Bubble Gum Kisses

Kapittel 4

Kapittel 4

Vanessa

I stared at the guy before me with wide, gobsmacked eyes. I had always thought that meeting him again would be inevitable, but I didn't expect that it would happen much sooner as in right now, at this moment. I couldn't believe it. Clutching my chest where my achingly pounding heart resided, I brushed my eyes from the soles of his cleats up to the edges of the strands of his damp, unruly dark hair that I always tended to run my fingers since time immemorial.

Back then. The phrase rendered a bitter smile to carve on my face as I scrutinized him. He had grown a lot broader and taller compared to before. His looks had gone mature and sharper too. However, it seemed that not only did his physical attributes change. Looking at the way his lips curved into a proud sneer, his eyes that had gone to a deeper shade of abyssal black playfully looked at my trim figure. That gaze and leer made me feel as if I was... belittled.

I bit my lower lip harshly when a realization came. This guy standing in front of me wasn't Friso, whom I used to love and know so much. This was Friso Drew Ezekiel de Vries, the son of a billionaire who was born with a golden spoon shoved in his mouth. A person that I barely knew, a stranger.

A small poke pulled me away from my apparent continuous staring and endless reverie. I gazed down and saw Zach gazing at me, eyes wide and full of wonder while his mouth was frothing with bubbles of saliva. "Van...nie..." he trailed off, struggling to call my name. "You... okaaay?" he asked, his lips lathering with more bubbles.

Startled, I pulled out my handkerchief from my pocket and painstakingly wiped all the saliva off his mouth. No matter how much he thought that he was now grown up and didn't want to be treated like a baby, he was still a baby to me. I wonder, would I still look at him as a little child even when he grew up taller than me?

"It's been a long time, huh?" the same voice from earlier asked with curiosity was clearly smeared on it.

Suddenly, the presence of a heavy atmosphere came. It was like the skies had fallen and as pressuring me down to the deepest of the ground, rendering all the temporary ease, I felt with Zach fled. It pulled me away from my thoughts of fleeing and the tension from earlier came back. My whole body felt as if heaven and Earth sandwiched me in between, so heavy, so woozy. Clenching my shivering hand into a fist, I silently prayed for my unsteady, palpitating heart to be tranquil.

Gulping, I answered his question, "Y-Yeah..." not looking into his eyes. I didn't know why but all my courage was swept away when I looked into those dark, void, frisky eyes. Those eyes... they used to look at me with warmth, gentleness, and love. I was startled when those spheres suddenly moved to the little boy standing demurely on the cart, observing every inch of him like some kind of judgemental matron.

"Your son?" he asked out of the blue, catching me off guard. I've always expected these questions from people but him. I had been contemplating my old friends that I wanted to meet again and strangers that I'd soon meet, anticipating them to ask if Zach was my son, but Friso never came into my mind. Never did I expect that we'd meet soon, too. After all, he wasn't from Scarsendale and only came here whenever his parents dropped him off at Aunt Rebecca's.

My heart began palpitating, and my hands were getting cold. I was nervous. Why was I getting nervous? Was it because of the way he coldly scrutinized my younger brother or because of his sudden question? If it was the latter, why would I be nervous? I had nothing to hide. Or am I... scared of what he would think of me?

I hastily waved my hands to gesture no and spoke my denial, "No, he—" before I could finish what I was about to say, he carried Zach off the cart and into his arms. Afraid of him dropping or hurting my little brother, I stumbled forward in their direction.