34 UNDER THE VAST SKY (4)

"Hey Sola, I have this crazy idea. Tell me what you think of it." Xue Guangxi's voice turned towards more animation and added a somewhat overly feigned touch of enthusiasm to it. "What if, you know, we just try to become a couple for real, get married then raise the twins like our own? Haha."

At the corner of his eyes, he saw her freeze.

"I agree?" She said each of the two words in great staccato and with such reluctance.

"You do?" He couldn't believe his ears. He was just trying his luck by passing it as a joke.

"Yeah. That the idea is crazy, but I think, the person behind it is crazier. Pft. Haha. Hahahahaha!!! If I don't know you yet, I'll think that you are hitting on me." She turned her upper body clockwise from the waist up and faced him and inched forward in a confrontation stance. "Are you? Because if you are, that's absurd."

She questioned him without giving him the right amount of pause to answer. Right then and there, she killed whatever hopes he had. "We're like the third pair of twins, aren't we? The first ones are your Jie-Jie and Ge-ge, the second ones are Xiao Lihua and Xiao Lingtian, and the third? Us. We even share the same birthdate, the fifth of March. If it is only coincidental, I wouldn't buy it."

She continued with her blabbering. "If you tell me that you have a thing for me, then that would be illegal. We're literally like siblings! We fight like one! We're better off as best friends, exactly how and what we are now – everything platonic and cleanly sorted out. Beyond that would be considered illogical."

Xue Guangxi felt like walking on thin ice. He secretly wished for the ground beneath him to swallow him whole right at that instant. "Haha!! Hitting on you, huh? I'm just spitting out nonsense! Ha. Ha. Ha." He felt his heart sank to the bottom of the Pacific Ocean.

"But it's not right. We're not biological siblings. We're not exactly twins. We're not even blood-related." Xue Guangxi's voice came out weak, without confidence. Now, he could hear his heart shatter into millions of pieces like glass that had been dropped from a building fifty meters high.

'Is he really pushing it?' The lady thought.

After the long explanation she had given, Xue Guangxi still tried to press further. 'Is he really hitting on me? Omo. It cannot be. Never.' She looked unperturbed on the exterior, but her heart raced as if her life depended on it. She could hear its every beat, and it was disturbing her peace of mind and solid resolve.

'No.'

She bit her lower lip.

"Didn't you say we're family? The only way we can remain as each other's family forever is by being best friends, and siblings. Nothing more." She beamed at him, then reached for another can of sparkly juice.

'How did the conversation end up that way?' She shook her head in bewilderment.

Meanwhile, Xue Guangxi fell silent, as he nursed his wounded heart, soul, and manly ego. 'Geez. I tried to make it pass as a joke, but it ended up more seriously as I hoped. And it hurt like hell, too. This is the last time.'

'The last damn time.' He laid his can on the ground right beside him.

'Stop, now, Sola. Stop rubbing salt to my wounds. Stop, just stop.' He begged in his mind. His jaw clenched, as were his balled fists. He was thankful for the darkness surrounding them. She would not be able to see his scrunched face.

"Of course. Of course!!! Geez!!! I'm just joking!!! Why are you so serious!!! Hahahaha!!!" He sprawled on his back, his limbs outstretched at the maximum circumference. He looked like a Vitruvian man on top view, with the clothes on, of course.

Then he added, "Does the sparky juice make you tipsy?"

"No."

For some reason, she felt embarrassed. 'It was just a joke! Hehehehehe. Silly me.'

'But why do I feel bad?' Disappointment flickered in her eyes for a tad second.

"Come here." Xue Guangxi urged her to lie down beside him. He tapped his outstretched arm for her to lie on as a make-shift pillow.

She obliged. That's the only thing she could do to console him. She felt like a villain who sent him into misery.

"Does this closeness between us bother you?" He whispered through her hair.

"No." She answered. "I'm comfortable with you." She slightly smiled and closed her eyes. 'I'm sorry, Guangxi.'

Indeed, she was comfortable with him. Too comfortable, in fact, that she succumbed into slumber in his arms.

'Oh, Sola. You're so elusive. You're here in my arms yet you're untouchable.' He wrapped both arms around the sleeping beauty.

Then, unbeknownst to the lady, he brushed his soft lips against the pale skin on her forehead. 'I'll be what you want me to be.'