Excuse me? ~~João Felix

"V,"

Valentina

I hear knocking at my door but I'm still getting dressed. I throw on a white tank top and a pair of pj pants. I put my necklace on and walk over to the door. I open it, expecting Roman, instead I'm met with João.

He looks me up and down before making eye contact with me. "Hi," he says to me with a barley noticeable smile. "Do you need more time or?"

"No, you're good." I step to the side letting him walk in, and he takes a seat on the pullout sofa. I shut the door and take a seat on my bed across from him. We don't say anything for a moment we just hold eye contact.

He looks away and his eyes roam around my room. I watch him curiously, and clearly his feels me looking at him because he turns back to me. "Val?"

"Yeah?"

"Why do you dislike me?" His voice soft, his eyes sparkling from the sun shining on his face.

I scratch my neck, trying to think of how I should go about this. "Um, well, at first I hated you because you're talented, successful, attractive, and you enjoy what you're doing. I want that for myself...so..." I tell him truthfully, looking at the ground.

"Oh"

"Yeah."

"Do you still dislike me?"

"No. You've been really kind to me and I feel terrible for being rude to you."

"But why were you only mean to me? What about Oliver, Roman, onyx, everyone else? They're all the same as me, so why only hate me?"

"Estrella and your brother had been trying to get me to like you for a while. I built up a hatred for you but I didn't even know you, right. I also push away people before I get close to them. But when I met you at the party and you said 'I know' when I greeted you. I used that as my excuse to make you seem like a horrible person and justify why I didn't like. Do you get what I'm saying?"

"Yeah. What you're saying is I did nothing to make you hate me? Other than the whole 'I know' thing."

"Mhm," I look away again, feeling a bit embarrassed. "I'm sorry if I hurt you, João."

He gets up and walks over, now towering over me. "V, you didn't hurt me. I just felt like I did something wrong, but it's okay."

V?

V

V

V.

He must've noticed I zoned out because he places his hand on my shoulder, snapping me out of trance. "Sorry. I'm sorry I made you feel like that, really. Im really sorry, João." I look up at him, he's already looking at me.

I feel like I can't breathe-why do I feel like this?

João's hand is still on my shoulder, but I don't want him to movie it? Him and i continue to keep eye contact for what feels like a million years. His eyes roam over my face and I suddenly begin to feel nervous. João slowly pulls his hand off my shoulder, as he does so it gently runs down my arm. Our eyes are burning into each other and there's a little too much tension.

"Um..." a voice says, making João and I quickly back away from each other. "Guys. I'm a child. What have I just witnessed." Roman stares at the two of us with his João-I mean joão-I mean jaw. fucking hell. With his JAW pretty much on the floor.

"Nothing. You witnessed nothing. Actually, you witnessed Val and I sorting out our problems." João clears his throat.

"Yeah, by sexually touching each other-"

"No, no, no." I cut Roman off, getting up from my bed. "He was wiping something off my shoulder, Ro." I cut his name short knowing this will distract him.

"Ro? Is that a new nickname? If so, I love it." He smiles, flopping onto my bed like a starfish.

Of course I was right. I got distracted by João calling me 'V' a minute ago.

wait.

Why did I get distracted by that?

"Um, Roman, how long until the food gets here?" João asks, taking a seat in the couch again, avoiding eye contact with me.

"Any minute," he answers, burying his face in my covers. "I got us a lot of desserts. We have to act like we have a YouTube channel and say 'hi guys today we're gonna be rating our hotel food in Qatar.' Okay?"

"Are you for real?" I say in disbelief with a little bit of laughter. "I do that all the time?!"

Roman grabs me, making me fall next to him. "I knew I liked you. You're weird like me." He gives me a hug and I laugh. "João are you weird? Wait, yes you are. You're João."

"I see how it is Roman, I'll remember this." João shakes his head with a smile...

he looks hot as fuck again. STOP.

I'm slowly starting to realize he looks good all the time. Shit. What have I gotten myself into.

There's a knock at the door, "room service!"

João gets up and opens the the door, Roman still hugging me like a child. A tall man walks in with a cart filled with food, top to bottom. Roman wasn't joking, there's a lot of food. "Oh...maybe I ordered too much." Roman scratches his head, sitting up, and letting go of me.

"You think?" João responds sarcastically, with his arms crossed over his chest. "You probably just spent five hundred on all of this."

"...well...joão! It's Christmas soon! Maybe this can be my early Christmas present! Would you like to pay for this? Thank you so much!" Roman smiles, not waiting for his response.

"I hate you."

~~~

AHHHHHHH IT ONLY TOOK 17 CHAPTERS TO GET TO THIS MOMENT. GUYS THEYRE ACTUALLY GETTING SOMEWHERE?! PURRR OKAYYYY