My Words Are Law

Not for my own interest (5)

"Samantha?" Amaryllis was surprised to see both girls sitting together in the cafeteria.

"Your friend had been pestering me." Her brief explanation and her drained demeanor says it all. 

"Yes! We're friends now!" Mia chirped after, her radiant smile smothering the gloomy aura beside her. 

"Ugh..- Is that something to be proud of?" Samantha looked incredulous as she stared at Mia who beamed at her nonetheless.

"Of course. It means I'm a very determined person." Mia's reply rendered both Samantha and Amaryllis speechless, the former, sighing in defeat.

After the small introduction, Amaryllis smiled tentatively at Samantha before sitting on the chair across them. Lunch was spent awkwardly save for Mia's cheerful voice that lit the atmosphere. It wasn't that bad, but Amaryllis could feel Samantha's discomfort even from miles away. Feeling sorry for her,  she tried to divert Mia's overly extroverted energy every now and then. Her friend was incredibly hyper than usual, and in the end, Amaryllis found herself tired even before the day ended.

She wanted to talk to Samantha but decided against it after looking at the traumatized expression on her face. She might be unable to function properly in a social setting for some time.

It wasn't until three days later that she finally had the chance for a conversation after meeting her at the library in an unexpected manner. 

"Hey..." She smiled at her. 

"Hey." Samantha returned. Unlike three days ago, she looked a bit better now, not carrying herself on autopilot. 

"I'm sorry about Mia... I think I know why she's bothering you... It's because of me, isn't it?" 

The accurate guess surprised Samantha, who turned to face Amaryllis fully. "Well... Yes." 

"...Do you have some... time. Maybe?" 

Samantha wanted to decline but resigned in the end after mulling it over. "Follow me..." She then approached one of the library assistants and requested a collaboration room. 

Once seated inside, away from prying eyes, Samantha started to talk freely. "She's curious about your relationship with Chryses." 

Amaryllis sighed. Her guess was correct again. "What did you... What did you tell her?" 

"Nothing. I'm not obligated to report to anybody about someone else's private life... But you-" Samantha bit her lips as she looked at the dark-haired woman pointedly. "...Chryses has been treating you so well. Does he actually like you..?" 

Amaryllis blinked at her question in bewilderment. "What..? No way. That's impossible." She frowned, cringing later on when she recalled how he treated her. She was positive no person would do that to someone they like. Sure, there may be instances where person A will try to annoy person B to get her attention, but that only applies to kids. And they aren't kids anymore. And what Chryses did to her wasn't that simple to apply that kind of analogy. 

"Are you sure? I might not know Chryses that well, but I've heard a lot about him from my social circle. He's never openly treated a girl as well as he's treating you... And as you've also witnessed, I'm also speaking from experience." She added the last sentence a little grudgingly. 

Amaryllis was surprised to hear such a casual admission of Samantha's past admiration, but her attention quickly diverted away from it and focused on the snippet of info she shared. It caused her brows to frown even deeper. "...I don't know..." Truth be told, she'd never thought of that possibility. It's just impossible. Chryses liking her? Even the thought of it is preposterous. 

"Also, the phone he gave you yesterday..." 

The phone..? What about it? 

"Can I take a look at it?"

"...Sure..." She took it out of her pocket and handed the object to Samantha. Even now, she can't believe Chryses really fixed it for her. When he gave it to her yesterday, she was really surprised and a little skeptical because it looked so new. And the sparkle and shine was screaming horrendously expensive at her face. It was definitely similar to the model she'd been using, but she felt like there was something off. She just couldn't pinpoint what it is that's different. When she asked him about it, he explained that he also changed the casing because it was damaged. There were a lot of other words spoken, as well, but the terms were hard for someone who's clueless in tech matters to understand. 

In the end, she accepted the mobile phone gratefully albeit reluctantly. She wanted to ask him to be honest and explain it to her more simply, but she thought it would be rude as he had voluntarily fixed it without asking for any payment. And so despite having mixed emotions, she accepted it without further questions.

"What happened to your old phone?" Samantha's question pulled her out of the memory as she quickly replied. 

"It broke... due to some circumstances..." She wanted to end it there but Samantha's eyes were demanding for more information. "And due to some other circumstances... He fixed it for me," Amaryllis stiffly supplied. She wasn't about to tell someone that she met Chryses on a Sunday even if it was merely coincidental. 

The thing that she fears the most is the truth being warped into outrageous stories of people's interpretations. 

She didn't know that by omitting what happened that Sunday, Samantha would start theorizing all kinds of circumstances however ridiculous they were.  

"...I see. Well... He fixed it very nicely."  Samantha figured the woman doesn't want her prying too much from her curt explanation, so she refrained from informing her that the fix probably caused six digits from Chryses' personal funds. In fact, Amaryllis must have also been aware seeing how evasive and uncomfortable she was about the topic. 

Samantha gave the phone back. "Don't worry about it. The cost of repair is a measly amount to Chryses." 

Because Amaryllis didn't know the context of Samantha's words, she took the meaning literally and felt comforted that it wasn't really that expensive. "Thank god... If it caused him more than three digits, I think it would be better to return it to him..." She even sighed in relief, not noticing Samantha was stiffened shock by her outburst. 

She doesn't know!? Samantha opened her mouth to refute the woman's conclusion, but was interrupted. 

"Thinking about it, this is an old model so it shouldn't cost that much, right?" 

Amaryllis question left her speechless. Ahh... She's totally clueless.

Even though Samantha isn't  that knowledgeable about quality mobile tech, she has a penchant for expensive things as a daughter from a prestigious family. "...Yes... You're right." She decided to agree with the clueless woman out of pity. She  must have been stressing herself, wondering about the price for so long to look that relieved.

She glanced at the phone again, trying to recall which company had released the model. Later on, she crossed her feet as she covered her mouth that slightly parted in surprise. Goodness... Wasn't it the one that got bankrupt last year..? 

Either Chryses managed to get someone from the dead manufacturing company to fix it or... He fixed it himself. And not just a simple fix. There are also additional upgrades that were done. They are not noticeable at first glance, but with a trained eye, someone could notice them. To someone as clueless as Amaryllis, they might just appear invisible.  

If he doesn't like her... Then what could be his possible motive for going as far as to do something like that? Maybe Amaryllis' friend was right to worry, after all..?
 

***

A/N: Do we need to worry? Does Amaryllis-? Does anyone? Let's put it this way. Do you get worried when people are kind to you? Explain. Haha

Thank you for the votes!