Chapter 20: midnight calls and phase II
"Thanks so much guys, i had fun" chloe said as she waved jian and ethan goodbye after they dropped her off. She truly had fun she didn't even think about the shitty situation she was in or the boys, she was all screaming and laughing, she was grateful for having friends like jian and Ethan.
"Anytime" Ethan said waving back
"Get in" jian urged, it was pretty late and she didn't wanna move until she was sure chloe was in. Chloe smiled at them before walking in,
"I hope she's really okay" jian sighed, she knew chloe best and she knew how she was good at faking her emotions
"She'll be fine" Ethan said looking out the window and only left when chloe got in and closed the door
"Had fun" martha asked and chloe immediately ran into her mother's arms
"Humm" she hummed
"Have some dinner before going to bed" she said as she ruffled her hair, chloe just hummed but she was still slumped on her mom.
"Your dad's coming back tomorrow" martha said with a smile and chloe jolted up excited, her father was an Engineer and works at Nasa, the same program Ethan wants to get in. So he comes home only a few times, chloe really missed him so she was excited to see him. After chatting some more about her dad, she dished out her dinner and took it up her room. she took a shower and ate her dinner and decided it was time to off load and go to bed. She really wanted to sleep, to take her mind off things but sleep wouldn't find her after turning and tossing for about a hour, she groaned and she pulled her phone off the charger, since she couldn't sleep, she might aswell play games or watch rotten mango videos to tire her brain out or better yet she might aswell wake jian too. She was about to log out of the video to call jian when she saw her phone flash and her heart started racing, why was he calling her she really wanted to end the call but her trembling hands just happen to press the receive button. She really wanted to scream and rain down every curse word she knew, she wanted to hate him so bad so why was her stomach having butterflies in them, why is her heart glad, why did her hand press the receive button instead of ending the call and blocking his number because somehow crazy to her she still liked him and that hurt.
"Hey" that was the only word Frank and chloe shared that night, she couldn't say anything her throat got choked up as she tried to not cry but it was impossible she started silently sobbing but Frank still heard at and it broke his heart and before they knew it, they were both sobbing. At one point they stopped and just lay in their beds not saying anything and just listening to each other's breathing. Chloe who couldn't fall asleep, fell asleep 35 minutes into the call. After an hour Frank whispered
"I love you, this is goodbye" he knew chloe wouldn't hear it because she was asleep before he ended the call.
"Bye" jian waved after ethan dropped her off
"See you tomorrow?" She asked and ethan almost cancelled he's study session with Ann, was jian asking him out to hangout
"Shit, got to help Ann" he sighed, he made a promise to her so that was why he didn't want to just cancel on her.
"Ohh, it's okay" jian said as she turned around to walk in
"Next tomorrow" Ethan asked and she nodded in agreement, the two said there goodbyes before she walked in and he drive off.
"Why are you so late young lady" Susan asked and jian jumped startled, what was her mother doing up this late, she's always in bed really early plus why was she sitting in the dark like that
"Mom" she screamed as she put her hand over her chest, trying to control her racing heart before she has a heart attack
"Is he your boyfriend" susan asked switching the light on
"Who, Ethan" jian asked as she walked towards the kitchen to see if she can find any snacks and lucky her they were freshly made sweets
"Yes" Susan asked
"No" jian answered as she grabbed some to take to her room
"Really" Susan probed more and jian sighed
"We're just friends" she explained as she put a hand over her mother's shoulder guiding her to her room
"Goodnight" she kissed her on the cheek before gently pushing her into her room. She went back to turn the lights off before going upstairs to her room and getting ready for bed, she needed to log in to her university account, she probably already missed out on alot, she took a 2 weeks 5days break for the trip to LA and wedding preparations, for someone who had exams around the corner is kind of crazy but she was too tired so she rescheduled it until the next day.
Ethan finally got home, he was home alone because both his parents are out for business, so he has the whole house to himself. He checked his phone after he came back from his shower to see he's mom and dad each left him a text. His mom was basically reminding him to lock all the doors, eat well, close the windows and make sure the camera was on, he couldn't help chuckle at her worry, she replied to her message and opened his dad's messages
"Eat well, close the door, love you goodnight" ethan couldn't help laugh, he probably sent that message at gun point held by he's mother, his dad's love and affection wasn't showed through words but action, he expected a single goodnight but not that whole message. He sent a 'i love you too, goodnight' before checking out his other messages he received one from Ann, reminding him about tomorrow, one from jian asking if he's save home, some from a few friends, group chats and another from an unknown number he decided to just skip that and reply to his other messages but 5 minutes later when he was ready to jump into bed he's phone started ringing, who was calling this night. He picked up his phone to see it was that unknown number that texted him earlier, he decided to just pick up and see who it was.
"Hello" he said tentatively after picking up the phone
"Sorry, hope I'm not disturbing" mina said, of course she was it's 11 at night but Ethan decided to be polite, she probably has a legit reason for calling this late and how did she even get his number
"Oh no, its okay..is everything good" he asked, oh he's the nice guy. Seth would have immediately blocked the number
"No, you must be wondering how i got your number" she nervously chuckled
"Actually yes" Ethan said and she explained that she took it from marco. She and marco leave only about 6 minutes walk away from each other, she just happens to skip the prt where she went to his house at 10 o'clock to get Ethan's number
"I texted you but figured i won't be getting any reply soon so i decided to call" she explained
"Oh i didn't know it was you, my bad" Ethan replied
"Oh btw i called because i saw this theme park and they're doing a love edition so i though that would be a good place to raise your 50%" she said with excitement chuckling and ethan liked the idea
"Oh that sounds like a plan" he nodeed
"I'll send you the poster for you to see" mina said and ethan agreed, they said goodnight before ending the call and mina sent the poster with a message that read
'its mina, don't forget to save my number' Ethan saved her number before checking out the poster. The stars were in his favor because the love theme was happening next tomorrow, the day he and jian are supposed to go out, perfect. The poster read 'All love from anybody to everybody' it was basically a show to show love to anybody and everybody, be it your boyfriend, mom, sister, best friend etc. Mina's such a genius this was perfect he thought, only if he knew he was just part of a bigger plan, mina was going to invite Fiona too and tell her she can come with Seth because she knew the only way to pull seth out is with fiona and when they arrive, she'll creat opportunities for Ethan to be in intimate positions with jian and seth will see all that and possibly come with the conclusion they're together and leave jian alone and in the process jian might fall for ethan too. Perfect plan and wont purse seth, that thesame night she sent the poster to Fiona with a message
'lets go together'. Fiona who was sipping her drink as she lay in her bathrobe, smirked before replying
'looks fun, I'm in', mina was really playing her cards already
'yayy girls time' mina reply, she was truly excited finally looks like her puzzle was falling into the right place
'can i bring seth too' Fiona asked and mina almost jumped in joy, this was easier if she asked fiona to bring seth it may look suspicious why would she ask seth to come when its girls time, but now that Fiona asked it was better
'yeah i guess' she replied pretending to act like she didn't want it to happen but if Fiona wants it's fine then
'great, I'll inform him he's down stairs' she sent and mina felt her heart drop, they were together, did seth sleep over at her place
'good night baes' fiona sent another message before mina could reply to the first, she switched her phone off and continued to drink her drink.
"I'll find out next tomorrow if she really still likes him, does she?" mina mumbled to herself before she switched off her phone to charge and go to bed
"It would all work out" she added nodding with a smile before going to bed.