"Miss Celestine! And… Samuel Sir?" Airi went towards a table to see Clara after entering the cafe, but she was a bit surprised to see Samuel with her. Although it wouldn't be too surprising to see two teachers having a morning coffee together, the reaction she gave in response to Airi's greeting, sure was strange.
"Good morning, Miss Celestine and Samuel Sir." Airi gave a little bow to them as she greeted them.
Samuel quickly picked up there and greeted Airi back. "Well, if it isn't a fine morning, right, miss…"
"It's Arne, sir. Airi Arne." Airi replied back to him politely.
"I see, it sure feels good now that I got to see a lovely white jasmine the first thing in the morning, right Celestine?"
"Yeah… of… course." Clara was nervously sipping her coffee, without meeting Airi's inquiring eyes. And that hesitating look on her face didn't miss Airi's eyes.
"Miss Celestine, is something the matter? You seem rather...."
"NO, no… it's nothing. Yeah, sure it is a… nice morning." Miss Celestine seemed to fumble through her words.
'She is still hesitating to look at me… don't tell me…'
"Did I interrupt the lovely morning coffee date of yours?" Airi blurted out without even giving a filter to her words.
"Bfffftt…. Khghf… ah-hem…" Clara choked on her coffee so bad that her eyes almost teared up. "Date… what are you… khf…" her cough intensified, making her hard to talk.
Samuel handed her a glass of water without any delay. "Celestine, drink it up. Calm down."
Airi looked attentively at the little interactions between the two teachers of hers, while Samuel took his time calming Catherine down.
After the ceaseless cough of hers slowed down, Celestine suggested Airi to sit down with them. "No, it's fine. I better not spoil the date anymore. And don't worry, I am not someone to slip off things. I better…" Airi got interrupted as Samuel insisted, "Please take a seat, we would really appreciate it." So she couldn't help taking up that offer.
Samuel called upon a waiter to order a cake for Airi. When he was done with ordering, he turned his gaze towards her, "You sure don't put up any lids to your words, do you?"
"And you don't talk in all that butler-ish tone in real life. I am quite surprised by it, sir." Airi stated with the same calm tone she had been having since earlier.
"Hahaha, surely you are perceptive. Nice to make your acquaintance then, Miss Airi."
"Likewise, sir. And I am honestly sorry about earlier. I am not good with my words, so I speak up whatever comes to my mind. I hope that wasn't rude of me, Miss Celestine." Airi looked towards Clara apologetically. And surely, the cutesy act works well on Clara. "It's fine… I know you didn't mean anything rude or bad. But honestly, it's not a date…"
"It isn't Celestine!?" Samuel sounded broken-hearted deliberately, and that melodramatic act makes Airi laugh. "That's not fair, my lovely Cello, how could you make your fiance hurt… ouch!" Clara slapped on his shoulder to shut him up.
But the word fiance didn't miss Airi's ears. "Oh my God, are you guys engaged? Since when!"
By the mention of fiance and engagement, Clara's ears and cheeks flushed bright pink as she timidly responded, "It's... been a month… but no one knows yet…"
"Yeah, she doesn't let me announce how lucky I am to get her. That's not fair, Cello. You know everyone is going to bless us. Right, Airi?" Samuel winked mischievously at her.
"Yeah, of course, you two look good together. And I kind of get it now why Miss Celestine likes romantic stories, hehe." Airi giggled lightly, making Clara blush even more.
"I suppose this is the adorable student you talked about, Celestine? Surely, she is adorable." Samuel gazed at her lovingly, while Airi thanked him for his compliment.
After finishing the cake Samuel got for her, Airi got up from her seat to take her leave. "I am going to go towards the school. See you later, Miss Celestine, Samuel Sir."
"Miss Celestine, huh. She is close enough to you already then. So, why is it that she is Miss Celestine and I am Samuel SIR?" Samuel emphasized on the word 'Sir' more to make himself clear about it.
"Then what should I call you, sir?" Airi bobbed her head sideways a little bit.
"Just Sam, m'lady. I would be honored if you do."
"Then if Miss doesn't mind…"
"I don't, little jasmine," Clara replied with a smile.
"Then Sam it is, and don't need to act with that butler-ish tone of yours in front of me, please. You are a lot cooler the way you normally are." Airi turned towards them to give a polite bow and went ahead to take her coffee.
After Airi left the cafe, Samuel leaned back to his chair comfortably as he uttered, "She is honestly bright and adorable, reminds me of a white jasmine blooming brightly." Clara sipped her coffee while agreeing to his words, "Yeah, she sure lives up to her name."
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Airi arrived at her classroom with the coffee cups in her hand. She handed one to each of her friends and moved towards Maria's seat. She put the coffee cup on the table and went off to her own seat, when suddenly Maria stopped her in her tracks. "Hey, wait up! What's that for?" she pointed at the coffee cup on her table. Airi coldly replied to her, "that's just a little repayment for yesterday."
Maria laughed out loud at Airi's words. "Woah, haha, you going to pay off with a cup of coffee? Doesn't that make you like, really poor?"
Airi didn't even bat an eyelid in response to her insulting remarks. Rather, she decided to shrug it off in a cool manner. "That definitely doesn't make me poor, rather I am being polite here by offering you a coffee, instead of bribing girls to stay in your support."
"Wow! Now you gotta play cool after being the part of that bribery, huh?"
"Well, think about it. The only thing you got is that money, what if someone with coolness so you speak, snatches up that only resort of yours? Then who do you think will get the upper hand in things?" With that saying, Airi went back to her seat, leaving behind a dumbfounded and angry Maria behind.
"Are you really going to be like that now, Airi?" Airi sat in her seat when Hazel suddenly spoke up. "Be like what?" Airi asked her back. "Like the way, these sisters always are, treating and buying them with food and stuff," Dew replied instead of Hazel, irritation clear in his tone. When Dew voiced out loud their concerns, Emma got a bit panicked. "Are you really going to be friends with those girls and boys now?"
"No way guys, who is befriending them. It's just, I would need them in my support if I want to win the election, right?" Airi lightly replied.
Dew tried to insist Airi out of concern that his friend might be gone to the side of those people she hates from deep of her heart. "Then just dump the entire thing, Airi. no one forced you to do it in the first place, and not that things were going bad, to begin with…"
"Oh, then do you think that Rena was right all along, with that pretentious front she pulls out and goes on bullying some couple of weaklings to make herself seem powerful? Do you think that was right all along, Dew?" Airi's emotion burst out without any control. She was feeling confused and angry at her friends, thinking about why they were misunderstanding her, or to be precise, not understanding her at all.
Hazel tried to calm both of them down, "Hey relax, that's not it. We were just saying, Rena is going to graduate next year anyways, and she has been good to her duties so…"
"So we are going to just let her do whatever she wants to us, right? Since when did you guys turn like some cowardly little birds?"
"AIRI! We are concerned about you, that's all." Emma shouted out loud, dragging the entire attention of the class to them. "We would never want you to befriend those who you don't like, and turn out like them… and why do you need to adapt to those ways they do? You can be the way you are…"
"And get tagged as a normal weak person, huh? Do you think mere talk about righteousness and morals is going to do any good here? Do you think that will make these idiots in the classroom take my side?" Airi pointed out to the classmates present there, pointing out her finger. "What do you think Emma, these people present here have an ounce of strength in them to fight for the things that are just? That is right? Even if I want to change anything here, I would need these bunch of useless people for God's sake!"
Emma opened her mouth to speak up, but Hazel stopped her, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Then what are you going to do?"
Airi calmly answered back to her, "whatever I need to do to win."
"Then if you are going to be like this, we can not support you on this anymore."
Airi was shocked to hear such cold words coming out suc easily from Hazel. It was not long, but she honestly thought these three as her friends. But the last thing Airi wants is to lose. So she unwillingly accepted it. "Fine, there is no way I can step down after accepting this just to make myself weak like others. I hate being weak, so if you are not going to stay by my side, then…"
For some reasons, Airi felt choked up, finding it hard to voice out what she had to say. "...it was nice befriending you, I hope we sort these out really soon. But for now, I really need those people."
With that saying, Airi took her belongings and left the seat, which she had been using since the first day at school, the seat with the friends she made for a short time yet dearly.