9 Chapter 9
The wooshing sound of the airplanes is making Harith worry, well, if you love someone and you are like sending her off to someone she really likes or love is somewhat a good thing to do but painful.
He looked at her, Athena's face is looking plane, not wearing the face of excitement. Minutes passed by until Athena forced a smile on her face and walked, Harith's eyes followed Athena, until to his surprise, the guy they've come to pick up has arrived. But the thing is, they're hugging, and he's jelly.
"Bubble tea?" Alex asked
"Sure," Athena answered, then she remembered that she's not alone,
"Uhh, Alex, this is Harith, my friend," Athena introduced Harith,
"Uhh, nice to meet you," Alex said handing out his hand,
They shake hands and went to the bubble tea store.
"Oh, are you coming with us? You know, have fun?" Athena said trying to convince him,
"Sorry Love, I think I'm gonna stay at the hotel," Alex said apologizing,
"Oh, sure, "Athena replied with a frown,
"I understand," she added trying to give out a smile.
They went to the bubble tea store and bought some of Athena's favorites. Then they got out and Alex took a cab to ride to the hotel. And finally, Harith felt better, he's alone with Athena again. They're on their way to the park on Athena's car then Harith spoke,
"You didn't tell him?"Harith said furiously
"About what?"Athena asked,
"Your performance tonight at school," he answered,
"No, he needs to rest. Besides, he's not into classical music," she answered and that made Harith laugh a bit,
"Why do you laugh?" she asked,
"You know, you shouldn't force yourself to someone who doesn't like you," he answered,
"Ok, what are you trying to say?" she asked him and to be honest, she's a bit annoyed,
"I'm trying to say that whatever you two have, it may not be love," Harith said it out loud,
Inside Athena, she's having a bit of realization, in the outside, she asked him if he knows love,
"Well, at least I know how it feels like," he said with a smile,
"Ok, how does it feel like?" she asked him rolling her eyes, his answer is the love you feel with your family. And then silence, Harith broke the silence,
"Can't say a word?" but Athena is in the middle of realization to answer his question. She didn't, and that made Harith feel good saying those words, after all, he likes her and he wants to rob her. They've reached the park and both stepped out the car. They plan to have fun the whole day until the night comes. And as usual, Athena is still working on her 'ollie' she needed days to get it but she's progressing. There's Steve, Angelica, Harith, and Athena the park. They continued skating and decided to go have lunch.
Finally, food is ready after the long wait. And as always, Angelica ha been bombarding her with questions and even asked for a photo. Well, Athena doesn't really mind it. But it makes Harith the most jealous in the group so he's silent the whole lunchtime. Athena did notice this but she doesn't want to complicate things with Harith, especially this time that Alex is around. She doesn't really enjoy seeing him like this, she wants the happy and loud Harith. But she has to endure it, for Alex's sake.
Finally, the night is coming up. Athena and Angelica are all good to go, while Harith and Steve wait them at school. The school made it a pretty extravagant event, there are guests, people, and important people. Well as we all know, there would be performances from each performing club such as the musical club, theatrical club, and the dance club. Well, Athena and Angelica are clothed in an old Greek theme and so is the whole musical club. The moment that Alex saw Athena, his world turned into a slow-motion as she passes by. They sat with each other and Harith spoke,
"It's sad that your boyfriend won't get to see this," but deep inside, he felt lucky to be the one to see her in that angelic form. He's got the devil, doesn't he? But love always changes people, and it's up to us if we change in a good way or in a bad way.
Finally, it's the musical club's turn to take the stage. But Athena's performance is different from Angelica's, so Angelica went first. The moment she ended, it became Athena's turn with their school senior pianist. Carson was there to take a video but as for Harith, he wants a video his for himself and so he's taking a video as well.
Athena's piece is called 'Chopin: Nocturne in C sharp minor op.posth'
The piece needed emotions and Athena has all the emotions to give out, as they were playing, they made the whole area fall in love with them, but as for Athena, someone is already in love with her... They've finished and the first person Athena runs into is Harith.
The event finally ended and the four friends decided to spend dinner at Angelica's place, Athena asked Carson to drive her car home, she wants to walk home since it's nearby. They ate, talked, and went inside Angelica's room to tell stories and jokes. And finally, time to go home and Harith volunteered to walk her home,
"Athena, aren't you supposed to spend time with your boyfriend? I mean, he came from Singapore, you should spend more time with him," Harith said, hoping that she wouldn't agree, it's some Harith's bad habit of giving out ideas yet he doesn't want her to agree.
"Are you sending me away?" she asked,
"That's not what I meant,but if I could, I won't," he answered her giving her a sensation of romantic excitement. And for a minute or two, they had an intimate stare at each other. Until they've come back to their senses and kept a distance. She finally reached home and said their goodbyes. She shut the door and rushed to her bedroom and screamed inside her.
