Fake Turns Real

Phone Call

We went back to John's house and I slumped down onto the sofa, heaving a sigh.

"Baby, I don't like to see you like that," John stood in front of me and bent down to tilt my head up, "I like to see your beautiful smile."

I decided to ignore his boyfriend-ish attitude with me, as by now I knew my protests were not much use, so I might as well give up on that. I silently turned my head away.

"Come on," he sat down next to me and tried to make me look at him, "Your mum can't really force you into a marriage and just ignore it, okay?"

"I just hope Richard will back off and Mum won't be able to keep forcing me as she clearly can't force Richard into marrying me," I sighed, "It's really stressing me out. It's annoying."

"I know, (Yn). Let's hope," John said, "You can do nothing else now, as you can't talk your mum out of it; you can only drive Richard away."

I nodded, and stood up.

"I'm going to cool down myself a bit," I told John and went to the kitchen to get myself a glass of water. I stood there and sipped on my water, looking out of the window blankly, staring at the backyard. It looked quite empty with just bushes and some trees. Its owner should consider spicing it up.

I almost choked when I finished the last gulp of water as I turned around. My attention was on the garden that I did not realize John was standing there observing me.

"Whoa," I gasped.

"Sorry," John chuckled.

I put the glass away and John came forward. I was leaning against the counter and he stood close to me, placing his hands on the counter on either side of me, leaving me nowhere to escape.

"Don't worry about anything okay," John said softly, his face so close that I could feel his warm breath on me, "I'm here. I'll be there for you along the way."

Why did he have to do that, I asked myself, WHY? I did not want him that close to me but when he did this my brain somehow could not function normally for some reason.

Maybe he was too hot that my brain had probably burnt. One thing I would admit was that he was definitely hot.

"What?" John said, trying not to laugh at my mesmerized expression.

I shook my head and lightly pushed him away. And that was when my phone in my dress' pocket rang.
It was Richard, and John saw the caller ID too. I looked up at him, not knowing what to do. It was going to be so awkward.

"Answer it," John said calmly.

I pressed the answer button and words to say to Richard swirled in my head. A lot of them could not be said out loud though, of course, or I would have said them ages ago. Like telling him to back off. That would be too rude; I still had manners within me even though he was too annoying to be acceptable, I believed.

"Hello?" I said into the phone.

"(Yn)," Richard answered, and he sounded hopeful. I wondered why.

"Yes?"

I looked at John again and he was mouthing to me to put it on loudspeaker, and I did so.

"I – I was thinking if you'd want to watch a movie with me tonight – as friends," Richard said, "I know you've got a boyfriend but it's been a while since we last hanged out."

"Well," I said, playing for time to come up with a good response, "I'm not sure Richard, I—"

"Is John with you now?" he asked gingerly.