Chapter 8

"Will you stop being angry already? It's spilling all over, your mood is all over the place and it stinks"

Quincey loudly exclaimed before throwing a piece of crumpled paper towards Galene who was busy on her sketchbook. Galene looked up from her sketchbook before showing Quincey and Serenity the new dress she was sketching.

"This dress says it's not angry"

As if to piss Quincey more, she grinned. Quincey had enough of Galene being pissed off. It had been a week since she became like that and even though they should be celebrating that the final day of examinations is over, here they were stuck in the club room with a still pissed-off Galene.

"Maybe he didn't mean it like that Galene"

Serenity said hopefully trying to alleviate Quincey's incoming burst out. But instead of answering, Galene just let out a sigh and continued her attention on her sketchbook. She wasn't artistic or anything, she just liked drawing dresses and clothes. It was her way to calm down in some ways.

"Even if he didn't, it doesn't mean he liked talking to me anyway"

"Why would you care anyway? Weren't the two of you always at each other's throats?"

Quincey made sense but somehow Galene wasn't satisfied and her anger certainly didn't subside. She thought long and hard about why she reacted that way, she shouldn't care whether Drystan liked talking to her or not but she did. 

It was because she thought that things were going smoothly for the two of them. She knew that Drystan was hard to get friendly with but she still liked being close to him even if it meant that bickering was their only way of communicating. 

They were at the very least civil, the two of them could hold a proper conversation now and then that's why she felt angry when she felt like he didn't like talking to her.

"Will you please just talk with him again? He did try to talk with you again didn't he?"

Galene looked at Serenity and let out a sigh, she put down her sketchbook and started walking towards the door when she heard the guy's footsteps approaching the club room.

"Hey, where are you going?"

She was near the door when she met eyes with Drystan who seemed surprised upon seeing her. But he quickly looked away which made Galene more annoyed.

"Bathroom"

She answered shortly towards Quincey before walking past the guys who were looking at her back. 

Drystan felt an instant regret from looking away from Galene's gaze but then again it was hard for him to not blush when he met her gaze. He just couldn't go back to how he treated her back then because his feelings weren't the same anymore.

"Will you please just talk to her? It's suffocating"

Drystan flinched when he heard Quincey yell at him while pointing her fingers in his direction. Kenzo laughed at Quincey while Malkiel just sat right next to Serenity after kissing her on the top of her head. The gesture made Serenity blush and Quincey upon seeing this just rolled her eyes.

Somehow Drystan felt as if he was jealous of the relationship between Malkiel and Serenity and Quincey clearly saw this. She pointed her fingers at Malkiel and Serenity to which everyone else was curious. 

"You're jealous of them? Then hurry up and confess to Galene"

Drystan wasn't even surprised at how Quincey knew his feelings towards Galene. He just glared at his friends who all looked away from his glare. He let out a sigh, he knew that none of these guys knew how to handle a secret, he was just grateful enough that they didn't tell Galene. 

"You don't need to tell me what to do okay?"

Drystan said as he walked out of the room. He brushed his fingers on his hair and rubbed his reddening ears. The thought of confessing to Galene, he thought about it over and over and he did want to be in a relationship with her after all. He wanted her to be his but he didn't know how. 

He walked in the direction of the bathroom but before he could even reach it, he saw Galene. The bathroom was down the hallways of the first floor of their building right beside it there was another hallway that led outside where the water fountains could be found. He found her there talking to someone but that wasn't why he was fuming. 

It was the fact that Galene was blatantly flirting with an athlete from the basketball team.

Galene didn't know what came over her but as soon as she got out of the bathroom she saw Kris, one of the athletes from the men's basketball team. She met gazes with him as soon as he stopped finishing his drink from the water fountain. 

Kris waved at her and she could only be curious if they had met before. 

"You're Galene right?"

"I am, and you're Kris, so what's up?"

Kris laughed lightly and Galene knew what he was up to. 

"So you know who I am?"

"I think every girls have a right to know someone handsome from the basketball team"

Galene smiled sweetly, she was so pissed off that she knew she needed something to divert her attention. Galene grinned as she saw a smile beginning to plaster on Kris' face. She instantly knew that he was willing to flirt with her.

"Right, and I think you're someone every guy should be interested in"

Galene smirked when she felt Kris tucking a bit of her hair behind her ear. Now, she was definitely certain that he was flirting with her. Galene never cared even for a bit how some of their schoolmates spread a rumor about her being a flirt. It was the truth and she did stick to it.

"So, are you interested too?"

She inched closer towards him which Kris didn't dare to move away from. Rather he inched closer to making it almost as if he and Galene were making body contact. This was the scene that Drystan had seen.

"I am, are you free this afternoon? It's school break so I'm free too"

Galene smiled and was about to answer when a name-calling her rang through her ear.

"Astraea!!!"

Galene turned around to see a fuming Drystan in the doorway, his footsteps walking fast toward where she was before pulling her behind him.

Kris and Galene who were both surprised at his sudden appearance just stared at him. But Drystan couldn't care less, he was angry that some guy was just about to hold Galene. He couldn't even control himself now and just wanted to drag Galene away from there.

"What do you think you're doing?"

Drystan glared at Kris who just spoke.

"Shouldn't I be the one asking you that? Don't just blatantly put your hands around a woman's waist"

Galene didn't think she heard him right but before she could even ask and before Kris could even react, he had already dragged her away from there. 

Galene stared at their hands, Even though Drystan was dragging her, his grip wasn't hard, it was just the light grip that she could get away from, somehow she felt relieved. She pulled lightly from his grip when they were far enough from Kris but not near enough to their club room.

Drystan stopped when he felt Galene pulling away, his back still facing her as he tried to calm himself down. He was still angry, he didn't like it, not even a little bit. He didn't like the idea of another man laying their hands on Galene. 

"Hey Zael"

Drystan was angry but when he heard Galene calling him softly, he couldn't help but turn around and look at her. It calmed him down and he just couldn't believe it. Maybe it was because he had missed her calling him that. Afterall, she was the only one who he allowed to call him by his second name.

"Are you not going to ignore me anymore?"

Galene asked bluntly to which Drystan was surprised, but Galene was just looking at him seriously.

"I didn't mean it in that way"

"Mean what?"

"Ignore you, it wasn't like that"

Galene was calm for someone who was confused Drystan took note of that. 

"Explain further because I am very much still angry"

Drystan smiled lightly, he knew it wasn't going to be this easy. But explaining it to her without confessing just yet was still hard. He didn't want to confess under these circumstances, no, he wanted to confess to her in a romantic way.

"I really did write a song on the night of the festival but it was definitely rude of me to just leave like that"

Galene squinted her eyes, somehow she had a feeling that he wasn't telling the truth but then again that was just her gut feeling.

"Then? What about not looking at me eye to eye?"

Drystan stared at her but as soon as he did he instantly felt a blush creeping up on him, that's why he looked away.

"Is that why you're angry?"

"You idiot if you were interested in talking to someone you would've looked at them straight but you always averted your gaze so what gives huh?"

Galene explained but she was fuming again as Drystan averted his gaze so she tried to catch his gaze by moving to where his eyes were. An action that made Drystan take a step back almost tumbling against the wall.

Galene saw this as an opportunity and moved closer to him inching more as he stepped back. But, Drystan was still averting his gaze it was only when he felt Galene closer that he looked down. Even if Galene was tall, she was still shorter by inches compared to him. 

"See, you still wouldn't look at me"

But Drystan was, he was now looking at her. And she stepped back when she saw how his ears turned the shade of red. 

"Astraea"

Galene met Drystan's gaze and was left speechless when she saw how Drystan looked at her. Drystan knew he should hold back but the feeling of this moment was too overwhelming even for him. He reached out to touch Galene's face when she spoke.

"That's the second time you called me"

Drystan stared at Galene who was now blushing too. He wasn't aware of it but ever since they had been together in the club, he never called her by her name. He didn't need to, because Galene would always be the first to greet him. That's why it didn't occur to him that this was the first time that he had called her by her name. 

And it was even the name that caught his attention the first time he met her.

Galene's blushing face was new to him, but it was to Galene too. She never thought she would feel this way just thinking about how Drystan called her name. Somehow she had an idea why Drystan was avoiding her now, but how could she put it into words?

"Zael, you– do you–"

Drystan knew Galene was sharp so instead of making her finish her sentence, he moved closer to her placing one of his hands on her face as he moved. 

A kiss.

Galene's eyes widened when she felt Drystan pulling her closer, his lips on hers, hands both on her face and at the small of her back. Every ounce of self-control that Drystan had seemed to have faded as he tasted Galene's soft lips. He wanted her, he needed her. So much that he didn't even thought of what the consequences might be. He just knew that he needed to do this.

He wanted Galene so much that he wouldn't even want her to be another man's woman. That was how he got the resolve to tell her.

Drystan ended the kiss before smiling at the still dumb-founded Galene.

"Yes, I like you Astraea, as a matter of fact, I am in love with you"