TORN

Chapter 11

Malichai's room was bigger than Thompson's, with a drafting table in one corner littered with art supplies and sketches and in the other corner, there's a seating area. Malichai was laying on the bed staring at the ceiling with the TV on a low volume. I'm tired. This better not take long. Zena sighed sitting on the edge of the bed causing him to prop himself up on his elbows to look at Zena. "Chai, what's going on?" She asked calmly staring at the floor with her arms resting on her knees and her hands clasped together. He just stared at his crush emotionless. "Chai?" Still staring at the floor, Zena called his name with a demanding tone causing him to sit all the way up on his bed.

"Nothing," he said plainly causing her to look at him raising an eyebrow. "I don't want to talk about it."

"Well I'm not leaving until you talk and I haven't slept yet so start talking." Why is he acting childish?

He sat on the edge of the bed and stared at Zena for a moment before staring at the floor and opening his mouth. "I'm sorry that you had to get a call on your date last night. I didn't want that to happen," he said taking the same position she was in. How'd he know about the phone call? "I left after I heard he was taking you out. I just couldn't bear the fact that you could have fun with anyone else but me. So I went somewhere to blow off some steam." Zena looked at him in confusion.

"Thompson and Stephan said they looked all over the city but you were nowhere to be found."

"There's this one spot that nobody knows about. Whenever I'm there, I feel free, like really free, like I can express myself however I want to," he said with a ghost of a smile on his lips as he stared at the ground. Zena walked over to Malichai's drafting table causing him to watch her very cautiously.

She started looking at his drawings and studying all the intricate details. "You're really good. When did you start drawing?"

"I've been drawing all my life, sort of like an escape from the world. It's nothing special, just like a hobby." He looked over his artwork with pride and joy, like they were his most prized possession. Zena's eyes landed on one drawing in particular. It was of a girl, a beautiful girl. This drawing is so detailed, it's like she's lifelike staring back at me. Malichai watched his crush as she stared at the drawing, picking it up and tracing the details very lightly with her finger in order not to mess up the masterpiece.

She noticed the signature at the bottom of the drawing -xx. This signature looks familiar. Wait? "Um Chai, did you leave me a note and black rose last night, while I was in the shower?" she asked still looking at the picture waiting for an answer.

"Guilty."

"You could've just given me the note." Zena was getting annoyed. I don't like it when people beat around the bush. It's irritating.

"Doesn't matter now. You still went out with him last night so why do you care?" Ok, this dude is seriously pissing me off.

"You want to know why I care? Do you really want to know? I care because I care about you! I went on that date last night because Jacob asked me to, just like you asked me to! So don't assume stuff just because you're butthurt that I'm in love with someone else!" Zena said angrily with her voice getting louder with each sentence and Malichai began to look a bit frightened, though she had no clue why. She still held his drawing and begin walking towards him as he backed up. "Awww Mr. Bad Boy isn't so bad after all? Scared of a girl yelling at you?"

Outside the room, Jacob rushed through the elevator to here yelling and then a thud. "What is going on in there!" Thompson shrugged nervously and Jacob banged on Malichai's bedroom door. "Z, control it! Don't do anything stupid! "