"Hey.. hello.. hey.." Tasia was surprised to notice a hand waving impatiently in front of her face.
"Ah! Yes, s-sorry. H-here, right?" She stammered as she pointed the pen she held at a line in the long book laid on the tile security post desk.
The male committee laughed amusedly, "Yeah right, sign here. Already sleepy, huh? But still hungry?" he teased.
Tasia looked at the instant noodle package which was still in her hand. She smiled forcefully and nodded, "Thank you. I'll excuse myself." she said after she finished signing the list.
"Don't daydream again when you're cooking, okay? Then the noodles will be mushy." The guy's teasing was followed by his friend's laughter. Flirting with pretty junior girls is always fun.
It was like stepping on the wind. Tasia couldn't feel the floor she was on, her heart made every inch of her body feel weird. The pain was still throbbing in her chest.
'What am I thinking? I shouldn't be like this. I shouldn't..'
"Anastasia .." She gasped at the voice she really didn't want to hear right now. She stopped in her tracks, looked at the pair of flip-flops that wrapped her feet while catching her breath. But the pounding of her heart did not want to compromise.
"Anastasia? Are you all right?" He touched the girl's shoulder.
Tasia reflexively brushed off the big hand, "Don't touch me!" she snapped as she turned to face the guy behind her.
"Tasia? W-what's wrong?" Hadyan asked in surprise.
Tasia shuddered stiffly, her eyes widened. She looked at her hands and Hadyan in turn. Honestly, she was surprised at her own actions. All of that action and those words just happened beyond her control. As if a wild lion had been released from an iron cage, the anger and rage that had never been released were simply escaped.
"Tasia? What's wrong? What happened?" Hadyan repeated, he was getting closer worriedly over that shaken face of hers.
Tasia took a step back when Hadyan's hand was about to reach her, "I-I'm.. sorry. Hadyan.. sorry. I-I'm fine.." she forced a smile and lifted the instant noodles she was holding, "I'm just starving. So, I-I get annoyed when someone holds me back. Because.. I really want to go make this in the kitchen quickly."
Of course, Hadyan didn't believe that explanation. It was all implied on Tasia's face even though her mouth said otherwise. She wasn't the type of person to throw a tantrum just because she was hungry. Hadyan knew that clearly. "Is that so? I'm sorry for holding you back. Then, hurry to the kitchen if you're really hungry."
"Ok." Tasia gave a clumsy smile, then quickly walked away.
"Tasia!" Called Hadyan.
The girl turned around, still with a stiff smile on her face that seemed to imply 'What else?'.
Hadyan was silent for a moment, wanted to say what was on his mind but caught in his throat. All of his thought was just could only be replaced with a warm smile, "Forgive me for bothering you. Well, please eat a lot. I don't want to see you fall sick."
Hearing that, Tasia's feelings immediately mixed between annoyed, angry, and melted. She couldn't help but smile again and walked away with a depressed face. She felt like she wanted to shout 'Jerk Boy!' right in Hadyan's face. How could he say sweet things to her after having been engrossed in an intimate hug with Marya? Looked like she had to give the guy the label of 'Player Demon'.
As Tasia stepped further away, behind her, Hadyan's figure was still standing staring at the back of his crush.
'What happened to you, Tasia? What are you thinking about? I do not know anything now. I can't even feel your heartbeat and your presence anymore. How do I know how you feel? I want to know what's bothering you.'
Hadyan looked around, where many eyes of the villa's mystical inhabitants were watching him. Even kilometres away, they could all feel the presence of the prince figure of the ocean kingdom. Actually, from the first time he arrived at this place, the mystical atmosphere of the place became cloudy and tense.
Hadyan was a prince who reigns in the ocean. But in this place, 'Prince' was just a word and a title. It did not have any power or strength. The biggest cause was the agreement he made to disguise himself and stay in the human realm. He was just a foreigner who came in human form. The perfect form that all of the mystical spirits had always dreamed of. Because of that, they got angry just by seeing Hadyan presence.
****
The bedroom door opened. Tata opened her eyes when she realized that Tasia was back. She sat up from her slumber, still wrapped in the thick blanket, then turned on her phone and used its screen light to make it clearer what she wanted to see. Then, her brow furrowed in surprise.
"Haven't you eaten? Or did you eat something else?" She asked after seeing the instant noodle package that was still intact in her best friend's hand. She spoke in a low voice because the others had already fallen asleep.
"Suddenly, I'm not hungry," Tasia replied lazily as she threw the instant noodles onto her big bag, then crawled into the blanket to sleep beside Tata.
"Not hungry?" She repeated. "If you're not hungry, why are you outside for so long?" There was clearly something wrong with Tasia's face. She was sure that something had happened to her out there.
Tasia sighed briefly while her eyes glanced at the bed opposite, where Marya was already fast asleep, "I'll tell you tomorrow." she said quietly, not wanting to take the risk that Marya hadn't fallen asleep and had instead overheard their conversation.
Tata nodded in understanding. Understood that her best friend was tired and understood that the upset feeling she had was related to her other friend, Marya.
"Okay. Let's go to sleep." She laid back down.
***
Because of couldn't sleep all night long, Tasia woke up a bit late. She walked briskly towards the dining room.
Indeed, all the students, including Tasia, had no time to explore the big villa because they arrived too late last night. It turned out that the dining room of the villa they occupied was very spacious. There were three large and long wooden dining tables like in the Harry Potter movie.
"Wow! The tables are huge!" She muttered in amazement in the doorway.
"Do you like it? In my palace, the table is bigger than this."
Tasia then turned quickly to hear the voice of a guy standing behind her. Hadyan smiled warmly.
"Good morning. Did you wake up late? You're not falling sick, are you?" He continued.
For some reason, by looking at Hadyan, Tasia's 'kind of dancing on the clouds' mood, suddenly plummeted into the well.
"I'm fine," She answered immediately before moving her feet to her group that was already sitting at one of the tables. She sat next to Tata.
"Hadyan! Here!" Marya waved quickly and pointed to the empty seat next to her. She had already prepared for her prospective boyfriend.
Tasia knew it, but she just looked down pretending to enjoy the food that Tata had spooned for her. She would try not to care.
Marya shifted her chair so Hadyan could sit more comfortably. They sat opposite Tasia and Tata. Inside her heart, Tasia grumbled uncomfortably.
The seat beside Tasia was empty, and she shouldn't be bothered by that. But why in the hell that seat could make her feel upset? So, Hadyan really chose to sit beside Marya? But on the other hand, Tasia also did not invite Hadyan to sit beside her either. If because of that Tasia became irritated, she should be ashamed of herself.
Tasia suddenly felt a commotion beside her. It turned out that the figure of Patra was trying to occupy the empty seat beside Tasia.
"Why do you move here?" Tasia asked. Somehow, she became somewhat pleased with Patra's presence.
"I just happened to want to sit next to you. You're really beautiful this morning." He teased.
"Lies. He just wants to take your chicken nuggets, Tasia." Said Mark. His chicken nuggets had already been eaten by Patra. Now, he's after Tasia's.
The girl laughed, "You stray cat. Here!" She transferred the nuggets to the guy's plate.
"Oh yeah! Thank you, my angel!" Patra said happily while patting Tasia's head as if she was a puppy.
The scene unfolded before Hadyan's eyes. It felt like he was going to throw this large dining table and put all the chicken nuggets in the dining room into Patra's mouth. 'His angel? Anastasia is my consort!'
"Hadyan.. Why are you daydreaming?" Marya's voice suddenly made Tasia turn her head to them.
'Good grief! What if Hadyan gets angry seeing me and Patra?' Tasia remembered the previous incident when she played feeding with Patra in the school canteen.
Tasia looked at Hadyan in horror. But not as expected, the guy's face looked normal.
Hadyan smiled in response to Marya, "It's nothing. Let's continue eating."
Marya nodded cheerfully as she poured water from the water jug into Hadyan's glass, "Okay!"
Tasia looked down again, but in ashamed this time. Then, she ate her tasteless food.