The Heart Betrays

Chapter 39

Third Person's P.O.V

Logically, Ruby thought that the guy was going to stop asking her out. That was what a decent human was supposed to do when their invitation had already declined flatly. There was no other way that Ruby had phrased her rejection in a roundabout way. She clearly and outright told him that she didn't want to go with him.

But there was no logic when it came to that specific person. There was no other way to tell if he had a working brain. He continued to stake out the classroom, minus the stealth part. He was where Ruby was. He looks at Ruby every time he sees her. He smiles at Ruby even when Ruby doesn't look at him.

He was beyond means, and Ruby finally saw that.

"That guy is so persistent," Princess commented, feeling disgusted by what he was doing.

"Persistent? You call that persistent?" Emge asks, shuddering in pure horror with the terminology he thought of.

"What do you call this then?" Princess asked again, curious about what Emge was thinking about.

Ruby was quiet, as always, and just listened in on their conversation. She was getting annoyed with the guy following her everywhere she goes whenever both departments have the same breaks. Even when Matrix was beside Ruby, which was almost all of the time ever since he appeared, he still followed Ruby and never left.

"This is called stalking, and this is a crime." Emge snorted, sending the guy a death glare, but the guy was too busy looking at Ruby to even care about what Emge was giving him.

"Oh, yeah. Right, uhm, do you want to report him, Ruby?" Princess asked.

At the moment, Rina was busy with her personal life and could not join the circle. She told her friends to not wait for her to eat lunch. She shares the group's thoughts about the creepy guy that was following Ruby. She insisted on coming with the group to have lunch, but they urged Rina to take care of her own problem first. Hesitantly, Rina gave in to her friends' suggestion and left after their morning classes.

"It's not causing anyone any trouble. So, unless he does anything that hurts someone or gives me a headache, I'll leave this be." Emge sighed. There was no way of understanding what Ruby was thinking. She was too lax, perhaps the reason was because she had Matrix by her side, or she was just really that lenient with inconvenient people.

Emge just can't seem to grasp her way of thinking and let it be. They had been talking about it for weeks already and Ruby wasn't letting up any time soon.

"I mean, you might be okay with him following you around but I know someone who's ready to kill that guy just for you." Princess pointed to Matrix, who was standing from afar, and was visibly trying to curse the guy in their mind.

The calm look on Matrix's face would make someone think that Matrix was fine with it, but that slight arch on their eyebrow was enough to change the whole perspective.

"Don't even bother. I can't even seem to make a proper conversation with Matrix when that guy is here."

"Isn't that supposed to be a sign that you should absolutely do something about it?" Emge asked, hysterical about his friend's nonchalant attitude. Almost snaring at his friend.

"My reasoning stands." it was firm.

Ruby fished out her phone from her bag and called Matrix.

"Come here already and stop glaring at the poor guy."

Emge and Princess were starting to believe that Ruby was very dense. Matrix tore their eyes away from the guy and sat beside Ruby, making sure that their bodies were glued to each other and that the guy saw that Matric did that on purpose. For a brief moment, the guy and Matrix stared at each other, waiting for something to magically happen.

But Ruby had plans on her own. She pinched Matrix's earlobe and pulled on it for seconds until Ruby gained Matrix's full attention.

The interaction was a sight to see for Ruby's friends, and as always, they were in awe. From their perspective, it looked like Matrix was jealous and tried to pry off a guy's wandering gaze from their beloved.

"What are you staring at?"

And that this was supposedly Ruby's way of reassuring Matrix that they were the only one that Ruby loved. The two looked adorable and they wished that the two were dating to finally take those unanswered feelings out of their cages.

"Nothing," Matrix muttered under their breath.

Ruby has already voiced out that she dislikes it when Matrix glares at the guy. The guy wasn't doing anything harmful, hence Ruby scolds Matrix.

"You better be."

"Yes, Ma'am."

Princess smiled at herself. She could feel that they both harbored feelings towards each other. She made an analysis of their situation inside her head. If Matrix did, in fact, not have feelings for Ruby, Matrix could be cool and not bat an eyelash towards anything that Ruby tells them not to do. But Matrix's worry was on a personal level. They were ready to go above and beyond for Ruby, and Ruby does not see that.

But, also, in Princess' analysis, Ruby's need for intrusion towards Matrix's preference was an indictment of Ruby having feelings towards Matrix. She was worried that Matrix could strain themself and wanted to reassure Matrix in every possible way that it was just 'them'. The need for personal touch, personal conversations, and lovey-dovey gestures was beyond their legal relationship - which was employer and employee.

"Why are you smiling like that?" Emge asked, but Ruby and Matrix were so busy with their own moment that they were not able to hear the answer of the arousing suspicion of Princess' smile.

"Oh, nothing. Just that someday, I want what they have."

"What? Money? And being that staff and CEO kind of bond that you can only read in novels?" Princess glared at Emge, to which Emge replied with a soft laugh.

"I now understand that you kill any form of imagination there is."

"Shush, and enjoy the fact that you're watching something that you won't have."

Matrix cowered like a little power in front of Ruby. They were just concerned for Ruby's safety, concerned that he might think that it was fine meddling with Ruby's life externally and without Ruby's acknowledgment.

"I get that you're worried about me, so tell you what."

"Hmm?" Ruby could not resist Matrix's puppy eyes. They were so adorable and they disliked it when Matrix was sad because of something.

Early signs of liking someone.

"The first person who I'll call will be you when something or when I think something is going to happen, okay?" the statement seemed to cheer Matrix up. A small smile surfaced from their lips and nodded their head.

"Yes, I'd like that."

"Of course you do. You like it when I look for you and search for you."

They froze. The statement was insinuating something that the two of them were vaguely poking around from their side of the corner. Once Matrix agrees with the statement, it would close their end of queries and finally staple their relationship.

"Yes. I'm your attendee and I look after you, after all."

Both were relieved.