Exchange Gift

Prologue

"Here she goes again" Zafirah sighs seeing Evalya preparing to lecture her close friends about her crush, to be specific, Haiqal. You might not know this but she's quite a loser when it comes to Haiqal. No offense. "Please don't tell me it's about another eye contact." Zafirah drops her head on the table.

"No...this time is different! He responded to my question! I'm so happy!" Evalya squeaks in happiness causing another headache for Zafirah. "What question? I don't recall you mentioning anything about asking him a question." The prefect, Putri asks. "Oh! Well, I asked him about his opinion on exchanging gifts this Friday. You know that day is where I found out he likes me!" Zafirah exhales and inhales.

"So you're about to ask us about what gift you should give him, hm?" Putri munching on her food, looking at Zafirah and Evalya. "You figured it out! Indeed so any ideas?"

------However in another situation------
"I'm doomed." Haiqal buries himself on a pile of books. "Well, just gift her a bouquet or chocolate perhaps?" Aziq, responds to him being absolutely in a blue cloud. "You would never understand! I need to give her a meaningful gift not just some random yet cliche gift. Aghhh, what am I supposed to do." Being the genius he is, he can't come up with any brilliant idea.

"You look so funny when it comes to Evalya. I remember when--" "Please shut up and give me a suggestion instead." Haiqal cut out his other friend, Azizul. "Pfft well, how about..."

------Back to the girl's conversation------
"That's so boring! And cliche!" Evalya complains. "Come on Eva, do you want it to be that meaningful? It's just a gift exchange!" Putri complains back. "It should be meaningful because it's the day I knew he LIKES me!" The way Evalya talks makes Zafirah groans a lot during the discussion.

"Then what if he doesn't like you? What if you're just a bet?" You wouldn't know that, would you? It's not even guaranteed that he will give you something meaningful." Those sentences made Evalya speechless. "You might be true but there's convincing proves that he likes me back!" and the bell rings.

"He probably prepared for that because he knows you would ask him that. Don't take this to heart but, he might leave you anytime now." Zafirah left the scene. Putri follows and whispers a small sorry. 'What if Zafirah's right? What if I'm just trying too hard? What if I'm just a bet?' Evalya considers a lot about Zafirah's phrase that she doesn't notice the teacher calling her.

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After washing up, Evalya immediately messages Haiqal. "Ahhh! I love him so much that it's concerning!" Evalya whispers to herself. This girl is quite something when it comes to love, huh? Zafirah's sentences suddenly come across back to her mind. She stays quiet for a while. Tears almost formed.

"I should probably sleep tomorrow. I have to go to a mall early with my friends for the gift exchange." She types her daily goodnights to Haiqal. Hoping tomorrow will go well because it's Friday tomorrow.

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"Where is she? She's kind of late. Well almost very late. She promised us at 12 and it's almost 1!" Zafirah yells loudly at Putri. "Probably not texting Haiqal" Putri giggles. Suddenly, Evalya covers Putri's eyes with her hands.

"Sorry! The traffic got really bad for a while! Shall we go now? I promise him to exchange at 5 p.m. " Evalya let go of Putri and start running into gift shops. "I think we could get used to this, right?" Putri follows, making Zafirah a little bit mad but she manages to calm down.

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"Also Zafirah, what kind of bracelet is that? It looks so shiny and cute! Is that the one you originally wanted to give me as a birthday present?" Evalya noticed a shiny bracelet on Zafirah's right arm. "Yeah, no wonder you didn't get her that one. It's so pretty!" Putri inspects Zafirah's bracelet for a bit and left to search for a suitable gift for Evalya.

"Damn, I wished that was my birthday gift. I would wear that every day!" "In your dreams, this is mine now and you can't have it. Oh, why don't you look at that section? I'm going out for a bit." Zafirah left Evalya alone. "What's up with her?" Evalya wonders for a bit. She checks the section Zafirah point out.

"This looks... pretty! Ah, it reminds me of him. Maybe I should get him this one!" Evalya takes the cursive decorations on a wooden music box. It plays a piano piece named 'Clouds' by Luke Faulkner. She remembers that moment when he recommended that beautiful piece to her through messages.

She immediately pays and left the shop, looking left and right with her friends nowhere to be found. "Where are they? I should call them." Just as Evalya is about to call Putri, a single tap scares Evalya not to death but heaven. "WOAGSJHEIES- wait, Haiqal!?" She looks up and down, in shock that the man of her dreams is in front of her. "Hello, what a coincidence" Haiqal smiles softly.

"What are you doing here? I thought you were at school?" "It's 5 p.m. at you're not at school yet. I figured that you might be here. " again, he smiles making Evalya melt. Haiqal hands her a bracelet that looks identical to Zafirah's ones. "Woah! Haiqal did you get me this? It's so pretty!" Evalya didn't it was a coincidence but she does feel a little bit weird about it. "I happen to pass by a shop and saw a bracelet that I thought would fit you. I'm glad you liked it. It saves me from worrying and is that for me?"

He points out the wooden box Evalya's holding. "Ah, yes! Here!" Evalya hands it to him on his face. Haiqal laughs as he opens the wooden box and is in shock. "Evalya, this piano piece..." "I bought that because I thought you would like it since it had the piano piece you once recommended to me. Do you... like it?"

Haiqal closes the wooden box and "I love it. Thank you so much for this. I would treasure this and keep it safe. Shall we get a drink? I saw your friends already heading back home." Evalya suddenly remembers about her friends. Can't believe she would forget her friends that easily.

"Ah! No wonder they left so suddenly! If that's the situation, let's go. I'm pretty exhausted from choosing a memorable gift just for you. Plus, I'm excited to wear this next Monday! I can finally show them what you got for me. I'm tired of them saying that I'm just a bet." Haiqal hums and giggles a bit. "Pretty sure they won't bother saying any mean stuff to you anymore after this.

She's quite a good girl."

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"Let me out, you psycho!" Zafirah continues kicking the door and punching it. "We're trapped. We're trapped. We're trapped. We're trapped. WE'RE TRAPPED!" Watching Putri losing her mind bits by bits, Zafirah couldn't help but look at her classmate laying on the ground, perhaps, her dead classmate.

"This crazy man. I will make him regret killing innocent people! I HATE HIM SO MUCH. I should have warned Evalya and you." Zafirah wipes off the blood on her arms. "Even my bracelet got taken away. He probably gave it to her by now."

She sits next to Putri and put a hand on Putri's shoulder. "Will we ever get out of here, Zafirah? I'm scared that we might be stuck here forever." Putri sobs and wipes her tears. "We will but I just need a lot of time. This door is almost broken and we'll be out."

Zafirah looks around and suddenly hears a piece of familiar music. "Clouds by Luke Faulkner? HAIQAL, YOU'RE THERE, AREN'T YOU?" Zafirah stands up and walks towards the door. "My, my. Which one should I kill first? Do you volunteer yourself by standing behind the door, Zafirah? What a good girl. I'm coming in~"

Haiqal enters and almost got hit by an axe but dodges it elegantly. "Bold! I like it!" Haiqal laughs. "Putri, run. I'll take care of him." "No! I'm not leaving you! You'll get killed!" Putri hesitates.

"That's the point of sacrificing. Please live a good life and keep Evalya safe." Zafirah smiles. Putri with her puffy eyes cries again. "I'll be keeping Evalya safe, not YOU." Haiqal launches his first attack by throwing a knife but nearly hit Zafirah.

"I'll fight you until my last sweat just to keep this world peace from murderers like you." Zafirah took a peek at the door and Putri is nowhere to be found, again. Zafirah smiles and focuses on battling her most dangerous enemy, Haiqal. The battle goes on. Blood scatters around the place. No one knows who won because no one made an appearance.