Wretched Choices

Chapter 9

#WretchedChoicesWP

Chapter 9
Everyone

"Ang creepy mo."

An intentional insult woke me up from daydreaming about my future plans and expectations. I turned to look at Jerome who just sat beside me and placed his laptop on the armchair.

Who would've thought that he'd be the cause of my bad mood? Ang galing niya lang talagang manira. Alam na alam niya kung kailan siya dapat sumingit at sirain ang magandang pagpapantasya ko.

"Excuse me?" Inirapan ko siya.

He smiled and opened the Microsoft Word application on his laptop.

"You were wearing a creepy smile earlier," he said. "Para bang may binabalak kang masama. Ganoon ang hitsura ng ngiti mo."

I frowned even more. He really knew how to piss me off and he's enjoying it, knowing that I was affected.

"Bakit ka ba nandito?" Humalukipkip ako. "Nang-iinis ka lang naman."

He smirked and put his laptop on my desk instead. I was about to ask him why when he pointed in front and showed me what was written on our whiteboard.

A list of questions were written on the board. There were also almost fifteen words that we needed to define with proper citation to avoid plagiarism. A printed copy of our answers was needed to be passed today — only until 5PM.

"Hindi ka talaga nakikinig," bulong niya pa at natatawa sa aking kawalang alam. "The seatwork needs to be done today. Our professor instructed that we needed to do it by partners. Sa kasamaang palad, dinagdag niya rin na kung sino ang kapartner sa reporting ay siya rin ang kapartner ngayon para hindi magulo."

Right after he told me about the partner thingy, my eyes immediately drifted to Hope and Archer. They didn't transfer seats anymore and just stayed where they were seated earlier. Parehas na silang mukhang busy sa ginagawang seatwork. Sa sobrang seryoso nilang dalawa ay mukhang wala nang makakakuha pang iba sa kanilang atensyon.

How bad I wanted to spoil their moment together, but I would keep it cool. I'd let Hope enjoy her last moments with Archer before I take him from her.

"You're staring at them again..." Jerome lazily drowled while scanning our textbook.

"Napatingin lang..." pagdadahilan ko.

Lumabi na lamang ako at saka sinimulang gawin ang format sa word. Dahil kabisado ko na ang buong pangalan ni Jerome, tinipa ko na rin ang kanyang pangalan kasunod ng sa akin.

"In our class, you're the only one I didn't see during Hope's party last Saturday," he suddenly said, and it caught my full attention.

Natigil ako sa pagt-type para lamang ituon sa kanya ang buong atensyon ko at makinig sa kanyang sasabihin.

"You're invited, too?" I asked him.

Tumango naman siya. "Nandoon din si Archer," sabi niya kahit na hindi na niya kailangan pang sabihin 'yon dahil alam ko naman na. "He came late, though. Pero masaya pa rin si Hope na nakarating siya."

I frowned and crossed my arms. "And why are you telling me this?"

He smiled and looked at me. "Because it pisses you off?"

Kinagat ko ang aking ibabang labi at saka siya pabirong sinapak sa braso. Mas lalo lamang siyang tumawa dahil nakuha niya na ang gusto niyang reaksyon mula sa akin.

"You are hopeless." I rolled my eyes and continued typing.

He chuckled huskily. "See..." he trailed. "That's a very interesting expression of yours."