It's already morning and we didn't get to have some sleep since last night, dressed in my white knee length dress, I tiredly brushed my hair and headed off to Sam and Loraine's room with Annie, we also fetched Liz on the way and made sure that she brought her gifts for us.
Once we got there we all sat on the carpeted floor with the snacks we take out from last night's party set on the middle.
"Okay, I'm the eldest so I'll go first" Sam said and took out our gifts.
"Loraine, Tinay, Annie and the youngest, Lizzy!" She happily handed out our gifts and we thanked her before Loraine stood up and handed us her gifts for us.
"Sammy, Tinay, Annie and Liz ma baby" she proudly took out a huge box inside her closet and handed it to Liz.
"Woah! Hey! Mind the size huh, are you spoiling her once more?" Sam lectured.
"Shh, it's just the box that's big" she giggled.
"My turn, for Samantha, Loraine, Xiena and Lizelle" I called out their first names while handing their gifts.
"Why do I got a feeling that I know what's inside of this?" Loraine grinned.
"No you don't" I stuck my tongue out on her.
"My turn" Annie smiled and handed out her gifts silently, this is getting suspicious actually, what's up with this heavy box of hers?
"Me next!" Liz cheered and in a flash, all of us are holding our gifts.
After our exchanging of gifts, we chated just like the old times when we were back in our first three years, snack were also starting to disappear from the plates and our drinks were almost empty.
"Aren't you opening yours?" Annie asked me as they started to open their gifts.
"I'll just open these later" I told her and set my gifts inside the large paperbag I have.
"Ooh, got any other plans for today?" Sam asked.
"I have a date" I said and they squealed.
"Ooh, before you go, any story to tell about what happened earlier?" Loraine wriggled her eyebrows, I rolled my eyes.
"Come on share some with us" Liz held me back to sit down.
I frowned, knowing these girls, they won't stop bugging me the whole day if I didn't give them what they want.
So I have no other choice but tell them what happened a couple of hours ago, starting from the time where we left the grand ball room up to the time he sent me back to our dorm just this 3 in the morning.
I raised my right hand to let them see the ring he gave me but Liz just rolled her eyes at me before raising her hand as well.
"Zen gave me one first" she grinned, oh really? Did I ask for her opinion? Annie then cleared her throat before raising her hand.
"Promise ring? Duh, I have more than that" she reffered to her engagement ring, I mentally face palmed.
Then there's the two older ones on our group, mumbling some things...
"Yeah, I like your nails" Loraine pointed at Sam's hand, now they're comparing nails?!
"You're nails are trimmed neatly, it's so cute" Sam complimemted as well.
"Yours are quite long but it really suit you slender fingers" Loraine said.
"You should try not cutting your nails for a while" Sam replied.
They are totally ignoring us here, they didn't even stop us from arguing over who has the more valuable rings.
"These two..." Liz whinned.
"Oh? You girls done? Hurry up and pack away" They waved us out without even looking at us.
"Aww, are you jealous because your boyfriends didn't give you some promise rings?" Annie teased and they glared at us.
"We don't need one" Sam said bluntly.
"Besides, who needs a ring when he is willing to offer everything to me just to keep me beside him?" Loraine grinned, I chuckled, seems right though.
"Anyways, I need to go now" I told them and gathered up my things before standing up.
"Sure, have fun Tinay" Sam accompanied me to the door.
"Yeah, I will, thanks" I smiled and gave her a hug before exiting the room.
"Oh shoot!" I exclaimed when I look at my wrist watch.
3 minutes left and I'll be late! The mall is literally far away by foot so I guess I need some back up, I rushed down the building and saw Ashlyn- got off the golf cart, wow, she's so talented.
"Ashlyn!" I called her.
"Oh hey Cursetine" she giggled and hugged me.
"You look good in your uniform" I complimented her.
"Ah yes, you see, ever since I resigned last night, I got even more free time!" She cheered happily.
"I can see that" I smiled then snapped my fingers.
"Uh have you seen Thea? I wanna borrow her car for a moment" I told her.
"Oh yeah- I haven't seen her since the party, I guess she's still asleep? Why?" She asked.
"I'm getting late, and Ace is already waiting-"
"Oh Death? Clyde said that he just woke up a couple of minutes ago so don't worry, you're both getting late" she pat my shoulder.
"Oh, I see, thank you Ashlyn" I laughed lightly and just decided to take a walk.
Looking at the mall from a distance, I sigh escape my lips as I hug my coat closer to me and gently swing the paperbag back and forth while humming some random tune.
The sun is up but it didn't give me enough warmth, I really think I'm not suitable to live on this kind of country, but unlike our country, I get to experience more things here because of its seasons.
I was too busy admiring the scene in front of me that I didn't realize someone's pressence behind me and due to my fast reflexes, I extended my right leg behind me making the person trip over my back and I took the chance to throw them over my shoulder down to the ground.
I was about to curse at them amd celebrate my victory when I heard 'him' groan in pain.
"Babe? As in Ace? Wait, oh my gosh" I panicked and help him sit up.
"You know, you're really good at stuffs like this, not to mention you can survive the wild without your boyfriend protecting you" he whinced while holding his back.
"I'm sorry" I looked down but he held my head up and our eyes made contact with each other.
"It's okay, I love you" he smiled genuinely, I smiled back at him and jumped on his arms.
I know we just got separated earlier but it's really itching me not to see him for more than an hour, that is unless I have other things to do to get myself distracted.
"I love you too" I muttered before standing up.
I also helped him up by offering my hand to him, he accepted it and use it as guide to help himself up.
"Does it still hurt?" I asked when he starts rubbing his lower back again.
"Why do you have that monstrous strength again?" He whinced in pain, I chuckled.
"I'm from a military family remember?" I smirked and walked behind him.
"Sorry, again" I said.
"What- aww!" He exclaimed when I suddenly held both his shoulders back and used my knee to push his back then I heard a few of his bones cracking.
"Hmm, someone forgot to work out" I smiled sheepishly and let go of him, he stopped for a second then tried moving his body.
"Hey, it's gone" he commented amd faced me.
"You're welcome, now can we go? I'm getting cold here" I frowned and rubbed my hands together.
He chuckled and we both continued our walk towards our destination which is just up ahead. When we got there we stopped by the arcade for a while to play some games and also shopped for some art materials- just in case I'll be needing them again when class starts again.
"You don't need markers" he said and took it out the basket.
"What are you talking about? You always put the materials I get back on the stalls" I frowned.
"Because I already brought it for you" he said while pointing at the counter.
"What the h*ll is your problem? I told you not to spoil me right?" I glared at him.
"Can't help it" he shrugged and walked past me, I look at him, 'unbelievable' I mentally smack my face and dropped my basket before following him.
He wants to spoil me today huh, let's see when will you last *evil laugh*.
So I made up my mind, getting inside boutique to boutique and would buy at least the top 3 most expensive items there and he seems to be having fun watching me picked it out while he paid for it.
Now here we are, let's see if you can last here, supermarket! I took the biggest cart and pushed it around while dropping a few random food inside it- just food but those are expensive you know, I also brought 2 cases of soju and light beers I can share with the girls and the rest are some snacks for my late night diet.
When the cart is full I met up with Ace who is patiently waiting for me at the counter, he eyed my cart and sighed- ha! Are you gonna give up now?
"This is the last one okay? It's already past lunch time" he said seriously and I nod while watching the food getting scanned by the counter.
Since this is a private school, it's already expected that the prices of the items are 3 times more expensive than the regular price so in total, my groceries reached 11 thousand.
I smirked but it fell off my face when he took out his black unlimited card, so that explains why he have no problem on paying my expenses! That was unfair you know- I mean, he's rich anyways so whatever.
"So?" He asked before stuffing his card back on his wallet, I folded my arms in front of my chest and glared at him, he smirked and pat my head lovingly.
"You're welcome my little devil" he teased and I smack his hand away before marching off.
"Split the drinks and food, deliver one to my dorm and the other to hers" I heard him say before walking after me.
"What do you want to have for lunch?" He asked.
"How about that food that Liz loves?" I look at him.
"Alright, let's go there then" he hold my hand as well walk towards the food court.
We chated as we eat and I also started to open the gifts that the girls gave me- which I'm always carrying around since the beginning-, I started with Loraine's gift which happens to be the new and limited edition album of my favorite band.
Then next is Sam's gift, it's actually in a small rectangular box so I can't easily guess what's inside it, and when I opened it, it was a lightstick of one of the most famous kpop girl group which made me addicted to their horror concept! Dreamcatcher! (No comment for a multi-stan like me).
Next was Annie's gift, even the wrapper was black, it was really her color so I can't really say anything about it, when I tore the wrapper off, I was welcomed by a special diary with some special lock, there was also a sticky note attached to it, saying:
The code is you're birthday, I kinda messed up with the first 3 pages but I hope you like it :).
So as it says, I entered the code and saw a caligraphy of my name and below it was a picture of the five of us on the front page- wow she's really talented isn't she?- the second page contained our class picture then at the third page was a picture of the entire Core society that was took on our sports fest.
She's so thoughtful. The last one was Liz's gift, and it was a little huge and heavy too but I don't mind, I swiftly reemove the wrapped and my jaw dropped.
It was the whole series and volume of Harry Potter, I think I knew who won this year's most expensive gift giving, I smiled and cleaned our table by putting the wrapper crumpled wrappers away and have my gifts set back inside the paperbag.
"By the way..." I called Ace's attention as he look up from his phone screen.
"Yeah?" He asked.
"Did you receive my gift?" I asked him.
"Yeah, Pierce handed it to me this morning, thanks for that" he smiled and shove his phone back to his pocket.
"Shall we go now? I think you need to catch some sleep" he reffered to the dark bags under my eyes that was currently covered by a thick layer of concealer.
"Yeah, I think I won't be seeing you until tomorrow" I chuckled before standing up.
"It's okay, the boys asked me out today as well" he smiled and we both left the mall.
He didn't accompanied me back to my dorm because the other guys were already looking for him and I don't mind that, I really need to sleep now because I'm about to collapse anytime soon.
When I reached the dorm room, Annie was already asleep on her bed, I sighed and remove my coat and hung it over the hook by the wall and turned the room heater into a warmer option and arranged her blanket before diving to my own bed to sleep.
The following days just flew too quickly and we realize that New Year is approaching, and there's still two more days before that happens so I'm taking my time here with my other classmates, taking pictures here and there just to put something in our class photobook.
"Smile!" Louanne said and I did smile, when the camera clicked she walked towards the others as well.
"My jaw hurts" I look at Ace who is busy staring at me with the smile not disappearing from my lips.
"Poor you" he chuckled and pinched my cheeks gently and my stiff smile softened.
"Thanks" I muttered before tossing the empty water bottle on the trash bin and massage my jaw.
"Alright, a few more pictures to go!" James yelled, I frowned.
"Come on you little devil" he smirked and scooped me up instead, I crossed my arms over my chest and let him do whatever he want.
"What happened to her?" I heard Zen asked, I open my left eye to see Liz eating a bunch of sweets again.
"Yah! You again! Zen!" I complained, I felt Ace's hands tightened around me so I won't fall.
"Aww, jealous Tine?" She grinned, I glared at her.
"Don't come running into me when you have you stomach ache" I commented bluntly before resting my face on Ace's chest.
"You gotta stop spoiling her Zen" Ace said.
"I only spoil her when necessary" Zen chuckled, I rolled my eyes as Ace continued to walk.
If I were to choose, I would really prefer staying inside my dorm, sipping on some hot cocoa while watching some movie to pass on the time but destiny won't let me have it.
After a few more hours, we decided to take a break, Ace invited me and my friends to their dorm because I 'brought' too much groceries the last time and we can't finish all of them in one go so inviting them could help.
With us gathered in the living room inside his dorm, we all called over Annie since Loraine is out doing her rounds as the new Queen and Clyde assisting her every step of the way.
"So what's the plan after graduation?" Sam's questuong caught me off guard.
'Not today please' I frowned mentally.
"Probably start to take over our estate" Annie shrugged.
"I'll take over my older brothers' position on our company so he can move on and get married" said Pierce.
"I wish I had an older brother" Liz muttered.
"Cursetine has a lot of older brothers" Sam pointed out.
"They're my cousins, I only have one older sibling and she is a girl" I corrected her.
"At least they treat you like their little sibling right?" She said and I shrugged and looked at Ace.
"How about you?" I asked him.
"Maybe start over a new bussiness or something? My IQ is way too far on common bussinesses" he shrugged.
"I can see that, well for me, it's pretty obvious that I'll be following my family's footsteps" I muttered.
"You're really off to set foot in the battlefield huh? So we won't be able to talk to you for 4 years?" Sam asked and I bit my lower lip and gaze at everyone.
"I-It's not really that long I suppose" I tried to avoid answering the real point of the question cause I don't think I can really support my answer if I did blurt out what's happening behind the Military Academy's walls.
"Well good luck to you" Icer grinned.
"Thanks" I smiled and lean on Ace's shoulder.
We didn't even get to stay there for a while since the others already called for us, I walk with Ace as usually but his silence was bothering me since we left his dorm just now.
"You okay?" I asked him.
"Just tired" he grinned and I rolled my eyes at him.
"Are you sure? We can talk about it?" I insisted he stopped walking and I imitated his action.
He sighed and his hand reach over my head, patting it gently as confusion formed on my face.
"I know that you're having thoughts about being on the military or me, but I just want you to know that I want you to follow your dreams, I don't want you to ruin it because of me okay? I'll always be waiting for you so don't stop reaching for your dreams" he said and my eyes suddenly stinged.
Why is he like this? How did he know about my struggles? Am I that easy to read? I rubbed my eyes as I let out a chuckle.
"You got me" I hissed, biting my lip slightly to stop myself from sobbing.
I've now turned into a little fragile child in front of him, his words may sound so simple but it really means a lot to me, he support my decision fully and didn't even think twice to confront me, it's really far different from the past years I've known him.
"You can always lean on me Tine, I'm always here for you" he muttered and I hugged him.
"I love you..." I sobbed.
"I love you more" he whispered back at me and a smile immediately crept into my face.