4

Kirsten’s father was still in the hospital. Anita wonders if Kirsten would come to school today. Her last class was about to end in five minutes and there was so much in her head at this point. 

Her brain's main topic was her long-time boyfriend. 

What’s really wrong? 

After Anita’s class, she was stunned when one of her block mates suddenly called her. She has no friends here and none of them didn’t dare to talk to her. “What do you want?” she uninterestedly asked. 

“I heard some gossip that your boyfriend was with another girl last night. I was just worried that maybe the news didn’t reach you,” she smiled and waved her goodbye. She remained stunned. She was still processing what she had heard. 

Is that true? She immediately called her boyfriend and told him to meet Anita right now. She can’t stop herself from overthinking it. What if it’s true? Since she suddenly remember that Enrique was different last night. He wasn’t replying to it faster than normal. 

W-what if he has been cheating? What would he do? 

She’ll kill him.

After seeing each other they started to talk.

Anita frowns and squeezes the shoulder of her boyfriend. "You should've texted me,” she mumbled. She's in a sulky mood starting to learn that news. Who wouldn’t have this mood if she finds out that her boyfriend was with someone else last night? 

She gets mad, of course. She needed an explanation, so when she confronted him. Enrique defends himself, saying that was just fake news.

He wasn't with someone else, but he admitted that he hung out last night. "I left my phone last night,” he said, pinching her nose.

"You're not lying, aren't you?"  Anita asked. She's hesitating to believe her boyfriend. She didn't know who’s saying the truth. Either her boyfriend or the gossipers around her.

"I'm not lying, baby... I will never lie to you, you know that," Enrique said and kissed her on her lips. She believes his words, always.

"Yeah, I'll bitch out to everyone who is saying that you were with someone else last night. Their gossip would kill them." Anita gritted her teeth. Enrique was right, he couldn't do that to her, neither he lied nor he cheated. It means that she's trusting and believing his words.

"No need to bitch out, just don't give a damn about them, they aren't worth it,” his boyfriend tells her. She nods at him. Later on, Enrique needed to go to his own class, so they parted ways.

Anita stayed on the bench near the gymnasium while waiting on her next class. She used to sit there in her leisure time. That place relaxes her. She felt comfortable and convenient whenever she was sitting there. A few students are walking and passing by, but just a few. She closed her eyes and breathed in and out. She's trying to remove some stress that she had collected these past few days.

She's still thinking about the rumor that Enrique dated someone else last night. Her boyfriend explained that it wasn't true, she believed in him but... there's a small part inside of her ㅡ scrupled to believe her boyfriend's explanation.

Why would people spread fake information about her boyfriend? Are they trying to ruin their relationship? But what for? She's somehow pissed and wanted to pull the hair of the gossipers. She won't stop until they aren't bald.

She doesn't understand. She's weighing things out. She's also confused. But she's telling herself to believe and just trust his boyfriend. She loves him so much. They love each other. Seven years in a relationship is one of the proofs of their love.

And an affirmation that their relationship had worked out and has been working out. She smiles. She felt that someone sat beside her. "Hey, Miss." She opened her eyes and turned to that someone.

She raised her brow. "Do I know you?" She asked.

"Not really..." The guy extended his hand. "I am Luke Morgan, how about you?" He smiles at her, sweetly. It's not bad if she will tell her name.

"I am Anita Collins. It's nice meeting you." She takes his hand and then shakes it. She also smiles at him. Maybe, Luke is a freshman, he looks younger than her.

"It's nice meeting you too, Miss Anita Collins,” he says.

"Don't call me Miss, I've never dreamt to be a teacher." She laughed and pulled her hand away.

Luke laughs too. "Okay, Anita. I'm sorry... what are you doing here, anyway?" he asks. Anita shrugs.

"Sitting. I'm just sitting here, don't you see?"

"Ha-ha, that's not what I mean. I know that you're sitting, we're sitting. I'm just wondering why you're here," he said. Anita grins and looked at the big tree in front of them. This tree is the reason why she likes this place. It brings cool and relaxing air.

"I'm waiting for my class, that's all,” she says. "How 'bout you? Don't you have class?" she asked. Luke shook his head.

"I already finished my class this afternoon."

"Are you a freshman?" Luke shooked his head again.

"No, I am not, we're batchmates. I often see you since we were still in high school days. I just don't know your name but I recognized you by your appearance." Anita was puzzled for a while. If their batchmates since high school then why she didn't see him? That's kinda odd. Maybe because their school campus is huge and it has a large number of students. Eighty percent of them are sure that she doesn’t know.

"Really? I thought you were a freshman. You are very unfamiliar to me." She says, standing up.

"I am not. Maybe you are blind." That was a joke so they laugh even though it was not funny. But why she suddenly felt that there was another meaning? 

Luke stood up too.

"I think, I have to go," Anita says with a smile.

Luke nods at her. "Yeah, me too, see you around." He even winks and walks away. Anita sighs with a smile. It was nice meeting him. He is such a nice person… in her opinion.

She started to walk in the corridor. She remembered that she has homework so she needs to go to the library to borrow some books about their discussion topic. She likes to read and used to learn using books, not using the internet, but she sometimes uses it if she needs more information that she couldn't find in the book.

When she entered the library, he immediately looks at the book that she'll borrow. Her next class is coming, so she needs to hurry. She stopped when suddenly, her phone beeped.

She received a text message from Joy. They were classmates in the upcoming class. Joy is one of Anita's friends. But Joy is closer to her cousinㅡKirsten. Joy and Kirsten are friends since primary school. 

'What the hell is the meaning of this, Nita, did you already break up with Enrique? What the hell is wrong with the people now?'

That text message made her baffled. What is she talking about? Of course not. She never even think of breaking up with Enrique. She replied.

'Of course not. Maybe somebody told you that Enrique dated someone last night, right? Well, that's not true.’ 

She puts her phone in her pocket again and continues to search for a book. She ponders, if she saw the girls who have been dispersing this news all day, she will gonna pull their hair and left nothing.