"Hey... guys? Who's Raine?" Zen asked in a low voice as if fearing for the worst.

"What do you mean who's Raine? Don't you know him? He's our university's celebrity," the all-knowing Nadia replied.

"He's in the black team, the one who's dribbling the ball right now. He's been scoring three-pointers four times in a row," said Madilyn. "See. That guy. Number 11." Madilyn pointed her finger at the guy, who was running around the court making accurate passes as if it was second nature to him.

For a moment, Zen stopped breathing. She widened her eyes and stared without blinking for a long time. What she saw next caught her completely off guard. The striking resemblance almost threw her off the chair. How was it that she was noticing him only now? She had been paying attention to the game all this time, watching the ball change hands several times but never did she take a proper look at the faces of the players since they were too far from view. But this, this situation...

This has got to be some kind of joke. Raine. That was him. There was no doubt about it. He was the guy she met the previous night.

"Raine. Third-year student. Department of Civil Engineering. Single, handsome, rich, and a pro at basketball. Simply put, he's every girl's secret desire, a stone of rare beauty that is exposed to thousands yet impossible to obtain," Nadia explained, tapping a finger over her chin. "He's a bringer of death. Technically speaking, most girls would kill to be his friend. I said friend, not girlfriend. For girlfriend..." Nadia gulped, "I don't even want to imagine."

"Oh please, don't exaggerate." Madilyn scoffed again from the side. "Raine isn't the only guy every girl is after in this University. Don't forget Kai. Many girls came to see him play too."

Wait, what? Kai? Kai? Kai? Zen thought hard. She felt like she'd also heard that name somewhere before. It was only a matter of seconds before realization hit her. Kai, her classmate! Of course, Kai. Zen dragged her gaze over to the court yet again, her eyes anxiously searching for Kai. Lo, and behold, the child of the devil was there too in the same team as the father of all homophobes. What was this sorcery? And that was not all, another realization hit her hard. If Zen remembered accurately, Kai was there last night. He was drinking with Raine. Every missing piece of the puzzle was gradually revealing itself and piecing together on its own.

"I heard Raine and Kai are childhood friends. Is that true?" Zen heard Madilyn ask Nadia.

"I think so," Nadia replied. "Zen? What's wrong? Are you okay? You're looking a little pale."

Zen traced her eyes over her shoulder, where Nadia's hand had been resting, and then to her anxious expression. "Yeah. I'm fine," Zen said, giving Nadia a small smile of reassurance. Her friends had no idea of her dreadful encounter with Raine the previous night, and she planned to keep it that way. She might be close to Nadia and Madilyn, but that incident was something she wanted to bury in the back of her mind forever. The less they know about it, the better. Peace was mandatory in her life.

"If you say so." Nadia smiled back, quickly dismissing her worry. "It's the last quarter of the game. Let's cheer for Braxy. Come on!"

Zen nodded, joining Nadia in her excitement but her mind drifted elsewhere. The moment her gaze landed on Raine, Zen gulped hard, her chest starting to take in more air than necessary. A sudden rush of emotions enveloped her, fingers twisting nervously without her knowledge. There was shock, anger, fear, anticipation, and a smidgeon of excitement as well; she didn't even know what to call this feeling.

A small part of her was ecstatic at the prospect of getting back her lost watch. She doubted Raine would even remember much of last night's events, and as much as she hated approaching him, he was her last and only hope of finding that watch. All she had to do was ask, right?

It was the final thirty seconds of the game. Things were getting intense with the white team catching up in the fourth quarter of the match. With the black team leading by four points, the winner was obvious, but the white team wasn't about to give up that easily. Zen rubbed her sweaty palms on her lap. It wasn't the game she was tensed about, but Raine, for some unknown reason. Her eyes were locked on Raine as he raced down the court.

Zen could feel the ground vibrating, echoes growing louder in her head as Raine pounded the ball, dribbling it towards the goal area while evading incoming attackers trying to snatch his ball on the way. This was the most intense match she had ever seen. Seconds ticked by matching the sound of her heartbeat. It was finally happening, the moment everyone had been waiting for. Raine positioned himself in front of the hoop, ready to take his shot. He raised his arm and released the ball. Zen watched in awe as the ball sailed through the hoop with pinpoint accuracy. The whistle of the referee came soon after and the rest was history.

-~-

"Raine, you done changing?"

"Yeah."

"Let's go."

"I'll catch up with you guys later."

"Okay then. Come on, Kai, let's go."

Ten minutes later...

"Congratulations."

"Who's there?"

"Me," Zen revealed herself, striding into the boy's locker room without as much of a jerk of uneasiness in her movements.

"You again?" The locker door closed with a loud intentional bang. Raine cocked his head and arched an inquisitive brow, his eyes glinting up and down at her. And judging by the look on his face, it was obvious he didn't like her presence there.

"I'm glad you remembered." Her voice was low, and her gut told her to be wary of this man. For a person who couldn't even crawl on his knees when he was drunk, he had a fairly sharp memory.

"What brings you here? Don't tell me you've been stalking me all this time." Raine strode forward until he was only a few centimetres away from where she was standing.

"Stalking?" Zen scoffed. "Who do you think you are that I'd be wasting my time stalking someone like you?" But as she was saying that, she couldn't help but secretly admire the attire of the obnoxious, egotistic man in front of her. He was still stunning in his white T-shirt and black jeans with that barrel bag swung over his right shoulder. Who does he think he is, looking like a character straight out of a manga?

"You're the one seeking me out here while everybody's away. Now tell me if this isn't pre-planned," Raine interrupted her thoughts.

"What's pre-planned?" Zen retorted.

"Now don't act dumb. Weren't you waiting for everyone to leave so you can be alone with me?"

"No," Zen denied, unaffected by his words. "It seems like you're getting way ahead of yourself, so I'll make it clear for you."

"Please."

"I'm guessing you wouldn't like it if I approached you in front of your friends and started telling them about what happened last night," Zen said, smirking triumphantly when she noticed the colour fading from Raine's face. "So, I suppose we could talk, just the two of us. That way, you won't be embarrassed when I say you can't even handle a bottle of liquor and had to throw up on someone who had nothing but good intentions for you."

"Even if you say that, who'd believe you?"

Zen did not miss the slight waver in his tone. "Who do you think will? Forget my good intentions, maybe if I say you were also taken advantage of by a... gay, how do you think people will react? Of course, they might just dismiss it as a rumour, but that issue would circulate in the entire campus for, I don't know, maybe a month or two? Are you prepared for that?"

"What do you want?"

Zen smiled to herself. She knew she could make him yield to her. If she didn't know how to use tricks and words to manipulate other people's minds and read what they were thinking, she wouldn't be such a good writer. "I'm not here to blackmail you if that's what you're thinking."

"Then what? Coming here to ask me to be your boyfriend?"

"Nope. You don't match my standards for that."

The cocky smirk on Raine's face was immediately replaced by a scowl. He opened his mouth to retort but Zen beat him to it.

"Where is my watch?" Zen asked.

"What?"

"My wristwatch. I lost it when I was with you yesterday. Where is it?"

"How am I supposed to know?"

Raine's words were reasoned, and Zen had nothing to say in response to back up her theory. Her desperation drove her to seek him out, even though she had already anticipated this response from him.

"Besides, shouldn't you go back to where you lost it and look for it there?" Raine continued.

"I did. I skipped second period and went there to search for it but it wasn't there."

"And you think I took it?"

Zen nodded without any hesitation.

"Are you crazy? Who do you take me for?"

"If you have it, can you... please return it to me? It's important to me." Zen fought the urge to grit her teeth. She had never acted so submissive in her entire life.

"Did I say I took it? Why are you pushing it like I'm the one who took it when you don't even have any proof?"

"My mom gave it to me," she half-yelled. "That's why... it's important to me."

"If it's that important to you, then you shouldn't be wearing it everywhere."

A sharp pain struck her chest at his reply. "Why are you being so rude?"

"Who's being rude? All I see is a strange guy blaming others for things he lost out of his own carelessness and irresponsibility. Is that how your mother raised you to treat others?" Raine muttered the last words but Zen heard it loud and clear.

"Take back what you just said." Without warning, Zen slammed her hand into the man's chest, knocking him back a few paces. "Don't you dare insult my mom."

"You're totally crazy." Raine was in a complete state of shock. Never in his life had he predicted himself being thrown into situations far more bizarre than anything he'd ever experienced. "Don't think just because you're smaller than me, I won't hit you. Gays like you think you're fragile like girls, so you think I won't hit you back? Just because you changed your voice to make it sound like a woman, you think I'll consider you one?"

What? Zen was stupefied, all sense of anger dissipating at once. For a moment, she even forgot why she came to meet him in the first place. She would've never thought that this guy save for his handsome looks would turn out to be so dumb. In broad daylight, and completely sober, he still couldn't tell that she was a girl.

"I won't fight with you anymore," said Zen. Provoking this guy would serve as an insult to herself for bullying someone who, apparently, didn't seem to have any remaining brain cells. He being as dumb as a pole was an embarrassment to all races of men out there, and he was too dumb to realise that himself.

"Why? Scared I'll fight back? Don't be such a gay. Oh right. You are gay," Raine taunted.

Zen was sure of one thing. She despised Raine with every fibre of her soul. It was a shame his fine looks were wasted on such filthy, repulsive vessel of a body. Maybe the doctor dropped him on his head when he was born and that was why he had such a warped personality.

"Then you know what you are?" Zen glared at Raine and he glared right back. "You're a HOMOPHOBE. Get it? Homophobe." With that said, she quickly scanned her eyes around the room, searching for an object she could use against him. She was not going to let him get the better of her on this one. Her gaze settled on a hardly noticeable shiny substance hanging from Raine's neck. Voila.

Before Raine could even react, Zen dashed towards him at the speed of light, ripped the shiny object from his neck, and stepped back a safe distance. Raine's expression of shock and alarm when she grasped the silver necklace with the initial R fixed in the centre of the chain was indeed priceless. She smirked satisfactorily. "Tomorrow, same time, meet me at the court. Find and bring my watch at any cost and I'll return this to you."

"Why you? Give it back," Raine attempted to snatch it back from her hand but Zen was one step ahead of him. "I'll break the chain off if you come any closer," she warned.

"Don't you dare." He glared. If his eyes had power, Zen was convinced he would rip her soul to shreds and set it on fire.

"Why so angry? Oh, don't tell me this watch is a gift from your... mother?" she taunted, using his tricks against him.

Silence is always the answer, isn't it? "So, I was right." Zen burst out laughing.

"Do people ever tell you that you're crazy?"

"No, they don't."

"They'll know soon, about how crazy you are."

"Good. I'll throw a party then. Anyway, dear Mr Homophobe, I'll be taking this with me." Wanting to provoke him further, Zen tossed the silver necklace into the air, juggling it a few times before turning her back to him. "Remember our promise." She raised her right hand, mischievously showing him one last glimpse of his soon-to-be departed necklace before muttering a quiet, "see ya." And like a ghost, she disappeared, leaving behind no trace of her presence in that fated locker room.

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Done with this chapter. Let me know in the comments what you guys think of this chapter. I assume everyone had a good time reading it. Do let me know if there's anything I should improve on. I'd really appreciate it. Until next time...