The interschool competition

"Who could it be?" she asked while tossing on her bed. Right after she received the flower the other day, she couldn't stop thinking about it. Sure, it was a cliché thing but it concerned about her true self.

She whined before slipping on her slippers and off to the kitchen. She was surely not feeling well and tomorrow would be the competition.

"focus, Liana, focus," she snapped at her herself. She opened the fridge before taking out a cold water and drank the whole glass.

"Aeya, why am I so nervous about it? Who could it be? No one knows about it. Aeeeeyyy," she whined, hitting her head.

"calling Niko," her phone automatically said after she pressed the call button. He'd the only one who knows her truly.

"what made you call me at this time, sister?" he asked with a night and hoarse voice.

"were you sleeping?" she worriedly asked. She would just tell him the next day and let him sleep.

"Nope, I was just stressed with the company problems. What's up?" he asked. She muted the call first before going to the back of the house and sat on the chair opposite the pool.

"Uhm...I received a bouquet of flowers and they said that someone asked for Li Xue Ya-"

"Hold up, how did-"

"I know, that's what I'm saying. No one knows about this except you and our family. Perhaps, someone outside from us, knows this?" her voice was slowly shaking, worrying her brother.

"Hey, chill first. It couldn't be him too. He doesn't know you. Who else knew about this, about Li Xue Ya?" their voice was matching, as if they had committed a crime.

"not even my best friends, not Jun. Niko, if it's not him, why did it say, I miss you and please do wait for me?"

He raised his hand to slap his mouth as a reaction and looked at the phone before saying, "what did you just say? Liana, it can't be him. He doesn't know about you!"

"but what if he knew all along? What if he was just deceiving us?" her voice cracked as her heart tightened around her chest.

"Why do keep hoping for that? Liana you were just a kid back then! He sai dthat he doesn't know you! He forgot you and he's not willing to remember you because of the accident!" he was against her, this time. He was not going to let his sister go blind again because of some stupid cliché childhood past.

" I miss him, "she suddenly cried.

" for 14 years I've been waiting for him and when I saw him 10 years ago he roughly pushed me away. You don't know how painful it was to just stay at the corner and watch him leave me again. It still haunts me, " she whimpered, hugging herself tightly, feeling the coldness of the night air.

" I'm sorry, sissy but no one knows about him now. I can't help you Liana. I think, it's better to completely forget him just like what he did. Some things just won't come back again. It's all in the past, sissy. You need to let it go," he softly said through the phone before calling off the call. She gasped for air as she dissolved in tears.

" Where are You Zixin? "she whispered, letting the air carry the name away.

~

Ashley was gripping Christian's arms as she spoke, " I wonder how is she doing. I'm so nervous, "

Victoria was unable to make it with the group because she had something to appoint to. Ashley, Christian, Justin and Dylan were all waiting for her at the cafeteria since no student was allowed to enter the school's gym.

" Dylan, did you order her favorite cake?" she asked, once again, checking everything.

"Justin did it for me but he bought a gift for her"

"then what else did you do?"

"woah, relax ma'am. I cooked her favorite meal: creamy pasta and beef and chicken shawarma. I made the cake, for your information. It was not an easy thing to do that I searched for the tutorial,"

"what kind of cake is that for you to search for it. You're like the best pastry chef in our school and you're going to open your own business soon," she mocked a face that says don't lie to me.

"it was a fancy plated chocolate glazed opera cake, you know?"

"so that's why you told me to not touch this white box? Okay, next time you should bake something for us too," she said, hiding her hunger. She sure knew that Liana was lucky to have Dylan on her side, no matter how stubborn and playboy he was.

Justin came back running to tell the news, "I just heard that it's almost the end of the competition,"

~

An hour had passed and so far, Liana and Veronica did a good job to keep up with the problems they were throwing and solved it correctly. Throughout the process, they were fighting who will answer and who will not but in the end, they settled and acted as professionals. They didn't want to let their personal problem get in the way.

However, Liana was distracted. She felt like someone was staring at her back, throughout the whole time she was in the gym.

"okay, players, well done. We will announce the winners after you lunch. You may now take a rest," her principal said and finally, it was done. For her, it was a little easy for her and not challenging.

She was talking with the other players and was waiting for her friends to pick her up just as what they planned but no one came. While she was looking around, a guy approached her, in fact, he was one of the players.

"excuse me? Are you Liana Vivienne Stone?" he said, hiding something from his back.

"yeah, Hi! Why are you looking for me?" she asked, with her sweet voice

"Uhm, someone from our school wanted to give you this flower and asked me to take a picture with you. Ah- I know it sounds creepy but he said that he knew you since you were kids," she was silent after listening to what he just said. She didn't know what to react and how to react. Instead, she widened her eyes before nodding at him.

All she was thinking was the person who left her broken. She was unsure whether to believe her conclusion or not. She put all the pieces of the puzzle and all she got was really him, but without no acceptable proof.

"Liana? Are you okay?" she blushed before nodding.

"oh thank you. Do you have a phone or camera with you?" she asked, playing with the hem of her uniform.

"yes, wait, I'll get it first," He ran to take the camera from his bag before asking a random student to take their picture.

She smiled half heartedly while giving her signature post, doing a V sign on her cheeks before tilting her head to make it cuter.

" thank you Liana. My name is Keith by the way, nice to meet you," they shook hands before he waved goodbye and off somewhere she didn't know. She found herself smiling at his name. Whatever she was thinking, it made her blush.

She didn't deny the fact that Keith was a handsome looking guy and had a cheerful and pleasant smile. He was also polite. She smiled once again when she realized they shook hands.

"girl, what was that?" Ashley bumped her hips, teasing the smiley Liana. She never saw her in this state except when Dylan always tease her.

"you both held each other's hands and took picture and flowers? Damn, you're showing your status as the School's enchantress again and showing me how ugly I am,"

"no I'm not. He approached me and all I did was to accept it. And don't say you're ugly, you won Christian's attention after 2 years of hardship, who said you're ugly?"

"yeah yeah, I know. Let's go, they're waiting for you already," she grabbed her hands and led her to the cafeteria. Ashley was still not over of what happened to Liana, a while ago.

"by the way, that guy was handsome. You should go out with him," she whispered, wiggling her eyebrows.

"I'm already engaged, Ashley," she deadpan.

"totally forgot that, poor baby. Aeey, let's just go, I'm so hungry," she pushed her, and swayed their hands while smiling at her best friend.