--Honey Lou's Point of View--
I attended class today as if I hadn't gone on a 4-day streak of absence recently.
No one seemed to notice it anyway so I had nothing to be bothered about.
"Where have you been?"
Seongmin Park approached me once my eyes started to glance around, looking for a certain someone in the room.
He pulled up a chair and sat behind me as I settled on the bookshelves of our class. Simply sitting on it like it was just yet another piece of furniture made for sitting.
"Hello, I am talking to you." he waved at me with his calming voice playing in my ears.
"I didn't feel like going out." he nodded as if agreeing and understanding my reason.
"Well, you missed out on a lot of our activities and lessons. I can go with you and reach out to the teachers to make up for all of that." he offered and I accepted.
'There is no point in rejecting their help.' since I genuinely need it, and I cannot bear the thought of seeking help from them and yet, getting ignored, rejected, and so forth.
"Thank you." I quietly thanked him before walking away.
Classes have been suspended today and I am left with nothing else to do.
No one interesting enough to converse with, nothing left to read from the bookshelves because I finished each corner of the classroom, and nothing left to study because I'd studied most of what lessons we were tackling.
'Need I really to approach the teachers if I have already done their activities and studied their lessons?' and how exactly?
Dan Nevuerra kept me company for the last few days while I was not in school, giving me a copy of the lessons and things that we had to pass, basically, he had me write a bunch of excuse letters and send those to our teachers for me.
I was questioning his intention behind the efforts he had shown. But he simply said...
"Friends help each other out." with the most deceiving voice he has ever used on me.
'It was clearly a lie or rather, there was something more to it.'
I was heading to the library after getting permission from the class president.
I wanted to find something better to read than those academic textbooks and romance books filled with happy endings.
"Is it just me or is no one thanking me for my kindness?" someone's head popped up beside me as I slowly walked to the library with my school bag in hand, he took it from me and handed a chocolate drink.
"Thank you." I shortly replied, acknowledging his presence and willingness to stand by my side.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
We both walked down the aisle where most fictional books were located, Dan helped me in choosing the books but soon gave up as I didn't turn out to like any of his recommendations. "Thank you for trying." I still encouraged him to keep himself busy.
"One can never be too safe..."
A line from the book entitled 'The Mistresses' which is a prequel to a book I remember reading back then, back when I was still in New York.
Before the accident happened...
"This is perfect!" I exclaimed in happiness once I finally found another book in this series.
"I thought you were sick of romance books. You can be honest with me if you don't like my taste." the dirty blonde-haired friend of mine sulked, I followed him around, and what happened next was something I didn't see coming.
He took my hand in his, and caressed it lovingly before we entered a door, or am I being assuming about the loving part?
I dropped the book I was holding along with the door closing, and we were alone inside the private study area.
"What do you think you're doing?" I questioned his behavior, trying to pick up the book.
"I just want to read-" but he didn't let me do as I pleased.
'He kissed me.'
I couldn't look at him directly, given that I couldn't tell anything about his face. Yet, he kissed me again before his hands traveled to my waist, and I just let my heart lead the way.
So, he taught me how to passionately kiss, inside one of the library's private rooms with the door unlocked.
If anyone walked up on us, we would be in huge trouble but I was glad that he noticed my concern and took a break from what he was doing.
I pulled back first and had him gather his composure before we locked the door.
And the air shifted the moment I gave him a chance to have some privacy with me.
His hand was on top of mine and I avoided his gaze, trying not to entertain his idea of kissing me again. "Don't you dare." I tried to push him away, his arms wrapped around my back, and I could tell he was not going to stop there.
He planted a kiss on my forehead, down to my lips where it took him the longest, it was hot and felt so new to me. He did all that before his attention went somewhere else, Dan seemed to hesitate as he looked down.
'What is he...?' don't tell me... "No-" I was about to kick him when he suddenly blocked me, he was looking at me while laughing as if there was something funny.
"I wasn't thinking about doing that." he led me in confusion. "Hilarious."
"Let's take a seat." he picked up the book for me and let me read it as he laid his head on my lap, and faced the ceiling.
'Even though there were pillows on the sofa...' I shrugged off the thought of it and wanted to move on from what we had just done, however, that wasn't as easy to do as I expected it to be.
'But I'm engaged already.' I remembered.
"What's wrong?" his head slightly moved towards me as I gazed at him, removing the book from the picture of my eyes and viewing his seemingly unmovable state. I didn't answer him.
"It's nothing, I was only processing the words." more like processing the scenario that just happened not longer than 30 minutes yet.
"Are you not going to leave still?" his head was still on my lap with his hands crossed, he didn't budge but I was aching to stand up and feel my toes again from the long duration of my lower body being unmoved.
"Do you plan on going home?" he replied to me which caught me off guard as he took longer to reply than I anticipated. "Not home."
"I want to go out and enjoy the rain." his head suddenly went up and hit mine, causing us to die in laughter.
We soon left the school library after I checked out the book I am currently still reading. He held the umbrella above our heads which is fortunately big enough for the two of us.
"Got everything?" he checked to confirm as we walked out.
The rain was not so heavy, the wind was not so strong, and the ground was not so flooded with water either. 'Refreshing.' was the feeling I inherited from the weather we're having today.
"I was asking you a question, honey."
When it comes to words, there is sometimes a hard pronunciation in the first letter of my name but if someone calls me by that one other term such as honey.
'Literally honey as in what Ivy calls me.' it's rather soft-spoken.
"I've got my book and that's all I am ever going to need." nothing was funny from what I spoke about and yet, it made him laugh so lightly.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
We arrived near a place called Sophia... "Must be the owner's name." Dan hypothesized based on the name of the place, that it was a library but not entirely filled with only books.
"I'm going to go play! Hold these for me."
Dan's voice and mood changed for the better as soon as he saw the set of gaming computers in the place.
I let him do as he pleased like a kid who was eager to play in the park, meanwhile, I approached the front desk and inquired for some guidance from the owner.
"You're the owner here, correct?" the woman with short black apple-cut hair had given me a nod, her nametag gave away that information, however, she explained to me the reason behind the shop's name.
"My parents actually named me after the shop. This place is older than most of the people in my generation in the family." she started to share with me a fun fact about the place, she was organizing the items on the desk to make it more presentable after it got messed up from the commotion that allegedly happened before we entered.
'Sophia means Wisdom.'
From the Greek word, her name means wisdom for she, too, acquired quite a lot of wisdom from reading books, articles, and many more materials here in their family shop.
"Another thing is that many elderly women in our family still live to this day compared to the men they married because they are wiser in life than the men." Sophia added in a whisper.
We both bonded from that moment, Sophia and I became friends with the same interest in reading and endlessly learning.
'She and I clicked as if we have been friends for years.' Sophia took me by surprise with all the things that came from her mouth like she lived a hundred years old, but in reality, she is only 22 years old. 'Which is six years of difference from me.'
"If you don't mind me asking... Who is that blonde idiot over there?" her way of describing Dan had me laughing so hard.
"He's a friend... A friend of mine." my answer had me thinking...
"Just a friend?" Sophia blissfully interrogated.
"We're nothing more than that." given the fact that there haven't been any real and explicit confessions between us two.
"So, you've got something going on as more than friends but less than lovers?" Sophia concluded and I could only nod most uncertainly.
"That sucks." she added while patting my left shoulder as we walked ahead.
"You don't have to say that again." I whirled myself around and leaned on the bookshelves, recognizing the blonde-haired so-called friend of mine, also known as, someone who I have feelings for. 'Who also appears to feel the same way.'
If I'm not being mistaken and deceived by everything going on between us.
'Even our friends don't find us as a good match.'