3.6: Care

Yara tosses her phone into the bag and sighs. Her face looks gloomy as she takes a deep breath while looking for a seat to ease herself.

She clenches her fingers at the hard wood bench, hard. The emptiness inside is taking control over her. She feels somehow discarded. Alone.

Quickly, Yara grasps herself and musters all of her courage. There is no room to be weak! She has to move forward. Alone or not, this is a matter of her future. No reason to go back off from here.

Life goes on. So does she.

***

"Feel free to ask anything from our assistant," the salesgirl hands Yara a small basket. Yara nods, as she enters the shop in light feet. Strolling alone along the aisle of the shop, looking for things that she wants to use for her booth project.

She endorsed a jewellery shop for her entrepreneurial project. That will be her product for the booth project soon. She's not a newbie in this, so it seems easy for her.

The reason behind her hidden talent; her mother used to be a jewellery designer.

Yara can still remember how she spent her childhood at the jewellery workshop, watching her mother make every masterpiece along with her workers. Sometimes, they lasted until midnight at the shop. Her mother taught her how to work with some tools; sometimes she will ask Yara to be a judging panel for her latest collection, too.

Because according to her mother, Yara has an eye for that.

That life is the life that Yara missed so much. It's a simple life without so much complexity in it. If it wasn't for her mother's illness that took her life, maybe Yara is on a different side of the world, assembling chains of bracelet design by her.

"Are you gonna buy that?"

A voice from behind makes Yara jumpy. She turns around only to see Aye Yi smiling at her. She frowns as she puts the trinket back into the shelf.

"What are you doing here?"

"Following you, of course!"

"Why? I made a room so you can spend alone time with Pan!" Yara shrieks. Aye Yi draws a straight line with his lips.

"I'm being a fair judge. Now, it's your turn..." Aye Yi subtly answers while his fingers linger at the pendant shelf.

"What?" Yara snatches a love pendant that Aye Yi held. She gives him a sharp, intense look.

"Stop goofing around, Aye! You're the one who asking for my help. I did help you A LOT! Now, you're talking about being fair and square? Are you drunk?" Yara asks.

Instead of answering her, Aye Yi sneers, tilting his head, leading closer to her. Yara's eyes are getting larger and wider. She pushes Aye with her not-so energetic push, too weak to chase a wild, hungry coyote like Aye Yi.

"You hate it?"

"Stop playing around, Aye Yi!"

"Did you suggest that I'm toying with your heart? You look so mad right now..."

"No!"

"Why do I feel like coaxing my sulking girlfriend?"

"Shut up! I am not your girlfriend!"

"Is there anything that we can help?"

The sudden arrival of the shop assistant makes them jumpy on the scene. Yara was about to tell something to the shop assistant, but Aye Yi quickly puts his heavy hand onto her shoulder and gives her a side hug.

"We're good here! Actually, I've been trying to coax my sulking girlfriend here..."

"Aye Yi!"

The shop assistant giggles in tiny. Yara can't even describe how embarrassed she feels right now, standing in the awkward position with a shameless man like Aye Yi.

"Are you two a couple?" the kind girl asks.

"Yes!"

"No!"

Both of them give a different response in unison. However, even though they somehow feel awkward, in the eyes of the shop assistant, they look cute together.

"I would like to invite you two for a one day class of making jewellery. It's a couple activity actually. It will fits you two, if you're a couple..."

"Yes! Sign up us please!"

"Aye!"

"What? Your booth project is a jewellery shop, right? So, you have to practice..."

"I can do it when I get back home!"

"How can I evaluate you if you haven't show me your skill? One more thing, this is a good space of brain storming. We can choose what we should and shouldn't do for the booth..."

Aye Yi's response stuns Yara.

"How did you-"

"I read your proposal," he replies.

"I thought..."

"I never care? Hey, you're under my wing. If you mishap, I'm the one who they will pointing to."

Yara is taken aback. Her emotion drops back to the normal par. Again, her hopes is laughing at her now. The only reason why Aye Yi cares so much is because he hates losing.

For him, she just a peer mentee.

***

"Is this good enough??" Aye Yi asks. Yara stretches her neck, checking on the material that Aye Yi holds.

"That will be enough," Yara glides her stool towards Aye Yi. She grabs the metal from the bench peg, lifts it up a bit and rubs the surface with her delicate finger.

"It's flat enough," she smiles. Then, she takes the ring to the soldering table and begins torching the metal. It takes a ring form in no time.

"Would you like to try our crafting machine? It's the latest model. You can carve words on the surface of the metal," the shop assistant points to the machine at the side of the room.

"Do you have samples for the design?" Aye Yi asks. The shop assistant hands out the catalogue.

"Oh, so... We can carve out words this long? Wow..."

"It depends on the surface of the metal..."

Aye Yi nods. When he turns around to talk to Yara about the new information, she already finished putting the small gemstone on the top of the ring.

"It's... Magnificent!"

Yara smiles and hand it to Aye Yi to check. He grabs the ring and check the metal work. It's fine, precise and neat.

"What kind of gemstone is this?"

"This is a mimic stone of Sapphire. My zodiac gemstone," replies Yara.

"How did you know about that?"

"Every zodiac has gemstone. I was born a Virgo, so my gemstone is Sapphire," Yara grabs her phone. She is searching for something online and shows Aye Yi.

"What is your zodiac sign?" Yara asks.

"Gemini," he replies in short.

Yara clicks something on her phone and shows Aye Yi again.

"It's pearl. But we can go for the alternative which is a moonstone if you hate pearls," says Yara. She was trying to find the stone when Aye Yi stops her.

"What are you doing?"

"Making you an accessory. But, there is no moonstone in here," Yara looks gloomy.

"Hey, it's fine. Maybe next time. Let's just focus on you now, okay? Come, let's try the new carving machine," Aye Yi grabs Yara's hand and pulls her towards the machine.

As they arrive at the machine, Yara puts the metal carefully on the machine feeder. She meticulously choose the design from the machine. It starts rattles a bit with some little sparks that startled her, making the girl jumpy for a bit. She almost stumbles back, but Aye Yi manages to grab her from behind so she's safe, for now.

They stare at each other, unblink. There's a storm in Yara's heart when Aye Yi's nose almost touches her ear. His breathing makes her knees weak a bit. Aye Yi, on the other hand, keeps grabbing Yara's shoulder and balance her from falling down. Her perfume sips into his nostril, making the hormone goes crazy a bit.

When they realize the air is awkward, both of them parted a bit before Yara quickly grabs the ring from the machine and marches towards their workshop table. Inside, she curses herself for being sway.

Shia, Yara! What were you thinking!

Aye Yi stares at the girl, knocking her head with her cutesy little palm. He can't help but smile a bit. His heart starts to melt, even though his brain keeps warning him not to fall for this girl.

He can't help but unconsciously did.