"Rhianne!"
Turning around, Rhianne sees Keith rushing towards her. When he finally reached her, Keith suddenly put his hands on her shoulders and starts looking at her from head to toe. He even moves her body from side to side as if looking for something. Soon, Keith let out a relieved sigh before looking at Rhianne who has a confused look on her face.
"What is it?" Rhianne asked. "Did something happen?"
"Rhianne, are you alright?" Keith asked instead of answering her question.
"Yes. Why? Do I look like sick to you?"
Instead of answering, Keith just let out another relieved sigh before he tries controlling his breathing.
"Are you done tossing and spinning Rhianne like a life-sized doll?"
Both Rhianne and Keith look at Candice who is standing beside them with crossed arms. Candice shakes her head before gently pulling Rhianne towards her. She is now thinking that it was wrong of her to send a text message to this guy informing him of what happened in the cafeteria earlier.
"Keith, wait a moment." Rhianne said before pulling a clean handkerchief from her bag. "You are sweating a lot."
She starts wiping the sweat covering Keith's forehead in a gentle manner. Rhianne looks like she is taking good care of a rare and beautiful piece of art. When she asked Keith to lower his head a bit, he did not hesitate to follow her orders and let Rhianne continue wiping his face. When Keith tries to shorten the distance of their faces, Rhianne's cheeks suddenly turn red before pushing him softly saying she is finally done.
And all of it happened right in front of Candice's eyes.
The rumors are all true. These two look so sweet with each other that ants can possibly surround them anytime soon. Candice really feels cringe by just looking at them. No wonder when she visited the school forum the other day, most of the students who are still single are complaining that couples being sweet with each other should be banned on their school grounds.
"Are you done answering your long quiz, Keith?" Rhianne asked.
"Yeah." Keith simply replied.
"Is it hard?"
"Not really. Most of the questions are just a recap of our lessons last week. I think I will be getting a perfect score again on this one."
"As expected of my Mr. Protagonist. You are so smart! Keith, you are really the best!" Rhianne happily praised Keith as she shows him a huge and happy smile on her face.
"Hmm. And it is all because of you."
"Huh?"
"You gave me enough energy to study hard last night. You are indeed my lucky charm. So thank you." Keith replied with a soft look on his face.
"Keith..."
"..."
Candice's scalp suddenly feels tingly and itchy.
She already heard a lot of times from Rhianne that Keith is like this and like that. Her adorable friend always loves to brag about Keith in front of her every time she finds a chance. As a supportive friend, Candice will just listen to her because Rhianne looks so passionate as she shares some stories about her and Keith. Rhianne is always saying that Keith is a handsome, cool, smart, sweet, charming, and charismatic young man.
But after hearing their conversation just now, Candice does not know whether she should doubt Rhianne's eyesight or barf on Keith's textbook pick-up line. But actually, she is considering doing both of those options.
"You know what? We should go and sit first before discussing why are you rushing to us just like that." Candice suggested and gently pulls Rhianne to her.
With Keith following them from behind, they finally find a vacant bench near the school garden. Candice and Rhianne both sit on it. Automatically and naturally, Keith takes the space next to Rhianne and rests his arm on the backrest. If Candice sees him contemplating whether to put his arms around Rhianne's shoulders or not, she decided just to keep her mouth shut and pretends that she sees nothing.
"So why are you in a rush, Keith? I thought you will meet your clubmates after your long quiz then we will go to a cafe in the afternoon." Rhianne asked.
She is actually not anticipating seeing Keith at this hour. They already made a plan to meet outside their school once after their classes to visit a newly opened cafe that sells character cookies and fruity cakes. Rhianne knows that Keith has a meeting with his clubmates after his long quiz while she has a vacant two hours because her professor is absent today. When Candice heard about it, she invited Rhianne to join her in the library. But before they reach the library, that was when Keith appeared in front of them.
"...I heard that girl approached you again." Keith slowly replied.
"That girl? You mean Donna?" Rhianne asked again.
"Yes. That one."
"Oh. Well, she is actually our new classmate since we have the same course."
"Tch. I should have dealt with it when I saw her lingering around in our department." Keith said to himself in a low voice but Rhianne and Candice still heard him clearly.
"So you already know that she is a new student here?"
"Yeah."
"I'm surprised that you can still remember her. Usually, you can easily forget a person's face when they absolutely have no relation to you."
Keith just clicked his tongue as a response.
How can he forget that girl's face? That girl is the one who actually believes she can use Rhianne for her personal gain. Unfortunately for that girl, Rhianne is not a spoiled girl who loves to shop for branded and expensive things and she knows the value of money. Donna tried to pressed Rhianne into buying something for her in exchange for their friendship, but his girl is not someone that can be easily swayed with words.
"That girl named Donna is so weird." Candice commented. "Not to mention, rude and so demanding."
"Why? What happened?"
Not it was Keith's turn to ask questions. After finishing their long quiz, Keith checked his phone in case he received a message or a missed call from Rhianne. There was one message in his inbox but to his surprise, it was from Candice. She only said that a girl named Donna tried to harass Rhianne in the cafeteria and nothing else.
Worried that Rhianne was hurt, he quickly left their classroom and ignored Hansel who called his name several times. Before he can make a call, Keith saw Rhianne and Candice walking together and rushed towards them. Although he got worried for nothing, it was still good to see Rhianne unharmed.
"So what's with her? Is she always like that or what?" Candice asked.
"We don't know." Keith replied with a shrug. "We only know her for a week before she transferred to another school."
'And that is because of your brother thought.'
But Rhianne did not voice it out anymore. Instead, she only let out a sigh before leaning her body on the backrest where Keith's arm is resting. Seeing that Keith is still hesitating whether he will put his arms around Rhianne's shoulders or not, Candice rolled her eyes first before she secretly pulled his sleeves and finally help him put his arm on her friend's shoulder. Rhianne was surprised because of it and she automatically look at Keith.
Keith pretends that he did not notice Rhianne's stare and move his head to look in another direction. A sweet smile slowly appears on Rhianne's face before she moves closer to him so that his arm will feel comfortable too. Keith's neck is slowly turning red but he is still trying to play it cool. Witnessing these two flirting with each other, Candice said to herself that she needs to prepare where these two will continue acting like these in the future.
To be honest, Candice and Keith cleared most of their misunderstanding with each other when Rhianne left them together in their living room. Keith finally accepted the fact that Candice will never take advantage of Rhianne. He realized that Candice is just a person who wants a pure friendship with Rhianne. He also learned that Candice is someone who works hard to build a better future for her family and herself.
Candice is also feeling the same. They finally made a reconciliation about their first meeting and impression with each other. Candice can see that Keith is truly sincere with his feelings for Rhianne. In fact, he is too pure while courting Rhianne that Candice does not know whether she should laugh or cry about it.
Most importantly, Rhianne is always happy and smiling whenever Keith is around her. She may not say anything about it, but the pure joy on her face is already spilling all the things she needs to know from her. To say that Rhianne is like an open book is not entirely wrong. With just one look, they can easily tell whatever emotion Rhianne is feeling on that day.
And since Rhianne is happy to be with that guy, then Candice can only give her support to them. For a good person like Rhianne, she really wishes for her to always have a good and happy life. Candice is ready to become a friend or a sister for her whenever she needs it.
"So I can assume that Donna is never good news to the both of you, huh." Candice said.
She is also secretly putting a small distance away from those two who are obviously flirting but still unaware of it. Right now, Keith is now touching Rhianne's fingertips with his free hand. It seems like a normal occurrence to them since Rhianne is not reacting at all. In fact, she is sometimes catching Keith's fingers and giving them a few small massages.
While Candice is starting to suffer from their public display of affection, Rhianne is actually recalling how did Donna become friends with Rhianne Cartel in the story. She can vaguely remember that Donna is one of Rhianne Cartel's friends in high society although she is considered as nouveau riche. Donna's father is the assistant director in one of the huge companies in their city. Since her father had earned a lot of money and has now connections due to his work, he can sometimes bring Donna with him to the huge formal parties that only those rich people can attend.
At one of those parties, Donna had met Rhianne who is the beloved daughter of the Cartel family. There is no special event at their first meeting, but Rhianne took a liking to Donna because she is good at flattering her. Since then, they always talk to the party until Rhianne brings Donna to her circle of friends whose families are rich since their old generation.
Rhianne Cartel also did not suspect Donna as someone who will betray her. It's because Donna is actually a good actress who plays the role of a humble and caring person in front of them. And she is really good at acting since Donna managed to fool Andrew Gartin and get his interest.
But because Rhianne is not following the original flow of the story, a lot of changes happened and they had met Donna earlier than expected.
If that's the case, then Rhianne can do nothing about it. And besides, she does not need to worry about it since they are no longer in the story. They can make their own choices without anyone dictating them what to do next. They do not need to follow the flow of the story just because it was written like that in the book.
"Rhianne?" Keith called her name.
"Hmm? What is it?" She asked.
Keith stares at her for a moment before shaking his head a little.
Nothing. I am just thinking that calling your name is just a natural thing for me to do."
A smile appeared on Rhianne when she heard that. She can feel her face heating up with the way Keith looks at her. But Rhianne is avoiding his gaze. Instead, she also stares at him and admires his handsome face.
While these two are openly showing their adoration for each other in public, Candice has to move away further from them. She does not want to look like a third wheel in their relationship. Ever since Keith brought Rhianne for a date, these two becomes sticky with each other. She really wonders if true love can really make a person change drastically in an instant.
Seeing Rhianne and Keith being happy with each other, Candice is thinking that maybe there it is really possible as long as you have the person you love next to you.