C L A I R E

Time passed by so quickly, the busy people around me were muttering under their breath as my eyes quickly darted to my watch.

It was already 8 o' clock in the morning. I've arrived way too early.

To be honest, I didn't even want to be here. I was just forced to come since I had to enroll early on my dream university so I won't catch the long line of students in the hallway.

Being an incoming senior high student was something else indeed.

My parents were both company workers. The first thing I could say was that my mom's line of work was being a manager of the World Bank on Manila.

She mostly handles a lot of reports coming from her department - the accounting department, if I had to be specific.

My dad, on the other hand, was a lawyer. He rarely spends time with me because of his overflowing pile of paperworks and criminal cases.

Truth to be told, our bond's not that strong - considering the fact that we rarely talk to each other.

If we do have that kind of quality time, it would easily be crushed and finished by how fast and serious he would be while talking.

The conversation between us would vanish to thin air like that and after a few days, he'd act like nothing actually happened.

Both of them were hardworking parents, I have to admit. But that would mean that they would always be busy and would rarely come back home - which saddens me.

The tendency of that, I'd be the only one who'd prepare my requirements for the university - no help from my parents guaranteed.

The life of being an independent person, I guess.

I couldn't really argue much since I was pretty used to it by now.

My eyebrows furrowed before I laughed the thought away. I knew to myself that it shouldn't be a problem at all. I had my bestfriend to help me.

The only problem was, she'd always wake up late. Of course, it's no suprise if Sam couldn't arrive on time today.

She wasn't the type of person that was easy to wake.

Fixing the ends of my hair --- gently brushing the messy and tangled ones using my fingers --- I smiled. Maybe I was really a bit too early today. I guess it's alright though. More time for myself.

Eyes averting from my watch, I crossed the road and stared inside the building of Jollibee. I noticed that there weren't any familiar faces and Sam was nowhere to be found. Just random people wating their orders and some were waiting in line.

Dang it, where is she?

My breath hitched as my feet took me inside the fastfood chain --- taking a few glances on my phone before completely ignoring it. I called her earlier and still haven't received any message coming from her after that.

Where the hell is this woman anyway?

I'm pretty sure that she's still sleeping. She's probably late, again.

Pushing my phone down to my pocket, my hazel brown eyes widened as I saw a guy holding a drink on his left hand, a cellphone held tightly on his right, and fries being kept on his mouth - his teeth almost sinking on the container to prevent itself from falling.

He was tall and I would mostly likely be on his shoulder level, wore a red jersey with a dragon design on it, had almond shaped yet dark chocolate eyes, and smooth tanned skin. In every angle, it couldn't be helped that he still looked like the snobbish type of guy.

But his tanned skin really complemented his overall appearance.

In short words, he was the meaning of perfection.

Using his right hand, he tried to text while he was walking along with the food that he was carrying --- not even noticing that I was heading the same direction.

He's too immersed on his phone so I could probably tell that he was messaging his girlfriend.

Even if I wanted to avoid him at all cost, he kept on swerving into multiple directions from left to right --- making me confused to what direction I should literally turn and walk towards to.

When he finally lifted his gaze, we wore the same expression --- both of us had wide eyes and gaping mouth as we knew that we were going to bump into each other. But it never happened.

What was more suprising was that he didn't notice the two steps down --- his feet missing both and I saw him quickly falling down in a sitting position, the fries on his mouth hitting his face, shocking him.

The suprising thing for me was that he was facing me when he fell down and landed on his butt after.

Not a minute had passed, he cursed. His jersey was soaked with the softdrinks he was drinking earlier.

Shivering, he stood up --- his hands supporting him to get back on his feet, pushing himself back up before coughing.

Everything happened so fast.

I couldn't help but let my lips curl, twitch, and release the laugh that I've been holding bsck to prevent himself from flushing deep red in embarrasment.

"That's what you get on being too focused on girls. You couldn't help yourself from falling."

My mouth couldn't help but tell that joke, teasing the living hell out of the guy right in front of me. But I covered it as soon as it did come out.

Gosh, I shouldn't have said that out loud. What the hell was I thinking? Why would I even say that to him? Claire, you're in big trouble now.

Once he heard me, he gave me that death glare that could almost pierce my own soul in half. I felt intimidated under his gaze --- maybe because of the height difference we had.

And let me tell you, this wasn't your ordinary daily joe from anywhere. He's like a huge tree in front of me.

"Let me just correct that for you, miss. I don't focus on other girls since I have a strict girlfriend waiting for me. In fact, this is all your fault." Pointing at himself, he then pushed me out of the way.

Be thanful that I'm not as strong as you --- since you're an athlete. But if I was, I would've fight back.

Taking a few steps back, I raised my eyebrow at him.

"Excuse me? It's my fault? You were the one who wasn't paying attention to where you were going. Plus, you were the one who didn't notice the steps in front of you!" I complained before I continued to reply back --- having the attention of other people on the sidewalks.

"That's the problem with you boys. If you fall, we're always the one at fault. You boys are always pointing fingers at us," I replied back as he just gave me a deadpanned attention.

"Humor me," he told me before scoffing.

Before he could even counter once more, a friend of his had came, tapped his shoulder, and shook his head --- stopping the guy abruptly from his tracks.

A guy with light chocolate eyes, wearing a blue jersey, had now pulled him back. Based on his outfit of choice, the same design, and height --- Ininstantly knew that both of them were basketball players and probably teammates.

When botg of us had eye contact, he darted it quickly on his red jersey friend, who was already bursting out smoke from his ears and calling curses outloud.

"Don't fight back. Let her be. She's a girl for damn sake," his friend explained as the guy scoffed in response.

"Do you really think I care, Benedict? This girl looks like a warfreak. Even quoting things that doesn't even make any sense." Once he complained, I gave him a glare. The audacity!

Crossing my arms, I quickly answered back, "You're really a daring one, huh? Calling me a warfreak. You shouldn't be blaming me in the first place, grumbler."

"Whatever. Vanessa needs me and I'm in a hurry. Benedict, let's go," his tone became unfazed as he then walked past me.

Scurrying off, the 'Benedict' guy gave me an apologetic look, saying sorry, before following his bestfriend --- leaving me dazed right on the spot with a questioning look on my features.

Silently laughing to myself, I rewind the scenario back in my head and tried to remember every bit of it.

I'm pretty sure that he's the one at fault here and he's desperately pointing the blame on me. Unbelievable.

Ignoring it, my feet trudged itself towards the fast food chain, pushing the door and finally entering --- taking note on what food I should order while I wait for Sam.

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

As I tried to wait for my friend, my hand held the glass of coke --- felt the coldness of the beverage, pulled it towards my lips, and drank.

Due to the hot temperature, the taste of the drink became bland after the lack of ice cubes. It had already been an hour or so since I ordered and yet here I was - still waiting for a phone call to come.

I was really stuck to the option on asking myself whether my friend was still sleeping or contemplating that she'd ditch me.

Since she was taking too long to arrive, my credentials and school requirements took up all the space on the table, scattered and left untouched.

Of course, I made sure to bring all of it so I won't have to go back and forth to the university.

Glancing at my phone for a few seconds, which was laying along my files on the table in front of me, my hands unconsciously snatched it as soon as a notification came and a message popped up on the screen.

Sammie | 9:24 am

I'm on my way!

I took a deep breath and forced myself to smile. I'm really not in the mood right now. She was at it again. I sipped my beverage once again, holding the glass to my lips, I tried to calm my nerves and reassured myself that she'd come.

I mean, she would. Right?

Claire, you don't have to worry. I'm sure that she'll show up. She won't ditch you like the last time.

Looking at my left side, I almost jumped and screamed once I saw Sam's face too close to the glass window of the building --- cheekily smiling at me while her eyes squinting back. Almost everyone inside the fast food chain stared at her as she did this.

Noticing her quickly, I pointed at the door and she gave me a nod --- pushing it with full force.

The only embarrassing thing that happened was that she almost broke the door. Hanging my head down low, I almost facepalmed.

Darn it, Sam. What are you doing?

Finally, she sat down in front of me and giggled.

"Sorry I'm late, Claire. Got stuck in a traffic."

Lifting my gaze up at her, I raised an eyebrow. Was she serious? This wasn't the first time she did this.

For an example, I told her that we should meet at 8 am sharp, she'd always arrive at 10 in the morning.

And that even depends if she was in a good mood to leave the house.

When she had noticed my silent treatment and unforiving gaze, she hid her face on her hands and suddenly begged for forgiveness --- apologizing from time to time.

"I was late because of traffic, Claire. I'm not lying to you this time, I swear! The driver took the route to EDSA instead of Quiapo," she explained.

"That's not entirely my fault, okay?" She added, making me smile and chuckled at her reaction. To be honest, I wasn't mad. Just disappointed.

Sighing, I just gave her a nod as an answer. "That's fine, Sammie. I'm not mad."

"Just order something and I'll wait for you outside, okay?" I gently told her as she nodded and walked towards the counter.

Taking my bag and the files, I quickly walked out of the fastfood chain. Holding up my phone, I didn't notice that there was someone already staring at me from a distance.

And yet I didn't notice him.

When I felt uneasy all of the sudden, I looked left and right. There was this gut feeling that I should take a glance around me.

After a few minutes, I finally had eye contact with a familiar face right there in the parking lot.

Fvck, not him again.

As soon as I raised an eyebrow at him, he gave me a look and copied my expression --- throwing it back before furrowing his eyebrows and lips curling into a frown. Is he mocking me right now?

His friend, on the other hand, was just looking at his phone with no interest of ever staring at his surroundings.

"Uh, Claire?" Turning back around, I saw Sam lookin at me with confusion written all over her face. Holding her order on one hand, she took a sip on her cup and spoke.

"What were you looking at? You look like you were getting ready for a fight. If you're ready to go the university, we can go." A nod was all I could muster as she walked in front of me and made sure that I'd follow.

"Sorry for the delay, Sammie." My eyes couldn't prevent itself from looking back at the guy --- noticed that he was now leaning on his car.

When his bestfriend gave him a pat on the shoulder, he then tilted his head to look at me a little bit before giving me a slightly sideward smirk before going inside his car.

And since I was too busy staring, I didn't notice that Sam was holding one of my credentials and was calling out my name for a few times.

When I finally snapped back to reality, my gaze averted itself from the guy, muttered a sorry to my bestfriend before I shakily took the paper from her hands. I must've left this one inside.

When she was already a bit far from me, I glanced back at the parking lot and saw that the car was gone. They left.

But, I could still remember what it looked like.

A White Honda Civic.

And that bad guy was the driver.

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

Author's Note: Hello guys! Finally, this book has slow updates as I have mentioned in the prologue. The thing is, the original one is currently in revision. And this book might have typos and grammatically incorrect sentences. Sorry for that. ✌

That's the reason why this book would take a bit long than the Taglish one. But, I can reassure you that this will also be finished and might have a few changes from the original.

Lovelots. If you like this chapter, maybe you can click the star to vote and leave a comment? Lovelots. 💕

Get connected to these social media accounts of mine:

•  Facebook: Charisse Garcia •

•  Twitter: SG6403  •

•  Instagram: cgversil  •

See you guys!