Chapter 3

KOLTEN ZEDEKIEL'S POINT OF VIEW

"Hey, Astrid! It's been a while." Her big brother pulled and placed her at his back as Dax greeted her when he walked toward our direction. He was the captain ball of the team of our opponent. He used to be an old friend of Astrid's brother, but things changed as he wanted to get the position of him being the captain ball when they were both still at Haven Eastwood University.

"Let's just play," I said and forcedly threw him the ball. He used to like Astrid and that thought, irritated me so much.

"Keep this for me." I handed her my silver necklace. She just smiled and lightly nodded her head before accepting it from me.

We were leading until the first half ended.

"Do you like her? Don't you?" He asked while chuckling as I was driving the ball. I just gave him an indignant stare as a response.

"Let me have her if we win!" I smirked before hardly throwing the ball on his face. Kuya Ashton punched him that was how the riot began. Astrid's face was distorted with rage. She held my hand and looked at my fist to check it.

"Why did you threw the ball on his face?" She exasperatedly asked, but I guess I did not have a choice but to let her talk.

"Kolten..." I walked in Ashton's direction as he called me. He might have an important matter to be discussed as he casually folded his arms around his chest.

"Thanks, man." He said while smiling and gently threw his arms on my shoulder.

"There's no need to, bro. I'll do it anyway, whatever the cost." I simply answered and gave him a soft punch on his stomach.

"So it's a yes?" He seriously asked seemed like teasing me. I barely looked down before turned back my attention to him.

"I'm not going to deny it, but I respect you a lot, you know that." He threw his hand on my shoulder before he chuckled as he might notice how I struggled while explaining.

"Don't worry, I know about it." I looked at Astrid, who was now treating Orion's face and seemed like scolding him.

I used to sleep in Orion's place since it took almost twice a month before Mom and Dad go home. So I am just alone in our house.

"What happened to your face?" Orion deeply sighed as her five-year-old little sister looked so worried as she saw some of our bruises. She was so cute while holding her brown teddy bear that he used to call Flynn since she wanted it to have my second name. She always wants us to join her while playing with her kitchen tools, I guess. She's so sweet and always asks me to marry her when she grows up.

"It's nothing, baby." He answered and looked at me as if thinking a great excuse.

"Did you two fight?" It looked like she was going to cry as her eyes turned red and her tears were about to fall any moment.

"Of course not, Sani. He is our brother, right? So, we did not fight with each other. So don't tell Mom and Dad, okay? We will play tomorrow! I'll buy you more knives for your restaurant. Do you like it, right?" He tried to convince her, in the form of bribery!

"Really? We're going to play with him?" She looked at me with her round eyes as she giggled. Orion hardly nudged me and seemed like he wanted me to ride on.

"Y-Yeah, tomorrow," She giggled and immediately changed the expression of her eyes because of what Orion had said.

"Bro, I just love you that much to let you sleep on my bed." I laughed and threw him a pillow.

"Love you too, man." I just smirked while seeing him lying on his sofa.

For today's class, I got up so early. I bet she'll be late again today. I always saw her running every morning just to be on time, but she was approximately 30 minutes late now. It's a good thing that our professor this morning was different from yesterday.

"I'm sorry, Miss. I'm late." I hardly closed my eyes as I saw how she effortlessly got the attention of our professor. She sternly looked at her.

"Come inside!" Astrid smiled and sat beside me as if nothing had happened.

"I'm sleepy." I just shook my head as I heard her mumbling. She started to rest her chin on her palm and try to get some z's as she always does. I nudged her as I saw our professor was going to look in our direction. She was really smart and managed to get straight A's, even if she's always sleeping in the class. What a legend!

"Stop it, Astrid!" She started biting her nails again as usual. She smiled and slightly nodded.

"Kolten, is there any chocolate in your bag?" She never stopped nagging me the whole period.

"I thought you will stop accepting chocolates from me?" I whispered and just rolled my eyes while getting some on my bag.

"Here." I handed her a bar of chocolate given by Orion's sister.

"Thanks, Kolten!" I shook my head as she yawned the moment our professor in History entered.

After our class was over, it seemed like a great achievement for her that she stayed awake the whole period. All I did was to stop her from trying to make this a nap room again. I don't have any idea how many times I woke her up just to not be caught by our professors.

"Kolten, what do you think about this shade? Does it look good on me?" She let me see the lipstick she quickly put on her lips.

"Huh? Y-Yeah." I stuttered. I actually don't see any difference, but I guess that was what she wanted to hear.

"Guys, let's go to the café!" Zette excitedly suggested.

"I'm in!" Lia joined her.

"Count me in. How 'bout you, bro?" Orion asked. Astrid looked at me and seemed like waiting for my answer. I slightly nodded. She came in the midst of Orion and me before she wrapped her arms around ours.

"It really has a great ambiance here! Let's take some pictures." Lia said in a loud voice.

"Keep it down, guys," Astrid said while Orion was at the counter to order something we can eat.

"Kolten, take some pictures of us." Zette pulled my arm. I got my phone and did as they wished.

"Let me see." Lia and Zette excitedly ran to get my phone and started scrolling. Orion sat beside me after putting a tray on the table. Astrid was the one who led the prayer before we ate.

"Astrid, there's someone who is asking for your number, a junior soccer player. Do you know him? The guy named Ziel Xeph Harris?" Lia giggled, but I saw her shaking her head as her response to Lia.

"Seriously? How come you did not know him?" Zette asked. I shot Orion with my indignant stare as he chirped and started to tease me again.

"I haven't watched their game yet, so I did not know any player from the soccer team." She got some tissues and wiped her fingertips.

"I already stalked him on his social media; he's so handsome and hot! I was so shocked as he come closer to our table in the cafeteria just to asked for your number. He's from the other department, so gentleman. And according to my sources, he didn't date anyone in our department, since he likes someone from the other department, and now I already knew the luckiest girl." I just hissed as I heard how Lia described that player.

I saw Zette nudged her as she saw me putting down the fork in my left hand, it seemed like she warned her to stop.

"Did you give him her number?" Orion asked in a serious manner.

"Not yet. I said that I will ask her first." She defended. Astrid seemed not to treat it as a big deal as she continued eating the slices of carrot I put on her plate.

"By the way, I heard that the dean of your department is planning to have a week's vacation after the final exams at the end of the month. They are not yet decided regarding the venue. But the pick would be on the beach or mountain. How I wish the Dean of our department is generous as Mr. O'Connor, all the expenses will be shouldered by him. He's really a generous-hearted gay so Kolten and Orion, you both beware, okay? We all know that the two of you are his main targets. He even asked the higher-ups just to be your professor in your major course." Zette warned us.

"Where did you both get that news?" Astrid asked while rummaging on her bag.

"Our classmates really feel so envious of your department so that they manage to have so many sources regarding that stuff and the likes," Lia explained while applying something on her cheeks.

"Why did you finish my drinks?" Astrid hits Orion and sounds so mad.

"I'm sorry, I thought it was mine." He burst into laughter while stopping her to punch him.

After we ate, Lia pulled Orion to take photos of them again, but this time, in the garden outside the café.

"Have this." I gave her mine. She accepted the glass I handed her.

"I'm sorry. I thought it wouldn't smudge." She got a tissue to wipe her lipstick on it.

"It's okay. I won't mind." I drank on it anyway.

"Won't you join them?" I asked as I saw her looking outside while biting the nail on her right thumb. I just grabbed her hand to stop her after seeing that she already put Band-Aids on some of her fingers again.

"Who would have thought that you actually finished the 10 bars of chocolates I brought?" I just shook my head with a scoff and pretended as if I was disappointed.

"Hey, it was not that much!" She seemed trying to recall the exact number of bars of chocolate she actually consumed for this day. I just smiled as I noticed her blue eyes that are having green rings around her iris. She tucked her hair on the back of her left ear and lightly ran her fingers through her long-straight-light-brown hair. I don't really like her additional piercing on the upper left side of her ear, but it made her look cool for some reason.

"I should not eat for a week!" I just chuckled and gently messed up her hair as I saw her reaction.

"I'm just kidding. You must eat more. You had already lost weight because of depriving yourself!" I really don't understand why she always minds her weight and chooses to deprive herself. I mean, she already had a slender body that made her look so fragile. She was now looking at her reflection in a mirror.

"I'm already tired and sleepy; you can join them if you want." She smiled before digging her hand from her bag.

"Kolten, look at this." She handed me her phone. I thought it was about astronomy again, but not this time.

"Want that?" I asked as I saw a guitar on her screen. She nodded and came near to me that made me felt as if there were some butterflies in my stomach for some reason.

"What do you think? Is it cool?" Her eyes were nailed on the screen of her phone.

"Yeah, It is." I simply nodded.

"This will be my birthday gift to you!" She said while scrolling from her gallery. I just smirked and shook my head. We're actually having the same birth date. It'll be this Sunday.

"No need for that." I resisted after knowing that she was about to buy it using her allowance.

"Don't worry, Kolten. I won't ask you to accept my love; it's just a simple gift. I just reminded you, just in case you haven't bought me a gift yet. I like to have the thing that makes you remember me, maybe something cute? Stuff like that." I snorted and laughed as she told the same line as the girl earlier.

"Don't use your allowance for it. But thanks for giving me an idea. Something like you? Easy!" I slightly messed up her hair. She just laughed and tried to comb her hair using her fingers.

"By the way, which do you prefer, basketball or soccer? I mean, what do you find interesting between the two?" She chuckled a bit before she answered.

"Boxing, I guess. Like what you did yesterday!" She burst into laughter. I just noticed by now how curly and naturally long are her lashes as they seemed to touch her eyelids.

"Why did you ask, all of a sudden?" She gave me an inquisitive look. She raised her brows as if waiting for me to answer.

"You don't give your number to a stranger, right?" I directly asked.

"I haven't tried that before. Is it about the guy that they were talking about? I actually don't find any reason for me to give him my number. Maybe he just wanted to ask me to join in networking." I just like how she always plays it so cool when it comes to this kind of stuff. I smirked and shook my head.

"Just have this instead." I put an orange-flavored lollipop in her hand as I saw her biting her nails again. It was given by Orion earlier, his sister put a lot on his bag.

"Kolten, be honest okay? Is there a product of sweets in your bag?" I gently pinched her nose and smiled as she hit me.

"That's from Sani. She gave us a lot of candies after playing with her." I just let her see a bunch of candy from Orion's younger sister.

"She's so sweet." She uttered. I looked away as I noticed that I have been gawking at her all this time.

"It's really hard to stop this habit of mine, I just find myself putting Band-Aids on my fingertips."

"Don't worry. It looks so cute." She hits me as I burst into laughter.