9 Chapter 9

It was Mia.

She had called Tia to ask her out on a hangout with Reggy on Sunday. Tia accepted the offer from her, thinking that this would be a perfect chance to get to know the girls out of school.

A little chit-chatting happened, and they soon said goodbye to each other from both ends of the phone.

That made Tia look forward to the following Sunday.

Humming a random song, the freckled girl was about to make her way back to her seat in the cafe when a group of taller boys stopped her.

"Hey. You're a high schooler, right? Alone?" One of them asked, trying to act all so cool.

Well shit, things are going to be a little messy now. Scared, Tia was hoping for a miracle to happen so they'd get distracted while she can run inside the building. Maybe she could stall for some time.

"Uhh, no, in fact I got to go back into the cafe since I've got someone waiting for me." she replied, voice nearly shaking. Boy, she hated this.

"Aww, unfortunate. Why not stay for a little chat while we're at it? I'll let you get back in soon." The taller guy that had been talking to her on the behalf of the whole group didn't back down. He seemed like a persistent guy.

Searching for excuses and words to say, Tia started stumbling on her own words. She let her tough act down. This is bad.

Why did they target her out of everyone? Man, she was alone and no taller than an average school kid. Now, her confidence fully gone, the poor scared girl shut her eyes as a hand was about to reach her. She tried to recollect herself.

The moment she opened it, she saw a tall figure standing in front of her, but this time, it wasn't the same figure that she saw for several minutes before. Her discomforts vanished as she saw a familiar face telling the group of boys off. Finally, her heartbeat steadily returned to its normal pace and she felt safe again.

Miracles do happen and thanks to it, Theo is standing in front of her right now, defending her.

"Leave her alone, she seems clearly uncomfortable." He growled, stopping the said hand from reaching her.

"Geez man, what the hell? Are you her boyfriend or some shit?" The tall guy clicked his tongue, roughly brushing off Theo's hand and signalling his gang to get out of there quickly.

Unconsciously holding her breath, Tia finally let out some air. It showed how tense she was before Theo helped her out.

When the group was out of sight, Theo immediately turned to the person he was defending.

Eyes pretty much full of concern and worry, he asked Tia if she was okay.

"You good? The situation got messy there, huh? Sorry I didn't realize it any sooner."

Seriously? Even in times like this the man found something to apologize for. He was a genuinely nice person.

Stopping her voice from trembling, Tia responded.

"I'm okay, it's all good. Don't apologize, you have nothing to say sorry for. Thank you so much for helping me out, things could have gotten messier if it wasn't for you."

A sigh of relief was let out when those words were uttered. Theo smiled, knowing that she wasn't injured in any way at all.

It wasn't pure worry that made Theo hurry there and stop the boys.

Strange, but something else sparked in his heart.

Jealousy?

He realized this. He realized that he was jealous, but why?

They were basically nothing but project partners. It shouldn't bother him that much.

Tia opened the cafe door, now feeling safe and collected. The sound of the welcome bell brought Theo back to his senses, and he then followed Tia inside.

After all that, both of them sat down, taking their time to finish the similar drinks they ordered. No words were exchanged, the table was dead silent now that they finished doing their work for today.

This time, Tia decided to start the conversation first as the other did the same before while they walked down the street to the cafe.

"You did mention we never really got to know each other, right?" She tilted her head, receiving a nod as a response.

"So would you like to talk about interests or life in general? Maybe that can help."

Life. Does this sound like she was prying into someone else's business? Oh shoot. Tia realized it right after she asked, so now all she could do is just pray and hope that it didn't give Theo any bad impressions of her.

A part of her does feel that way, but another thought that maybe some holes that were left somewhere in her mind could be filled.

Yet again, the feeling of nostalgia struck her for the millionth time.

"Ah- I'm sorry if I sound like I asked something too personal!" She apologized to cover it up.

Theo only shook his head and his mouth opened to tell Tia a little bit about his family and life situation such as being a child of busy CEOs and having a lot of expectations from a certain group of people, especially his very own parents.

Being a child of a bankrupt company, Tia knew very well about the burdens given to Theo. She used to, at least. It's vague now. Everything from those days where she had a rich and full family was a blur. At the very least, it was easy for her to empathize with the boy.

"What about you?" Theo was curious about Tia's life now that he told her about his.

On that day, they felt like a big wall that was between them for some time had been broken down. This event made them warm up to each other, and even felt comfortable sharing a little bit of their personal lives.

Somewhere inside both of their hearts, they thought of the same thing:

'Ah. We have done this before, haven't we?'