Chapter 4: Metamorphosis

-They said that you should not change yourself just because people want you to change. There is this saying which states that if a person truly loves you, they will accept just the way you are. It will not be pure love if someone loves you just because you change. But what if the only way to be loved is to change yourself; like a caterpillar?-

A moment has pass and still there are only silence in Zane's room. It is like Jayce and Zane are having a staring contest. Both of them are waiting for a sign to start a conversation again. Zane is too afraid to answer Jayce and Jayce realized that he asked such an awkward question. After thinking about something that will crack the ice, Jayce started opening his mouth, but ended up failing since he noticed that Zane's face changed. He can sense that Zane is sad as he saw tears on Zane's eyes.

"You can hate me now dude."

Zane said trying to smile despite of his teary eyes. He experienced being judge and back stabbed by his closest friend when he was in Junior High just because of his family problem and for him it truly hurts. He is afraid that Jayce will be like that also, he is afraid that all of the terrible things that happened to him during his pass will happen again, just because he love Henry.

Jayce was stunned for a moment. Shocked about what Zane said. He tried to recollect his thoughts as he saw Zane still sitting on the floor; trying to clean all of the mess. After a few moments he started to talk to Zane who is trying his best to continue like nothing happened.

"You're stupid."

Jayce said, causing Zane to stop. Zane was startled and shocked because of what Jayce said, he thought he was prepared to this kind of situation but he realized that he is not. Zane's hand started trembling; feeling scared of what will happen next. At that moment Zane just want to run, trying to get away with bashful words as he assumes that Jayce will start to hate him.

Meanwhile, Ritmo is still running, trying to search for an open door at the corridor of one of the buildings of the University. He started to feel exhausted as he continuously tries to escape the gang that keep on chasing him. He was about to give up but he saw the girl's comfort room and decided to enter there to hide. Assuming that no one will be there because it is already late night, but he was startled by the girl who is washing her hands on the sink. The girl was about to scream but Ritmo covered her mouth and pulled her in one of the cubicles.

"I'm sorry but can you be quite for a moment?"

Ritmo requested to the girl. He can hear the gang running outside the girl's comfort room and if someone will make a sound he will be dead for sure. All he have to do is to prevent the girl from making a sound and his day will end soon. But the girl started biting Ritmo's hand causing him to let go of her mouth. The girl was about to start to scream again but Ritmo started kissing him to stop her, after making sure that the gang are already gone Ritmo released the girl from his kiss.

"I'm sorry for that, I am not a pervert I have my reasons, please understand."

Ritmo said to the girl trying to explain everything, because he can tell that the girl is about to cry. But he failed to explain himself as the girl let a loud scream. Ritmo started panicking, he swiftly run trying to get out from the mess he did. He was tired and about to give up but he saw Henry which is on his way to their unit.

"Oh God thank you."

Ritmo said while clinging on Henry's arm.

"Dude what's with you today? Get off me! You're so weird!"

Henry said angrily after he was startled by Ritmo. Little did he know that Ritmo is just relieved that he saw someone he recognizes after all of the running that he did.

"Nothing! Let's go home."

Ritmo replied with a big smile on his face.

On the other hand, Jayce and Zane is about to start a serious conversation. The atmosphere on Zane's room is so tense.

"I'm sorry."

Zane said trying to hold back his emotion. That's the only thing he can say at the moment because right now, it is just too hard for him to think and he don't have actually anything that can defend him, he is guilty... guilty of loving their friend.

"Why are you apologizing to me? It is not your fault that you are in love."

Jayce said causing Zane to look at him in shock. Jayce smiles at him while trying to kneel to help Zane clean all of the mess in his room. He tried his best to comfort Zane since he knows that his friend is quite emotional.

"What are you doing?"

Zane ask with confusion on his voice. He still can't move because actually, he doesn't know what is happening anymore.

"I'm trying to help you stupid."

Jayce said without even looking at Zane. Zane was shocked and dumbfounded. After a few seconds he started to ask question again.

"Are you not going to hate me?"

Zane said, trying to figure out what is in Jayce mind. The question makes Jayce annoyed a little bit; he was offended that Zane assumed that he is the kind of person who hates his friend just because of little things. He stopped picking up the stuffs on the floor and looked at Zane with a frown.

"Dude hell no! Do you see me as a trash person? I cannot hate my friend just because he is in love."

Jayce replied annoyingly to Zane. Zane's worries started to fade as he heard Jayce. He knows that Jayce is a good guy but he didn't realize that he could be that great as a friend and he was so grateful about it. After five minutes of nagging Zane because he thinks wrongly, Jayce started to calm down and forgive his friend.

"Now do you understand what you did is wrong?"

Jayce asked, Zane just nods his head like a child who is guilty about something he did.

"So when did it start?"

Jayce ask again, he was trying to grasp the whole situation for him to help Zane. At first Zane was hesitant to tell everything but because of his guilt he spilled all of it to Jayce: From the start until the end. While Zane is telling his story, Jayce pitied him because he knows that Henry is always in an unstable relationship, and right now he realized how much pain Zane feels all the time. He felt bad for his friend who endured all of that pain for so many years. That's when he realized that they need to do something about it.

"Ok! As of now sleep tight, because we will start tomorrow."

Jayce said while trying to stand up since they are already done picking up all the things on the floor.

"What do you mean?

Zane asked in confusion right before Jayce leave his room.

"You just said that you are worried that if Henry will know the fact that you love him, our friendships will be ruined right? So we need to make him fall in love with you first to make sure that no friendship will be gone."

Jayce said right before he continues to leave Zane's room. Zane keeps on protesting about Jayce's idea until they met Henry and Ritmo outside his room. Ritmo actually talks about random stuffs to Henry during that time. Henry was quite annoyed and tried not to pay attention to Ritmo. But after seeing Jayce going out from Zane's room, everyone was shocked.

"Wait. That's Zane's room right?"

Ritmo asked. Zane is an introvert, no one dares to enter his room because they know that Zane don't like it and he will be mad for sure; and since Jayce just came out from Zane's room, Henry and Ritmo is confused. The four of them was stunned: Jayce and Zane are trying to think for an excuse while Ritmo and Henry are trying to think some reasons why and how Jayce enters Zane's room. In the end Zane just pushed Jayce outside his room before shutting his door. Jayce was left with two curious friends, trying to get some explanation from him. But right before Ritmo and Henry cornered him, he started to run towards their room.

"Hey! We share the same room remember! Open the door you as$hole!"

Ritmo shouted as he was trying to open the door. Since the condo unit has one master's bedroom (which is good for two) and two guest rooms (which Henry and Zane have). Because Henry needs some alone time for him to work properly and Zane is an introvert, Jayce and Ritmo have no choice but to share the room. After a very long chaos and since it is already late, Ritmo and Henry decided to give up and just let them be. Jayce in the end opened the door to let Ritmo in.

The morning come, everybody was tired because of what happened to them last night, except for Jayce who started knocking at Zane's door at early morning.

"What's your problem Jayce?"

Zane said while rubbing his eyes, anyone can tell that he just got up from his bed since his bed hair is visible.

"We need to do something with you. First we need to change your outfit. Hurry up we need to move! We only have a week."

Jayce said as he force his way in Zane's room.

"For what?"

Zane ask unable to stop Jayce from opening his cabinet.

"We will have an activity next weekend and that's your chance to impress Henry!"

Jayce said while trying to throw away all Zane's hoodie. He thinks that the first step for them to succeed is to change Zane's appearance.

"Are you gonna throw all of my clothes?"

Zane asked.

"Well if possible yes, we need to change how you dress, so that Henry will notice you. Plus this may help you overcome your shyness."

Jayce said to try to convince Zane. It is a good idea since it will not only change Zane for the sake of Henry but it will improve Zane's lifestyle. In the end Zane just let Jayce throw his hoddies and buy him new clothes. Even though he is uncomfortable that Jayce spend a lot of money for him he didn't have a choice but to let him, because no one can stop Jayce in helping his friends. Although Zane promised to pay Jayce back, he refused. Jayce is the richest among them so he didn't mind if Zane will not pay him back and he is willing to spend all his money for a friend.

The whole week of preparation is a struggle for Zane, since he was forced by Jayce to attend all of his classes wearing trendy outfits which he finds uncomfortable to wear; just because he is used to his old hoodies. But actually his new outfits just made the whole school more amazed with him, everyone thought that Zane is just the cutest boy of the University; they didn't expect that an outfit can change him to a cool cute boy. Jayce's plan was so successful that almost all of the pages related to good looking students in Facebook featured Zane.

But it is just the first step. Friday afternoon they went to a barber shop for Zane's hair makeover.

"Dude are you sure about this? It's like you're wasting so much money and time just to help me. Plus this is too much."

Zane said trying to protest.

"Nope I am rich so I don't care. Your hair is too long, how can you even see through that bangs. In addition to that: we don't have time, tomorrow will be the day?"

Jayce said while trying to pinpoint Zane's bangs. His bangs are too long that it can cover his eyes; Zane purposely let his hair grow since he is too shy to go to the barbershop regularly because he found it difficult and uncomfortable talking to the hairstylist causing him to have a hair that he doesn't want. But right now Jayce forced him, promising that he will help him talk to the hairstylist this time.

"Why? What will happen tomorrow?"

Zane ask.

"I chatted to our group that we will be going to a park right?"

Jayce explained while dragging Zane inside the barbershop. Zane actually thought that he will decide his hairstyle and Jayce will just help him explain it to the hairstylist but in the end Jayce is the one who choose his hairstyle. After that Zane was quite mad at Jayce since he didn't expect to have that kind of hairstyle, but it suits him a lot. Anyone who will see Zane will assume that he is a Korean trainee just because of his hair. To regain Zane's trust, Jayce treat him with vanilla ice cream which is very effective when it comes to Zane. But the day didn't end there, after they head back to their unit, Zane was shocked when Jayce entered his room without his permission, little did he know that Jayce is planning to dye his hair. Because of that, Zane did not leave his room, because he is afraid that Ritmo will make fun of his new hair color.

The day has come. Jayce, Ritmo and Henry are waiting for Zane at their living room. It is the day that Jayce scheduled for them to go to a park. At first Ritmo and Herny are hesitant to go since it is too cringey for them to go to a park with their squad, since they are used to go there with a girl. But since Jayce told them that it could be helpful for the book about dating that they will publish soon, Henry agreed and Ritmo have no choice since he is a member of the club.

"Why is it Zane taking too much time? Is he sick?"

Henry asked to both of them. Usually Zane is the first one who will finish preparing since he is always on time. Zane actually is done with all of his preparation it is just the fact that he is too shy to show himself to them. He is uncomfortable of his hair and he is not used to wear the outfit which Jacye bought. He almost took an hour to decide if he will go out the door, luckily Jayce knocked and forced him to go outside.

"Zane come on we are already late to our schedule."

Jayce shouted causing Zane to panic. Zane has this mindset that he don't want to ruin the schedule just because he is late, and that is why he always come on time on every schedule he had. He took a deep breath as he opened his room's door. As soon as he is at their living room everyone was stunned because of his look. They can now see Zane's face since his bangs is shorter than before. He is wearing a brown pants and an oversize knitted sweater; since he is not used to show his skin Jayce decided to just let him wear that, at least it has no hood.

(It is hard to explain but use this photo as reference. Ps. Photos is from sb19 Justin)



"Did you dye your hair?"

Ritmo asked pointing out the light brown hair of Zane. Zane just looked away, trying to just accept Ritmo's insulting jokes. But actually all of them were amazed because it suits him, his pinkish white skin compliments with his new hair color.

"Hey, how did you dye your hair, I want to dye my hair like that too."

Ritmo said, causing Zane to be shocked, he didn't expect that it will turn out to be that great.

"J-Jayce did it."

Zane answered while pointing Jayce.

"WHAT!"

Henry and Ritmo shouted, they didn't expect that Jayce did that. They never knew that Jayce knows how to dye hair. Their conversation went for a couple of minute and after that they decided to head to the park.

The park is pretty huge, it has a lake where lovers can rent a boat, at the left side area of the park you can find a huge food park where you can try different varieties of food, at the right side area you can enjoy different activities such as riding a bicycle with two sits, riding bump cars, and roller skating, and if you just want to hang around you can enjoy the main landscape of it, covered with different kinds of flowers.

Zane was overwhelmed because it is his first time to go there, but Ritmo and Henry is not satisfied since they've been there a lot of times.

"So what do we do now?"

Ritmo asked unenthusiastically.

"We will try all of the possible activity of a couple from right side to left side area of the park."

Jayce said with eagerness.

"Let's just start so that we can finish it early."

Ritmo said, leading the way to the bicycle area of the park. Since every bicycle has two sits, and they have limited budget for the club activity they need to divide their squad and rent two bicycle only.

"Ok Ritmo and I will share this bicycle while both of you should share the other one."

Jayce said, giving instruction to them, also giving a "Good Luck" gesture to Zane. All of them was about to ride the bike but Ritmo complained.

"No! I want to ride the bike with Zane. No offense but I hate going here with you guys, because this is a dating place and all of you are dudes. At least just let me ride the bike with the cutest guy in our campus, that will help me get comfortable with this sh!tty activity!"

Ritmo said with annoyance, acting like brat to obtain what he wants.

"Then don't participate idiot."

Henry said as they finished preparing themselves. Since Henry is the club's Editor in Chief, Ritmo didn't have a choice but to to agree, plus he doesn't want to be left out with all of their squad's activities. In the end Ritmo ride the bicycle with Jayce.

Zane is sitting in front of the bicycle so he can smile because of happiness without Henry noticing it. He was like a child who just learned to ride a bike, his innocent eyes seems to not know any pain of this world during that time. Henry can feel that Zane is happy and he thinks that as long as Zane is happy he should be happy too, as his best friend. Actually this is the first time that Henry see Zane act like that in a public place, maybe because at first, Zane is uncomfortable with the crowd and Jayce's plan helped him changed a little bit, or maybe he is just not wearing a hoodie this time, causing Henry to have a better view of Zane's emotion. Henry can now see Zane's hair as it flows because of the wind. He admits that time, Zane is so pure, so pure that he can't let anyone hurt him.

"Ok next is the bump car."

Zane said excitedly before he ran towards one of the bump car.

"So we will be on a same pair?"

Jayce asked, trying to lead Henry. Since Henry doesn't want to be with Ritmo he agreed. Ritmo think it is so unfair since he really wants to be with Zane also, since he can treat Zane as a younger brother or in a worst case, a girl.

"This is so cruel, what if someone will see us and spread a rumor that we are dating?! You know that we are famous right?"

Ritmo said, feeling upset while looking at Jayce.

"I don't actually mind."

Jayce replied unfazed. Ritmo complained continuously. When Zane was informed that they will be in pair again, he disagreed since he wants to drive the bump car solo, plus the fact that Henry also wants to drive it since he is afraid that Zane will be flustered, since he knows that this is the first time for Zane to ride it.

"Aw but I want to drive it."

Zane said.

"No! I will drive it"

Henry replied.

"Can't I just ride a different car?"

Zane suggested, causing Jayce to pull him on the side, making sure that Henry and Ritmo will not hear his nagging.

"Are you stupid Zane? All of my effort will be a waste!"

Jayce said, trying to hold his voice down. In the end Zane followed Jayce's instruction, but he keeps on insisting that he will drive the car.

"Fine, don't look at me if you started panicking later ok."

Henry said, trying to warn and at the same time change Zane's mind. During the time duration, the whole area was chaotic, everyone is trying to bump with somebody. Ritmo started feeling dizzy; he feels that any moment his head will fall because of the pain caused by every impact of each bump car. On the other hand Zane is enjoying it. Henry was shocked that Zane didn't panicked. In fact unlike on the bicycle activity he can now see Zane's smile since he is just sitting beside him. Even though they are only spinning in place because Zane didn't know how to drive the bump car properly, Henry didn't feel dizzy since he is so focused on his best friend's innocent smile.

After that they proceed to the pond. They rented a boat since it is one of the biggest hit for lovers. The whole activity is all about feeding fishes at the middle of the lake. This time they decided to just rent one boat since it is big enough for them. It is supposed to be relaxing and romantic activity but for them it is not. Ritmo keeps on moving causing the boat to wobble, Henry and Jayce doesn't have coordination causing them to bump into another boat; they almost sank, and Zane is just too nervous that he keeps on holding to his sit all of the time . In the end the lake activity is the worst for all of them.

It was almost pass noon and they just started to eat. All of them are too busy munching the food they bought except for Jayce. Because it is the time for him to execute his next plan and this is the biggest thing that he ever have, to help Zane.

"Guys I have to tell you something."

Jayce said with a serious voice, making the rest of them to stop eating. The three of them are looking at Jayce, waiting for him to spill it.

"I will be moving out to our condo unit."

Jayce said. Everyone was shocked since it is so sudden.

"But why?!"

Henry said with a mixture of concern and disappointment. Henry is the one who gathered them and persuaded them to live together under the same roof since he enjoys hanging out with them.

"My parents just bought this new condo unit, and they want me to move there, it is good for two so I decided to bring Ritmo there."

Jayce said, trying his best not to smile. He totally thinks that his plan is going so smooth.

"Why me? I want to stay on our unit. It is great for me that you will leave; I can now have my own room. You can bring Zane there since both of you are too clean for us."

Ritmo said causing Jayce and Zane to be in panic. Jayce didn't expect that kind of reaction and he don't have a way to reject Ritmo's suggestion.

"No! I don't want to be just with you. Our unit will turn into a garbage place if that will happen. Just go, we don't want our friend to be left alone."

Henry said, making Jayce feel relieved. Few more interrogation and all of them agreed to it. They decided that Jayce will be moving out with Ritmo.

"But I'm sorry guys; I need to bring all of my things there."

Jayce said which make Zane and Henry complain, because almost all of the things in their unit's kitchen and living room are Jayce's property.

"Don't worry I will get them next weekend, for you to have time to buy your own stuff."

Jayce said. In the end Zane and Henry didn't have a choice but to agree.

After eating their lunch they decided to just hang out at the field of flowers, since they are already tired. They consumed almost all of the day laying on the grass, talking about random things. After a while, Jayce excused himself because he needs to go to the comfort room. As he leaves, Zane also started to get up to follow Jayce, leaving Ritmo and Henry on the field.

"Jayce!"

Zane shouted as he tries to catch up with him.

"Why, is there a problem?"

Jayce asked while Zane is trying to catch his breath.

"What are you planning? Why did you decide to move out?"

Zane asked.

"Dude it is my parent's plan, I will move out no matter what. The only thing that I did is to bring Ritmo with me, for you to have space and time with Henry."

Jayce said. Zane just let a huge sigh; he is worried that he is being a burden to Jayce. He doesn't want Jayce to sacrifice for him anymore, because he felt uncomfortable about it.

"Dude its fine. All you have to do to repay me is enjoy buying stuffs like a newlywed with Henry."

Jayce said right before he run. Zane started to blush a little bit, not because of shyness but because of anger, because Jayce just teased him.