Sticky Notes

・❥ 020・

With few people inside the restaurant who are immersed in their own bubbles, drinking in cups, and focusing on their laptop screen, you could hear the faint lyrics of Adore You by Harry Styles in the background.

And there they are, sitting across from each other, eyes avoiding contact, fingers jittering and palms sweating.

Zaiden gulped and decided to speak first, "What if that person is actually someone you know?" he asked, testing the waters.

Violet played with her straw, "Well, I already have my suspicions," she mumbled while staring at her drink.

For a second, he choked on his food. Violet looked up towards him and he instantly gulped water before clearing his throat, "Y-you do?"

"Hm," Violet averted her eyes after seeing that he recovered and shrugged. She played with the slice of her cake with a fork, "But I can't say for sure."

"I'm still figuring it out," she ate a chunk of the cake, "Don't tell anyone."

"Okay," Zaiden can't help but avert his eyes, "But won't you get mad at them? If they knew you, why didn't they just go to you directly?"

"Uh well..." Violet sat straight to think, "I was surprised at first. But I don't know, it didn't make me uncomfortable and I didn't feel like it's stalkerish or threatening."

She looked at Zaiden, "I want to meet them."

"They make me smile," she added softly.

He felt his heart squeezed in a good way. He wanted to tell her right then and there. He wanted to introduce himself but... he suddenly ran out of words. For a person who weaves poetry easily, his hands are cramped. His mind went blank.

If there's something left of him during that moment of her sitting lovely in front of him, wide eyes brightly sparkling without her knowing that the person she was looking for is just an arm away, perhaps what's left is... the yelling emotions he cannot find a name for.

In the end, all he could utter was, "Do you wanna go out this weekend?"

Where the hell did that come from? Zaiden cursed under his breath for the words he can no longer take back.

"Huh?" Violet's eyes widened, "Uh, what for?"

"I don't know..." he answered honestly, "Just... Let's work on our paper together?" the best alibi he could utter.

Yeah, perhaps the reason why he hid behind "bee"'s persona was because he screws up everything easily in panic.

Violet didn't know if it was relief she felt with what he said but at least her heart stopped skipping and went back to its normal rhythm. She thought it was something else.

Good thing, it's not... good thing.

Because if it was something different, her heart may have stopped beating. And she is not sure whether that is good or bad.

"Uh, you mean with our groupmates?" she awkwardly asked, searching for affirmation.

"No," Zaiden stared intently at her.

"Just... us. Just the two of us," he said and her heart went into a frenzy again, "I think there is something we need to talk about."

She didn't even comprehend what he said about something they should talk about.

All she knew was her thumping heart, her itchy fingers and something fluttering in her stomach.

Oh, this is the thing she didn't want. Something she is not sure of. Something strange... but not something she hates. It's just that she's not used to feeling this, definitely not used to having such feelings for him of all people.

Was he always this handsome?

She wondered as sun rays creeped to his face from the glass window beside their seat. Her mind was clouded with unfamiliar emotions she suddenly was finally so aware of.

They weren't new. They were like a dormant volcano, with no warnings of suddenly exploding then and there.

It was as if opening up to light as she stepped outside of a tunnel she didn't even think she was in.

The next thing she knew, she already answered him.

"Okay."