Denzel
Jay-jay's POV
When Aries already scolded me and then Kuya scolded me. They weren't satisï¬ed yet, I was planning to ground him. Luckily, Kuya Angelo took pity. I was currently waiting at our corner. David texted me and said he would pick me up. It was still far but I saw his car. When it stopped in ront of me, I immediately got in. "I talked to Denzel." He opened the door for me. He started the car. "What did you say?" "I think he should explain to you." David replied. Oh, it was thrilling. I just kept quiet and waited for the ride. Maybe it would be better if Denzel said it. I just looked out the window and watched the houses. Until I noticed something. This is not going to school. "D-david... Where are we going?" "They say Denzel... He's not going to school today." I looked outside again. It was like we were in a different place. This was not the environment I expected of Denzel's place. The houses were close together, some were patchwork and some were cemented but not ï¬nished or only half of the house and the other part was patched with wood. Some had only sacks on the windows. There was also garbage scattered around. We stopped in front of a house. It was half wood and half cemented. David got out and so did I. People were looking at us. I think they had just seen someone beautiful and handsome---Charot! David was the ï¬rst to approach the door of the house. "Denzel... Man!" He called. A girl opened the door. She was like Denzel's mini-me. How cute! That girl was it. "W-who are you?" The boy asked us. "We are Denzel's classmates... Is she there?" I asked. The boy nodded and motioned for us to enter. When we entered, the house was clean. The wall was painted and fully urnished. We sat on the wooden sofa and waited for Denzel's little mini me. He entered a room and when he came out, Denzel followed him. "W-why are you here?" He asked us. "You need to talk to Jay." David replied. Really?! Is it me? Denzel looked at the child next to him. "Play outside ï¬rst." The child nodded and ran outside. Denzel sat next to me. He seemed to know where I was going. "I understand if you judge me after I tell you the truth." Denzel said. I held his hand and forced a smile. "I just used Grace." He said quickly. My brain didn't process it quickly enough. What was that? Why was it used? "You saw our place, right? Would you want to live and die in this place?" He said while looking around the house. As I grew up with what I had and got what I needed. I will say absolutely not. Even when I was with my grandmother, it never crossed my mind to live in a place like this. "What did you use?" I asked. "It's impossible for someone like me to get into HVIS. Even Eren, whose father was abroad, had a hard time getting in. Is it me?" He explained. "Mom works at Grace's house. She doesn't have any parents anymore, only her aunts look after her. I said before that I wanted a life like hers." "That's why it crossed my mind that I would ï¬nd a way to get rich." He added. "And your answer was to court Grace?" I asked and looked at David for a moment. "At ï¬rst, no. But I was jealous of what she had. Before high school, she had a car even though I didn't have a bicycle. That's why I became friends with her, I would tease her even though she often teased me. Until I caught her. I convinced her to let me into HVIS too." "He did. But you got into a ï¬ght in your senior year so you were put in Section E." David added. Denzel nodded. "When I entered HVIS, I stopped Grace. I felt guilty about it. But Grace didn't stop me, she gave me things that were hard to refuse. Cellphone, branded clothes and shoes. I thought Grace would get bored on her own so I let her." He took a deep breath. "We became friends but we kept it a secret. Of course, many would object. When we were about three years old, I planned to break up with her but I couldn't. I was scared, I was afraid of losing her." "Because you love her." I said. He nodded. "...Why don't you want to be responsible for the child if you love her?" There was a hint of irritation in my voice. "I thought Grace wouldn't get pregnant so I broke up with her. I felt guilty about what I did. But the day you and Freya fought, she told me she was pregnant." He washed his hands. "..I was scared! I can take responsibility for the child but Grace won't forgive me if she ï¬nds out what I did." I wasn't in the right place to lecture Denzel. He needed a friend who would give him advice on what to do. That's not me, I don't know what to do about things like this. When my classmate got pregnant, I just told her to go to the clinic for a checkup. Because I don't know what to do in this situation. I looked at David. I motioned for him to speak but he didn't get what I meant. We looked like idiots talking with our faces. "What are you doing?" Denzel and I asked each other so we stopped. "Sister, who do you need?" We both stopped. It was the voice of the girl who greeted us earlier. Who did Sister tell us outside? The girl came inside ollowed by a woman also in HVIS uniform . Grace! She was crying and looking at Denzel in the eye. She heard what we were talking about! "You're a liar!" Grace shouted at Denzel and ran out of the house. I followed her, I saw her get into a car parked next to David's car. I turned to Denzel but he didn't even move. "Aren't you going to follow her?!" I asked her annoyed. "W-this is better. I can't be a good husband to her." She said and entered the room. I looked at David. He didn't react. I wanted to be annoyed with him because he didn't say anything but I was too. I took my bag and left the house. David followed me. We both got into the car. "What's up? What's the plan?" I asked David. "Let's go to school ï¬rst." David said. He started the car. I was quiet the whole trip. I wanted to think about what could happen to Denzel and Grace but I didn't want to make assumptions or give myself hope. We were almost at a bridge when I saw the same car that Grace was driving. "David! Stop!" I ordered. He stopped the car just near Grace's car. I got out and immediately looked inside but there was no one. I looked over and saw Grace on the edge of the bridge. "David! It's Grace!" We quickly ran towards Grace but she looked at us angrily. "Grace! Let's go here!" I shouted at her while holding out my hand. "Grace... We can talk about this." David said. Suddenly he started crying. "If something bad happens to us, will Denzel and I be held responsible?" "The situation will only get worse if you do that." David replied and tried to offer his hand to Grace. "I love Denzel. But what he did to me hurt." He said while crying. "He regretted it! He knew it was wrong so he tried to ï¬x it!" I explained. I looked under the bridge. The bridge was very high. The river current was also quite strong. Maybe it would take Grace to the sea if she fell. "Repaired? For breaking up with me?!" Grace asked, crying. "GRACE!" We looked at the one who shouted. Denzel, with our classmates . Why are they here? Denzel came to our place. I can see his concern. Are you scared now?! "Grace! Come here! Let's talk!" Denzel shouted. "You're a liar! You just used me!" "Yes... I did that but I regret it! Believe me!" Yuri and Keifer came to me. The others followed them. "What happened?" Yuri asked. "We tried to talk to Denzel, he told us the real reason. Then Grace was just outside and listening." I explained too quickly. Keifer looked at me evilly. "You're interfering again." "I just want to help." I answered him. "...Why are you here? Huh?" "David called me. We went to Denzel and followed Grace but we saw you here." Yuri explained. I don't remember David calling anyone. I must have been so deep in my thoughts that I didn't notice. "Grace! For our baby, let's talk ï¬rst!" Denzel pleaded. Grace shook her head while crying. "Shh. We're only going to be here for a while!" Keifer said angrily and suddenly approached Grace. Even closer to Denzel's place. "Don't come any closer!" Grace shouted at Keifer. Keifer stopped and crossed her arms. "What? You're going to jump? Then jump! Jump!" My eyes widened at what he said. What an idiot! Is he trying to encourage me to commit suicide? "Keifer!" I shouted. He just gestured at me with one ï¬nger. "Jump now! You're a coward! You thought that was Grace Miller, Freya's friend. She's just a coward!" He added. I almost slapped my own forehead because of what he was saying. He was just fueling Grace's resentment. "I thought you were good at torturing! The braver the more fun to torture! But you? Just one problem, you'll give up! You're a real coward!" Keifer added. Grace just looked at him silently. She wiped her tears and seemed to realize something. She slowly left the side and walked closer to Keifer. "I'm not a coward. This problem won't bring me down." She said ï¬rmly to Keifer and walked closer to Denzel. "...Follow me, let's talk." Denzel immediately followed and got into Grace's car. I looked back at Keifer. Should I be surprised by what he did? We almost got angry when he shouted at Grace to leave the side but she just fought him. "Let's go inside! The scene is over!" +