Never Fated To Be |✅|

Chapter 13 : Enter, A Truce

This wasn't really the first time that I couldn't believe my eyes.

But another thing that I had learnt during my existence is that my eyes never deceived me. And I certainly wasn't seeing an illusion. Zayla stood near the door, shocked and still. Her mouth was dangling open as if she was humiliated that we had seen her coming in. Or maybe she really was embarrassed. Although the reason to why she would be embarrassed when we were the ones who were alarmed, was unknown.

'Wha- what are you . . . ' Zayla stammered, 'What are you two doing here?!'
Donna stared at all of us,
'I see, you all know each other. But, why do you have such an expression on your face, Zayla?'
Zayla tried to reply but seemed unable to do so.
'Yeah,' Jake spoke up, a smirk forming on his face, 'We sure do know each other well.'
Zayla's cheeks flushed red and she continued staring at us disbelievingly.
Donna approached her,
'Zayla? Is everythi-'
'Um, grandma! I need to talk . . . . to them' Zayla eyed us, 'I'll be right back!' She exclaimed before dragging both of us out of the store.
'We'll come back later!' Jake called out to Donna as Zayla slammed the door behind her.

She pulled Jake and me away from the shop and stopped after walking behind a wall.
We couldn't speak or do anything the whole time she took control of the situation.

She finally let go of us and breathed in heavily before turning to face us and demand an explanation.
'What were you guys doing there!?' She almost screamed.
'You never told me that your grandmother was such an . . . exceptional woman.' Jake replied.
Zayla put a hand on her forehead.
'Did you want to keep this a secret? Or something?' Jake continued.

Zayla sighed,
'No. Why would I do that?'
'Then why did you seem like you wanted the ground to swallow you up when you saw us looking at you?'
'I was just a bit surprised to find you at such a place.'
'Seriously? I thought you knew that I love rare things.'
'You do?' I finally contributed to the conversation, looking at Jake.
'Not literally though. But rare things can lead to new discoveries.' Jake said.
'Do you read fantasy novels?'
'Once in a while.'
'No wonder you think that.' Zayla suddenly commented.
'Right?' I said dully.
Zayla nodded.

Wait, did we just agree on something?

And moreover, Zayla wasn't shouting at me or accusing me at all. Was it just me or was this real?
I stared at Zayla but she was looking at Jake,
'Be serious about this, dude. Why did you visit grandma's store?'
Jake looked at me momentarily before replying,
'I thought I could find something interesting there.' His voice was emotionless. Jake really didn't suck at making up false stories.

'Even though I don't think I believe that, what is she doing here with you then?' Zayla pointed toward me.
Jake slid a hand round my neck and rested it on my shoulders,
'She was helping me out with my search.'
Zayla stared at me and Jake with his hand wrapped around my shoulders, jealousy clearly visible on her face.

Jake was definitely doing that on purpose. I whipped his hand away from me and shot him a glare to which he replied with a smile. Zayla coughed.
'So I'm guessing you both are in a relationship then?' She said through clenched teeth.

'What? No!'
'Duh, yes!'

And I'm guessing you figured out who said what.
I elbowed Jake pretty hard to which he laughed even harder, stepping away.
'See? Totally a couple.' He joked again.
I could literally see the angry and jealous vibes coming from Zayla. She balled her fists and looked like she was going to murder me right on the spot but was resisting herself from doing so.
Yup, it was totally just me when I thought that we were finally getting along.

'Zayla, he's kidding. No one's in a relationship here. Forget what he said right now because whatever he said was absolutely false.' I exclaimed swiftly.
Zayla inhaled noiselessly and shut her eyes for a brief second,
'Whatever.' She said, 'So that's all you both went there for?'
'Yup, I think.' Jake concluded.
Zayla was irritated now. I really thought she wanted me to disappear. Right then.
'Uh, okay. I'll leave now.' I said quickly and started walking away.