Chapter 8 Friendship bargain.

As the sound of my alarm echoed in my head, I turned on the bed grunting. My head was still throbbing from the marathon reading I did last night and the sound was making it worse.

Gosh. Why did I have to forget to reset it? Today was Saturday, I am entitled to get a d*mn sleep.

Since I didn't feel like standing up yet, I stretched my leg and kicked it off from my bedside. I stayed in bed for about thirty more minutes before finally sitting up.

I grabbed my phone which was on the bedside table to check the time and while gazing at my screen, I saw a message from my mom.

A wide smile spread on my lips as I hastily clicked on it. It had only been three weeks since she left but it felt way more than that. I already missed her so much and even though we had been communicating on the phone, it still felt awful.

I needed her. I wanted to hug her as usual, peck her as usual, and fall asleep on her shoulder.

When I asked her why she left, she told me that she left to 'relax her mind,' but I didn't believe her. I had already been noticing the weird chemistry between her and my dad. I knew that they had an argument but what I didn't know was how serious it was. How serious could it be for her to leave?

I just hope it wasn't like the one that happened eleven years ago. Just thinking about it made me cringe. The whole occurrence was something that I never wanted to remember. It was something that changed every member of my family. It scarred us.

After replying to her, I got off the bed then got changed and dashed into the bathroom. When I was done with bathing, I wore a simple pleated gown and tied my hair into a rough bun then I exited my room.

As I arrived at the living room, I saw my nanny seated on the couch crocheting a shirt, and smiled

knowing that it was mine. Everything she made from crocheting always came to me and because of this, I had a lot of clothes, bags, and headbands made from it.

"Good morning nanny," I said as I sat beside her and she looked at me wide-eyed.

"Oh, you're awake. Your food is in the refrigerator. You can go and heat it," She said and I nodded.

"What are you making?" I asked and she smiled at me.

"A sleeveless top. It has been long since I last did this for you," She replied grinning and I hugged her.

"Thank you. That's why I love you so much," I muttered burying my head on her chest.

"It's not a big deal. Now, go eat your food. I want us to go grocery shopping," She uttered kissing my head and I stood up heading to the kitchen.

When I was done eating, I went back to the living room to meet my nanny who had been waiting for me then we dashed out of the house.

Since the grocery shop was in our estate, though a little far, we don't usually drive there. Stella has always seen it as a form of exercise to go there by walking Or more like a way to justify herself whenever I scold her about not doing exercise at her mature age.

We arrived at the grocery store and while Stella went to shop for fruits, I went for beverages restocking our juice, soda, water, soy milk, and oat milk.

I moved to the juice section and began to place orange, pineapple, and banana juice inside my cart. My eyes scanned for my favorite apple drink and when I saw it at the top shelve, I grunted.

I knew I wasn't tall enough to reach it.

I tiptoed trying to grab it but my hand could only come close to it, it couldn't touch it or grab it. I was about to give up when I suddenly saw someone's hands grabbing it.

"I never knew you were short." The person spoke and since the voice seemed familiar, I turned to see who it was.

My eyes landed on the last person I had expected to be here. Julian?

"What are you doing here?" I voiced out my thoughts and he chuckled.

"I came to shop just like you. My house isn't too far from here," He said and I mentally face-slapped myself. Why did I ask such a foolish question? Wasn't the answer obvious?

I guess I was just taken aback by seeing him.

"Okay. I was just trying to confirm if you stayed in this estate since I haven't really seen you," I lied but it wasn't a complete lie. Even if that wasn't my intention now, the other time we met I had been curious about it.

"It's the other way round. I am very popular in this neighborhood. If you relate well with your neighbors or come out often, you would have noticed me introvert," He said teasingly, and even though I felt like slapping the smile he had on his face off, I couldn't deny the fact that it was charming.

He looked handsome as usual. The only difference I noticed in his face was a simple silver stud earring he had on both his ears matching the hoop on his left ear. And his complexion was also brighter.

I let my eyes scan him curious to see what he was on. A white long-sleeve with a few buttons open, black shorts, and two silver chains on his neck. He was looking so hot.

"Don't you know how to hide it when you're checking someone out?" Julian said and when I saw the confident smirk on his face, I prayed for the ground to open up and swallow me.

This guy had managed to make me unorganized two times within a few minutes.

"I was…umm…," I stuttered trying to get the right words to say and since I couldn't, I just cleared my throat.

"Can you help me grab five more?" I asked, changing the topic and he nodded.

"Sure. By the way, I love your look. I've never seen you on something this short," He said and my eyes widened. Uh? This short? But the gown stopped right above my knees or wait..oh gosh! It must have raised higher when I tiptoed.

I rolled my eyes at him and he laughed filling my eye with the most hoarse and sexy sound I have ever heard.

'Gosh! This guy is sexy,' I thought and he turned to me smiling mischievously.

"Thank you," He said dropping the drinks in the cart and I raised a brow at him. What? What was he thanking me for?

"I hear it almost every day though," He added and my eyes nearly popped out of my socket. Did I say it out loud?

Damn! How many more times would I embarrass myself?

"Okay. That's good for you. By the way, thanks for your help," I said grabbing the last drink from his hand.

I didn't even wait for him to reply as I put the drink in my cart and began to go away. I needed to stay away from him. He was making my thoughts a mess. I wasn't usually like this. I have always known how to hide my emotions, ignore guys, and do things my way but with him, it felt very hard to behave like that.

I still rolling my cart when I began to hear footsteps approaching. I turned back knowing who it was raising an eyebrow "Why are you following me?" I asked trying to sound casual and not pissed.

"I guessed right. You're avoiding me again just like those times. I thought we were cool after our little discussion at the library," He said with a serious face and I chuckled. Did he just call what we had a discussion? To me, it was more like an unnecessary conversation with someone who has only bad views about 'love,' and was using it to justify his stupid actions.

Why does he keep showing up in front of my face? Can't he just let me be?

"Oh, please. Why would I ever want to be cool with someone like you?" I said before I could stop myself but this time, I didn't regret it.

I knew that this was the only way to make him leave me. I needed to make it clear that I was not interested in having anything to do with him.

"What do you mean by someone like me?" He asked with an indecipherable expression on his face but I could tell that my statement hurt his ego.

I broke our distance, stepping away from my cart and coming closer to him.

"From what I heard you are a player. The last thing I would want to do is to be cool with you. I don't even know what you mean by us being cool. I hope it's not what I am thinking?" I asked stressing the 'us,' for emphasis and he sighed.

"Why do most girls believe that that's what every guy who approaches them wants? It's their speculations that mostly turn the whole scenario weird. I just want us to be cool. I know that hanging out with you would be fun. I feel good hanging out with you. You're fun to be around," He said and I blinked, my gaze softening.

No one had ever told me that. Me? Fun? What I was usually told was how boring my lifestyle was and how annoyingly serious I always looked. That was what caused I and Sandra's fight. She mocked me publicly in the cafeteria about it.

Pushing my thoughts aside, I focus on the Adonis in front of me. I couldn't let just a simple statement he uttered weaken me. Trouble was something I didn't want and everything about him screamed it. The best thing to do is to stay away.

"Okay, but I can't give you that too. I don't want speculations going around. It's a normal thing for any girl seen with someone like you,"

"If that's why, then you needn't worry. I promise you that you wouldn't hear such things," He smiled then stretched his hands out "So we're cool now. Friends?" He asked expectantly and I looked down at his hand hesitant.

Despite knowing that his lifestyle and world was different from mine…

Despite knowing that everything about him screamed trouble and would only bring attention to my introverted life…

And most importantly, despite knowing the strange effect he had on me…

I still stretched my hands forward shaking him "Just friends,"

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