Opposites Attract

Chapter-16

We went out.

Khumtsa followed by Vito and I, and Tiren and Rachel close behind, obviously exhausted. I look around and it breaks my heart to see that we are right where Tiren and I used to go for walks.

The weather is perfectly pleasant with a cold breeze, trees lined up on both sides of the road and the occasional ministers' vehicles. I cross my fingers and pray for Khumtsa to take us further down the road because the last thing I want is a string of memories playing in my mind. But he stops right where we used to sit and talk.

I take a quick glance at Tiren but this does not seem to have any effect on him.

Of course, who am I kidding?

Khumtsa leans on the wall with a foot raised against it. We stand in silence for a moment— Vito never letting go of my hand. Tiren stands facing Khumtsa with Rachel under his arms.

!!PDA alert!!

"So..." I say, trying to break the ice.

Tiren looks at me, no longer sporting his charming smile like he always used to. Instead, he glares at me with such fire in his eyes that I crawl right back into my safe zone.

"Dude, the reaction should be reversed." Khumtsa states flatly.

"Really? Should it? Why? I'm not the one who made you walk a mile, am I?" Tiren almost shouts.

"You deserved it." Vito replies.

"You and you..." he points at Vito and then at me.

"You should be glad you are girls. Stay out of this." He concludes, still fuming with anger.

"Watch it Tarzan, you did deserve it and it was not a mile. Get your calculations straight first." Khumtsa glares at him, pushing himself off the wall and standing between us.

"Why are you being like this? What's wrong with you guys?" Rachel finally speaks.

I'm sorry.

Khumtsa looks at his watch and says, "Look, we don't have much time. Mom's waiting for us to have dinner..."

Dinner! Remember to call mom and inform her.

"So here's the deal. Today was the last day of college and also of our friendship. I'm not going to be friends with a moron without a heart. And I'm sure they will agree with me." He looks at Vito and I for an answer.

"Forever?" I asked, looking at Rachel who looked like she could cry any moment.

"I second that decision a cent percent!" Vito agrees instantly.

A set of four eyes fixed their gaze on me. Lose a group of friends to a broken heart? Who is to blame anyway? He chose what his heart pulled him to. And as much as I want to hurt both of them, she is an equally innocent victim, isn't she?

"Grace..." Khumtsa finally speaks, softening his eyes almost as if to say he understands this turmoil inside my head.

"Sure." I blurred out.

Both Rachel and Tiren looked surprised and hurt. A stream of tears began to fall down her cheeks.

"So you've been turning them against us? What have you been filling their heads with?" Tiren directs his words at me and it hits home right where it was wounded already.

"Hey! Mind your words. You should be apologising,not accusing. And if you really want to know, if it wasn't for Grace forgiving you, we could've done much worse than just making you miss out on the fun and walking a few kilometres. You have the audacity to tell her those words when she forgave you without receiving an apology." Vito gets into defensive mode.

"Vito, forget it. Its not worth it." Khumtsa says, pulling us away from them.

"I did apologise" Rachel softly mumbles but Vito catches it.

"Whatever" Vito says.

I'm sorry. One day we will all be just fine.

"Good. That seals the deal." Khumtsa says as head back the same way we came.

Vito holds my right hand and squeezes it. Khumtsa hops up to us and puts his right arm over my shoulder.

"This is good." He chirps.

I take one last look at the two friends we have left behind. I see Tiren hugging Rachel as she cries into his arms.

"Nothing good ever happened by looking back, Grace." Vito squeezes my hand. I know she saw exactly what I did.

"Right. I like the philosopher Vitono. Or philosopheress...or whatever. Look forward to dinner then?" Khumtsa asks.

Shoot! Call mom.

"Let me call home and inform them." I said, searching for my phone.

"You must've left it at the house." Vito suggests.

"Here, use mine." Khumtsa offers me his phone.

"Good. You use that. I'll have to call mom too." Vito says, going a little distant as she dialed her mom.

I take Khumtsa's phone and type in my mom's number.

"Hello, mom?" I can hear Vito speaking into her phone.

My mother picks up after a few seconds.

"Hello?" She answers, unsure.

"Hi mom. It's Grace. I called to inform that I'm going to have dinner at Kh... Vito's place tonight."

"Okay. You should've told me a little sooner. I've already cooked the rice. Anyway, we can have that in the morning. Make sure to come home early." She replied.

"Okay. Bye now." I hung up.

As I hand the phone to Khumtsa, he had a funny expression on his face.

"What?" I ask him.

"Am I a secret agent that you guys are trying to cover? You made me her and she made me you." He says, pointing at Vito who was still on the phone.

"Yes." She was saying into the phone with her cheeks turning bright red.

"Yep. Okay, bye mom." She hurriedly hangs up.

"What was that?" I ask her as we walk towards Khumtsa's house.

"Funny! My mom asked if I wanted her to tell your mom that you are having dinner at our place if she asks." She replied with a rise in her pitch.

"What?" I asked, slightly horrified.

"Yeah...and I said yes because I know you must have said that to your mother too. I told my mother that I'm going to have dinner at your place and she caught me. I don't know how." She replies back.

"I will never understand you two, what's wrong with saying you're having dinner at my place?" Khumtsa says, opening his front door.

His mother had already set the table and was heating up the curry.

"Oh! You're back. I was wondering where you all were." She said, turning to face us.

"And Vito, since you told me that you are Avonuo's daughter, I called her up to inform her that you are here and you'll be having dinner at our place. We were classmates,your mother and I." she beamed at us.

So...that's how...

Vito looks at me with eyes that could pop out any minute. I give her a slight nudge and the most amazing smirk I could sport.