Chapter 3

• “Oh, he’s the one who lent you a jacket?” Mary meaningfully elbowed Serene, who cannot help but blush at the implication that she and Mary had been talking about him. Mary giggled playfully when she saw Serene’s cheeks flushed.
• Serene rolled her eyes at Mary and secretly pinched her arm to quiet her. However, the harder she pinched, the more she giggled. Serene loved Mary like a sister, but at that moment, she wanted to strangle her.
• She felt so exposed, and all she wanted was to find a hole to hide in. Her eyes shyly looked at Bryan. She expected to see ridicule in them, or perhaps smugness, but she saw nothing of the sort. He smiled at her, as if apologizing for Mary’s teasing.
• He was a complete gentleman and did not bite Mary’s cue to tease her. He cleared his throat and said, “Well, are you two pretty ladies gonna join me?”
• “Well, come on now, ‘pretty lady’, let’s order food, this guy’s treating,” Mary said as she scooted over to the end of the seat. Serene quietly followed her friend and sat directly in front of Bryan.
• Mary ordered her heart out. In no time, Mary’s orders filled their table. An assortment of fried and greasy food laid down before them. Serene swallowed at the sight of them. “How am I gonna eat this without looking like a slob?” she contemplated.
• “Hey, dig in! They’re all your favorites,” Mary said as her teeth sank in a juicy cheeseburger. Serene swallowed, but picked up her cheeseburger and took the daintiest bite she could.
• “What’s wrong, Shen?” Mary asked, looking, her eyes full of concern. “Got toothache or something, babe?”
• “No. Why?” Serene asked while she chewed on the minuscule cheeseburger in her mouth. Mary just shrugged her shoulder and continued to eat with gusto.
• Bryan watched the entire exchange with amusement. “Relax, Shen. Just enjoy your food. No one’s judging,” he said, before picking up a greasy chicken wing and biting it. Sauce spread on his lips, which he simply licked with his tongue.
• Looking at Bryan not giving any airs, Serene felt comfortable and threw away her image out of the window and ate her food the way she wanted to, grease and all.
• They ate their lunch smoothly, which was unexpected. Serene thought that she would embarrass herself by being ditzy, however, the three of them had an enjoyable lunch sharing food and stories.
• Bryan naturally made people feel at ease. He made people feel he was genuinely interested in what they would like to say, and he sincerely wanted to learn more about the person he was talking to.
• He laughed freely whenever she or Mary said something he found amusing. The more Serene sat and listened to him, the more she felt her heart beat wildly from her chest.
• There was no untouchable topic to the three of them. They talked about anything under the sun — his life abroad, their university life, Serene’s pageant stint, sometimes even politics. There was not a subject untouched. He shared his ideas openly and showed his deep understanding of various subjects without making others feel intimidated.
• Although he would share things about himself, most of the time he would ask questions about her and Mary. It is as if their thoughts are of utmost importance.
• After the sumptuous lunch, he sent them back to the university. He also exchanged contact details with Serene. As expected, as soon as Bryan’s shadow left the two besties, Mary immediately teased Serene endlessly, to which she cannot do anything but blush and complain.
• Before her day ended, as she was lying in her bed while randomly surfing the internet, a message notification from her instant messaging app came in, which made her almost jump from her bed. It was from Bryan.
• “Are you still awake?”
• “Yeah”
• “Studying?”
• “No, just surfing. You?”
• “Thinking of you.”
• Serene was so surprised her phone slid off her hand and landed flat on her face. Scratching her nose, she kept looking back to the message to make sure that she read it right.
• Thinking of you… Thinking of you… He was thinking of me?!? Why?
• She felt happy and anxious at the same time. It seemed like today was a day of surprises for Serene. Her heart beat wildly in her chest as her eyes looked at the lighted up screen in front of her.
• She has not yet recovered from the elation she felt reading his last message when a phone call came in. Picking it up, she looked dumbly at the caller ID. It’s Bryan.
• “Hello?” she tentatively answered, trying so hard to keep her voice as neutral as possible.
• “Were you angry?”
• “Huh? Why would I be angry?”
• “You did not answer my message for quite some time. I thought you were angry”
• “I’m not. I just cannot believe that you would say that”
• “Why?”
• “Well, because I was doing the same thing,” Serene’s voice was almost inaudible as she shyly responded, biting her lips all the while.
• “Doing what? Say it,” although it was a command, his voice sounded as if he was teasing her, which made her blush even more. Although it was not a video call, she cannot help but turn red up to her ears. She imagined he had his lips stretched to a mischievous smile.
• “Thinking of you.”