Rawbin talked to Tanya two weeks after the incident between her and Lemon. She wanted to talk to her right after their fight, but she didn’t show up at school for a week, and they got busy the week after that because of exams.
He crossed paths with her on his way home after basketball practice. While fixing his stuff in the car’s compartment, Tanya passed by with her friends, so he called her.
“What do you need?” she asked calmly, looking around as if she didn’t want anyone to see them together.
“Can we talk?” Rawbin asked, and the girl nodded.
He asked where they could go, and she suggested the locker room at the gym. She doesn’t want anyone to see them. According to her, it’s unsafe if anyone sees them together. She said she didn’t want any more issues.
Rawbin went ahead to the gym while she went back to her friends. After a while, he heard Tanya calling. She probably didn’t see him as he was lying on one of the benches at the back.
“I’m here!” He responded. In a matter of seconds, Tanya sat next to him.
“What is this about?” she asked, her forehead wrinkled.
“I just want to know why you did that to Lemon. I can’t get over it ’cause I can’t see any reason for you to hurt her like that,” Rawbin told her calmly.
“You have the guts to ask me that?” anger started building inside her. “You led me on Rawbin. Have you forgotten how sweetie-sweetie you were after the team building? How do we do late-night calls? How you drop me off at my home after practice?” she enumerated.
“We’re friends, for Pete’s sake. How was that leading you on?”
“Friends? Ha! Really? So friends can French kiss, huh?” He was startled. He never thought she’d use that against him.
Last summer, the volleyball and basketball teams planned a team-building activity. It’s a separate activity, but the coaches decided to do it in the same resort.
After the activities, the coaches allowed the players to have a bonfire and drink. On the last night, Rawbin and his teammates decided to stay for another night.
Without them knowing, Tanya and her friends decided to stay too. They had a bonfire and some drinks, and that was when the kiss happened.
The kiss was just a dare. But on his way to their cabin, Tanya asked him to drop her off. Before he could leave, she pulled Rawbin and kissed him.
‘I can’t use alcohol as an excuse because I was sober then. It was the way she kissed that provoked me.’
Tanya kissed him sensually, and it triggered his raging hormones. It started with a slow kiss, and the next thing he knew, they were French kissing.
The girl told her friends about it, and they started teasing them, but Rawbin ignored it. He didn’t expect that she’d assume there was something special between them.
“Are you serious? You initiated that!” Rawbin snapped.
“But you returned the favor. And now, just because of that, Leslie Monica, you suddenly forgot. Why? Does she kiss better? Does she give you more than a kiss? You know I can do just the same,” she ranted. But she still tried to sound seductive.
“Stop this, Tanya! Stop and at least have some respect for yourself. I talked to you because I wanted to end this issue. But seeing how you’re taking things, then never mind!”
Rawbin was about to walk out of the locker room, but Tanyapulled his arm and pushed him to the wall. He was surprised when she grabbed him by the nape and started kissing him.
Tanya bit his lower lip to invade his mouth with her tongue. He couldn’t react in time, but when he recovered, she forgot that she was a girl, and he pushed her hard.
He wiped his mouth harshly before turning on his heel. He left Tanya alone inside the locker room. He didn’t even bother helping her up.
Rawbin was furious. If he stayed longer, he might do something unwarranted to her. He decided to go home instead of going to the studio.
Rawbin was mad at himself for trusting Tanya. He believed that she’d want to fix things. Unfortunately, she has another way of dealing with it. And it will become a nightmare for him.
The next day, Lemon’s forehead automatically wrinkled when she stepped out of the car. Looking at the students huddled in groups at the field, it looked like something was up.
Everyone’s on their phone, busy with something, while some can’t stop whispering at each other. What’s weird is that they’re whispering and weirdly glancing at Lemon.
“What’s going on?” Kale asked no one in particular before approaching the group of girls close to them. “Hi, sis! What’s the latest news?” he chirped.
“Ah, nothing important, Kale,” the girl answered hesitantly.
“Nothing important? Then why is everyone on their phone?” he asked, peeking at the phone of the girl next to her. “What’s that? Facebook?”
“Kale, this is nothing,” another girl responded before slipping her phone into her pocket.
Kale and Lemon exchanged glances with both their foreheads creased. Something’s up, and whatever that is, it’s making her anxious.
Being Kale as he is, he sneaked behind one of the students who was busy with her phone. As she was so engrossed in watching, she didn’t notice that Kale was already watching with her.
Kale gasped, and that intrigued Lemon. “What is it anyway?” That caught the student’s attention. But before the girl could react, she snatched the phone from her, “Let me watch,” she grinned.
Lemon looked at it only to see a video that was about to end, so she restarted it. And for the first time in her life, she regrets being curious about something.
What she saw in the video was unnerving. It was unnerving that all the veins in her body wanted to pop out of rage.
“Partner! Good thing–” but Kevz stopped halfway through his speech, “we saw you…”
She faced him as she returned the phone to its owner. He’s with Kellen, Roj, Homme, and Kip. All of them looked uneasy.
“Were you looking for me?” she asked casually, although deep inside, she already wanted to go beast mode.
“Lemon,” Kellen called as she hooked her arm to hers. “What do you think about skipping school today?”
“Why?” Lemon asked, but she looked at their friends as if asking for help. “Should I miss school just because my boyfriend’s kissing someone else?” None of them reacted.
Lemon looked at them, one by one, but they were all just looking back at her. It took their friends a while to recover. And without waiting for anyone to speak, she stormed past them and headed to their building.
Lemon sat down as soon as she got inside. She didn’t even bother paying attention to the gossipmongers that kept stealing glances at her.
She just sat there, staring blankly at the board in front of the room. After a while, Kevz sat next to her quietly.
“Partner, are you ok?” he asked, and she nodded. After that, he stayed mum, and Lemon was thankful for that.
Their classes ended without him knowing where her mind was. Before they went out, she asked Kale to buy her some food and take it to the library.
She wanted to be somewhere quiet. Besides, she wasn’t sure if she could face Rawbin calmly, especially Tanya. She might go ballistic on both of them.
Lemon went straight into the library. A couple kissing next to the shelves greeted her. ‘Is this the new trend? Disgusting!’
As she was about to pass them, the guy in the scene became more familiar. And, of course, it was none other than Drew.
She shook her head and went straight to the farthest shelf. She knows he saw her, but she doesn’t care. Lemon was sure he knew by now that she was used to seeing him in such a situation. That’s why she’d been trying to avoid him.
She felt relieved when she reached the quietest spot and realized no one was there. Usually, it’s Nico and her friends.
She sat down on the floor and leaned on the cabinet. Then she put on her earphones and closed her eyes. Who cares if she fell asleep? Kale will surely be more than happy to wake her up.
Lemon didn’t know how long she’s been there, but as expected, someone started poking her shoulder. “Leslie Monica,” and another poke.
She slowly opened her eyes and saw Kale and Kellen. Both their foreheads are wrinkled while looking at her intently as they pass the food she asked them to buy.
“Why are you guys looking like that?” she asked, confused by their reactions.
“Lem… Rawbin’s looking for you…” Kellen was hesitant to inform her.
“I don’t want to talk to him right now.”
“That’s what we told him,” Kale said.
“Thank you! You guys can leave me here. I’ll just wait for the next bell,” but they didn’t budge. They looked at her as if they wanted to ask something but couldn’t. “What?”
“How long have you been together? We haven’t seen him since after the morning classes,” then they looked not far from where they were.
To Lemon’s surprise, Drew was leaning on one of the shelves, slumped on the floor. He looked like he was sleeping, as he wasn’t making any movements. He probably got tired of kissing.
“No idea! I wouldn’t even know he’s here if not for you,” she shrugged and stood up.
“Where are you going?” Kellen asked.
“I’ll stay on the rooftop.”
From the library, she turned left and passed the bridge toward the elementary building. She climbed the stairs to the rooftop and decided to eat lunch there.
She was busy eating when my phone vibrated. She got a message from Rawbin.
‘Babe, I’m sorry. It’s not what you think it is.’
She scrunched her nose in irritation and chose not to reply to his message. She was about to slip her phone back into her pocket when she noticed some unread messages. She didn’t see them earlier. Those messages were from the contact she saved as IGNORE.
‘I hate seeing you hurt. Please take care of yourself.’
‘You’re so lovely. I wish I’m the one sitting next to you.’
‘Not everything you see is true.’
Her forehead creased after reading the last message. ‘What does that even mean? Was it about the video? But what does he have to do with that?
She looked at the message thread and saw two other messages that she couldn’t recall she’d read. The first one was when she fought with Tanya. The other one was from the night of their gig.
The first person who came to her mind was Yel. Then again, it’s impossible. He just got her number that night.
It puzzled her, but the messages somehow comforted me as well. Whoever he was, she was thankful for his words of comfort. Then again, ‘Who is he?’