“Totally Platonic”

Sitting in the middle of the storm, which was between the two Ts, Elara gulped heavily, making a fanning motion with her hand to ease the unseen volcanic heat newing within the tension.

They had entered inside…but things weren't going well at all!

***

"What?! Ela—firstly, let her fucking go," Terrence said furiously while reaching out to pull Elara away, only for the peach-haired lady to dodge.

"Are you deaf? She's my girlfriend so don't get all touchy with her!" the peach haired lady replied with a fierce glare.

"W—" Elara tried to speak but was hugged tightly with no way of escape. However, seeing the situation about to escalate to something else, she knew she had to interfere.

"I'm dying…" she gasped dramatically, successfully capturing the peach-haired lady's attention, who immediately pulled back.

"Are you ok—" the lady began but was cut off by Terrence who grabbed Elara's left hand.

Not to be outdone, she also grabbed Elara's right hand, leaving Elara being pulled from both sides like a toy being fought for by children.

"Guys—"

"I'll let you know that I can make your life a living hell if you do not let go of her now," Terrence uttered darkly, his voice falling down a notch to illustrate the gravity of his threats.

The lady chuckled carefreely before marching the threats with an equally deadly one, "Like I give a damn. You shouldn't mess around with random people just because you have some cash boy; you have no idea just what you could get yourself into. Also, she's my girlfriend, so you're the one out of line here."

"She is not your girlfriend," Terrence insisted through gritted teeth.

"Then is she yours?"

"....." Fuck!

"Thought so!" the peach-haired lady gloated with a smug look.

Terrence felt demoralized, was she truly Elara's girlfriend? Was that why she wasn't denied—

"Terra haven't you had enough fun?" Elara suddenly asked with a deadpan look; she wanted the two to have gotten everything out of their system before interfering, as they wouldn't have listened to her if they didn't, but seeing Terrence looking like an abandoned puppy, she knew she had to step in now.

"Ela… " Terra muttered with a pleading look only to be caught off when Elara snatched away her hand.

The two were left dumbfounded by how effortlessly she freed her hands from them and could only watch in a daze as she stepped inside without a second word.

"...."

"...."

Glaring at each other once more, they both followed her inside.

***

'Normally, I wouldn't have wanted the meeting between those two to be like this…after all, they're both childish and tenacious. Of course, it was going to end up in disaster,' Elara pondered in the kitchen while fixing both her guests some refreshments.

Terra was a childish, stubborn, and possessive cutie who couldn't fathom the idea of losing to anyone, especially when it came to her, while Terrence was an equally childish, stubborn, and possessive sweetie who didn't even know about his possessive tendencies.

Both were her loved ones. One was her baby and the other her angel, so having them scuffle over her left her a bit overwhelmed.

'I have to handle this situation carefully, or it might escalate to something else.'

Moving to the living room, where both Ts were seated rather far apart from each other while glaring, she carefully placed down the refreshments in their midst.

"Taking her seat even farther from them, Elara decided to explain, only for Terra to walk up towards her, trying to sit next to her.

"Terra, later, okay?" she coaxed helplessly, exasperated at the clingy female who kept trying to invade every personal space of hers.

Terrence was fuming, this pink lady was so uncivilized! Does she not know the concept of space?! Even he couldn't—fuck, he was so annoyed!

In the end, Elara managed to tame the overexcited Terra by offering to give her something 'sweet' later, leaving Terrence even more agitated. Were they actually girlfriends? But how could his investigation not find that out? And why would Elara lie about being aroace?

Also, what 'sweet' thing?!

"

"Terra," Elara started, "This is Terrence. He's my Boss but also a very close friend I recently made."

Terrence huffed, exchanging glares with Terra, who rolled her eyes in annoyance.

"And Terrence, this is Terrance or Terra for short; my girlfriend… But not in that way, nope. I'm still aroace, we just called ourselves that a long while ago to help me with the continuous advances from others, and after that it just stuck… or at least Terra didn't want to stop using it and it didn't bother me so we just stuck with it," Elara explained leaving Terra a bit demoralized, couldn't she just have lied that they were girlfriends?

. She knew how Elara was; she was the type to go along with most things once you entered her loved one list. However, even she had her core principles. Like never lying to her loved ones, had it been a stranger she'd have casually gone along with her being her girlfriend.

Which meant in the brief moment she had left, some bastard had sneaked in! Not only was he rich, he was also very good-looking! How the hell did he sniff out her treasure?!

Meanwhile, Terrence felt incredulous. He knew Elara was a bit odd when it came to her belief on boundaries friendships should have. Even though they hadn't been close for that long he knew from some actions of hers that Elara's perception of friendship was a bit blurred.

Maybe it was because she had never felt a romantic attraction or been in a romantic relationship but her idea of platonic was distorted. Almost to the extent that someone with devious ideas could take advantage of them.

Like say, this Terra! Who the hell tells their platonic friend to refer to them as a romantic partner and even take it so seriously without shame? She was obviously using Elara's obliviousness for her benefit.

What was even more infuriating was how easily Elara accepted everything. It was like watching a kid be tricked into handing over their money to a tricky adult who scammed them with more notes of lesser value and not being able to do a thing because the kid couldn't understand how they were being tricked.

'Fuck.'

"You know, you don't have to do that anymore," Terrence tried to explain despite Terra's evil glare.

"I don't mind; if it's what Terra wants, then why not?" Elara said with an adoring look leaving Terence even more dumbfounded.

'Should I get her to call me boyfriend too… have I lost my damn mind?'

He was snapped out of his daze when Terra left her seat to sit on Elara's lap while clinging onto her neck, "Get that? She's mine."

'Don't act like you're the real thing you sneaky fuck.'

"Ela…." Terra pouted, "I miss you so so so so so so much! Why didn't you call? I was so lonely!"

"I missed you too, plus I didn't want to disturb you…"

Terrence, who had been sidelined, could only watch with a blank gaze, somehow having to believe that everything going on before him was 'totally platonic'.

"Looking closely at the annoying female he had to admit that she was indeed pretty.

Pretty doe eyes with pink contact lenses, plump pink lips that were currently rummaging through Elara's face, full eyebrows and lashes, a straight nose, and a slim figure like that of a model.

She was half a head taller than Elara and excluded a fiery aura. Terrence's heart chilled, with that beauty…. Wouldn't she easily seduce Elara?!

She was already this far in… Any farther and she could get Elara to be hers! He couldn't tell why it bothered him, especially since he and Elara were just friends… So why?

As his eyes wandered in thought, they caught Terra pinching and playing with Elara's cheeks as she giggled heartily; that's when it hit him: he just didn't like someone being closer to Elara than him.

Standing up with a sigh he muttered, "I'm leaving."

Their plans were thoroughly disrupted by the peachy female who came out of nowhere, and he needed to clear his mind, or he might behave in a way he'd regret.

"Oh!" Elara exclaimed, immediately standing up to escort him despite Terra's reluctant groans, "I'll escort you outside."

Facing Terra, she consoled with a smile, "Be good, baby; I'll be back soon."

Terrence felt the joy he had from Elara dismissing Terra morph to annoyance almost immediately.

Baby?! Seriously?! How much more suspicious could this 'totally platonic' relationship be? Do they also roll in bed 'totally platonically'?

Wait… it can't be… he had no choice but to believe Elara was truly aroace for his sanity.

"Are you really not dating?" Terrence asked warily as soon as they stepped outside.

"We get that a lot; even my parents think we're dating," Elara replied with a chuckle, "Terra is just like that; she's super clingy and has zero concept of personal space, but believe me, she won't force me into anything I don't like."

Terrence sighed, although Elara usually acted like an oblivious person, he knew better than to doubt her. She was an intelligent lady who could read between the lines; if Terra ever crossed a line she shouldn't, or tried to, he trusted Elara could handle her.

He had to remember he was dealing with an adult here and not a child.

"Alright, but be careful," he replied while pulling Elara into a bear hug. Since Elara was two heads shorter than him, he could see the top of her hair, which was tied up in a space bun, looking extremely cute.

He chuckled softly; Elara could feel his chest vibrating with laughter, which made her giggle heartily.

His eyes caught Terra, whose face was plastered on the window, wickedly glaring at him, which made him sneer at her mischievously.

"Hey," Elara called out to him, snapping him out of his war with Terra, "You should go, your driver is waiting."

He was…. Astonished.

Elara, who was nestled into his arms, looked up at him with a sweet grin, and an affectionate gaze, effectively short-circuiting him.

His heartbeat paused momentarily before accelerating with inhuman speed leaving him breathless. He felt his whole body heat up with every part of him flushing red as a rush of feelings flooded him.

"Terry?" Elara called out confusedly watching the male flush up in a daze, "Are you okay…?"

"I'm fine!" he yelped, pulling away from Elara.

"Call you later, yeah? Bye!"

Watching the male rush into his car as if escaping from her, Elara was left baffled.

'What the…?'

In his car, Terrence leaned back into his car seat in a daze before looking back to Elara's house. Watching Terra snuggle into Elara while giving him the middle finger he felt his American bloodline triggered. His hands suddenly felt itchy to hold a gun.

He scowled, but then the events that had just transpired resurfaced in his mind, and he found himself blushing and feeling all jittery once more.

'What the heck are you doing to me Elara?'

Palming his face he groaned into his hands. Fuck this.

***

Surveying the reports before him, Terrence frowned, leaving Merlin gulping internally in anxiety.

Since Terrence had postponed all work to the next day, he had expected to at least have today as a day off, but nope, he was suddenly recalled to make investigations on his boss's 'friend'.

However, despite his misgivings, he knew better than to complain, especially with his boss looking so serious.

'I wonder what happened in his outing with Miss Elara?'

He was snapped out of his thoughts when Terrence slapped the documents he had handed to him on the table before glancing towards him with an indifferent gaze.

"I want you to gather everything you can about Elara. EVERYTHING."

"Yes sir."

Watching Merlin leave after bowing, Terrence leaned into his seat, lightly tapping his right thigh.

Terrance Garfield, the lastborn daughter of the Garfield family and the prodigal child of her family. While her other siblings joined the family business she deferred, and instead invested in agriculture using her inheritance and using the income generated from it to live a comfortable and free life without involvement with her family.

The Garfield family wasn't known for their wealth but for their influence; their roots were deep, and they had ties with a lot of influential personalities, including him.

"Who would have guessed? But how did Elara even meet someone of that caliber?"

Not only that, but she was also close to the other two friends of Terra, which made sense since Terra was childhood friends with those two. Thus, when Elara came, she became integrated into their three-group friendship.

However, it was odd because Elara was a simple person; her family was well off but was nothing special. So how did she meet them?

The only way to know was from finding out everything that happened between Elara's expulsion and her meeting Terra. He could feel it held hidden aspects of Elara no one knew.

Remembering the captivating female, he subconsciously smiled; he would find out everything he could about Elara. EVERYTHING.