chapter 11: he cares

"The fuck you mean you can't go to school today? How am I supposed to go through the day?!"

"There's still Kim and Samuel… Look, I can't go to school today, okay? No one is available to send me"

"My parents can go to your house and send you Fadly, just say that you're lazy, I won't be mad"

"I'm lazy"

"Fuck you. This is why you're failing in chemistry"

"It's not my fault balancing is difficult"

"Fuck you Fadly"

"Kim and Samuel are there for you to spend time with"

"No... Their classes are having a field trip... I'm going to be all alone today..."

"Aiden is there, btw"

"Shut u p, nobody likes you. Everyone hates you. Everyone says that you're a retarded mf who can even do human basics because you're stupid and unimaginably dumb. AND A WHORE!" I immediately ended the call.

I was wrong when I said that nobody saw Aiden get closer to me until our foreheads touched each other yesterday. Everyone from the class saw! Fortunately almost everyone just shook it off, as they thought that we were just fooling around. While some, such as Fadly, started to think that we were dating, although Fadly knows that me and Aiden are not in a romantic relationship, that doesn't stop him from shipping us together. Yesterday, for the rest of the school hours, I had to deal with his stupid jokes. I mean it would be a lie if I said I didn't like his fake fanfiction that he told me, but I'm in the process of stopping liking Aiden, so he needs to stop, but of course, he didn't.

*At class*

"Han, where is Fadly? Is he absent today?" The teacher asked

"Ah? Oh yes, he said that no one is available to send him to school today." I replied

"If that was the case, then people behind Han, one of you guys, sit next to Han. I don't like to see an empty seat in the front rows when the back rows are filled... How about you Alex? Sit next to Han"

Alex packs his stuff up, and when he was about to walk to Fadly's seat, Aiden suddenly rushed to sit on it.

"Teacher! Can I... Can I sit next to Han? I have problems understanding your class sometimes, so maybe sitting next to one of the best students in this school will help me a  little."He explained. Aiden's table is in the same row as mine but a few tables away, kind of far, which amazed me with how quickly he ran to sit next to me than Alex.

"You're not even failing in my class Aiden, plus, you're not sitting behind Han's row; you're on the same row as him" the teacher said.

"You said that you just hate it when the front rows have empty seats when the behind rows are filled, not who filled the empty seats, right? Please, teacher, I just wanted to sit here..." This guy is weird.

The teacher took a few seconds of consideration, and at the end, she did allow Aiden to sit next to me.

"Fine, you can sit there Aiden..."

"Sorry Alex dude, you can sit at my table" Aiden teases.

"Why do you always be around Han?" Alex suddenly asked. He finally asked the question that I had also been wondering. Why do you keep being around me? Do you like me? If you do, then as a friend or a lover? Or you found out that I have a crush on you and secretly you enjoy the feeling of someone having a crush on you and purposefully leading me on. Why Aiden? Why?

Aiden suddenly gets up and faces Alex.

"Why are you asking me that? Because you're jealous, isn't it? Dude, just give up. Han doesn't like you back Alex. Stop handing him your cheaply written love letters." This man is crazy. What the actual fuck is he talking about?

"What the fuck is wrong with you dude?" Alex asked

"No need to pretend. Now the whole class knows your one-sided love for Han."

After what Aiden said, Alex just stood still with no words. It was so silent; finally, the cold air from the air conditioner could be felt. This is so awkward; just what the hell is Aiden thinking?

"Fuck you Aiden" Alex said, running away from the class.

The teacher ran after him, trying to catch him up, and left the class with an air so thick with awkwardness. Just how can a simple thing such as seats be this disastrous? I look at Aiden and he just shows a smirk with not even a single sign of regret being shown. The silence eventually was filled with the whispers of other students who were probably talking shit about Aiden or our dating rumors.

The pressure was too much, and it has already been about two minutes since the teacher left the class; there is still no sign of her coming back. However, the whispers are still going strong. Aiden still shows no sign of being regretful about what he did because right now, he's resting his head facing me. I kept my head facing the board, pretending that I didn't realize he was staring at me. The pressure was too heavy, and they were drowning me. I grabbed Aiden's wrist and dragged him to the toilet.

"What was that?"

"I know right? Who does Alex think he is to like you?" He said with a laugh and a smirk on his face.

"Bitch I'm talking about you! What were you thinking? Look what you've done to Alex!"

After saying that, the smirk on his suddenly changed to a cold, soulless expression.

"Why do you care about him? Don't tell me you like Alex, Han."

The question was so out of the blue that all my brain cells just stopped working and decided to just leave me with no words to respond.

"Why silent? You do like him huh?" He said as he got closer to me. This time, I decided to build up my courage and stop him from getting closer to me with my hand on his chest. "Don't get closer, Aiden"

There it was again, dead silence... until he decided to say something again. This time, thankfully, not a psychotic one.

"I know Alex has a crush on you because I once saw him secretly give you a box of chocolates on your birthday. He also used to always give me love letters, written by him for you, every morning. He always ends his letters with 'anonymous' because he doesn't want you to know he likes you. You might never realize it but he used to smell you from behind, cut your hairs slightly, and put them in this one box. He also used to always smell your pe towel that you used to wipe your sweat. You used to have a habit of biting your pens' caps before, he once stole them from you. Surprisingly no one actually realizes his psychotic behaviors towards you other than his seatmate and, of course, me" Aiden explained.

I look at Aiden with terrified feelings inside me. All the time, I was sitting right in front of an obsessive boy who had a crush on me. I once used to always lose my pens. There was also one time when my pe towel suddenly appeared on Alex's table instead of mine, although I was sure I left it on my table before leaving the class.

"Can't you see Han? I did that all because I care about you! That psycho doesn't like you! He just wants to fuck you Han! And that kind of guy deserves to be embarrassed! I did this all because I care about you and don't want you to get harassed like that anymore! Can't you see?" Aiden shouts at me. I stared at him in surprise, and... Relief? I don't know how to describe the feeling. The only thing is that I'm questioning: Why does he care about me? And how did he see and notice what Alex has been doing all this time?

After a few seconds of silence, Aiden pulled me into his arms and rested his head on my shoulder. I can hear him sobbing, which I assumed he was crying, but again, why would he cry? I hugged him in return and patted his back. I whisper to him a little and small thank you.

"Thank you... for caring about me."

It was a good hug. For the first time, we were hugging each other. However, I need it to stop because it started to get awkward. I pushed him out of the hug, and he stood there in front of me, wiping his tears, I supposed, like a cute giant baby.

"Thank you for genuinely caring about me... but I still need you to apologize to Alex tomorrow. You just embarrassed him so badly in front of the whole class... Okay?" I asked him. He replied to me with just a nod and a weak smile on his face. His cuteness is so out of this world, and I can't help but fall for it. I pinched his cheeks slightly. His cheeks are not so fluffy as this guy does not have a lot of face fat and work out, but it was still nice to be pinched.

"Let's go back to class, who knows, maybe the teacher is already back."

For the rest of the day, Aiden sat next to me. At first, it was awkward, but somehow he makes me feel gradually comfortable with his company. Sometimes I catch him staring at me. Or was it just him staring at my paper for answers...

"What are you staring at?" I asked

"You're so pretty," he smiles.

"Do your work. I ain't giving you my answers"

He just smiles back at me and continues to finish his math problems.