Chapter Thirty- Three

"So.... this is where we'll be shopping?"

I looked at Claire in disbelief.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" she asked in confusion as she locked her car.

"I was expecting you'd take me to a supermarket," I replied walking around the car to get to her.

"Why would I go to a supermarket if we can get what we need here and at a cheaper price?" She pointed out as we both walked to leave the parking lot.

"To be honest, I'd never expected a future CEO of a multinational company would even set foot here."

"I was only being practical. Not every CEO is like what the media portrays them. So, stop antagonizing me."

"I'm not! I'm just shocked... and impressed."

"Whatever. Let's just get in there."

I couldn't believe it! We're in a public market. Don't get me wrong. I prefer to go to the public market to buy groceries. But since it is a bit far from my apartment, I always ended up going to the nearby mall. But now, I am here again with Claire as my fellow shopping buddy.

Today is Ryan's birthday. We're here to buy ingredients for the feast we planned to serve for his surprise birthday party. It will be held at Claire's house. We also secretly invited some of the friends Ryan made here.

Diane is in on this too. Her job is to whisk Ryan away so we can prepare for the party without getting caught. Right now, Ryan is focused on his birthday date with Diane.

"This is so weird," I commented still not able to accept the fact that Justine Claire Solistre shops at a public market. Most rich people hate the public market because of its unpleasant appearance and smell.

"There's nothing to be surprised about. I usually do this when I'm not busy and Manang Laila isn't around."

"It's still hard to believe."

We began shopping for the ingredients we needed for the viands. Claire isn't kidding with me. She does shop in the public market! She knew what stall to go to buy a certain item. Plus, the vendors knew her. She seems familiar with them and they seem close to her. Well... maybe a little too close.

"Oy Claire! Who's this guy? He's so cute. Is he your boyfriend?" a middle-aged woman asked when we came by her stall to buy pork.

I can't believe people still think we're dating.

"No, Manang Lhyn. He's just a friend." Claire corrected the vendor as she looked at the pre-cut meat in front of her.

"Friend? Oh, that's alright. Is the young lad single? Because my daughter is single too." she said looking at me with an eager grin.

That went a sharp turn real quick. First, she mistook me for Claire's boyfriend. Now, she's playing matchmaker between me and her daughter. But before I could answer, Claire beat me to it.

"Oh, I'm not sure if he is. But he's gay."

WHAT!!?!?!

"Oh, really!? What a waste of a cute guy! He seems nice too."

But before I could even defend myself, Claire had already started citing her orders. They went on with the transaction. Since it was already too awkward if I brought up the gay lie, I decided to drop it. 

False identity accepted.

But setting that aside, I still look at what's going on in disbelief. Not only does Claire know which goods are quality goods. But she's also good at making bargains. She can negotiate with the vendors to get the price marked down a bit. She did it with almost all the vendors and she was able to save enough money to buy milkshakes after.

After getting everything we needed, we went back to her house. Manang Laila, along with two assistants who were hired for the event, was waiting for us. We soon began working. Claire, Manang Laila, and one assistant focused on the cooking. While the other assistant and I did the decorations.

Nighttime has fallen upon us and guests began to arrive. They were mostly Ryan's classmates. There are some tag-alongs but it was alright. Apart from Manang Laila and the two assistants, Claire also had bodyguards stationed everywhere in the party. They make sure no guest over-welcome their stay.

"Diane just texted me. They're on their way here. Ryan thinks I just invited him to have a simple dinner here." Claire said as soon as she approached me.

"That's good. We'll prepare once they are at the subdivision's gate." I said.

Then my eyes fell on one of the bodyguards who just stopped one of the guests from entering a restricted area.

"It's a good thing you hired bodyguards for this. I know some of these people just came to check out your house."

"Yeah. I figured we'd get some nosy guests. But I didn't hire these bodyguards specifically for this event."

"Oh, what do you mean?"

"I mean they are already hired to protect me ever since."

"You mean you already had them? How come? I never saw them around you before."

"Well, they are around me all the time. You just didn't know it was them since they are undercover most of the time."

Well, that was a shock. Does that mean these guards saw everything? Were they around when I confronted Aria along with Claire? Did they see that kiss?

But before I could start to have a mental breakdown, I heard a ding. It was Claire's phone. She looked at the message.

"Oh? They are at the subdivision gate now."

With that, we gathered the guests to prepare for the surprise. After rehearsing what we needed to do, we waited quietly. Not long after, Diane came into view holding a confused blindfolded Ryan. When Diane took off his blindfold, we began to sing him a "Happy Birthday".

Ryan was so surprised. He even asked Diane, "I thought this would be just a simple dinner". After blowing his candles, the party began. Some began to eat. Some went to Ryan to give him their gifts while the others went to the pool.

Overall, everyone was having fun. But most of all, Ryan was the happiest. He was smiling from ear to ear as he talked with the guest. After Claire and I said our greetings to Ryan, the latter moved on to the other guests leaving us.

"Thank you for doing this," I told Claire.

She looked at me with a happy smile.

"This? This is nothing to thank for. I did it because Ryan is important to Diane. But since you'll still thank me, you're welcome."

That earned a laugh from me.

"So what happened?" Claire asked the moment she entered the garage area of my apartment.

Yesterday, my car broke down. It was such a stress. I almost didn't make it to class. Now that I have free time today, I decided to concentrate on getting it fixed.

"I honestly don't know. It looked fine to me until it just stopped working."

Claire called earlier today wanting to hang out but I declined. I told her about my situation with the car. She asked questions like if I had already checked this and that. But, I couldn't fully explain it to her during the call. So, a few minutes later, she showed up at my apartment with mechanic tools on hand.

"Let me see," she said as she opened my car's hood.

"You can fix cars?" I asked in shock.

"Well, I had five cars at my house. How do you think I was able to maintain them all?" She replied as she continued to inspect my car.

"Don't you have a personal mechanic for that?"

"I do. But I can't always bother him. As a car owner, I must know how to fix this stuff. Besides, I love doing this and it saves me a great deal of money. Although I have to give my mechanic credit for teaching me."

"I didn't think a girl like you could fix cars."

Claire turned to me and smirked.

"Yeah... And you also didn't think a girl like me could steal your girl. So, this shouldn't be a surprise to you that I'm not an average stereotypical girl." she said and winked at the end.

Damn!

"Okay. I found the problem. Come here." she said changing the topic as she gestured me to come closer to the car.

She pointed out the problem and even taught me how to fix it. In just half an hour since she arrived, the car started working again.

At this point, I already knew she wouldn't accept my thanks. But I still did. She, of course, waived it off saying she did it to show off at my pathetic loser self.

But still... even though she is the most eccentric friend I ever had, I'm still glad I could call her my friend.