A Formidable Opponent

"Are you really okay with this?"

Arthur raised his head from the cup ramen that he ordered from the restaurant. "I'm okay. I've been craving spicy things lately. Do you think I'm pregnant?"

Katherine hit him with her unwrapped chopsticks. "Stop fooling around and be honest with me. Are you really okay with this?"

"I said I'm okay. Why do you keep on asking me the same question over and over?" He complained as he devoured the steaming noodles and blew air through his mouth to cool them down.

"Did you really see them kiss? And you didn't feel anything?"

Arthur nearly spat out the ramen on Katherine's face but he was able to stop himself in a split second and swallow the entire thing without chewing it properly. He drank a mouthful of water before looking at Katherine's serious face.

Then he remembered what happened that night.

He just got out of the shower and was about to go to Zeanne's room to check if she already made it home when the motion sensored light of their gate turned on and peeked through his window. He opened his curtains wider and looked down to see if it was Zee who triggered it.

He saw her disheveled hair and smiled.

But his smile quickly faded when he noticed that she was with someone. He got up on his desk that was by the window and found a comfortable position with his legs crossed. "As expected. Fafa Craige is really depend--"

The words got stuck on his throat when he saw that Craige closed his eyes and Zeanne pulled him down by the neck. Although his vision was 20/20, he stil could not see if their lips touched and as if on cue, the lights also turned off.

"Did Zee just--?" Arthur was really shaken.

But before he could even recover from the shock, the lights turned on again and revealed Craige pulling Zeanne closer. This time, his eyes didn't fail him and he clearly saw their lips mesh with each other. Zeanne looked frozen at first but she eventually wrapped her arms back around Craige's neck as their kiss turned really intense.

Arthur slowly turned away from the window and got down from the table, toppling in the process his precious MOON-4869 Gundam that he shipped all the way from Japan. The customized miniature model of his favorite mobile suit broke into pieces as it hit the floor with a loud crash and he feebly dropped on his knees beside it.

He carefully picked up the disintegrated and cracked plastic limbs with a heavy heart.

His chest was hurting as if it was being poked by a million swords.

Arthur snorted as he snapped out from his painful musing. "How could I not feel anything after what happened?"

"Right? You're still human after all." Katherine nodded while patting his shoulder.

Arthur caught her hand and placed it on the table without letting go. "I felt so ashamed of myself. It made me feel like I'm some kind of degenerate spying on my little sister while she's changing her clothes."

Katherine's jaw dropped. "That's it?"

Arthur blinked a couple of times and nodded. "Eung."

"Do you really not feel anything for her?" Katherine frowned in confusion because she was pretty sure that Arthur was harboring romantic feelings for Zeanne. And she's had that suspicion for a long time.

Arthur gave her that look as if she just asked him if 1 plus 1 was equal to 2. "How can I not feel anything for her? Seriously, Kath. What do you want to hear from me?"

"The truth." She answered firmly.

Arthur watched her for a while before he finally gave in and asked in a suspenseful voice. "Do you think you can handle the truth?"

"I can." Her voice sounded as resolute as the look in her eyes.

Taking a deep breath, he propped his chin on one hand while looking at her. "Do I have feelings for Zee? I do. Did I feel anything when I saw them kiss? I did. How could I not? Like I said, I'm only human. But am I against their relationship? No. Craige is a great guy and he seemed really sincere about her. I just felt it. I'm a guy too. You're not going to ask me why I didn't act on my feelings, right? You of all people should know the answer to that."

Katherine was quiet for a long time while Arthur finally finished his ramen. Then after he drank his water, she finally asked again. "Are you sure hat you're not going to regret that you kept this to yourself?"

"If I have the luxury to regret it later, then maybe I will. But for now, I'm just happy for both of them." He took the wrapper of the ice cream that she was eating and threw it along with his garbage in the bin. Then he put an arm over her shoulders. "Besides, with Zee out of the picture, I can have you all to myself."

He winked at her playfully and she could just chuckle because he seemed to be trying his best to look okay.

Katherine patted his arm. "Fine. I'll do my best to comfort you, buddy. With my best friend busy right now, I'll have time to keep you company. What else do you want to eat?"

"Awh! I knew it! You're really the best Kitty!" He rubbed his cheeks against the top of her head. "Can't you just go out with me? Let's have fun on our own."

Arthur was fully expecting her to swing an arm at him but he was astonished when she cooly agreed. "Sure! No problem!"

He froze. "Did I really look that pitiful? Why are you being so kind to me? I hate this."

Katherine grinned. "You did look pitiful. But hey, we're on the same boat, aren't we? We both got dumped by Zee over Clinton."

Arthur let go of her and covered his lips with both his hands. "Oh my gosh! Were you two in that kind of relationship?"

Katherine went along with it by mimicking his gesture. "Oh my gosh! You didn't know?"

He slowly put down his hands to reveal a naughty grin. "Ah ya~ Don't say something like that. That sounded so hot. You're making my imagination run wild."

"Stupid." She laughed as she knuckled him in the forehead.

When they returned to their seat after an entire hour of chatting in the restaurant, they found Zeanne and Craige comfortably sleeping while leaning against each other.

Katherine looked at Arthur. "You okay?"

Arthur tapped his shoulder. "You want to sleep too?"

She shook her head. "You're really amazing."

"You're finally admitting that?" Arthur hushed his excitement but he gave off the feeling of a puppy eager to be praised.

And it was probably because of the ice cream that she had earlier. She was feeling generous with him today. "Yeah. You're amazing."

"Awh Kitty--"

"Don't worry. When you die, I'll ask them to build you a monument for being an awfully amazing martyr." She added with a grin as she plucked out a book from her bag.

Arthur pouted. "I don't know if I should be happy about that or not. It's not like I asked to be a martyr, you know. It just happened that way."

"I guess it's just your fate to be put on a guillotine. You probably did something horrible in your past life." Katherine pointed out as she slowly became absorbed with the book that she was reading.

"You know that I really don't believe in those things. And people should also probably stop thinking about their 'next' life and just live 'this' life to the fullest. We all could only get one chance at 'this' one." Arthur curiously peeked underneath to see the cover of the book that she was reading. She held it up for him to see. "Rebirth and Revenge? Will that make you rich?"

Katherine chuckled at the familiar words. "It won't, but it provides a nice momentary escape from reality. How nice would it be to be reborn again to a fully upgraded and revamped version of yourself?"

Arthur slid lower on his seat and leaned his head on the backrest then closed his eyes "If I were to let myself believe in something as absurd as that, I'd rather believe that all that's happening to us is just a part of a freaking story from a book. That there's someone out there who's in complete control of our fates. That even if we suffer now, we'll eventually get the happy ending that we deserve."

Katherine fell silent and stopped reading as she seriously contemplated on the idea. "That's really not escaping reality right? You believe in heaven and hell after all. Isn't that the same thing?"

He lightly slapped her leg with the back of his hand. "It's different. Just try to imagine yourself as a character in a book. Who would be the most powerful person in that book?"

"The main character?"

"Stuuupid~ It's the author! The author!" With just his right eye open, he pointed at the name of the author of the book that she was holding.

Katherine frowned. "So? What about the author?"

He chuckled and closed his eyes again. "Wouldn't it be funny? It would be really interesting if there's someone out there dictating not just what we say and do, but also what we should feel. A mere human trying to play God."

Katherine shook her head and opened her book again. "Why would I want to imagine something like that? I want to get away from reality to feel good. But what you're suggesting is such a depressing thought."

"Is it?" Arthur snickered and his voice sounded gruff as he spoke. "I find it amusing though. Especially if it's possible for me to meet them in person."

Katherine frowned when she heard the sleep in his voice. "What would you do if you meet that person?"

"Depends on how they will end this story." He shifted in his place, making the seat look really cramped. "I'll give her a big hug if it's a happy ending. I'll even kiss her if she lets me."

Katherine chuckled. "And if it's a man?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "It really wouldn't matter at that point. I'll just swing both ways."

"What if it's not a happy ending?" Katherine threw the question while admitting to herself that Arthur's idea was indeed interesting.

"We'll see. If later on I become a character capable of killing someone, then I guess that could be their worst case scenario." He laughed but it sounded sluggish. "This is fun. I can imagine the author right now, panicking while rewriting the whole story just to make sure that I remain the good guy in the end."

Katherine patted his leg with a smile. "That's right. Be a good boy and stop fighting sleep. I'll make sure to get you an appointment with Mia's dad when we get back."