Closer to perfection (academic rivals)

chapter 9 ♡

H E A T H E R
I walked to French with Ivan. Our time tables aligned pretty well, and he was a quick learner, efficient and able to adjust to his environment. He handed me a strawberry milk carton.
"Is this a bribe?" I looked up at him. He sighed.
"Did you even have breakfast today? I didn't see you at the food court," he frowned. His puppy eyes shone, radiating warmth and blinding my eyes. Argh. I covered my eyes as though I was shielding myself from the sun. Was he an angel?
I took the carton.
"Okay, so you caught me," I laughed.
"How can you just laugh about it, Hailey and Ems were so worried."
I playfully introduced Ivan to Hailey and Emma but they got on better than I had imagined.
"I was exercising," I opened the carton and took a sip. "Thank you for the milk though!" I flashed him an innocent smile as he sighed again.
"Next time I won't be buying you any food when you skip breakfast."

We walked into French. Hailey took Spanish and Emma took German, so we don't have any language classes together. However, Ivan being in my class saves me from having to speak to Caelan. Our class seats are assigned based on your ability in the subject. Ivan, being almost fluent in French, is towards the end. Beside him is Caelan, and on Caelan's other side is me. It's like me and Ivan are playing piggy in the middle, passing notes through Caelan. He pretends not to care but I can see him taking occasional glimpses through the notes. However the notes are just playful questions, like "how do you write the big fat rat was being eaten by the big backed cat sitting on the mat." Caelan seemed furious this lesson, writing aggressively. I felt bad for his hand. Maybe Caelan was missing his girlfriend Samjhana.
Well, that wasn't my business anyways.
Ivan seemed to have noticed as well.
"Yo Caelan are you okay.. you seem to be putting a lot of pressure-"
"I'm fine." as Ivan reached out his hand to assist him, Caelan brushed it away.
I frowned.
"What's up with you Mr Chemjong. You shouldn't be so aggressive when Ivan's just trying to help."
I touched his fingers, attempting what Ivan had tried to do before Caelan brushed his hand away.
He flinched before saying, "I think you two should focus on your work."
"Ha, you're saying that as if you're not focusing on your girlfriend," I snorted.
Ivan glanced at me, giving me a look that said "don't go that far Heather."
Caelan paused.
"My girlfriend huh? That's right I am focused on her." he gave me a funny look. I gave him one back.

When class ended, Ivan and I walked out to go meet Aria, his twin sister,
"Geez Louise, he didn't have to announce that he's missing his girlfriend to the whole world," I murmured.
We stopped by the vending machine to get Aria a drink. As Ivan put the coin into the machine, he laughed.
"Well, it's not like the whole school knows about it."
I groaned. "Ivan. The whole school knows he's dating Samjhana, give it a break. In a month they'll be known as the power couple."
Ivan picked up the fizzy pop can that fell down the machine.
"Samjhana? Who told you they were dating?"
"Ivan, don't tell me you haven't noticed, it's so obvious they're dating." I laughed.
Ivan didn't laugh back.
"Heather.. you know Samjhana is dating someone already."
"You mean Caelan." I tried to read Ivan's expression. He finally laughed in response.
"No, Samjhana's dating my sister. She's dating Aria, and Caelan is aware. Samjhana, Aria and Caelan were all childhood friends," he informed me.
What?
"Wait- wait what so- so you're telling me.." my words stumbled over eachother.
"Sam and my sister are dating."
"Wait but if- if the three of them are friends, why aren't you that close with Samjhana and Caelan?"
He frowned. I flinched at his response.
"Sorry, that was a bit impulsive of me to say."
Ivan shook his head.
"No it wasn't, you're fine." He sighed.
"Of course I was close with Samjhana and Caelan once. It's just confusing.."
"Mhm."
"Let's sit down first."

He sat down on a nearby table.

"We had a friend called Valerie. Her parents own "Valentina Cosmetics." Valerie was- well she was smart, she was pretty, she was kind, she was rich, she had a nice family, what else was perfect about her? Yes I'll admit she was perfect. But I never found her romantically attractive. I don't think I've ever experienced an attraction for anyone Heather, and it's not like an 'oh I haven't met the right person'. It's 'I just don't like the idea of being loved romantically, loving romantically. I treasure my friendships, but romance is different. I don't like it.
Valerie and I were publically engaged at the age of 14 by our parents, announced to be wed at 21. It was stupid, but that's how companies make allies.
I told Valerie's parents I wouldn't go through with the marriage. I said that if they forced me, I would leave her and force Valerie to be a widow at a young age."
He hesitated.
"I obviously didn't mean it. I loved Valerie, I still do. But not in that way. The threat was a bit extreme, and as a result, her parents annulled the engagement. But that's not all. They told Valerie that I had told them that I hated her and the thought of marrying her made me sick."
I gasped.
"That wasn't true. I received a lot of backlash from my parents, but they grew to accept that I'm aromantic. My sister was there to support me as well, but Valerie, Samjhana and Caelan stopped all contact with me. I tried to reach out to them, but my parents said there was no point. My mother cut off all contact with their brands as well.
But still, to this day, I just- maybe I was in the wrong. Was I in the wrong for speaking up about my feelings?"
"Ivan.. you shouldn't have been criticised for not wanting to go through with a stupid marriage."
He stood up.
"Heather, let's go to my sister now,"
I nodded my head.