Chapter 4: Where Adriel doesn’t Belong

"Hendrix."

Zeth glared at his cheery friend. "How many times do I have to tell you not to call me that?"

Kian smiled sheepishly and scratched the back of his head. "Sorry, Zeth."

Cedric placed down the book that he was reading and rolled his eyes. "Ignore him, Zeth." He went behind his friend and patted him on the back. "By the way, what are you doing here?"

Zeth raised one eyebrow. "Why? Can't I go here anymore?"

Cedric chuckled. "No. But you haven't been here for a while, that's why I'm asking. "

"Yeah," Kian nodded his head in agreement. "You're always at the villa these days—which is strange since you hate going there. Perhaps, are you there for something...or maybe someone?" he wiggled his eyebrows up and down. 

Zeth brushed him off. "It's for my grandfather's birthday."

"Oh, right!" Cedric exclaimed, snapping his finger. "When was that again?"

"In four days."

"So, that's why you've been missing in action these past few days."

Kian scoffed. "Zeth is definitely going there to meet a certain pretty city girl."

Zeth glared at Kian, making Kian cower in fear. 

"I'm just telling the truth," Kian muttered under his breath. 

Zeth sighed and massaged his temples. Kian was always the friend who gave him frequent headaches with his blunt stories and inability to read the room. 

"I told you—I'm going there for my grandpa's 80th birthday celebration. We have quite a lot of guests coming, so we're preparing early."

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever," Kian said. "So, what's the pretty city girl's name?"

"You're not going to live this down, are you?" Cedric asked his twin. 

"Nope," Kian shook his head. 

"Just quit it, Kian. Zeth obviously doesn't want to talk about it."

"Come on, Ced," Kian whined. "That's the first time we've seen Zeth act that way! Aren't you a tiny bit curious as to what their relationship is?"

"I'm right here, you know?" Zeth said. 

"I know. Now, spill the beans," Kian shamelessly said. 

Zeth sighed and just decided to answer the question to shut his friend up. "I was the one who picked her up at the airport since the driver wasn't available that day. That's it. I don't regard her as anything in my life. She's just a spoiled rich girl who was sent here by her parents to learn about discipline and hard work. Although I doubt that she'll be able to do that with her attitude."

Kian frowned. "What do you mean? She seems nice enough."

"Nice?" Zeth scoffed. 

"Yeah," Cedric agreed. "We've met her a couple of times around the farm, and she's been helping with the rice planting for the past three days."

"She does seem a little bit stuck-up, but she's not as bad as you're making her out to be," Kian added. 

"She's been helping the farmers?" 

"Yeah. I heard that they were also going to the rice mill this afternoon."

Zeth frowned as he heard the new revelation. Actually, he was the one who assigned Adriel all of her tasks for the entirety of the six weeks that she would be staying here. He never planned for her to go to the rice mill since it was a dangerous place. 

Without any warning, Zeth stood up from his seat, his chair scraping on the floor and making a loud sound. 

The twins' eyes followed Zeth's movement as he left the room. 

"Where are you going?" Kian called out. 

The only sound he heard was the sound of the door banging close. 

***

"Do you really want to go to the rice mill, Adriel?" Sandra, one of the farmers, asked her as they got inside the truck. 

Adrien enthusiastically nodded her head. "Of course! I've been planting and harvesting rice for the last couple of days. I want to see the finished product."

Sandra chuckled and ruffled Adriel's hair. The older woman is very fond of the younger girl since she reminded her of her daughter, who's currently in the city. Some people found Adriel to be a little bit too overbearing and picky, but it's just because the girl isn't used to the farm life. 

"Fine. Let's go. Come inside," Sandra said, opening the truck for her. 

However, Adriel shook her head and refused. "I'll ride at the back with Heri and the others." 

"Are you sure?" Sandra asked. 

She nodded her head. 

"Alright then."

Adriel went to the back of the truck, where she was greeted by her newfound friends. She didn't expect to meet people that would resonate with her during this trip, but she met Heri's group of friends, and they instantly clicked. Surprisingly, her stay on the farm has also been much more enjoyable than she imagined. In some ways, it was even better than the life she had in the city. 

After a long and hot trip, they finally arrived at the rice mill. 

"Just watch and observe the process, alright, Adriel? Don't go near any equipment or sacks of rice. We'll just help the farmers," Heri said to her new friend. 

Adriel playfully rolled her eyes. "Yes, mom."

Heri chuckled. "I'm serious, Adriel. It's quite dangerous in here."

Adriel nodded her head. "Yes. Yes. I'll just observe with my eyes and nothing else. But if you need any help, don't hesitate to call me."

"Okay. See you later."

"See you!"

Adriel stayed true to her words and merely observed the milling process—that is, until Daniella walked to where she was and decided to provoke her. 

"Ugh. What's the city girl doing here?" Daniella said in a condescending voice. 

Daniella is one of the girls that has been bothering Adriel non-stop since her stay in the farm. While she found a great friendship with Heri, she also found great rivalry with Daniella. She honestly doesn't know what made Daniella hate her so much, and she already tried giving her the benefit of the doubt, but the girl just keeps on finding ways to antagonize her any chance she gets.

"Let's not bother each other today, Daniella."

Daniella scoffed. "What are you even doing here when you're not going to help?"

Adriel smiled sarcastically. "And what exactly have you been doing? I don't see you working your ass off the moment you came here."

Daniella's expression turned dark for a second, but she quickly covered it up with a smug smile. "It doesn't matter. My daddy owns this rice mill, so I'm just supervising the operation. It is my job to ensure that each and every person in this mill is doing something."

Adriel suppressed the urge to roll her eyes. She had almost forgotten that Daniella was also well-off and that her dad was the supervisor of the rice mill. They didn't own it, though. All of the land and facilities here are owned by the Grays. 

Wanting for Daniella to just get out of her way, Adriel decided to become the bigger person. 

"So, what do you want me to do?"

Daniella smirked in delight as she heard Adriel's question. 

"It's easy. Just help some of the farmers move the sacks of rice towards that pile," she pointed over to a huge pile of rice sacks. It was practically a pyramid—but made of rice sacks. "Easy, right?" she said in a provoking tone. 

Adriel didn't like being challenged one bit, and she also wanted to prove that she could do some simple work, so she quickly got one stray rice sack and started walking toward the pile. She looked at the huge pile in front of her and gulped. It only towered over her by a few inches, but she could tell that it would bring great mishaps if the pile just toppled over. 

She glanced back and saw that Daniella and her friends were looking at her in expectation.

"Fuck," she muttered under her breath. "I can't back down now. I mean, it's just one rice sack! How hard could it be?"

After contemplating for a while, Adriel decided to just do it. 

She went on her tiptoes while trying to carry the heavy sack of rice. She couldn't do it on her first try, so she heaved a big breath and decided to do this again. 

'Come on, Adriel,' she said in her head. 'You're able to carry heavy luggage, so you can definitely carry this!'

She tried once more and smiled when she was finally able to carry it. She was just about to place it on top of the pile when she felt that something was wrong. She had not even touched the pile, but it was already leaning over—almost about to topple. She glanced back to where Daniella was but saw that she wasn't in her original spot anymore. Instead, she heard some familiar giggles from behind the pile. 

Before she could even react, the pile of rice had already toppled over, and there was nothing she could do except wait for the impact. 

Her life flashed right before her eyes, making it seem like this was the end. With the height of the pile, she just knew that she wouldn't leave this place unscathed. 

Time passed by slowly, and Adriel kept on wondering when the impact would hit her. 

Much to her surprise, it never did. The loud sound of sacks of rice falling to the ground reverberated all throughout the entire rice mill, but she didn't feel any pain. Instead, she felt strong and warm arms hugging her from behind. 

She finally opened her eyes to see the chaos in front of her. She let out a sigh of relief when she saw that no one had been hurt. 

Afterward, she turned to her savior and was shocked to see the hot and annoying farmer looking at her with furrowed eyebrows. 

She gently pried her body away from Zeth and stood up on her own. She chuckled awkwardly and tucked her hair behind his ears. 

"Thank you for that. I—"

Zeth sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, intercepting Adriel's words of gratitude. 

"What the fuck are you doing here?" he said in an angered tone. 

Adriel was confused by his hostility. She tilted her head to the side in confusion. "What...do you mean? I came here to help."

"Help? Help? You call this helping?" he gestured toward the ruined pile on the ground. 

Adriel's eyebrows furrowed. "I really came here to help, Zeth. I just wanted to see how the rice that we've planted for the past week is made into a final product."

He scoffed. "Rice that you've planted? For all I know, you were probably just being a hindrance to the farmers."

Adriel's frown deepened. Zeth continued on with his rant, stabbing Adriel's heart with every word. 

"Ever since you came here, you've been nothing but a hassle! Even right now, you're giving the workers more work to do just because of your carelessness."

"I was only trying to help," Adriel said in a quiet voice. 

Zeth chuckled. "Well, you're not helping. You're a nuisance, and I was right. I was right to label you as a spoiled brat who is always used to getting everything that she wants. But, news flash, princess, it's different in here. You actually have to work hard for the things that you want," he sighed before continuing. 

"If you're only going to be like this, then you should just go back to the city."

Zeth looked into Adriel's teary eyes. 

"You don't belong here."