Written in the Stars

CHAPTER 3.5 - Ceasefire

•schwenken•
pivot
provide (a mechanism) with a pivot; fix (a mechanism) on a pivot.

The man was now wincing in pain on the ground, thanks to all the punches his face received. He was the drunk man I avoided earlier. When he released me, my glasses fell on the floor and I had to pick it up to see who saved me.

It was Marcus.

His eyes were burning with anger as he threw another set of punches to the man. I was still shaking because of what just happened. I was sobbing loudly and tears were streaming uncontrollably. This is worse than being bullied.

"Marcus, tama na," it came out softly between sobs. Marcus looked at me with worry in his face. For sure the man can't stand up now due to pain and his alcoholic intoxication. Marcus approached me and hugged me tightly. I cried in his chest and he rubbed my back soothingly.

"Tahan na," he said smoothly repeatedly. He then cupped my cheeks and wiped the tears. "Nasaktan ka ba?" he asked.

I shook my head in response. I studied his face, it's still marvelous. He really looks worried and I like him this way, in any way actually. I want to kiss him right now but I can't, well maybe I can but I won't. We were just staring at each other when I heard someone else.

"Kisses! Ano nangyari?!" Ate By ran towards me and hugged me tightly. She also cupped my face and also started crying. Crystal also came to my side and comforted me. I just shook my head and they hugged me, tears still falling from my eyes. There was still one person I can't recognize because of the tight embrace my friends are giving me. When we broke apart, I recognized it was Barber, holding his phone and wearing a frown.

He kicked the man in the face, and he instantly became unconscious. "Bro, stop. He's had enough," Marcus said rather calmly. I had finally stopped crying when he looked at my eyes. I did the same thing but he was really hard ro read. All I can see is dullness. His eyes looked down to my hand, still holding Marcus's.

"Si Edward naghanap samin tapos sinabihang hanapin ka," Abigail said. That was completely unexpected. I don't really get it. I averted my gaze to Crystal and she nodded.

"Uh, oo nga. Siya rin nagsabi sakin na sundan ka," Marcus added.

I am so confused right now. Why in hell did he do such thing? Well, I'm not complaining, he initially saved my life, but why? "Why?" I asked looking at him intently.

It was after a long pause that he answered, "Instincts," he smirked. God, why does he smirk all the time? I just stood there staring at him. I don't know how to react anymore. He looked at our hands again, still intertwined and I could've swore I saw something in his eyes. I just couldn't name it. I let go of Marcus's hand and wiped my face, I can assume that I look horrible right now.

"Uhh, I already called the police," Barber broke the silence.

"Awkward naman," Ate By commented. I chuckled and the others, except Barber, did too.

We waited for the police to come and arrest the man. When they came, I gave my statement and they did their thing.

We walked our way back to Marcus's place together. We were having a conversation about how crazy the day turned out because of the numerous turn of events. Barber was walking behind of us and I felt this urge to thank him, too. It was only right.

"Excuse me," I excused myself from the others but they didn't notice as they were talking about embarrassing moments. It was a good thing, that they didn't notice me leaving. I didn't want them to see. I made my way (awkwardly) to Barber and walked beside him. He had his head looking at the ground so I assumed he didn't see me.

I coughed to get his attention. I was pretty sure I coughed loud enough for him to hear so I figured he was avoiding me. "Uh... Thank you pala sa kanina," I said in the sincerest way I can manage to give him.

Without looking up, he replied, "Ye."

I'm not dumb for me to not realize he didn't want me beside him. So I walked faster to catch up with the trio. At least I showed gratitude, right? But why save me if he despise me? He's on a different level of mysteriousness. Unconscious, I looked back and found him staring at me. He was surprised and averted his gaze back to the street floors. Why is he like that? I don't know and maybe I don't want to know.

We reached back to Marcus's house and got our things. It was a long tiring day and we all needed rest.

"Di kayo pwede umuwi magisa," Marcus said to us girls. "My car! Why didn't I think of it? I could've save you sooner!" he blurted.

"Dude, your car is broken, remember?" Barber commented.

"Oh yeah. So tama palang tinakbo ko lang. 'Cause if I tried to use my car, I would've been too late to save you," he chuckled and rubbed his nape.

"Thank you pala uli sa inyong lahat," I said again. They really saved my ass back there. They all gave their responses except Barber.

"I'll give you your ride back to your places," Barber said rather flatly, "only because Marcus can't."

Marcus gave a wide smile and showed us his approval. We didn't really have much of a choice since
it's for our safety.

We said our goodbyes to Marcus and got into Barber's car. Since the two hurriedly took the back seat, I had no choice but to occupy the shotgun. Barber took long before staring, he was looking at me. I was giving him my what-is-it look and he got the message.

"Seatbelt," it was kind of a command.

I followed what he said and looked at the rear mirror to look at the others. Abigail was fast asleep while Crystal was busy with her phone.

He drove the car smoothly. Crystal got off early because her house was not that for from Marcus's. It got awkward, considering the fact that we are sitting beside each other while the jolly one was asleep. I decided to just look outside the window to distract myself. There was not much too see, all the usual tall buildings and city stuff at night. I caught the view at the side mirror that he was checking on me.

"Eyes on the road, Barber," It sounded more rudely than expected. I didn't mean to. With that, his face turned to a frown and looked forward. I, too, focused on the road and a little ashamed of my tone earlier.

I was still wondering on why he saved me. I mean, he always treated me as garbage. Why? The thought got the better of me so I asked, "Why did you do that earlier?"

"Did what?" he replied with a hard tone.

"Save me," I retorted. He moved his gaze to me and stopped the car. Abigail's sleeping body was surprised, too, by the sudden move and was awakened.

Without removing his glare, he commanded, "Get out."

I didn't think twice and exited the vehicle. Ate By followed suit. He quickly left without saying a goodbye or whatever. I realized that he did drop us off by our dormitories.

"Kisses, ano nangyari dun?" Ate By asked rubbing her eyes due to sleepiness.

"Di ko rin alam eh"