Heartthrob of Aclea

Chapter 6 - Rejection

I sighed in agony. Why did I volunteer myself for this experiment? Needles and I had grown apart and that struck me with a dissoluble trypanophobia. I gazed at Lisa, pale and stricken. The fear sat on me like a pillow over my mouth and nose, suffocating.

'Alright, Aaron? Fancy a cuppa?' Her English character soaked within her words. No outside food or drink allowed in here, alas, nothing could prepare for the ferocity of Acleans' addiction to tea.

The study that we conducted for three hours was about blood; grouping it in the ABO and Rhesus blood groups. It was a piece of cake. Just cleaned the tip of your middle finger with alcohol, pricked it with a lancet and placed one drop of your blood at antisera provided. She, Lisa, and I were coincidentally fitted in the same group and we needed to opt for whose blood was going to be the sample.

I should be the sample as to deny the bad judgment she had given. When I proposed, that was the first time I ever looked her in the eyes. They were the glistening pool of emerald, like fresh morning dew on the grass. She barely flashed her smile; the puffiness beneath her eyes told the story of staying up a few hours past her normal bedtime. Nevertheless, that did not stop her from being radiant.

'Good. Prince Charming comes to the rescue! I will do the pricking and Lisa is going to tabulate the data.' She said.

The process ended quickly and my heart couldn't stop beating out of its rhythm, thereupon, I searched for a stool and calmed myself.

'We can't have tea right now. Maybe passing me some sweets would be nice,' Glucose was a need at this moment.

'I didn't know you were afraid of blood!' Lisa laughed. 'I could prick my own finger, should I have known it.'

'I don't! I'm afraid of needles, not blood. I'm a trypanophobic.' I replied.

'If you'd told us earlier, this wouldn't happen. I'm so sorry, Aaron. Catherine, what's his type?' Catherine! I repeated the name in my head.

What a beautiful name.

'Your blood agglutinated when I mixed it with antiserum anti-A. So, your blood type is A.' Catherine said, flashing us chains of perfectly neat white teeth. Lisa finished her report, then walked to the lecturer's desk and submitted it, leaving Catherine and me behind.

'I knew that already.'

'You could have told us.' She furrowed her eyebrows intensely.

'I'm just teasing. I didn't catch your name earlier.'

'Oh, it's Catherine. Catherine Windsor, Your Highness.' She smiled briefly.

'Just Aaron, Miss Windsor.' I blushed. Darn it. What was this feeling? So sudden, so fast it made my heart went tachycardia. I faked a cough lest she knew I had a huge crush on her.

'Was it you that came to my party last night? Turquoise dress and black heels?'

'Oh, yes. I was third-wheeling Lisa and her boyfriend, Rick. Partying isn't my thing but surely, I didn't want to hear any of her babble, so I just followed her.'

'I'll throw another one next weekend. Your presence is mandatory.'

'Pass. I-'

'Unpass! Aaron, there's no need to ask, I'll be there even if I'm not invited.' Lisa jumped in between us, startling me a little. 'She's my pet. Her arse will stick onto your dance floor, I can assure you of that!'

'Brilliant! If you don't like being in the crowd, we can hang out in my kitchen or-'

'No means no, Prince Aaron. I seldom leave my house and I'd love to keep it that way.' She rejected my offer softly. I... had never been rejected before. I felt... humiliated. Dishonour.

'I want my best friend to end her career of being an introvert!' Lisa slapped her arm. 'This is Prince Aaron, for God's sake, Bookworm. Open your eyes!'

'I'm not that type, Lisa. And I don't have any interest in people like you, Your Highness.' She shrugged.

'One day, I'll become someone you'll adore above all others.' I mustered my confidence and winked at her before springing straight to where Jason and Ethan were waiting for me patiently.

To meet someone who fitted your taste whilst not giving me a chance to get closer to you. This was on another level. An impossible yet somehow achievable level I was targeting to pass. I could and I would.