⭐ Zachary's POV ⭐

The whole place was blasting loud music and most of the people were dancing like crazy. I squinted my eyes to scan through the crowd and still could not spot Eva. Before Dylan and Helen left for their honeymoon, they booked a bar for the guests to relax. All of us went back to have a change of clothes before meeting at this place.

Quite a number of people from our cohort were invited by Dylan and Helen. It was definitely nice to see familiar faces after living in another city for such a long time.

Eva was ecstatic when she had caught the flower. She immediately ran up to me with a bright smile, I have not seen for ages. I congratulated her as she took out her smartphone to take a selfie. Without a doubt, Eva wanted to tell all her friends through Instagram.

Now, here's the weird part. Eva's happy mood had a drastic change out of nowhere. Slow music was being played and all the couples were on the dancing floor. I held out my hand for Eva, which was obvious that I wanted to have a dance with her. But, she stomped out of the bar, not so much as a glance on my hand.

Clearly, I was bewildered by her sudden mood swing. Ella saw what happened as she patted my back while giving me a small smile. I simply shrugged and went to get a drink for myself. I would feel annoyed whenever Eva treated me like I was nothing to her.

The loud music was adjusted to a lower volume and Jake was trying to get everyone's attention by using a spoon to tap on the cup repeatedly.

The sudden change in volume and with Jake's persistence, the whole room was remarkably quieter within minutes.

"Hey, guys. How have you been for the past ten years?" Jake greeted warmly and there were a few responses thrown to him.

"I bet you guys missed me terribly."

Laughter reverberated around the enclosed room, which made Jake shot everyone a cheeky grin.

"Like real!" I shouted an answer from the back and the reaction I had gotten was similar to Jake's.

"Honestly, Zach. I don't give a damn." Jake winked at me before carrying on with what he planned to do.

Jake was signalling to Nicole and the lights were dimmed. There was a bright light shining from a screen on the right. All of our attention was cast to that direction.

Photos of our graduation night started filling up the screen. When a candid picture of Dylan, who was about to take a sip of his drink came out everyone burst out in laughter. Actually, the funny part was Jake posed for the camera. But, the camera shot him in the middle of his posing.

"Hey, who the hell chose that photo?" Jake questioned as he shot a look to his left.

Memories flooded all of our minds as the photos were taking turns to appear on the screen. My smartphone vibrated in my pocket and I took it out to find a text from Eva.

Eva : I have to get back to the office. See you when you're back home.

I had to rub my eyes to confirm if it was playing tricks on me. However, Eva's message was staring back at me bright and clear. Eva definitely lied about going back to her work. She never works during the weekend, neither was the company.

Zachary : Eva, where are you?

I anxiously waited for a reply as my fingers drummed rather loudly on the table. I was not in the mood to know whatever that was happening in the bar. Laughter and chatter were surrounding me, but I was in my own zone. My mind was completely isolated from everyone else's.

Eva : On the way to the airport. Got to go. Bye.

Once I have read her text, I immediately dialled Eva's number and called her instead. Patience was running thin and I went outside because the bar was too noisy. Eva finally answered my call after the eighth ring.

"Hello?"

"Why did you leave so sudden?"

"I've already told you. I needed to get back to the office."

"Stop lying to me, Eva! You never work during the weekend!" My voice came out a little shaky, as anger filled my emotions.

"I do now. Okay."

"Why?"

Eva let out a sarcastic laugh before she responded.

"There isn't any special reason. I just have to go back, alright?" With that Eva hung up the call, leaving me to stare at my phone in disbelief.

I rubbed my face in frustration, feeling the weariness that had started to seep into my bones. The problem between Eva and I would be a lack of communication. Whenever I wanted to talk to her about our problems, she would avoid the topic.

Sometimes, I felt that Eva is not the same person she used to be when I first met her. Eva used to be sweet, loving and understanding. I have no idea when or why she has changed so much.

"Hello? Mum, can you hear me better now?" Someone came out of the bar and broke my train of thoughts.

I saw a shadow hovering behind before that person stood right next to me. The familiar scent of perfume gave away that person's identity.

"Alright, we'll get that for you on our way back." Rachel was smiling as she tapped on the red button to end the call.

As Rachel turned to walk back, she finally realised that I was standing beside her all the while.

"Oh, hi Zach. What are you doing out here?"

"I was on the phone too, before you came out." I gave her a weary smile as my fingers ran through my already messy hair.

"Ah, I see. Are you okay? You don't look too good."

I chuckled lightly despite my crappy mood.

"I'm just a little tired, that's all."

"Do you want to go back and rest? But, I haven't seen Eva since the start of this thing." Rachel's thumb pointed at the back while she was talking.

"No, it's alright. Eva said she needed to get some work done, so she'd left early."

"Oh. I thought there's nothing to be done until the start of our event. I have already rectified all the mistake that was made by me." Rachel replied with a sheepish smile.

"I've heard from Eva about that. Don't take it to heart whenever Eva said something nasty to you."

Rachel seemed surprised at what I have just told her.

"No worries. I've gotten used to her working style." Rachel looked down at her shoes with a slight shake of her head.

I was observing Rachel's actions, her fingers were twisting with the hem of her shirt. Out of habit, I guess she bit the bottom of her lips. Rachel's eyes were darting around and she could not seem to look at me in the eye.

From what I have observed, Rachel was definitely nervous. She had not changed much for the past ten years.

"Your fiancé, he seems like a nice guy."

A small fluttery smile had spread across her face. Rachel looked around before opening her mouth to reply.

"I wish I could say the same for your girlfriend though." A whisper came out and my ears strained to hear each and every word.

"Well, I understand. Eva's just a little hard to get along."

I felt more relaxed after talking to Rachel. As I looked at her, it was like time had turned back to when we were 17. Memories of our high school life were flashing across my mind.

How Rachel and I met was the most vivid memory I had. I remembered that my class was starting in five minutes and my legs were running at a very high speed.

I was not paying attention to my surrounding but my legs were brought to a halt after colliding with someone. Out of nowhere, Rachel appeared and bumped into me. Rachel gave a loud yelped as she rubbed her forehead. At that moment, I was furious at her for making me stop when I was desperately rushing for time. However, instead of snapping at her, I asked how was she.

I did not realise that a smile was on my face until Rachel waved her hand in front of me. Those memories that were in my mind vanished as quickly as it came.

"Are you alright?" Rachel asked while pointing to her head.

"Yeah. Why?"

"You were smiling to yourself. It was kind of scary because I wasn't saying anything funny. In fact, I wasn't speaking at all." Rachel said with a confused look.

"I still have my marbles intact, Rach," I responded with a laugh as a smirk slowly spread across my face.

Silence fell between us, but it was comfortable. The sound of cars driving past and people having their own private conversation. I lifted up my head to be greeted by the dark sky with a small crescent hanging at one corner. I took in a deep breath as a means to calm my nerves down. Ever since I l decided to start my business, I have never felt this calm before.

"Rachel?" I turned to where the voice came from and found Rachel's fiancé staring right into my eyes as he slipped an arm around her waist.

I gave Gavin a polite smile as he nodded in return.

"Hi, I'm Zachary." I extended my hand for Gavin to shake and for a moment he did not have any response. Luckily, Gavin took a step closer to me as he gave my hand a firm shake.

"Hi, I know who you are." I detected a weird tone in his words and noticed that Rachel stiffened by his side.

"Well, his name is Gavin. I think it's time for us to head back in." Rachel said while gesturing Gavin to turn back and walk. I blew a low whistle after both of them went into the bar. I absolutely did not expect Gavin to be hostile towards me though. I might have changed my opinion on saying that he seemed like a nice guy.

Author's notes :
Heyyy guys! First up, I wanna say a big thank you for getting In Time to 1k reads!! 😘 Secondly, I apologise for taking almost a month to get this chapter up. I was busy with my school assignments and I am having my term tests now. Last but not least, give those buttons below 👇 a tap if you want to! ❤😄