❤︎

I knew deep inside me that I shouldn't let jealousy grow inside me as I watched Daniel give May those pink roses, especially since I knew that May really liked Daniel and she deserved those roses just as much as I did. I was happy for them, I truly was, but...

But I just couldn't help but feel envious of May as well. Foolishly, I had hoped that this year's Valentine would be different from the previous forever-alone ones...

And so, I thought about getting out of there so my stupid jealousy wouldn't grow even bigger.

"I have to go." I immediately said as I stood up and grabbed my things in a flash. Then I was out of there even before I could hear Daniel and May say anything. As I was walking away, I took out my cell phone and sent a message to Nam, saying I needed to do an assignment I had forgotten earlier and that she should explain that to Daniel and May. I knew it was a lame excuse, but it was all I could think of in such a short period of time.

When I got out of the cafeteria, I didn't know where to go. My next class was still after thirty minutes, so I didn't want to t just go to class early. Maybe I could hang out inside the school library, since I hadn't been there since 6th grade, when the teacher demanded us to copy a library card. But then again, I would probably just make noise there so I rather not. So, I decided to just go outside and have a breath of fresh air.

As I was heading out, I caught sight of Joss approaching me. And surprisingly, he wasn't with Kongpob like he always as. Curious, I waited for him to reach me. I couldn't help but wonder why he would want to talk to me when we hardly ever spoke to each other and he knew of my antics towards Kongpob.

"Hey Arthit!" he greeted once he reached me. "Are you busy right now?"

I shook my head. "No. Why?" I asked as I formulated an answer in my mind. Could it be he needed help in courting my dearest best friend?

"I was just wondering if I can talk to you somewhere private." He replied politely.

I didn't know Joss well, but I knew for a fact that he wasn't polite. "About what?" I asked, raising a brow at him in suspicion.

He looked around for anyone who might be listening before he faced me. "It's about Nam." he said in a small voice, feeling embarrassed.

Hearing his words and seeing that my answer was correct, I smiled at him. "Fine. Where do you want to talk about it?" I asked him.

He grabbed my hand and started walking. "Just follow me." He remarked.

As I was letting him lead the way, I couldn't help feeling sorry for myself. May received roses from Daniel and now Nam was going to experience a sweet valentine too. But as for me, I had nothing but false expectations that were always let down.

My thoughts were disturbed when Joss stopped in his tracks in front of a dark classroom. "Let's go in?" he said, opening the door for me.

"Wait, aren't you supposed to open the lights first?" I asked, suddenly feeling suspicious of Joss. He could be doing a prank on me, since Kongpob knew about my fear of the dark and he must've told Joss about it. I know I was probably paranoid, but darkness was not a friend of mine.

Joss smiled innocently. "But I can't, because the switch is on the other side of the room." He answered, still insisting that I enter the room.

"How do I know you're not going to lock me inside when I enter?"

He suddenly burst out laughing. "Are you crazy? Why would I do something like that to you?" he exclaimed, like I had just said the most absurd thing. "I'm not pulling a prank on you, okay? I just want to talk to you. But if you don't trust me, then I'll just go inside first, you follow after, okay?"

He entered the room yet he still didn't turn on the lights. As soon as I entered the room after him, I noticed Joss moving past me and heading towards the door and suddenly, I knew what he was going to do. I hurriedly tried to catch up with him, but I was too slow. He shut the door in front of me as soon as he got out, leaving me inside the dark creepy room.

"Yah! Joss, open the door!" I exclaimed in panic, pounding the door as hard as I could with my fists. "This isn't funny!"

Suddenly, a husky voice spoke from the corner of the room. "Are you that afraid of the dark?" the male voice said, making me turn around and squint in the dark to see who it was. But it was too dark to see.

"W-who are you?" I asked nervously, my voice trembling with fear.

"I'm an evil spirit. I've been here for ten years, calling for help from the students who enter this room. But no one came, so now I'm going to kill you all!" the voice answered in a very deep voice, making my skin crawl and I quivered against the door.

"Joss! Open the door!" I turned back to the door frantically and pounded even harder than I did earlier.

As I continued to scream for help, the 'evil spirit' began laughing. At first, it was a low scary laugh, like those in the horror movies. But as it continued, it sounded more and more like a laughter I was very familiar with.

"...Kongpob, it's you, isn't it?" I remarked, stopping from being hysterical.

The laughter stopped and a candle suddenly lit up, revealing Kongpob's face in the corner. "Hello, Arthit." He greeted me with a grin.

"This is one of your pranks, isn't it? Tell Joss to open the door now." I said angrily, walking towards him.

He didn't follow my demand. He just moved the candle on a small table and lighted another small candle, then another, until a cake with three lighted candles was revealed. Next, he took a chair a few meters away from him and placed it behind the cake. When he took a seat, he smiled brightly at me. "Do you like it?" he asked me, gesturing towards the cake.

OMG!

Is that...cheesecake???

OMG! It is!!!!

I LOVE cheesecake!!!

In the dimly lit room, the cheesecake looked really cute with strawberries on top (my favorite cake, although I'm pretty sure Kongpob didn't know that and just got lucky with his cake choice) and Kongpob was smiling at me brightly which made him look extremely charming, but a second later I felt suspicious of him again.

I raised my brow at him. "What is it for?" I asked, though I already knew the answer. I guessed I just wanted to make sure and hear him say it out loud, so I wouldn't once again have my expectation be let down.

"It's my birthday today." He answered smugly.

It was a lie, I knew it. "No, it isn't. Your birthday's in October." I retorted, taking a seat on a chair just beside me. He couldn't deceive me like this, especially since we knew so much about each other since we were children.

This time, it was his turn to raise his brow. "And why do you know my birthday?" he asked, smiling victoriously.

I felt my cheeks turn red as I saw his satisfied smile. He must be thinking I kept track of his life. I just remembered it, I couldn't help it. "I know because it's the day when your obsessed fans are even worse, running around the school carrying gifts and flowers for you. What do you do with all of them anyway, throw them away? Or do you keep them all in a special room?"

Damnit, I did sound a bit jealous when speaking like that.

"Would you be jealous if I tell you I keep them all?" he said, eyeing me with interest. That smug handsome smile was growing wider on his face and it was hard for me to look away.

"Why would I be? It's not like I'm in love with you." I responded instantly, but just the word "love" made my cheeks heat up again and I couldn't look him into the eye anymore.

He stood up from his seat. "I didn't say you were in love with me. I was just saying you're jealous, because I get more gifts than you. But you know, guilty minds need no accusers." He said teasingly, walking over to me, closer and closer.

"Why are you passing your feelings to me? You're the one who likes me." I answered, standing up too and taking a step forwards until we were standing face-to-face. "Didn't you tell Jessica that? You even let the whole school know."

He shook his head. "I can't believe you bought that." He spoke with a laugh. "I was just teasing Jessica, can't you tell?"

So he did lie. Ouch, why did I feel a sharp pang in my heart at his words? In order to cover up my pain and disappointment, I lashed out instead.

"So you were just trying to make my life even more miserable then?" I exclaimed angrily. "You are such a jerk, you know that?"

Being the insensitive person that he was, he was able to smile at that remark. "Of course. You've been saying that for a long time now." He answered simply, like it didn't bother him at all.

"And yet you still don't try to change?" I shot at him, flustered by the fact that I just couldn't manage to leave a scar on him. It seemed no matter what I said, he just smiled wider. How could a person be that way? Was he really that insensitive? Or he really just didn't care about my opinion? "What are you trying to accomplish by being that way? Do you really want me to hate you forever?"

Still, he didn't change his expression. But he didn't say anything either. I decided that he really was useless to talk to. "You know what? Forget it. I'm just going to leave." I finally said, heading towards the door. "Open the door, Joss!" I ordered as I tried the doorknob. It still wouldn't open.

Suddenly, Kongpob's phone began to ring. I continued to pound on the door as he talked to the caller, though I was listening on a bit. When I heard Kongpob call out Joss's name, I stopped pounding on the door for a moment. I was hoping that Kongpob would ask him to open the door for me. But he didn't.

Just when I was about to complain to him about that, he put his phone away and spoke. "That was Joss. He said he can't open the door. He thinks it's jammed and he is going to go and look for help."

"What?!" I exclaimed immediately. "You're kidding, right?"

He shrugged in reply. Then he once again sat down on his seat and gestured for me to sit down in front of him. "I guess you'll be spending your Valentine with me, Arthit."

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