The Magician and The Goose (Completed)

Chapter 19- BROCCOLI, BEANS & CALLS

Thank you for all the love and support you have shown to this book so far. Keep reading and keep voting :) Cliffhanger at the end of the chapter. *grinning*

Mr. Jasial Wiziann, Aric's father, was a sweet, chubby man in his 50s who loved his bookstore like he loved Oliandrin and Aric. He was a simple man who loved literature, music, and coffee. They were middle-class people until Aric became a rich YouTuber and Oliandrin became the owner of a football academy. Mrs. Peppila Wiziann, Aric's mother, was a spiritual and health-conscious person. She used to spend half of her time doing meditation and exercises. The other half of her day was spent in gardening. She loved fresh air and greenery.   

Currently, both of them weren't at home. Mr. Wiziann was at his bookstore and Mrs. Wiziann was at the environmental club of their area.

Aric was staring at broccoli and beans on his plate for the past fifteen minutes. His appetite was long gone and there were two reasons behind it. One, he hated broccoli and beans, and two, he was angry or maybe hurt, he didn't know what he was feeling. He didn't like the way she talked to him. He wasn't an egoistic person and being a Youtuber he was habitual of tackling offensive and hate comments, but today he wasn't able to digest the fact that Shayla talked to him as if he meant nothing to her.

Stop fooling yourself. You aren't angry because she talked to you rudely. You are angry because she is, maybe, trying to push you away, he spoke to himself.

"Your mobile, it's ringing, again," Gabrien said to Aric which snapped him out of his thoughts. He didn't even glance at the screen and switched his mobile off.

"Who is calling you like an insane man for the past twenty minutes? Should have picked it up, must be urgent."

"I'm not in the mood Gabrien. I just want to have my breakfast peacefully."

"Then eat. You haven't even touched your food yet."

Aric huffed as he played with broccoli with his fork. He kept glancing at the staircase then and now, but neither Shayla nor Respina came downstairs.

Shayla was crying hard as Respina consoled her. She was repetitively mumbling sorry to Respina amidst her sobs.

"Shayla you need not apologize. We both are at fault. Let's call it even, shall we? We are friends Shayla, and I don't like it when my friends say formal words like sorry, thank you and please, to me."

"It was so wrong of me to lash out at you like that, Res. You were just trying to loosen me the last night. But you know I don't want to fall for him...and...and last night we danced...Res we danced...and now that moment, that memory,  is latched onto my brain forever. You said to go with the flow but I can feel that things are about to get complicated," Shayla spoke in a scratchy voice as she wiped off her tears, "I can feel it, and trust me, Res, my guts are always right."

"We'll talk about it later. Wash your face and let's have some breakfast," Respina spoke as she pulled up Shayla from the floor.

"I am not hungry, not anymore."

"I am not asking you, I'm telling you, that you are coming with me downstairs."

"How will I face him, after how I behaved with him," Shayla spoke as her red eyes watered again.

"Don't push him away Coco, it will only hurt you in the process," Respina spoke in a whisper with a sympathetic look on her face.

"I don't have a choice. You won't be able to understand Res. Try to look at this situation from my perspective. Won't you push a guy away who can never be yours?" Shayla spoke and Respina didn't know what to answer her.

After much insistence, Shayla finally went downstairs with Respina for breakfast. She saw Gabrien sitting beside Aric.

Aric quickly looked up as he heard footsteps and his eyes collided with hers and it did some magic like they were doing since the concert.

Shayla averted her gaze as she sat in front of him with Respina by her side.

Respina could sense the tension and awkwardness in the air so she tried to lighten the mood, "Oh man! Boiled veggies in breakfast, again! Mrs. Wiziann is a true fitness freak...and look at her younger son, always eating pizza, pasta, and burger. Are you really her son? I think you are adopted and your parents don't have the heart to reveal this dark secret to you," Respina spoke as she sipped her mango shake.

Aric smiled at Respina while Gabrien chuckled lightly. But Shayla didn't hear a single word of what Respina said as she was lost in her thoughts.

I should apologize to him. He was right. No matter what, I am his friend now and I can't deny it. But I have to push him away. If I won't apologize, maybe then he will decide not to be friends with me anymore and maybe then he will kick me out of his group. It would be easy for me then, to stay away from him.

Shayla debated with herself for a while before she finally thought, Oh do hell with staying away plan. I will apologize.

Shayla cleared her throat and spoke softly, almost in a whisper, "Aric."

Upon hearing his name on her lips, he quickly jerked his head up. His heart was already melting and all she had to say was his name.

"Umm...yes," Aric spoke faintly as he stared at her.

"Actually I wanted to-" Shayla was about to apologize when her phone rang. She looked at her screen which displayed Bianca's name. She decided to decline the call and spoke up again, "-wanted to say that whatever happened-" Her phone rang again and this time it was Nattie.

"What is it with everybody's phones ringing repetitively, this morning," Gabrien said as he munched on his broccoli.

"You should pick it up. Might be urgent," Aric said.

It was 10:30 am. Nattie and Bianca should be at college attending their lecture, then why were they calling her? It had to be urgent otherwise they wouldn't call her during their lecture time. Shayla thought the same thing as she picked up Nattie's call.

She didn't even get the chance to say hello as Nattie boomed from the other side, "Girl, you were supposed to stay away from the limelight!!! What were you thinking last night? Where were you?!!! And you told us nothing!!! We are your best friends, for God's sake!!!!!"

Shayla could sense the panic in Nattie's reverberating voice. She understood that she was in an empty washroom and most probably Bianca was with her.

"What are you talking about? I...What??" Shayla asked perplexedly as Respina, Aric, and Gabrien now stopped eating and fixed their eyes on her.

"Shayla!! You don't know?? Just open any of your social media accounts and you'll get the answer to your question. Man, you should have listened to us. Aric is committed, right? This isn't good. Oh god, this is going to be ugly," Bianca said dreadfully.

Shayla's heartbeat accelerated. She could feel her palms shivering. She didn't know what had happened but if her best friends were worried then it was definitely something grave.

She opened her explore page on Instagram and her eyes widened in shock. Her face turned pale as she abruptly stood up and her chair fell down with a loud thud in the process.

"Shayla everything alright?" Aric asked worriedly as Shayla kept staring at her mobile screen without blinking.

"You okay?" Gabrien asked with confusion plastered all over his face.

"Shayla what in the hell is wrong??!!" Respina shouted desperately as Shayla kept her eyes on her mobile with a pale face. Respina snatched her mobile and looked at the screen which widened her eyes too, in shock.

"WHAT THE F-" Respina whispered.

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I'm sorry for being a cliffhanger *sheepish grin*

Any guesses what has happened. Take some wild guesses.

Stay hooked. Things are going to get interesting.

Until next chapter xoxo