He stood up and walked away from the table where they were sitting at. They stared at the man until he disappeared from their sight. Jewel gasped when Tiara screamed for a moment. "What's that, Jewel? I thought you and that man is over? You clearly saw Simoen's fascination towards you. He still wants you!"
Jewel grimaced as she secretly looked around. "I've told you, I have no interest in him anymore. And please, don't yell. Everyone is looking at us."
Hazel laughed. "You're still not used to it? Anyway, did you notice how sweet Simoen's tone was when he told you 'it's nice to have you back', Laine? Those gentle gaze and that soft smile, girl, that man's head over heels on you! Sheesh, such a sweet man... too bad, he's too good for you."
"What? I don't deserve a good man?" she huffed.
"Well..." Hazel trailed off and let her tongue out at her. "You're too beautiful for him. Right, Tiara?"
Tiara rolled her eyes. "Simoen is good looking enough. But his eyesight is not good. He didn't notice Sheena's admiration towards him. Even I wondered what's inside his head to pursue Laine who's a married girl already."
"But he didn't know Laine's status, right?" Gabbi chirped in, munching fries and sipping her mango juice.
They went silent for a moment before Jewel looked at Tiara. "Why you didn't introduce Euler to me?"
Tiara looked down and toyed with the straw of her strawberry juice. "I met him in March. He's a nice guy so we decided to change our relationship status at April. But we've broken up in the last week of May, so you didn't catch up with him."
"Ah, a summer love, I guess?" she whispered, lips twitching.
She know that Tiara had been into relationship after relationships, and she could not do anything about that. Jewel's not her mother to reprimand the girl of changing boyfriends like she's changing clothes.
"You're done with him?" Hazel asked.
Tiara nodded.
“Euler seems to have moved on as well,” Gabbi said.
Jewel shook her head. If Gabbi's words are true, then it's no surprise that Tiara was having her time changing her boyfriends when the guys are also not into a serious relationship. She glanced at Hazel. "How about you, Haze? Who is this boyfriend of yours? I've never met him."
Hazel laughed and waved her hand. "We're like switches, on and off, so I didn't introduce him to you. But he's a novice player of Sky Dragons." Hazel grinned. "I've told Tiara and Gabbi once but they seem to have forgotten."
"Right!" Tiara chirped. "Yeah, I remember his name. It's ... Bebelan?"
Hazel laughed. "Bebelon."
"Just like Beberon? What a weird name, huh?" Gabbi.
Hazel's eyebrows met as she sighed. "It's actually Emerson Bailon Labrusca. Bebelon because he's my Baby-Bailon."
Tiara and Gabbi laughed as Jewel just smiled. She turned to Gabbi. "How about you, Gabbi? Do you have a boyfriend?"
Smiling, Gabbi turned to her. "My brother has three mouths to feed. Do you think he'll let me find a guy to f*ck? Also, I love chemical formulas more than men who can't even pass my standard." The girl shook her head. "You don't seem to know me, Laine. "
Jewel laugh dryly. Her friends were still talking but she was out of their topic. Her eyes lingered on the three girls while smiling.
Only now did she notice that even though they had been friends for more than two years, she did not fully know them. Jewel realized that she have many secrets that she kept from them and she knew that there were secrets that these three girls kept from her.
She could not help but to ask herself whether they were really friends, or they're just companions that they couldn't trust with their secrets?
JOSEPH, SIMOEN, Euler, and Hazel’s boyfriend Emerson were members of UDM varsity called Sky Dragons. The speaker announced that there will be an intercampus competition next month and SD will compete against the University of Cebu varsity.
She let a sigh of relief because Simoen would be busy and would surely lose time to mess up with her. She had been enduring his not so hidden advances when she kept seeing him around the campus. Jewel's not happy with what he's doing.
Everyone was eager to watch a show between her, Sheena, and Simoen. It made her sick because they didn't know what Simoen did to her after they were called to Guidance last year, and everytime her blockmates tease her with that man, she was struggling to keep her mouth shut about her true civil status. She was tempted to let everyone knew that Gideon's her husband. But she kept her calm.
Specially when Gideon's around the campus and was watching her every move. If her husband knew what happened between her and Simoen last year, she could not imagine what her husband would do to avenge her.
Repeating the mistake and bringing up the past were exhausting.
But in the meantime, Simoen's glance at her everytime he shot the ball alarmed her.
"A sharp 3 points shot from Saavedra!"
The girl's cheer echoed inside the gym. Jewel gulped hard when Simoen looked at her direction again for the fifth time, and the girls in front of her fell silent before looking over their shoulder.
"The heiress of Aisle, Jewel Mangubat," one of the girls whispered.
"I thought they broke up? Why Simoen's still giving his attention to her?"
"Maybe it's just a farce and the truth was they didn't really broke up?"
The whispers of those girls were washed away by Hazel's loud cheer. "Wooh! Go Bebelon!" The girl was already standing to her left and was purely screaming for the red-haired guy who was Simoen's teammate.
Jewel breathed. At least Hazel's there to distract the whispers of people around her. And this is one of the reasons why she didn't like the crowd, she would definitely be the center of gossip.
Tiara remained silent sitting on her right while eating pop-corn. Gabbi had an earphone plugged into her ear while playing mobile games.
She reached for Hazel's arm and gave it a squeeze. "Haze, I'll go first."
"Ha? What? It's noisy, I can't hear you!"
"I'll go first -- -"
But her words were cut short when the announcer announced, "3 points shot from Labrusca!"
"Woaah!" Hazel yelled once again.
Jewel shook her head. Taking a deep breath, she stood and descended from the bleacher’s third stage and went straight out of the covered court.
She just breathed a sigh of relief when she felt the fresh air outside while making her way back to the dormitory. But she halted her steps when a cold hand gripped her arm. "Laine."
Her eyes widened and she immediately turned to the man who was the reason why she leave the gym early. "What are you doing ---" She gritted her teeth and slapped his hand away. "You still have a game."
Simoen took a deep breath and simply wiped the sweat off his forehead. "Where are you going? I'll walk you there."
Jewel folded her arms and sneered. "No need."
Simoen stared at her for awhile and sighed. "Is it about earlier inside the gym? I'm sorry. I just got used to it. I've been doing that for the last two years."
She laughed. "Then quit it. We're over, Saavedra."
"But Laine," Simoen uttered with difficulty. "I still love you."
Jewel squinted her eyes. "No. You don't. You can't love, Simoen. You just can't. And I'm telling you... the wound you caused is still fresh. It's all because of you. So please, don't come near me. You're freaking me out!"
She turned around and quickly ran away.
"Laine, baby please... I'm sorry, I didn't mean it!"
Annoyed, she wiped the tears from her cheeks. No. She wouldn't cry again for that jerk. Two years was enough for her to wake up.