Cashmere's eyes widened at what her best friend just said. "Are you saying that I'm in love with Grey?"
Irani nodded again. "Yes, Cashmere. I think you're in love with Grey."
Cashmere swallowed, shaking her head. "I'm not in love with Grey, Irani. No. I can't be in love with him.”
“Are you sure?” Irani sighed. "I think… you're just in denial, Cashmere. You can't accept to yourself that you're already in love with Grey. Because you know that falling in love with him means getting your heart broken."
Cashmere shook her head. “No, Irani. I’m not in love with him. I’m just infatuated.”
Irani stared at her for a moment, she then pursed her lips. “Fine. If you say that you're not, then you're not, Cashmere." Irani shrugged. “Come on. Let's go now."
Cashmere was preoccupied as Irani and her left the cafeteria. What if Irani was right? What if she was already falling in love with Grey and she was just being in denial?
Cashmere's heart hammered in nervousness.
“Speaking of the handsome devil...” Irani muttered while they were heading to their college building. Irani pointed in the direction of the botanical garden a few meters away from them.
Cashmere's heart skipped a beat when she saw Grey. He was seated on a bench. But he wasn't alone. She felt the familiar pinched in her heart when she saw who was beside Grey. It was Kass—the mysterious woman the other day.
“Who's that girl, Cash?” Irani asked beside her.
“That's Kass.”
Irani's eyebrows raised. "Oh. So that was her. In fairness, she's beautiful.”
Cashmere's heart sank in insecurity with Irani's comment. That girl was really pretty, Cashmere couldn't deny it.
“But of course, you're still prettier Cashmere.”
Cashmere pursed her lips. "You're just saying that because I'm your friend, Irani."
Irani frowned. "Of course not, Cash. Have you looked at yourself in the mirror? You're pretty."
Cashmere smiled at her best friend before her eyes went back to Grey and that girl she was with.
“They seem very close, Cashmere. Do you really think she's Grey's girlfriend?"
"I don't know, Irani."
"But if she really is Grey's girlfriend, then why even his bandmates didn't know the girl?"
Cashmere saw how Kass held Grey in the arm like it was just a natural thing to do. This time, the needles that were already piercing her heart doubled.
Not only her eyes were hurting with the scene in front of her… but her heart.
"Wait… who's this Grey who went to them?" Irani muttered when a guy stood in front of Grey and Kass.
"Do you know him, Cash?" Her best friend turned to her.
Cashmere shook her head. "No, I don't know him. This is the first time I've seen him."
“Dylan, I told you to stop pestering me around!"
From where they were standing, they clearly heard everything that Kass said to the guy.
“Kass, I just wanted to talk to you...” the guy answered, giving Kass a pleading look.
Cashmere's eyes went to Grey who stood from the bench. Her lips parted when she saw how Grey put his arm around Kass' shoulders as if possessively owning her. Cashmere felt like something sharp stabbed her heart.
“It was clear that Kass doesn't want to talk to you," Grey said to the guy, his voice matching his dead serious face.
"And who the hell are you to tell me that?" the guy asked back, frowning at Grey.
“I'm Kassandra's girlfriend. That's why I have the right to tell you to stop pestering her."
"What?" Irani gasped beside her. "That girl is Grey's girlfriend?"
Her best friend turned to her, her face full of worry. "Cashmere, are you okay?"
Cashmere felt like her heart got shattered into pieces when she heard that confirmation from Grey.
"L-Let's get put of here, Irani."
“Are you really sure about this, Cash?”
Irani asked Cash as they settled on their favorite spot in the Hangout Cafe. After their class ended, Cashmere pulled Irani to the said coffee shop.
“Yes, Irani. I've decided to forget my feelings for him," Cashmere said, determined.
Until now, Cashmere still couldn't quite forget the scene Irani and her saw the other day. In fact, her heart was still bleeding.
Cashmere didn't expect that she would get affected that much. She never expected the pain that she had felt. And she knew, now that everything was clear that someone was already occupying Grey's heart, if she continued liking Grey, she would just get hurt.
Now, she could already relate to other women who got their hearts broken with their one-sided loves. Her feelings for Grey weren't even considered love but she already got hurt this way? What more of her feelings for Grey was already deep?
Irani was right from the start. She should have cut whatever feelings she had for Grey before they transformed into love.
And that's what she planned to do now.
She was going to erase every feeling she had for Grey in her system.
“As in? Are you sure this is not a spur-of-the-moment decision?" Irani confirmed, raising her brows at her.
"Yeah. It hurts, Irani," Cashmere said, biting her lower lip. "And I know I'll get hurt more if my feelings for him go deeper." Cashmere sighed. “I need to get rid of my feelings for him now.”
Irani held her hand. “Don't worry, Cash. I'll help you. And we'll call it Oplan: Un-crush Grey.”
She answered her with a half-hearted smile.
After Irani let go of her hand, she picked up her bag and took her iPad from it.
“Let's find some article that will help you get rid of your feelings for Grey faster," Irani said as she opened her gadget and went to the browser.
"Oh, wait. I found one…" Irani said after scrolling for a few minutes. Irani turned to her. "Look at this, Cashmere. I think this would be helpful."
Cashmere looked at the screen.
“Steps on how to un-crush your crush…”