Chapter Twenty

"This is so hard!!!"

This Advanced Calculus assignment is such a head-scratcher. Sometimes, I don't understand why we are even studying this. It isn't easy. It's giving me a headache. I'm not even sure if this is necessary for the work I plan to do.

I was sitting by the dining table dealing with this headache. I looked at Ryan who was lying on the couch. By the looks of it, he's playing games on his phone. I envy him. Freshmen students always have it easy.

As I was contemplating how to answer this assignment, my phone dinged. I looked at it to see the message. I saw the name of the person who sent it. It was from "Another Headache".

Evil Snake: Is Ryan near you?

Me: Yes.

I answered immediately. But, she didn't answer at once. I waited for another minute but still no reply. So, I put down my phone and continued answering my assignments. About a few minutes later, I heard my phone dinged again.

Evil Snake: I thought of something we can do.

Me: Do? Where? With your HR project? Or the other project?

Evil Snake: Of course, it's the other project. We were talking about Ryan, remember? Do you have a short-term memory illness or something?

Me: I was only making sure. You didn't have to say it like I have memory problems!

Evil Snake: You know what? Instead of arguing, please shut up and listen. I have an idea.

Me: Fine, be sure it is a good idea.

She didn't reply for a while. As expected, I got impatient so I continued working on my homework again. After a few moments, I heard my phone make a sound again.

Evil Snake: Let's talk about the HR project via call.

Me: I thought we were going to talk about Ryan.

Evil Snake: Oh f***ing hell! Why are you so dumb? Please do me a favor. Go back and read our messages again.

As much as I am offended, I still reread our message. Oh?

Me: Okay. I get it.

Evil Snake: Finally! Diane is near me too. Let's fight at first then we'll start cooperating afterward.

Me: Okay. Who will call?

Evil Snake is calling... Answer or Decline

Okay. That is one way to answer my question.

I let my phone ring for a while. My phone's on full volume so Ryan will hear it. I answered the call as I placed my phone on my ear.

"What do you want?" I said making my voice sound displeased and loud enough for Ryan to hear.

"Obviously, this is for the collaboration project. I'll never call you for a different reason." I can hear from the other line that her voice is louder than usual. Diane must be a bit far from her.

"You're not the only one who's upset about this. If only this was not a requirement for me to graduate, I would never collaborate with you on anything. Just say what you need! I have other important and better things to do than talking to you." I said.

Come to think of it, it didn't feel like I was lying or acting. This is much easier to do when it is true.

"Fine! Were you able to do the personality test questionnaire?" she asked in a serious tone. I took it as a sign that this is where we "calm down" and "cooperate".

"Of course, I did. It's already done since yesterday. I'm just working on the results table so it will be easier to analyze."

"Okay. Email all of those to me by tomorrow so I can check it."

"Actually, I can email them all later tonight. Maybe around 11 pm. The sooner we get this done, the better."

"Yes, the sooner, the better."

I was still thinking of a reply when I heard my phone dinged. Did she end the call? I looked at my phone to be sure.

"And she really did hang up on me," I said with an annoyed groan.

Even if this is just a stunt, I still get genuinely irritated. Why can't these two get back together faster so I won't have to deal with her? I was putting the phone down when...

"So Kuya? Who was that?" Ryan asked peeking from the couch.

Is Ryan asking me? Great! A golden opportunity!

"Who else? None other than my demon project partner." I answered.

"Are you two always like this?" He asked sounding very curious.

"Not really. We were way worse than before. We spent most of our time arguing. But nowadays, we fight less than before."

"Really? I'm surprised your project is even progressing with all that hostility."

To be fair, that was actually something I made up. We don't really spend most of our time arguing. Surprisingly, we are very productive. We already finished 20% of the project. The evil snake is serious and professional when she does her project. I'm afraid we'll be able to complete the project before these two even begin talking to each other.

"We just want this done as soon as possible. If this ends sooner, the sooner I won't have to deal with her anymore."

"Lucky you. At least you know when your problems will end." He said with an undertone of gloom.

Ryan didn't give me any chance to react to what he said. He stood up from the couch.

"I'll be in my room for a while. Call me if it's time for dinner." He said as he walked his way to his room.

Clearly, Ryan is still not over what happened between him and Diane. I saw how sad he was when he thought they'd be separated because of college. So, it shouldn't surprise me if he'll be depressed over this. They were supposed to be happy now that they were together at this university. But, my fight with that evil snake ruined everything.

Hay... if Ryan only knew why I am doing this... If he only knew that I was doing this for him, maybe he wouldn't be this sad. I'm doing this just so he can be happy again. Even if he doesn't blame me, I knew well I played a part in hurting him.

Don't worry, Ryan. Everything will be fine for you soon. I'll make sure of that.

My phone interrupted my thoughts when it dinged. I grabbed it to look at the message.

Evil Snake: I was serious about that personality test questionnaire. I need it by tomorrow. By the way, Diane asked about our phone call. She's very curious about this. Did Ryan also react similarly?

A smile crept on my face as I typed in my answer.

Me: Yes. I was also serious about that part. I'll send it later. Yes, Ryan was curious as well.