So On

Chapter 22 - Gangster Potato

"Wait," I raised my arm and executed a silly 'stop' signal with my hand. I sent him a playful grin when he stared at me for the interruption. "You? A bully? A bully of what, potatoes?"

He rolled his eyes before taking my accusing hand and locked both our fingers together. I felt my heart skip a beat. "Shut up and listen."

I puckered my lips in a mischievous manner before motioning him to proceed. I can't describe it clearly, but I liked his expression so much. It feels like he's relaxed with all these, like he's so comfortable with me even after showing me his weak side.

I can't help but wonder if he really trusts me or if he just needed someone to talk to.

I'll think about that later. For now, I'll just listen to his story.

"Well, when I said I was a bully, that was just to catch your attention," he admitted. "I told you before that I was bullied because I was an orphan, remember?"

Now that he mentioned it...

"That's right," I said. "You even said you wanted to apologize to those bullies. But then you just said you were the biggest bully in school. I'm confused here."

I was. I really was.

Brandon's lips curled up when I said that. He loves messing with my head. Ugh. "Until I turned twelve, I was a loser. I didn't have my own voice and the older kids pushed me around because I was so small and thin back then. I never complained whenever they hurt me. Dunno why, actually. Maybe I was too weak."

He's not weak. After all he's been through, nothing about him is weak.

"So my dad - my second dad - found out about my situation in school because of my bruises and cuts. So he taught me a few tricks he learned from being an officer. He taught me self-defense."

My brows raised at the mere mention of that overly familiar term. I don't know why I felt both guilty and excited when he revealed this to me. It just got my blood boiling for reasons that didn't involve anger.

"So there. After practicing with him a few times a day, I got better and stronger. Sometimes I didn't mean it, but I fought back a bit too hard on those bullies. I couldn't control my own strength, so every time I hit them thinking it was just an ordinary hit, it was actually quite critical. I got suspended for sending them to the hospital a few times."

Aah. I think I just found my soulmate.

"And I don't know where I developed this habit of glaring at random people, maybe it was during that time so no one could ever bully me again. When I first saw you, trust me, I wasn't glaring at you. I just thought you were really pretty."

I hid a blush. No, no. Don't be so affected by something he said so naturally. "So let me get this straight," I said, clearing my throat as if I didn't just hear him say I was pretty. "You look at bullies, potential bullies and pretty girls the same way?"

"Pretty much," he simply replied. I almost fell off the bed.

"Wow Brandon. I..." I overexaggerated my speech a bit. My sarcasm switch was turning on. "I'm... I'm so honored you put me in the pretty girls category. Maybe you sensed my awesome abilities so you got confused between pretty girls and potential bullies? It produced the same result anyway right?"

He scoffed at my sarcastic remark, but then he grinned after that. "Nah. You actually belong to all three categories. A bully, because you bully me, a potential bully because sometimes I'm not sure if you're gonna kick me or not, and a pretty girl, because you're too damn beautiful. You're the whole package."

I smirked, pleased with his reply. And yeah, I was hiding another blush because of that compliment but I was playing it cool. "I'm divergent."

We laughed after I replied using a book reference. I just loved talking with this guy. I didn't have to hide anything and I felt like I can tell him everything without having to worry about him judging me. Maybe he feels the same -