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CHAPTER 8 : Friendly Competition

“Are you still not contacting him?” Alicia asked out of the blue.

“Uhm, why don’t we just eat our dinner peacefully?”

“Ok, miss grumpy, I’m just asking.”

“Uggghh. Sorry, I am just so torn and confused. Yes, I still didn’t contact him, but he’s very adamant. He’s been constantly checking up on me if I got home safe or something.”

“I don’t know why you’re so scared of letting him in. I mean you let me in. You let Ciro in. What makes him different?”

Luna let Alicia’s question lingered in the air between them and dawdled with her lasagna because she didn’t want to talk about Clell yet and she’s been craving for pizza and lasagna for days now. She just wanted to enjoy her dinner in peace. However, Luna’s explicit attempt of making Alicia drop the topic was futile, as Alicia was very obstinate about knowing the answer.

“I really don’t get it Luna. You said you wanted to find a partner who can make you feel home like what your Uncle had, but then someone showed up who could potentially give you what you wanted, here you are trying to shut that person out. Walk me through your mind.” Frustration and confusion were showing all over Alicia’s face.

“Don’t give me that look.” Alicia was not done yet. She continued on pestering Luna, even after Luna finished her dinner.

“You won’t really stop until you know the answer. You are very as stubborn as a mule and unrelenting. The lawyer in you.” Luna finally decided to respond while releasing a sigh after she finished talking.

“Fine. I’ll tell you. What do you want to know again?”

“Well, let’s start by telling me why are you shutting him off. Did something bad happen?”

“No, nothing bad happened. Well, we kissed though.”

“Aa…annnd? You didn’t like it?”

“Well, actually I did really like it.” and Luna couldn’t suppress her smile as the memories of their date came back to her.

“It seems that you really did, look at you smiling.” Alicia teased which made Luna abruptly stop smiling. She also stood up and found an alibi, “Uhhmm. I need to get some water.”

“I’m sure you do. That kiss must’ve made you thirsty.”

Luna then made a beeline towards their kitchen to excuse herself from the awkward situation, not even looking back to her best friend. All that grilling and teasing actually made her a bit thirsty. She was about to put her glass at the sink when she heard her shouted from their living room.

“Are you done quenching your thirst? You can comeback here.”

“I am actually going inside my room. I have work to do.” She yelled back.

“No, you are not going anywhere. Come back here.”

They were both basically yelling at each other now until they heard someone knocking at their door.

And that gave Alicia another opportunity to tease Luna, “Well, it must be Mr. Clell at the door, who knows. Why don’t you get it?”

After hearing Alicia, Luna ran fast, half excited and anxious, towards their door to open it. Only to be disappointed because it was just their neighbor with an angry sleep deprived face.

“There are other people living here that are trying to sleep. Tone it down you two. No one wants to know about your love life.” The guy berated.

Okay. Rude. It’s my first love life and it’s not going as planned. Luna thought to herself, but she of course apologized to the grumpy old man in front of her.

“Sorry, sir. We’ll be quiet now. Have a good rest.”

Being reproached, Luna and Alicia decided to call it a night and rest. However, that didn’t happen without Alicia making Luna promise to tell her everything the next day—which is the weekend.

The next day, Luna woke up earlier than she’s used to. So, she decided to take a jog at the park without expecting who she’ll meet along the way.

Only 10 minutes when she started jogging, she heard a familiar voice behind her. “I see you also love to jog. I thought you like to stay indoors during the weekend.”

While slowly turning to face the guy who spoke to her, she said “What? Who? Huh?” and the guy chuckled at her response.

“I see you’ve been ignoring my messages.”

“I was just busy. Sorry.”

“Hmmm. Okay, if you say so, mi lady. Well, glad to know that I still have that effect on you, you’re blushing again.”

“Stop laughing at me.”

“I am not, just happy to see you again. I missed you. HEY! Don’t run away from me.” He said panting, trying to chase her.

“How about this, if I get to beat you to that big tree over there then you’ll stop ignoring my messages. Sounds good?” But before he could even prepare himself, Luna started running already while laughing.

“That’s cheating.” He said, but was actually laughing too.

“Why don’t you stop smiling and shaking your head, and actually try to win.” With a happy grin, Luna yelled back.

“Go on, I’m coming at you.” He responded and started running after her, but also trying not to use his full speed.

“You’re not really a fast runner yourself. Bye….what? Why are you here all of a sudden? How did that happen?”

“Can’t lose now, this is the only way for you not to ignore my messages. Let’s see, if I can reach there before you can even count to twenty, then you’d go out with me instead. Let’s do something fun.” He winked, running past her.

Shocked, she couldn’t react right away and when she regained herself, Clell was already at the tree.

“Heeeyyyyy! I haven’t agreed yeeeeeet!” She yelled.

“Can’t do anything about that now. A deal is a deal.” He shouted back, gesturing her to check her phone.

So, she reached out for her phone in her pocket and read his message:

“I missed you. Glad to see your smile again. Let’s go mountain climbing next time, I’ll bring you into my world and let you experience what I enjoy doing. I’ll see you soon.”

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