Chereads / Shackles of Destiny / Chapter 4 - The Friendship

Chapter 4 - The Friendship

Hanji and Chaerry were ushered to the living room where Eugene sat by the housemaid.He was amazed by the stunningly opulent villa Eugene resides in. The white interior of the villa complimented well its beige colored furnitures. A swirling staircase led to three more rooms upstairs.

Eugene with a bun sitting messily atop her head, turned around to see her intruders. A few strands of hair fall on the sides her temples shaping her face beautifully. She could only continue munching her chips as Chaerry curls her into an embrace.

"Hanji?" Eugene says when she notices the man that trudged behind Chaerry. "Oh hi!" he awkwardly says.

"He literally begged to come along, so I had no option but to let him" she explains to Eugene after breaking their hug.

"How can you shamelessly lie through your nose like its nothing." Hanji said looking disgusted at Chaerry.

"So does that mean you didn't want to come see me?" Eugene attacks him.

"No! That's not true either. It's just that I didn't "BEG", like someone phrased it, to come along." He explained panicking.

The two best friends enjoyed every sight of him being flustered. They laughed.

Hanji took a seat at the sofa and decided to have the snacks instead as he thinks of a comeback.

Just as they were munching on their snacks and chatting ( more like hanji and Chaerry having another argument) the bell rings. None stands up for the servant went to get it again m.

The awaited guest walks in with a bouquet of lavenders in one hand and  a packet of tangerine in the other. He wore a pair of glasses and had slick combed back blonde hair. He was tall and built. He looked exactly like the nerdy heartthrob every school has.

Eugene walks upto him and wraps her arms around his waist and softly whispers "I missed you." He shuffles her hair after he empties his hands.

" He is Chris. My childhood friend." Eugene introduces him to Hanji.

Both men shake hands. Just then Hanji catches a glimpse of Chaerry whose smile was bigger and brighter than ever. He rolls his eyes at her.

"what a girly girl! He isn't even that great" he thought.

Hanji takes notice of Chaerry's changed behavior as she interacted with Chris. He picked fights with her but she just gave him a colder shoulder. He did not know why but he began developing hatred for a man he barely knew.

"So do you go to our school?" Hanji asks.

"Yeah. I have been on leadership training school camp for the last few weeks. " Chris replied.

Chris heads to the kitchen where he makes the others coffee. Eugene excitedly explains to Hanji how much she liked the coffee he made and how he would always make her one whenever he visited her.

"Let me see if he needs any help." Chaerry says and goes to kitchen. She is excited.

"Do you need any help?" she asks Chris. "Oh sure. Take out some cookies from the cabinet and put them on the plate." he grins at her before concentrating back to the coffee he was making. She could have sworn that, that smile of his just now gave her a mild attack.

She walked past him and did as instructed. Once done, they both headed back to the living room where Eugene told stories of Chris to Hanji.

Hanji could only think that Chris had

bewitched the two best friends.

"The stuff you do when you are "whiPPped" haha" Hanji whispered to Chaerry who was seemingly having a hard time swallowing her first sip of the coffee. She couldn't drink coffee.

Her eyes became wide open. She smacked his thigh in reply.

"Am I that obvious?" she thinks.

"Do you want to bet on your coffee?"

Hanji asked Chaerry who smiled with relieve after answering "Sure loser."

After just one round of rock paper scissors, Hanji wins and ends up drinking her coffee. She feigns sadness. "I owe you one." She whispers.

"Today is blessed! Guests after guests!"

Eugene says when the doorbell is heard again. A middle aged lady wearing suit walks in with a file in hand. Her mid-length straight black was the only thing that Distinguished her from Eugene. They shared an uncanny resemblance. She lands a peck on Eugene's cheek after asking about how she was feeling. She hugs Chaerry and pats Chris' head. She then looks inquisitively at Hanji-the only one in the room she lacked prior meeting with.

"Is your name Hanji?"  she asks him.

He surprisedly replied with a nod.

"It's nice to see you in person. You are really good looking." she added before  she left to her room with Eugene walking beside her, clutching onto her arm. 

"What brings you back? I thought you were staying out tonight" Eugene asks her mother who was rummaging through her files on the desk.

"Oh right! I accidentally took the wrong file so came back to replace it." she tells and adds " Also do take good care of Hanji. Okay?"

"I obviously would apart from teasing him. How do you know him though?"

She asked

"That..... Let's save it for next when I have enough time" She lands another peck on her forehead this time.

"Don't forget to take your medicine." Eugene's mom nags before leaving.

All eyes were on her as she came to join the rest. "Ok. Okay. I know you are curious about how my mom knows but she didn't tell me either so bother asking. " she tells Hanji who was itching to ask the question being addressed.

They spent hours talking, munching and all over again. It was late by the time they decided to leave. They were all standing outside the huge brass gate biding Eugene goodnight.

Chaerry felt over the moon when Chris asked her if he could drop her on his bike since it was pretty late already.

To burst her little bubble comes in Hanji with a "No!" Chris slightly taken aback by his loud answer goes "Huh?!"

"I mean Chaerry promised to buy me dinner. I am not letting her go before that." He adds with a smirk.

"When?" Chaerry says - eyes wide open. He says "coffee" and as if it were some code, she immediately understands and plays along.

Following Hanji, Chaerry starts whining. "Why did you have to ruin my moment? Your debt can wait"

"My hunger can't." he nonchalantly replies.

"Oh sure! As if it wasn't you who finished all the snacks just now." she snorted.

Eugene and Chris watched as the Tom and Jerry duo walked away while bickering. Chris hugs Eugene before leaving too. Eugene waves at him with a sweet smile.

"So where are we going?" Chaerry asked Hanji who was leading the way.

"That.....  I didn't think about it yet."

He said leaving Chaerry surprised for umpteenth time.

"Wow! So we are just walking aimlessly down this dim streets?" Chaerry says.

"Not my fault I am new to this country"

"Yeah there goes you again playing the foreigner card. Follow me then" Chaerry takes the lead.