[Music Recommendation: "A Sweet Smile" by Yu-Peng Chen (Genshin Impact OST) - available in Youtube or Spotify] ~ Please listen to it in a loop while you read this part to experience the utmost beauty of this chapter ~

[Please note: We're back to Senara's POV]

A few days passed since I became Kaiden's contracted girlfriend. Unfortunately, we weren't able to do much lovey-dovey stuff since our professors were a bunch of "kill-joy" people, giving us lots of homework for the entire week! I loved learning but please be gentle on us poor students! Why did they have to give us lots of homework in one go? Because of that, my first week as Kaiden's girlfriend was a waste! Waaaaaa…

Even Kaiden wasn't able to escape the homework's clutches. We spent the whole week just going to school together, eating lunch together, going back home together, and that was it. No after-school dates, or even a chance to leisurely spend time with each other. When at home, we were busy doing homework! My long awaited school romance… sniff… sniff… all gone. I got excited for nothing! Unfair!

Today was Friday and the only good thing that happened was talking to Crystal over the phone last night. Hora and I had been trying to call her since last week but we couldn't get through. We've been sending texts with no replies so we got worried and asked Kaiden and Verrill for Callan's number which they happily gave. Turned out, Crystal's phone had been on airplane mode since her flight.

Ping! Ping! Ping!

Her phone kept on ringing from all the notifications she got—I could hear it from the other line when we called. From me alone, I probably sent her a hundred messages already.

"Oh my gosh!" Crystal exclaimed when she realized what happened. "I didn't notice it at all. I thought I already—I'm so sorry Senara! I'm so sorry Hora! You've been sending me messages and calling me and I… I'm so stupid. I'm really sorry!"

"Hey! It's okay. No need to be sorry," I tried to calm her down. She sounded like she was about to cry. "And also, tell Callan to stop laughing! I can hear him from the background."

"Shut up, Callan!" Crystal reprimanded Callan. It was faint—she seemed to had cover the phone so our eardrums wouldn't bleed—but we heard it.

"Eeeh? But it was so fun," Callan complained.

"Stop it. You're noisy. I'm trying to talk to them."

"Okay, I'll stop if you give me a kiss."

"W-w-what… Shut up!"

…

…

…

Hora and I were dumbfounded. The phone was on speaker so we could both talk to her. And by the looks that Hora gave me, I was 100% sure she heard it, too.

"Did you hear that?" I whispered to Hora.

"I sure did."

We grinned towards each other afterwards and waggled our eyebrows. It seemed that something fishy was going on with Crystal and Callan. Well, I did notice Callan liked her since the barbecue party but oh my! It seemed that Callan was finally stepping up his game.

"I'm sorry for that. Callan was being annoying again," Crystal huffed when she came back to us. She probably thought we didn't hear them.

"Ohh, that's fine," I answered her in a teasing tone. "We totally understand. You can actually take more time if need be. We will just be here listening and enjoying ourselves."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

Then Hora supported me, copying what Callan said.

"Okay, I'll stop if you give me a kiss," Hora re-enacted, imitating Callan's tone.

"Ah! T-t-that's… don't mind Callan! He's just being stupid!" Crystal sounded defensive.

I knew it. Something WAS fishy.

"It's alright, Crystal. You can tell us all about it when you get back. Especially the juicy details, okay?" I jested.

"T-there's nothing like that!"

"By the way you're stammering, I highly doubt," I continued teasing her. It was definitely not because I'm trying to take revenge after all the time she teased me before. Yup. My conscience was clear as the sky on a rainy day—I mean, on a sunny day.

"Ha-ha-ha-ha!" Hora burst out laughing from what I said. "Don't worry, Crystal. No need to be shy. We promise not to tease too much."

"You're already teasing me now, though."

"What? We're we teasing her?" I asked Hora.

"Teasing? What teasing? I don't see any teasing going on."

"You twoooo... You're ganging up on me! This is abooz! (abuse)"

"Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!" we ended up laughing at each other.

"Crystal, it seems like Hora rubbed off on you. You're saying cute words now."

"Ehem… Well… that seems to be the case."

"It suits you though. I can imagine the look on your face from here."

"She's probably blushing," Hora added. "As red as tomato. In her face, and neck, and her shoulders."

"Woah! How did you know?"

"We're the same. I easily blush, too when I laugh too much or get embarrassed. And since we caught you two in the act, you're definitely embarrassed."

"Fine! You're right."

"OMG! We're right? So Callan is really flirting with you and courting you?" I blurted out. My mouth just couldn't stop from asking the most pressing question.

"HUH?! Y-You never said any of that. I just said you're right about the blushing. N-not Callan's… a-ahm."

"Hnnnngg," Hora hummed while grinning. "Alright. If you don't want to say it now, we can always pester you when you come back on Sunday."

"H-Hora! Please, noooo."

"If you don't want to, then we can ask Callan."

"N-not that, too!"

"Then, we'll ask the assistants," I added.

"What? Even them?"

"Nooooo… you're bullying me."

"Ha-ha-ha-ha!" Hora and I chorused.

"Alright. We'll stop. We just missed you A LOT."

"Awwww… Thank you so much. I missed you both, too. I'm really sorry."

"It's alright. Good thing you're fine or we would have died from heart attack."

"Ha-ha-ha!" Crystal chuckled. "That would be bad. You're still gonna write lots of great books. And Hora will still be a great film editor."

"And you'll still be a world-known model and actress. Why don't you act in one of my movies in the future, huh?"

"Woah! Sure! Why not?"

"That's a deal."

"It will be my pleasure."

After that, we laughed and chatted for hours. We really missed Crystal. Then we told Callan to take really good care of her which he enthusiastically agreed to. My suspicions just increased by how sweet he was being. Callan had never been openly sweet before. Maybe he finally decided to attack?

Whatever it was, we would be sure to interrogate—I mean, peacefully question Crystal once she comes back. For now, I just needed to survive this very tiring Friday.