Love Pretends -Summers Brothers

CHAPTER 27 LET'S BE FRIENDS, FOR REAL

Xiennah's POV

I woke up in an unfamiliar place. It's a room with white walls and ceilings, a ceiling to floor glass wall in one side overlooking the city, black marble floor, a huge elegant black and white bed, a chandelier hanging above it, a white rug made out of skin sheep, furniture that looked so expensive and a flat screen huge television set in one corner. Though I was impressed of the view, I was still afraid that I just wake up in an unfamiliar place. A lot of scenarios were now playing in my mind, but I didn't let my emotion rule my head. I looked for the owner of the place to know what really happened. I walked out of the room and I saw a busy Chole, a towel on his head obviously he just had his bath doing something with his laptop. "You're finally awake. Anyways, you can just treat me later for saving your butt. And by the way, I just saved you twice," he then said still focused on his laptop. Wait! What?! Chole would never say that! "Ashe?" I looked at him curiously. I'm now seeing a pair of brown eyes staring seriously at me. He took off the towel from his head and I saw his chocolate colored hair. "Last night, when you fell asleep in that hill, I secretly took your phone. Gladly, there's no password so I easily manipulated it. I deleted Chole's number in your speed dial and replaced mine. And if you're wondering how the heck I figured out that you're in the rooftop, well, I put a tracking device in your phone," he said as he closed his laptop and walked towards me. "I... uh... I don't know what so say," I muttered shyly. "You can treat me in a restaurant," he winked. "Oh come on! I'm not rich." "I'm just kidding. Anyways, I never ever thought that you're just so trusting. Next time, never ever trust easily on a person ever again." He said seriously as he tilted my chin staring so seriously at me. I looked away. "Yeah, an advice from a person who also did abduct me and rape me," I said angrily. "I'm sorry! Besides, I didn't even force you. You liked it, admit it." "Duh! Cause I thought that you were Chole that time!" "Okay! Okay. It was my entire fault. I'm sorry!" "But, Ashe, uh... Thank you," I said as I smiled at him. But I was surprised that he was frowning. "You were almost raped! Is that okay with you?" he stared unbelievably at me. "No it's not. But what could I do?" I sighed looking back at him. He punched the wall, looking so angry. "You're smiling as if nothing happened!" "Then what should I do?!" I shouted at him. "I can't do anything! I don't have any friend but Rinse was always there for me. I just never ever thought that he could do this to me..." I added quietly. "I never ever thought... He... Rinse... He's almost a friend to me..." I cried hard. Ashe hugged me as I sobbed my heart out. "That's what I'm talking about. You have to cry it out. You don't need to act tough all the time. Don't just smile as if nothing happened. But don't worry. I already avenged you. He would be learning his lesson right now." "What do you mean?" "You don't need to know. Just trust me, okay. Don't strain yourself. He's not worth it. Anyways, Xiennah, you knew that I liked you right? I liked you more than a friend and I'm willing to court you. But I knew you love Chole and I respect that. I knew you'll be happy with him. So if I couldn't have you as a lover, at least just as friends. Let's be friends for real, please?" I nodded as I smiled genuinely this time.

We decided to spend the rest of the day here in Ashe's condominium unit. He ordered some pizza, junk foods, chocolates, ice cream and sodas. We talked for hours and we learned a lot about each other. I just found out that he loves watching "Fast and Furious" just as I do. I learned that he's a racer back in State but when he's father found out about it, he was transferred here in the Philippines as a punishment. But he just admitted that he was glad he was punished because he met me. I also learned he loved reading books so I admitted to him that I wanted to be a writer. I was surprised when he told me that he wanted to be the first one to read my works. In fact, he gave me a lot of books but I refused. Instead, I burrowed it from him, telling him to return these books next week. We also played a game where we wrote each question in a piece of paper and placed these sheets in a bottle. In this game I learned his favorite color was black whereas I love blue. I learned he hates clingy women though he said I was an exception. Well, I'm not happy with his confession. Duh!!! But he hates his twin brother the most and when I asked him why, he wouldn't tell me. I was so curious and I tried everything to know the truth but he was so hard. I gave up eventually. I learned he came from a broken family. Both their parents were separated. Chole grew up with their mom whereas he grew up with their dad. They had an older brother who died. I remembered I visited his grave with Chole last 3 months. I learned he likes Filipino cuisines more than the foods from States and he asked me if I knew how to cook chicken curry. He was so happy when he learned that I knew how to cook that dish and asked me took cook him one tomorrow. And since he's a friend, and he saved me twice already, I guess cooking for him was just a very small favour, so I agreed. We continued with the game and we learned a lot about each other. I even found out that he's indeed a playboy and a trouble maker back in State and he's planning to still be one here in the Philippines. But since meeting me, he admitted that he changed. He even confessed that he don't have any girlfriend as of now whereas in State, he have countless of girlfriends whom he only dated for a day and have some one night stand and leave them eventually. He was truly an asshole. While he's talking to me about his past, I stared at him and he looked genuinely happy as he shared his life story. "I'm not really a talker. And I never really liked sharing my life experiences with others even to my own father. He's so busy all the time. I even secretly participated in an illegal racing competition every night for a year and he didn't even find out. He never asked me how I've been. Every time we talked, it was all pure business. He just found out I'm an illegal racer when I got in an accident one night and thankfully it's not really fatal. But now, talking to you, I just realized how good it felt. Someone's listening to me. It felt my chest lightens. I don't know the feeling so unfamiliar. I'm just so glad I met you. Though our first meeting was so cliché, meeting you was the best thing ever happened to me. Xiennah, thank you for everything." He smiled at me. I don't know how to react. Usually, people hated me. The only person ever truly accepted me aside from my mother, was Chole. And now, Ashe. "No Ashe. I should be the one thanking you. Ashe, thank you. People always hated me. I never had a single friend in my life. But the both of you came into my life. Maybe if you just came earlier, I would've loved you instead. But I met Chole and fell in love with him eventually. If only... If only, I met you first." "Can't you give me a chance?" "I'm sorry, Ashe." "Don't worry. I'm expecting that you'll say that. Well, if he turned you down over and over again... He'll regret it, I'll promise you that." "What do you mean?" But he just smiled mysteriously at me.