chapter 2
Cindy stared blankly at her screen.
The messenger was really harsh with his words?.
Who does he think he is...Cindy silently thought in her head.
She was still contemplating in her mind if to reply to this message in the most arrogant way cos...
Who the heck would come to her Dm asking her this piece of trash?.
Something crossed her mind. What if she was being threatened?. What if she didn't reply to the text, what would then happen to her?.
She kept her phone and hugged her legs. This was terrifying than she thought.
Maybe stepping out of the box was the most stupid idea she had thought. Tho, she loved her happy simple life, but she didn't want to venture out anymore.
She began regretting why she decided to let Juan do this for her.
" Wait. What if Juan was really behind all this?." She thought again and bit her lower lip.
The minute was ticking by and the text hasn't been replied to yet.
" Cindy dear!!" She heard her mom's voice.
" Mom, I'm coming!" She said while immediately rushing down the bed and taking the door.
Getting to the kitchen, her mom had plated some nice porridge in her favourite ceramic plate.
" What was taking your time dearest?" Her mom asked as she took her seat.
" I'm sorry for the delay mom. I totally forgot that you told me to come down for dinner" She said before hastily resuming on her hot food.
" Ouch!" She winced immediately the food touched her tongue.
" Oh my!. I forgot to remind you that it was still hot. Are you hurt?" Her mom asked.
" Not really" She said
Her mom sat opposite the table and watched her as she ate.
Cindy felt uneasy cos she kept recalling what happened to her in her room, and the food kept abruptly dropping on her table.
Her mom noticed her uneasiness.
" Cindy, anything wrong?" She asked and Cindy kept her spoon.
" No, I just...suddenly lost my appetite"
" You don't like the food. Grandma made it specially for you"
" Wait. Where's grandma?. I haven't asked of her since I came home?" She asked.
" I'm sure you know her favourite spot" Her mom said.
Cindy picked her food and placed it in the microwave.
" I'll eat the food for breakfast tomorrow. Lemme go see grandma first" She said and left afterwards.
°°°° °°°°°°
{ AUTUMN'S HOME}
Rexa knocked on her sister's room and after what looked like forever, Autumn finally opened the door.
" What do you want?" Autumn asked, bashing her swollen eyes gently.
Rexa wanted to ask if was crying again but she didn't want to cause a flare like last time.
" Um... Mom said she wants you at the table for dinner" She spoke gently.
" I'm not hungry. Tell her I'm not coming" She said and tried closing the door but she got disrupted.
" Oh, that's not my business!. You can probably go to bed without food again, and then you get weak enough for them to hurt you at school tomorrow!" Rexa hissed and ran away.
Autumn bit her lip gently. Maybe her sister was right. Maybe if she ate something, she would be strong enough to fight back at school.
She finally came out of the room before heading towards the dinning room.
She stood by the door and crossed her arm on her chest.
Her parent ignored her presence and when she saw rexa wasn't paying attention to her too, she lazily walked to the table, joining them.
" You finally joined us for dinner" Mr Harris, her dad announced.
" Can I eat in peace without getting nagged at?" She asked.
" You can't tell us what do here. If you don't want to eat, you can leave this table. No one forced you to come here!" Mrs Harris ordered.
Autumn stood up, abruptly knocking down her chair before striding out of the kitchen.
" Autumn!" Rexa called and faced her mom quickly.
" Mom, you should have just left her. Now she's not going to eat dinner again. It's been a week now" Rexa complained.
" We don't need her here. She can go, she can starve!. I hated even birthing her!" Her mom spat with hate.
" I'll go meet her myself" Rexa said, lifting herself.
" Sit!" Her dad ordered and she threw her butt back at the chair.
" If you don't want us to treat you like her, then behave!" He said coldly, and rexa bit her lip as tears peppered her eyes quickly.
•••••••••••
{ 7am; CINDY'S ROOM}
Cindy walked into her room as she rubbed her dry eyes and long lashes stood gracefully.
She never expected to sleep at her grandma's room while helping her to finish her knitting.
Her granny was obsessed with kids and she couldn't wait to follow her to the orphanage like last year.
Every Christmas they would go to the orphanage home to gift out knitted jackets, hats, pant, bag and so much more.
Meanwhile, As cindy got closer to her bed, she noticed her phone screen was still brightly glaring.
" Huh?" She gasped and picked her phone only to gasp again.
She had left the stranger's message unanswered.
" Damn it" She cursed, fisting a portion of her nest hair.
It was too late now, probably. But that even caused a knot in her stomach, She got terrified.
Sitting on her mirror desk, she immediately gave Juan a call.
" Sis!" Cindy quickly called as soon as her face came up on the screen.
" B*tch, why's your hair looking like the spag I'm currently eating" Juan spat playfully.
" We can talk about that later. There's more bigger news!" She said, holding her phone so tight.
" Don't leave out a single part. Gist me!" Juan said excitedly.
" A guy messaged me on meet-ink last night" She said and Juan bright smile dropped abruptly.
Cindy watched, waiting to hear if it was a bad thing or a good thing.
" Y-you mean-
Juan was about to finish when cindy saw her screen went off.
She tried turning it back on but it didn't work.
" Oh no!. I forgot to charge my phone last night. My screen was On the whole night, it probably drained my battery" She was saying to herself.
She cupped her cheeks and stared at the phone. Now what was her next plan?.
After making glances with the clock, she realised she was late for work!.
In the next minutes, she quickly lept into the bathroom.
♡♡♡♡
{ MONTANA HIGH}
Autumn met the Four boys already tripping into the school.
Felix was the first, he's always with his favourite red warmer, and then Asher, Scar and Ivan.
They walked in boastfully with praises welcoming them by the obsessed girls.
One girl was almost choking.
🗣 I LOVE YOU GUYS!!
🗣 Ivan Cutie!!
🗣 Asher, My Crush of all crushes !!
🗣 Notice me, Felix!!
🗣 Scar, Sweetheart!!
So many girls wanted them, but they never got interest in any of the girls at school. Or perhaps,they wanted to guard their image.
Ivan walked to his locker, Autumn locker was closed to his.
" This is the time to tell him, Autumn. Do it, do it!" She pressed on her lips naively.
She held the strap of her bag and as she went towards him from behind, she could only stare at his broad shoulders.
She saw Riri coming and she immediately diverted her path.
" Hey, Ivan. Have you heard the big news?" Riri smiled while coming to him.
Autumn wished she had as much confidence as Riri to approach him so randomly.
She is putting on heavy make up today just to bring out her visuals. Her b**bs were making contact with him as well.
" What big news?" He asked, taking out his books from his locker.
" Sadly, I just broke up with my current boyfriend now" She said, crossing her chest.
He looked at her and his eyes poked at her b**bs. She slowly wriggled at him teasingly and his book fell from his hand.
He immediately picked his book.
" S-so?. What should I do about that?" He asked, trying to focus back at her face.
" Ion know. I thought you should know as my closest friend. I hope your girlfriend won't query when she sees me with you?" She asked, licking her lips.
" I don't even have a girlfriend" He scoffed, raising his brows.
" Huh?. Tell me you're joking!. Omg!" She gasped. He didn't understand why that was amusing to her.
" You're obstructing my way to class" He said and she stepped out of the way.
He began to walk away and Riri clapped her hands happily.
" He's single. Yippee, game on!!" She chuckled.
Autumn suddenly dropped her book and Riri looked at her.
" Damn it. I was trying to be so quiet" Autumn scoffed, biting her lip.
" Hey, what are you doing there, b*tch!" Riri called, turning to her.
" I just want to take my books. That's all" She said and she met Hailey coming from the other end.
" Awn, my little bait is here again" Hailey said.
" I just want to go to my class now. Class has began" She said and took the other way but Riri stopped her while holding her waist.
" The only place you'd be going is our fist" Riri spat.
" Please don't hurt me. Please I didn't do anything to you guys. Just leave me alone please" She said, shedding tears.
" Awwn, she's such a crybaby" Hailey chuckled and took out her gum, pasting it on her hair.
" We enjoy torturing you." She said.
" And Until you leave Ivan..." Riri said, dragging a piece of her cheek.
" We'll keep making your life in highschool a burden" Hailey concluded.
Riri snatched her bag from her.
" Search if she has any money!" Hailey spat.
Riri threw out all her books and found nothing.
" Give us the most valuable thing you have!" Riri ordered her.
Autumn quickly took out her locket from her neck and gave it to them.
" Is that all?" Hailey asked and she nodded.
" Do you want us to search and naked you in the toilet like yesterday?" Riri questioned.
Autumn took out her lunch money and gave it to them quickly. Riri counted it.
" It's a hundred box. It's enough" She said.
" Yea, It's enough. Let's go" Hailey said and they kicked her so she could fall on her butt.
Autumn watched them as they left. She digested her tears while packing her books up.
How was she going to cope with this?.
She remembered she was paired with Ivan on a class practical and they thought they were dating which resulted to them bullying her.
Ivan barely notice her in class, and they were neither friends either.
She needed to tell Ivan fast. He's the only one she could confide in.
<•••••••••>
{ ,,CAFETERIA,,}
The four KINGS were taking their place at the lunch table. The four row table were used up, but there were only three row available chairs.
" I think Ivan should go sit somewhere else" Scar suggested.
" But I already said I would sit here" Ivan intruded.
" Dude, no one brought chair from home" Felix said and Ivan angrily glared at him.
He took his tray and sat somewhere else.
Autumn, who was nearby watching, knew this was the perfect time to meet him, considering that the bullies weren't here.
She picked her tray and confidently went to his seat, taking the chair in front of him.
" Hi" Autumn waved. It was their first time talking since they were paired and she was deadly nervous.
" Hey, Aren't you Autumn?" He asked. She was glad he remembered.
" Um...Yes. I'm sorry if I'm a distraction. But I really need to tell you something" She said.
" Sure, I don't mind" He said.
She smiled afterwards. She resumed daydreaming, seeing him rub his thumb on her lips gently while looking into her eyes.
" Your lips are kinda dry" He spoke softly.
" Yea, a kiss would do" She giggled, dreamily.
He leaned in closer and Autumn slowly closed up her eyes, waiting to feel his lip on hers.
She was waiting, nothing was happening.
" What are you doing?" A conscious voice dropped her back to earth and she opened her eyes to find Ivan staring at her weirdly.
" Are you okay?. You've been closing your eyes while smiling weirdly since" He said and Autumn palmed her lips.
Awkward moment activated.
Ivan turned to look around to see if anyone else noticed it before looking at her.
" Are you sick?" He quietly asked and Autumn lip formed a pout.
She abruptly stood up and ran away from the table embarrassingly.
" Wait. You forgot your food?" He called but she didn't turn back for it.
" Weird" He thought as he stared into space.
••• •••••••••
{ 6pm; Juan's CAR}
Cindy concluded the story to Juan who was listening with ramp attention.
" And so by the time I got to school, I decided to charge my phone"
" So I've you texted him back!" Juan asked excitedly.
" Noo. Why would I text a stranger!"
" Girl, Are you crazy!. This is an opportunity. His kinds are rare!" She said and Cindy blurred a look.
" I don't think it's right. He sounded harsh. He might hurt me!"
" How about you reply to him and see what he says next"
" I'm sure it's late now. He gave me only few minutes to reply him last night"
" Let's give a try" Juan said.
Cindy brought out her phone and logged in to the meet-ink. His message was still there, unanswered.
" What should I say?"
" Just tell him you're just seeing the message and tell him you agree totally to his request" Juan said.
" Huh?"
Juan snatched the phone from her and typed something on it before returning it to her.
" So what next?" Cindy asked naively, like a daughter learning from her mother.
" Wait for his reply, babe" Juan said savagely while clacking her tongue.
" Why are you being so excited, and I'm here being so terrified" She said.
" Cos I'll be expecting a wedding by next year" Juan laughed.
" Hey, Enough of that loud jokes!. Why would I ever marry a stranger in the first place!" Cindy scoffed and Juan didn't say anything thereafter.
After long minutes of waiting, he never texted back.
Cindy went home and did her usual routine as the previous day. She helped her mom make dinner, and spent the evening knitting.
She also stayed up in her balcony reading her favourite fantasy novel.
Laying back in bed, staring at the ceiling, her phone suddenly glinted.
Knowing what she was expecting, she buried her phone on her heart racing chest.
" Just open it anyways. Accept whatever you see" She told herself but as she pulled up her phone, her heart resumed racing crazily.
He had texted back!.
She couldn't hold her breath at that moment. It felt as if the world around her had stopped.
Slowly, she bashed her lashes at his cold message.
" Your dress and accessories will be sent down to your home and a cab to drive you to the venue. And by the way, you don't have to worry about sending your address. Goodnight!"
T.B.C