Chapter 09 Bryle

Bavina’s POV

We didn’t wait for Paul to fetch me and we left the university without saying anything to them. My eyes are straight on my way even though most of the students are looking at me, gossiping, probably they are talking about the incident happened earlier in the cafeteria.

I took a loud and deep breath.

“We have a family dinner later, do you want to join?” Shia asked that made me look at her.

I shooked my head, “It’s okay.”

We both decided to walk since our house isn’t that far for us if we’re both together. It will take 30 minutes but sometimes, it takes 1 hour since we’re playing while walking.

“Mom is waiting for you, whenever I’m there, she’s always asking me about you. I don’t even know if I’m their real daughter,” she complained as she rolled her eyes that made me laugh.

I looked at her again when she placed her arms around my shoulder, “Forget what happened earlier. Let’s have fun today,” she added and smiled at me, I nodded.

“Yes!”she shouted lively before she pulled me that made me laugh.

We went on the bus and sat on the last seat. It will take 2 hours to go to their mansion, but at least, we’re going to have a dinner there.

***

As we arrived in their mansion, I saw their maids who welcomed us. Shia has a rich family, her family have a business and they are popular in other countries. Her parents also have a share in our university, so most of the professors there knows her, but she never took for a granted to use it as a reason not to study.

Their mansion is big, even though Shia and I were bestfriends for so long, I still don’t know every part of their mansion, maybe because I rarely go here. But I know that they have a garden and pool on the backyard of their mansion.

“Oh my, Bavinaaa!” I looked at the person who shouted my name, I saw Shia’s Mom walking direct to us.

“Hello, Aunt!” I approached them as she hugged me.

“I missed you, you should visit here more often. Are you going to sleep here tonight?” she asked that made me look at Shia.

“Mom, aren’t you going to ask me how am I?” Shia asked her Mom but her mom ignored her and pulled me closer to her to go to the living room with her.

Shia frowned because of it and sat beside me, I laughed at her.

“Hi.” All of us looked at him when he approached us. He’s wearing his uniform and eyeglasses.

“Get change first, your crush is here, you looked so disgusting,” Shia teased her brother before she looked at me.

Her brother looked at me and held his nape before he smiled at me, so I gave him a small smile. He turned around to go to the upstairs.

“Look at that fo*l, he’s so crazy to you,” Shia complained ad whispered on my ear while watching Bryle, her brother going upstairs.

“Your brother has a taste, look how beautiful his crush is,” Aunt spoke that made me laugh a little.

Bryle is taking med in medical university, that’s why his uniform is white, we’ve known each other for so long as well since we eat with him sometimes when he go home early from his school.

He’s not sociable and not talkative, his attitude is totally opposite with Shia because Shia is the loudest if you’re going to compare the two of them.

“Where’s Dad? I haven’t seen him,” Shia spoked to his Mom.

“He’s upstairs,” Aunt answered. Shia told me that she’s going upstairs, so I let her be. While Aunt went to the kitchen to see if the dinner is cooked already.

While me, I went outside of their mansion to go to their garden. This is my favorite spot here, Shia’s mother is into flowers, so their garden is wide and big. If I’m not mistaken, Aunt planted all the flowers here in their garden.

I sat on the swing in the middle of the grass. I like it here since it’s also windy because there are some trees near the mansion. It’s like a small farm.

Their business is farming, so they are into planting and animals.

“Hey.” I looked around to see who spoke.

“Hi, how are you?” I asked when I saw Bryle.

“I’m okay, just kinda busy these days since the midterm is coming,” he answered before he sat on the swing beside me

I nodded, “How about you?” he asked.

“I’m okay as well,” I answered.

I looked at him when he became quiet after a minute, our eyes met but I looked away immediately.

He’s always giving me that gaze whenever we meet, but until now I’m still not comfortable with it.

“Are you still uncomfy with me?” he asked that made me look at him again, he’s looking up and staring at the dark sky.

“No, it’s just…” I didn’t finish what I’m going to say because I don’t know what to answer on his question.

He laughed, “It’s okay. I understand.”

“You’re not wearing your necklace,” he says that made me look at my chest.

“Nah, I lost it,” I said while laughing that made him do the same thing.

It’s true that I lost it, I’m useless!

I looked at my phone when it rang, I saw Paul’s name but I didn’t answer it. I suddenly remember what happened earlier, I know that we’re just going to talk about it if I’m going to answer his call.

“Do you have a boyfriend?” he asked that made me look at him again.

“I saw it on social media,” he added as he laughed a bit, “Paul Hemingway introduced you as his girlfriend in their concert recently, right?”

I didn’t answer him, I didn’t expect that despite of his busyness, he’s still using social media, plus he got the news that I’m in a relationship.

Little did he know that the ‘relationship’ isn’t true after all.

“Don’t worry I’m not mad. I mean I already know from the very start that we can’t be together. I expected this to happen… that you’ll have a boyfriend.” He looked at me with his smile.

“I-I think we should go inside, they are waiting for us,” I changed the topic.

He nodded, “I’ll stay here for a bit, you can go first,” he uttered, I nodded at walked straight without looking at him.

Maybe he got hurt, but should I say sorry? I never told him to wait for me or what, but the fact that I’m aware that he likes me and he got hurt because of that news, it makes me wanna tell him the truth.

I went straight to the living room and I saw Uncle reading a newspaper, he looked at my direction.

“Oh, you’re here! How are you?” he approached me with his big smile and stood up to give me a hug.

“I’m okay, Uncle, how about you? You looked handsome huh,” I complimented him.

“Tell me what you want, daughter,” he joked that made both of us laughed.

We went to the kitchen when Shia called us, I sat beside Shia while her parents are sitting beside her.

“Where’s your brother?” Aunt asked Shia, before Shia answer her Mom, Bryle showed up and sat beside Uncle.

I looked at him but he didn’t even throw a glance at me even for a second, he’s just quiet while getting the foods in front of us.

“Let’s eat!” Aunt broke the silence, I smiled.

“Did you two talk?” Shia whispered while we’re getting our foods but I just looked at her.

I stayed quiet while Shia and her parents are talking.

“How’s your grades?” Uncle asked us.

“It’s okay, Dad. We’re just waiting for our grades,” Shia answered.

I’m just listening to their conversation, me and Bryle isn’t talking and just focusing on our foods.

Is he mad? Well, I can’t blame him. Even me, I’ll get hurt once I knew that my crush has a girlfriend. I understand him, I just hope his treatments towards me won’t change.

I pulled my phone from my pocket when it rang again, he’s calling again. I was about to reject Paul’s call when Bryle suddenly spoke.

“Just answer it,” he said coldly, he didn’t even look at me.

“No, sorry,” I uttered shyly and keep my phone from my pocket. I looked at Shia who’s also looking at me but isn’t talking.

I don’t know if I’m the only one who can notice the atmosphere here but the atmosphere is not comfortable.

I felt my phone vibrating again but I ignored it and continue eating my foods.

***

Aunt and Uncle are busy singing on videoke when Uncle opened it earlier. Shia handed me a beer.

I don’t know what time we’re going to go home since it’s late already. I can’t also tell to Shia that we should go because she’s still enjoying. I stayed quiet while sitting on the couch while watching them singing, even Bryle is also quiet while sitting on the single couch and his eyes are focused on the TV.

But I looked away immediately when he turned his eyes on me.

A smile slowly formed on my face when I saw Shia’s parents started to dance while Shia is singing. They are really sweet to each other, actually all of them are sweet and they are so close. This is what I want from them, like how they treat each other.

When the song ended, Shia turned off the videoke.

“Mom, we’re going now,” Shia spoke.

“What? It’s late already, you two should sleep here.”

“I’m going to drive them,” Bryle uttered that made me look at him, “Just to make sure that they are safe,” he added.

“Are you sure? You still have a cla---”

“Yeah.” He cut his Mom. He stood up and grabbed his jacket hanging on the chair he was leaning earlier and lead the way.

“Take care on your way,” Aunt reminded us, we nodded, she hugged me.

“Uncle, we’re going now,” I spoke to Uncle. He gave me a sweet smile and nodded at me.

I went inside the car.

“Sit on the passenger seat,” Bryle spoke who’s sitting on the driver’s seat, I nodded and sat on the passenger seat without any complains.

My eyes are focused in front while we’re waiting for Shia to go inside the car. Even the aircon is not that cold, I can still feel my cold hands.

I can’t blame him if he’s going to treat me like this. He used to give me a sweet smile before, but now he don’t even want to look at me like he’s going to die if he take a glance at me.

When Shia get in, Bryle drive immediately. None of us is talking for Shia fell asleep on the back, maybe because of tiredness because she was so hype earlier.

To decrease the awkwardness, I looked at the window. Compared earlier, we arrived to our city after 1 hour and a half as it’s not that traffic and Bryle is fast when he’s driving.

When the car stopped in front of our house, I get off of the car to help Shia since I don’t wanna wake her up. It’s pbvious that her sleep is deep.

“Let me carry her,” Bryle spoke from behind, I took a step backward to let him without saying anything.

I opened the door when he carried Shia and let him lead the way to go inside. From his behind, I can see how good his body is while he’s carrying Shia. He removed his jacket ealier, so I can see that plus the fact that his shirt is fitted.

I can say he’s hitting gym because of his body, even when you’re just looking at his arms, you can say that he’s into gym because of his muscles.

“Where’s her room?” he asked, I pointed Shia’s room, I opened it for him to go inside. He slowly put her down.

When he finally put him down, he immediately went outside the room.

“Do you want water?” I asked him, he looked at me.

“No, I’m okay,” he said. He went outside the house, so I followed him.

“Thank you for taking us home,” I spoke, he gave me a small smile that made me feel relieved.

“I just wanna make sure that you two are safe,” he answered, I smiled.

“Bavina.” Both of us looked when someone called my name. My eyes widen when I saw Paul walking towards us. I looked at Bryle, his face expression changed. He was smiling earlier and now, it faded.