CLAIRE AND DIANA

DESTINY

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Fifteen minutes ago.

Claire and Luan got on the bus, facing each other. The bus had no space. Luan crossed his arms and legs and was looking outside the glass door. And Claire had plugged in her earphones, listening to jazz and looking out at the sky, which was changing colors. Her honey eyes were shining because they were exposed to the sunlight. Luan changed the direction in which he was looking at Claire, who was standing right in front of him. He kept looking at her without her noticing for minutes until they reached their station. Claire looked up at Luan, and Luan, who was already looking at Claire, flushed as he got caught.

As Claire was getting off the bus, she tilted her head and commanded.

"Get off".

Luan followed as she said, and both of them started walking towards their house. The only thing that could be heard was awkwardness; both of them were walking silently.

Since they lived near the junction, the traffic was huge, and no sound other than vehicles could be heard. Luan wanted to ask Claire a question, but when he asked her, she couldn't hear it because of the traffic. Luan leaned toward Claire and said,

"Do you know that Aiden and Diana are neighbors??".

She was amazed. She looked at Luan as he was so close to her face, and Luan, who was waiting for his answer, both got flushed. Luan took a step back.

"N-no, I didn't know it. Nor Diana told me". She said it loudly and looked at Luan, who was walking a little distance from her.

He raised his eyebrow, saying

"Ohhh" as a response.

None of them uttered a single word afterwards. When they reached their street, they both realized that Luan's house was connected to Claire's by a roof.

"Oh wow, what a surprise!" Claire's eyes were happy.

"See you tomorrow," she said as she walked to the next street, where her house was.

Luan said it in his mind.

"DESTINY." He danced his way to his house.

The sun rose in the morning.

Diana, who couldn't sleep due to the embarrassment, called Claire and asked her if she could come a little earlier than planned. Claire accepted her request. And she told her that she would have to walk with her to the supplies store (which was far) for the assignment because she had already planned to leave before Diana called. Diana, who had no other choices, had to agree with her. They were both on the way when Claire's mother called Claire to inform her that the remaining members had reached and asked for the names of the two for verification.

The two who were currently outside Claire's house (her mother didn't let them in because she couldn't believe that Claire was socializing—girls were somehow expected, but two guys were never.)

She called the two guys inside.

As the two walked into the house, Mrs. Briar led them to the lounge on the second floor, where Claire had settled everything early in the morning.

Mrs. Briar told the two to settle down and went down to bring refreshment.

Luan looked around while Aiden was already exploring the lounge, which was full of trophies, certificates, medals, and the canvas she painted.

"Wasn't she homeschooled?"

Aiden looked at her certificates with confusion.

"Yes." Luan took out his phone from his pocket.

"How are you so chill? She lied in school."

He glared at him, waiting for his reply.

"She left in the middle."

Luan seemed uninterested in this conversation, texting someone.

"Oh, come to think of it, weren't you in the same middle school as her?" Aiden sat beside Luan.

He nodded his head, dialing a number from his phone.

"Who are you calling?"

Luan, who was dialing Claire's number, got flushed and quickly hid his screen from Aiden.