the clock, waiting and wishing for the time to pass quickly.

During lunch, they all gathered to meet up as decided in front of Alena's class. From there they went to the giant garden behind the school grounds to enjoy their lunch together under the shade of a tree.

The lush green garden was adorned with plants that had different types of flowers, and there were bushes, shrubs and trees which were neatly cut into different shapes and sizes. It was a beautiful garden worth having photo sessions at. It was clean and aesthetically pleasing to look at.

"Omg, it's Rei! What is he doing here? He's going to join us for lunch today??" Yuki whispered to Aiko with excitement, she could barely keep it in while they walked towards their destination for having lunch.

"I know right? Are you thinking what I am thinking?", Aiko responded with a smirk and kept winking at Yuki. Her face was lit up with smugness.

"Totally, duh!", Yuki rolled her eyes and chuckled, covering her mouth with her hands.

"It's for Alena!", they both say it at the same time. Rei who was nearby blushed a little after hearing it. They were loud enough to capture his attention.

"Shh, quiet down you two!", Natasha shushed them both as she whispered into their ears, covering their mouths with her hands to stop them from babbling any further and smiled politely at Rei. "Don't worry, they are just acting a little crazy today. It's probably the heat that got them both. I'll take them to get some drinks for us all," Natasha's cheeks hurt from grinning for so long, she wanted to stop.

"We welcome you to our humble eating place. You guys go ahead," she winked at Rei after letting go of Aiko and Yuki and pinching them right before they left.

"Ouch!", Aiko and Yuki yelped in unison, rubbing the areas on their arms that were red with hurt.

"Watch it you two, keep your gossip to yourselves. We don't want to scare him away", Natasha spoke in an authoritative tone, she was loud enough to capture the attention of people passing by them. The girls grabbed some orange juice before heading back to follow Alena and Rei who were walking close to each other.

They watched how Rei looked at Alena, and all of them smirked. Rei is one of the most popular guys in the high school. All the girls drool over him. He is especially well known for his cheeky yet kind nature. He is a common crush of the first years and also some seniors. He was popularly known as 'the prince' for his princely mannerisms – the gentlemanliness, calm nature, optimism, enthusiastic aura, energetic persona and his kindness.

The girls of the school would frequently exchange stories about him and his kindness, all gushing over him. One such time was when he protected the shy and docile girl from her bullying classmates. Another such princely and heroic time was when he took home a kitten that was shivering in the cold, someone had abandoned the kitten near the community park and the poor kitten shivered and mewed, begging for food weakly under the cold rain. There were plenty of such incidents and popular anecdotes and even rumours about him spread across the school grounds. He was known as the 'gentle prince' as he was the gentlest amongst the seven popular princes in Sakura Elite High.

Rei was nervous after being left with Alena alone all of a sudden. It was obvious that they all knew why he was here which made him more nervous and now they had left him alone with Alena knowing that he wanted it.

Natasha is as cunning and clever as the rumours say he thought and smiled to himself. To think he would get to spend some time alone with her so soon! He wasn't prepared at all. Alena looked up at him and smiled politely which made Rei blush even more.

'Can she get any cuter?' he thought to himself.