Your Pride And My Broken Heart

Chapter 1: Naughty Friends

The street was bustling. At the distant food stalls, white smoke rose while a fragrant smell wafted in the entire alley. It was already dusk. Jovanni just came out from his campus, BU (Bohol University). He is one of the university working students, so he needs to accomplish his tasks after class before going back to his boarding house which was over ten minutes away from his campus, by foot.

There were groups of students gathered at the food stalls, eating street food, but Jovanni walked straight, ignoring the appetizing aroma. He was a working student, so he was very careful in spending his money. When he passed at the barbecue stalls, someone called him.

"Jovanni!" Enrique, his board mate nicknamed, King, called.

"King!" Jovanni saw not only King but his other board mates, Gio and Leandro.

"Why are you here?" Jovanni asked since their boarding house is a bit farther from his university and his board mates aren't BU students. King is a BMI (Bohol Marine Institute) student while Gio and Leandro are both engineering students in TSU (Tagbilaran State University).

"We are here to buy chicken barbecue." King replied, grinning.

Jovanni confused. "Barbecue? There are few barbecue stalls outside our boarding house."

"It's way better here. There are many yummy legs..." King playfully whispered and gestured to Jovanni to look at the entrance of the InfoTech campus, a computer college beside BU.

Jovanni obediently turned around and saw the crowd of InfoTech female students, wearing their school uniform, a white long sleeves paired with a dark blue skirt which is only a few inches from their hips revealing the ladies' pretty legs.

Jovanni's face blushed. He immediately turned his head away from the sightly yet unsightly view.

"What!? Am I right? The legs here outside your campus are yummy compared to the ones outside our boarding house." King teased while the other two were still giggling at Jovanni's embarrassed, innocent face.

"Hey King, stop messing with Jovanni's innocence." Gio said.

"Yes, he is a hardworking and dedicated student, so spare him from the leisure and pleasure of your BMIer's life." Leandro seconded.

"Hey...hey... You sound like I am a bad influence here." King protested. "We are in our blooming adolescence, so we must enjoy this stage while we can! Do you think we still have this privilege when we graduate?"

"Why can't we?" Gio asked.

"Of course you can, but it is not appropriate anymore. What do you think if a middle-aged man will peek at those ladies' legs."

"What should I think?" Gio wrinkled his brows.

"Hey! You're so dumb! If middle-aged men will peek at those ladies' legs they will be called perverts, but if it's young men like us, we are just called naughty. Can you see a huge difference now?!" King explained, feeling proud of his clever thought.

"Mmm. You got some points" Gio nodded, chuckling.

"What about you?" King asked Leandro.

"Though your reasoning is naughty, but it is quite reasonable." Leandro replied with an awkward smile.

"What about you, Jovanni?" King asked.

"It is still inappropriate..." Jovanni replied that made Gio burst laughing.

"How can you say it is inappropriate? I clearly said we are just taking advantage of our youth." King asked.

"Women should be respected. Peeking at them isn't proper and decent..." Jovanni answered truthfully to which Gio and Leandro lauded.