After hesitantly knocking on the door, I release a deep breath and take a step back to wait.
My chest feels heavy and I feel like I might throw up from the number off butterflies fluttering in my stomach. The person who opens the door is the last person I was hoping to see. I was expecting Jodie to open the door since it technically is her home, but I guess now that they're in a relationship it's normal for her to ask her boyfriend to open the door for her guests instead.
The immediate tension which simmers between us is what I notice first but I ignore it as best I can. My hands reach up to wrap around my headphones which I then pull down to hang around my neck. I pause the music which was previously blasting through my ears.
"Hi," greeting him softly, I try my hardest not to look into his eyes.
When Dominic doesn't answer me, that is when I force myself to glance up at him, no matter how much my heart tightens at the gesture. He seems deep in thought.
He is dressed in the usual black hoodie, black trousers and black trainers. I cannot see his hair, because he has his hood up to cover himself in even more darkness as if that is relatively possible.
His air screams apprehension more than usual; I can tell that there is a difference today. Normally he's dull, but today he seems deep in self-misery. It makes me want to ask him what's wrong just to pull him out of his train of thoughts, just so that he can tell me why he's wearing black again. Does he not know that Jodie doesn't like that? Has she finally accepted him for who he is and given him the liberty to wear whatever he wants?
Eventually, he brings his gaze up to meet mine sluggishly. Emotional.
I fold an arm over my stomach.
After flickering his eyes down to catch what I always do when I am anxious, he clenches his jaw. Emotional.
When he realises how much he has shown, he averts his eyes onto his shoes and shakes his head with a mocking smile tugging onto his lips. My gaze unintentionally turns concerned and I'm about to ask him what is going on when Jodie walks in from behind him. She has a bright smile on her face, but once she sees me standing here with Dominic the smile falters a bit.
"Dominic?" she calls and he snaps out of it, turning around to look at his girlfriend.
He fixes his expression into a neutral look.
"What's going on?"
"Seong Jin's here," he mutters blandly and then strolls over to her. "I guess now we can start since he's not wasting our time anymore."
With that being said, he pecks her cheek hastily and walks into the lounge. Even though his sneered words hit me bluntly in the chest, I ignore my emotions and try to focus on Jodie. Her large eyes follow him for a while as he strolls away from us, leaving us together in the hallway. Once he has disappeared from our view, she throws her eyes back onto me, squinting at me suspiciously, as if she knows something that I don't.
Her gaze lingers on me for a few moments, making me feel uneasy, before she clears her throat and breaks the silence between us.
From her actions, I hurriedly put on a blank façade, so blank that Dominic would be proud of me if he weren't so obviously angry at me.
"What's going on between you two?"
I pause, rolling my bottom lip between my teeth and biting down so hard that it almost draws blood. "What do you mean?"
"I mean," she emphasises her words, folding her arms over her chest promptly, "one minute you guys are all buddy-buddy and then you're not. What happened?"
"I don't know," I reply softly, so softly that I'm almost afraid that she won't hear me.
After lifting up my shoulders into an indifferent shrug, I walk up to her slowly and listen to the taps that my trainers make on the wooden floorboards. Just as I am passing her to go into the lounge, I give her a sideways glance.
"I guess friendships end now and then. Just like how you and I were once buddy-buddy and now we're not."
I disregard the hurt which passes through her eyes, making my way into the other room.
As we are sitting in the dining room, I test the parallel circuits after watching the video that I downloaded eons ago. Mia, Veronique and Fleance are on the other side of the room working on two different external parts for the robot. Christian watches my handiwork carefully and when the lights do not flash red like they did in the video, I instantly know that I've done something wrong. I'm pretty sure I followed every step properly though.
Frowning irritably, I tell him to play the video again so that we can retry it, but he quickly shows me where I went wrong and, of course, the bulb lights up.
"Hey?" he calls and it's difficult to miss the hesitation in his tone. Almost like he is afraid that I might pounce on him at any second.
I release a noise behind my throat which relays to him that I'm in fact listening to what he has to say even though I may not be looking at him.
"So, w-what's up with the tension between the th-three of you?"
"It's nothing," I utter bluntly, moving onto the next step of the making of the robot. Grabbing the tablet, I switch it on and play the video again.
Riley did not even bother showing up and the other two members of our group are somewhere around this house.
You know, I thought that Jodie wanted to build this robot, but with the way they have been staring at one another, touching each other and giggling discreetly, I don't see that happening. Now, not so long ago they both made up some dumb excuse about needing water before they both die of dehydration. I'm pretty sure I know what they're doing in that kitchen and I can bet my arse it's not drinking water.
"Do you really think that Dominic would post all your vlogs on the internet?"
I stare up at him, stunned. "You didn't stutter."
A deep blush marinates his cheeks and he averts his gaze onto the carpeted floor, picking on the softness. "Yeah, my speech therapy s-seems to be working."
"Nice." I chuckle at his bashful behaviour, momentarily forgetting that I have to appear mad and gloomy. "I'm proud of you, mate."
"This i-isn't about me," he scolds, glowering at me for trying to divert the subject from me to him. It obviously didn't work. "Do you really think that Dominic would post all your videos on the internet?"
I sigh exasperatedly and put the circuit down to scratch on the itch behind my neck.
I am rather reluctant to reveal what I really think because deep down I want to believe that he didn't do this. That he didn't expose all my dirty, little secrets like he vowed he would do back two months ago. Except that was if I didn't deliver on my part and the thing is, I did. He's with the girl of his dreams now. Why wouldn't he keep his end of the deal? Why would he betray me like this? It makes absolutely no sense for him to do so. What does he gain?
"I don't know. What I do know is that he had my memory card and that letter. Who else could have posted my videos if they didn't have my memory card to begin with?"
He scowls, disappointed for some weird reason. "Yeah, you're right. You know, I was actually kind of shipping you guys for a while."
"Me too," Mia inserts from the other side of the room.
I glance over at her in bemusement.
Why would she ship me with a guy who wronged her in the eighth grade? If someone spread a rumour around about me firstly sleeping with someone and then saying that I contracted a genitalia disease, I would do everything in my power to avoid them at all costs. I would want nothing to do with them. I wouldn't have even agreed to work in the same group as them. I would bother the teacher every single day until she assigned me to another group.
"Even though I do think he's a major wiener," she adds hastily as if that is meant to bring across her contempt for him.
She seems to have forgiven him without even receiving an apology from him.
"I mean, he did spread that rumour around about me during our first year in high school, just because I forgot my assignment at home."
"Oh, that you had herpes."
We all glance over at Veronique in shock.
When she notices our eyes, she exclaims, "What? He did."
"Yeah, he did," Mia says, and you can taste the relief that settles over the room, "but that was a long time ago. We've all grown up and matured from little snots. Even if it did potentially ruin my high school life, I've gotten over it one hundred and ten percent."
"Your positivity is nauseating."
We all look at Veronique again, flabbergasted by her blatantly uttered words.
Blamelessly, she exclaims again, "What? It is."
"Yeah, it is," Mia adds after her comment and again we're left in reprieve. "Anyway, I ship it. Hard. Domseong."
"That's a horrible ship name," Veronique comments, shaking her head in disapproval.
"Oh, and you can do a better job?"
Veronique shrugs at the question and doesn't attempt to give up her idea of a ship name.
"What about you Fleance?" Mia muses curiously.
"I'm not very good at making up ship names," he responds, without glancing up from the laptop he's busy typing into.
"No, do you ship Dominic and Seong Jin?"
Worriedly, I voice, "Maybe we shouldn't be talking about this with his girlfriend literally a room away from us. She could hear us, you know?"
"Eh, who cares? She can ruin my social life. I'm leaving by the end of next mid-year." Mia shrugs nonchalantly.
"Well, I don't know," Fleance starts with a look of disagreement on his face. "I think Seong Jin deserves way better. He is a major wiener."
After we have all taken in his opinion, we simultaneously nod in agreement. Can't argue with that.
It's funny, because Dominic and I weren't even friends to begin with and already there are two people who were shipping us. We were always just puppet and puppeteer; he was pulling the strings the whole entire time.
With that being said, we all immerse ourselves back into our work.
Dominic comes back and for a split second our eyes meet until he forces himself to look away. Jodie steps into the room with Riley tailing her unwillingly and we all look at him surprised.
"What?" he grumbles and our eyes waver away from him when he glares at us. "I know you were all gonna snitch on me, and Mrs Kennedy was gonna fail me. I cannot fail Physics if I want to get that football scholarship."
Honestly, we all agreed not to say anything about how he missed most of the sessions we had at my father's diner. Dominic, Veronique and Fleance were the only ones who had no problem snitching on him, but again, majority won. I don't think I can be cruel like that even to Riley and I guess that makes me a bit of a pushover.
Hesitantly, he puts himself down on the carpet next to Christian and I. Gingerly I hand him the tablet when he looks clueless about what to do.
The moment he says, "Thank you," I gaze over at Christian who looks just as shocked as I am by his words.
I glance around the room, my eyes sweeping over the group gathered in the lavish living room. I never thought we would ever get everyone together at the same time, grafting a shift to build this robot, yet here we are.
My eyes stumble across Dominic's piercing gaze, his dark eyes smouldering with a hidden intensity that makes my breath catch in my throat. Even though I know holding his gaze would be a dangerous game to partake in, I cannot seem to tear myself away.
As we stare at each other, the rest of the room seems to fade away. Everything narrows down to just the two of us, suspended in a charged moment of anticipation. I can feel the tension building between us, a coiled spring of something unspoken threatening to snap at any moment now. He is silently daring me to make the first move, to cower away.
And I do.
"I'm going to get something to drink," I announce nervously, rising gracefully from the plush rug floor.
With a shaky breath, I make my way towards the kitchen and on my journey, I try to distract myself from my vapid thoughts by marvelling at the sheer opulence of my surroundings. The floors are covered in gleaming hardwood, polished shine. The walls are adorned with intricate mouldings and ornate artwork, casting a warm glow over the space. I forgot how rich Jodie's parents are.
Stepping into the kitchen, I am met with a sight that leaves me momentarily awestruck. The room is nothing short of a culinary wonderland. Pristine stainless steel appliances line the granite countertops, their surfaces reflecting the soft light like mirrors. Reaching the refrigerator, I gently open the door and I'm greeted by a cool rush of air and an array of tempting beverages. After scanning the shelves for a moment, I select a chilled bottle of sparkling water.
As I am gulping down the last few sips of cool, refreshing water, a glint of light catches my eye, reflected off the granite island countertop. I slowly lower the bottle, squinting to try and focus my gaze on the item.
My heart skips a beat. There, amidst the clutter of cooking utensils and half-empty spice jars, is a familiar matte blue ring. My breath hitches in my throat as I recognise the delicate band, adorned with an engraving of an infinity symbol.
I place my bottle down. With a trembling hand, I reach out and gently pick up the ring, turning it over in his palm. The metal is still warm from the sunlight streaming through the kitchen window. A thousand questions race through my mind as I stand there, frozen in place. Did Dominic forget it in here while he was with Jodie fooling around? Slowly, I close my fingers around the gift that I gave him for his birthday.
I know that most would be thinking, why the hell would I get Dominic Lachowski a ring? Isn't that way too, I don't know, personal and kind of overstepping the friendship boundary? At the time, it seemed like a really good idea to get him a ring. I was going to get one for myself too, but personal engravings on rings are quite expensive and getting them on one was way over my budget. I even had to ask Franklin to loan me a few quid.
The ring is quite simple. In fact, it is quite plain, almost like my father's ring except for the colour. But I did not want it to just be a ring. I wanted to apply my creative mind and add a touching message to the ring itself. It's probably not the most memorable thing, but to be fair, I didn't know Dominic and what he liked. Still don't. I just wanted to give him a gift that was personal to both him and me and this is all I could think of.
Domi forever.
Then there is an infinity symbol.
I can't believe he actually wears it.
Someone clears their throat behind me, and I spring up in surprise, spinning around to catch Dominic's rich chocolate gaze. The familiar scent of his cologne envelopes me with how close he's standing. His brows are furrowed, lips pressed into a thin line as he regards me with cautious uncertainty. My fingers play around with the ring and his gaze flickers down, now fixed resolutely on it.
"That's mine," he finally says, gesturing to the item. His voice is low and measured, betraying no emotion.
I nod mutely, my heart thundering in my chest.
For a long moment, we sit in charged silence, the air thick with unspoken emotions. When I don't give his ring back to him, he slowly reaches over to take it from me. His warm fingers brush across mine as he plucks his ring from my palm. I shiver at the delicate contact, transfixed by the way the dying light dances across his beautiful eyes.
After breaking eye contact, he simply stands in front of me, turning the ring over in his hand. Then without a word, he slips it onto his finger, the infinity symbol engrained in the band glinting like a promise.
With a final nod in my direction, he turns and disappears back into the living room, leaving me alone in the kitchen, the ghost of his touch lingering on my skin.
When I release a sigh, I realise that I had been holding my breath that entire time.