Avenues of the Diamond (University Series #4)

11

"What? Are you serious?" 

My brows furrowed after hearing what he said. There was no inch of regret in his eyes. He just stood there without saying anything. I was waiting for him to say that he wasn't serious about it, but it never came. 

"What do you mean date you? Date? As in... Date?" I blinked twice, still confused. 

He closed his eyes for a moment before shaking his head like he was disappointed in me for not getting what he meant. What did his words really mean? He said, 'Date me,' right? Did I hear that right?

"Let's try to make this work," he said. Finally, he talked! 

"What do you mean? What are we going to work on?" I already knew what he was talking about, but I was just waiting for him to say it out loud. It should come from him, right? I didn't want to assume things anymore. With Clyden, everything was uncertain. 

"Our non-existent relationship," he answered sarcastically. "I mean, if we want to continue living with each other, we need to make this work." 

"So you want us to date?" I almost laughed at that. It sounded so funny after saying it out loud. It was just ridiculous. 

"Let's hang out," he corrected what I had just said. 

"Why? Because you don't date, and you don't want to break that?" I sarcastically asked, raising my brows. He clearly said he didn't like dating, right? So what changed his mind? 

"Honestly, I don't care about what I could break, Samantha," seryosong sagot niya sa 'kin. Umayos siya ng tayo, shifting his weight on both feet. "I can date if I want to." 

"Don't worry about 'living together' because first, I'm already moving back to my condo next week, and second, we won't be 'husband and wife.' We're breaking the engagement, right?" I asked him once again. Iyon ang napagkasunduan namin and I wanted to follow the rules. 

"Of course," he answered in a low voice. "You're moving next week?" 

"Yes. My mom said I should live with you for two weeks or even a month so I can already move out next week. I'm tired of waking up early and driving to school every day. Aren't you?" I asked him back. 

"I can't leave my dogs," he told me. "So I'm staying here." 

The dogs! I also didn't want to move out because of them, but I wanted to be practical. It was so tiring to deal with traffic from Monday to Friday and mahal din ang gas. Maybe I can just visit during the weekend? I should! 

"Do what you want. I can visit the dogs kapag weekend. I hope they won't forget about me." I gave him a small smile before going inside my room, ignoring what he said earlier about us 'hanging out.' Gosh, it was so awkward. 

It was even more awkward the next morning because when I went downstairs around five in the morning, he was already seated at the breakfast table with a coffee beside his book. He looked like he didn't sleep, but he was already ready for school in his uniform.