CHAPTER 30

Lawrence brought Dave to his class.

"Dave, who is Rie?" Lawrence asked.

"She was my friend from a small town where I stayed for a year. And now she is working at a coffee shop nearby."

Lawrence nodded at him and thought about where the coffee shop was because he wanted to meet Rie. After Lawrence talked to Dave and calmed him down, he left him and headed to see Nicole to invite her to the coffee shop.

Meanwhile, Jake calmed Zion down.

"Zion, what is your plan now? Jake asked, and he continued talking.

"I am afraid that the rumors about you and Jessica being a loving couple have already reached Arien."

"I know, but the rumors weren't true. What should I do now? I can't think of any plans now, Jake. What's all in my mind now is to protect Arien. Jessica held something that might have hurt Arien's feelings and humiliated Arien in front of all the people. That's why I agreed to a deal with Jessica. But why don't they understand me? All I did was to protect Arien." Zion covered his face with tears.

"Bro, how could we understand you, especially Arien, when you were not telling us? Just tell her and I'm sure she will understand." Jake suggested.

"I want to tell her, but I can't because it might put her in danger. But protecting her was giving a chance to Dave. Seeing them together was as if pain had crushed my heart. All I can do now is endure the pain to protect her from Jessica." Zion explained.

"Bro, I can tell Arien was hurt too. You are not the only one who is hurt in this situation. You can't blame Dave if she was always with Arien. He was just trying to cheer Arien up." Jake elaborated and asked, "Anyway, who was Rie?"

"Rie was one of Dave's riders, and she worked at the coffee shop near our school. I met her when I was visiting Dave in a small town. I fell in love at first sight with her, but not now until I met Arien." Zion said.

Jake suspected Arien and Rie. He thought Rie might be Arien. Because Dave was close to Arien and Rie. And he was planning to visit the coffee shop later to confirm it.

In the hallway, when Nicole and I were walking, we ran to Jessica's group. And they were talking about how loving couple Zion and Jessica were in public. They laughed when they saw me.

"Served her right, dreaming of a man with a high status. The ugly duckling was fantasizing about becoming a swan or a Phoenix?! Hahahahaha!" One of Jessica's friends said and they continued to mock me.

My heart hurts hearing what they said behind me, and I clench my fist to control myself from crying. "I need to be strong." I whispered.

Nicole patted my back and told me to ignore them.

"Don't worry Nics. I know my place where I belong." With tearing eyes, I forced myself to smile at Nicole to stop her worrying about me.

A few hours passed, the class ended. I rushed to get to work.

When I went out of the locker, I saw Dave waving at me from his table and served him a drink since I was assigned as a server today. Afterwards, it shocked me when Lawrence, Nicole, and Cassy entered our coffee shop and Cassy called me. I approached them and escorted them to their table.

"Friend, I didn't know you were working here. Why didn't you tell me? Oh! My cousin was here, too? What is the meaning of this? Are you two keeping a secret now from me?" Cassy was nonstop blabbing around and sulking. I covered her mouth to shut her up and pointed to my name tag to inform them.

"So, you were Rie." Lawrence said. Cassy dragged me and Nicole to the comfort room.

"Friend, explain this to us later, OK?"

"OK, I am working now. Just enjoy your drink and go back to your table." We went out of the comfort room and spotted Jake at the entrance door. I approached him as a part of my duty as a server.

"Oh my God! Are you guys having a coffee party here? Don't tell me Zion is coming to Jake?"

"I see you were Rie here." Jake said, and I nodded to him. My friends gathered around one table and I went back to work.

"I didn't know Cassy and Dave had a pretty friend. I thought you both only had ugly friends like Arien." Lawrence stated. Nicole smacked Lawrence's head and was fuming about insulting Arien's appearance. She accidentally spouted, "She was Arien, the one you said was ugly." Nicole was stunned by what he said, and Lawrence was shocked by what he discovered.

Everyone was surprised by what Nicole had said. Nicole apologized and begged Lawrence to keep it a secret from everyone.

"Wow! So everyone knows about it except me? Does Zion know this as well?" Lawrence asked them.

"Jake found it by accident. And we told Nicole, since she was our friend. Zion doesn't know about it. Please keep it a secret from him, Lawrence. Let Arien tell him personally." Cassy explained.

"OK, I understand. I won't tell him, for Nicole's sake. I don't want you to hate her because she accidentally told me your secret." Lawrence promised us, and it relieved us.

Jake's phone rang suddenly. He answered and told the other line he was at a coffee shop near school.

At the same time, I asked permission from my manager to leave early because I received a call from a modeling agency.

After our manager gave his permission, I asked Dave to drop me off somewhere first, before we went on our stroll.

"Are you two going on a date?" Cassy teased us.

"Stop spouting nonsense, Cas. I just asked for a favor from Dave." I said.

"OK. Just take care of Arien, Dave." Cassy pushed us to go out. And we told our friends that I had to leave early because I had important things to do.

Cassy saw Zion coming to the coffee shop, and he was watching Dave and Arien.

"Friend, enjoy your date!" Cassy shouted intentionally to let Zion hear.

Zion looked at Cassy, and Cassy snubbed him. He entered the coffee shop and went to the table and asked everyone why they were all gathered in the coffee shop.

"I was curious about Rie. Dave told me she was working here, so I invited Cassy and Nicole." Lawrence explained.

"Me too. I am curious about who is Rie. So I came here." Jake said.

"Why did Rie and Dave hurry to leave?" Zion asked.

"Rie, was asking for a favor from Dave, about..." Lawrence didn't continue his sentence when Cassy interrupted him.

"They went on a date. Why did you ask Zion? You don't need to worry about them. Whether Dave was together with Arien or Rie, just focus on Jessica being a lovely couple on our campus. Just don't bother them and forget, Arien!" Cassy asserted it.

Zion didn't know how to respond to Cassy about the rumors and how to explain to everyone about his situation.