I honked the horn before stepping onto the gas, finally accelerating forwards.
"Woah!" I exclaimed as I maneuvered the vehicle outside our village.
I'm sure Ellwood will be happy with the new car. I got my phone out of my pocket before dialing his number.
"What is it?" he said in his bedroom voice. It's obvious that he just woke up based on his low voice.
"Guess what! I'm on my way to your apartment," I excitedly said.
"W-what?!" He sounded so shocked.
"What's wrong with you? I gonna hung up the phone, bye!"
I endes the call as I entered the village where he resides.
I honked a few times in front of his apartment, after a while, he got out with just his board shorts.
I got out of the car excitedly and greeted him with a hug. "I have a new car, Ellie!"
He stumbled as he accepted my hug, unable to wrap his arms around me in shock.
"Wear something! We're going somewhere!"
I entered his apartment, not minding his calls. As I stepped onto the door, what greeted me is a girl wearing o loose shirt which I knew belonged to Ellwood.
"Oh! I'm sorry!" I immediately said and stepped backwards.
I noticed her shock as soon as she saw me, but she crossed ger arms not long after.
"My best friend, Meredith!" Ellie stood right next to me and settled his hand on my shoulder. I felt him squeezing my shoulder so I nodded repeatedly.
"Yeah. Actually, we're childhood friends!" I pointed Ellwood and myself.
"I'm Pia..." she introduced.
"Uh, nice meeting you, Pia!" I smiled at her. She only nodded at me and turned her back.
I nudged Ellwood on my side. He groaned at the action. "You! Why didn't you tell me that you brought a girl here, huh?!" I attempted to punch him but he caught my fist.
"Sshh... I'll explain later. Just go away! Shoo!" He pushed me out
"Okay! Okay!" I glared at him and rolled my eyes. A loud, teasing laugh came from his mouth before pushing me again.
"What an idiot." I was shaking my head as I returned to my car. I was planning to go home when I thought of visiting Zekiah's house first.
Five minutes was all it took before I finally arrived at their place. I smiled as I entered the alleyway that leads to their house.
Even from a distance, I could already sight Zia and Kesha playing at their backyard. The two immediately turned at my car, even their neighbors curiously got out to their backyards as they saw my car stopped.
I excitedly got out from my car and greeted the two. "Kesha, Zia!"
Their face brightened and ran as soon as they saw me.
"Mery!" They jumped in glee. I carried Kesha in my arms.
"Wow! You gained weight!"
"Of course, I ate a lot just like you said!" she smiled sweetly at me.
"It's good to hear that!" I brought her down and ruffled her hair.
"Kesha, Zia!"
All of us turned to where Iseah's voice came from. He was holding a thick rope and a bucket.
"Hi!" I beamed at him and waved my hand. Instead of greeting me back, he just simply stared at my car.
"Uh, yeah... my new car!" I smiled cautiously, estimating his reaction.
"Zia, call Zekiah at the field. Tell him he has a visitor," he said in his baritone voice.
Like Zekiah, he's also working in the rice fields. They almost have the same body built, only that Iseah looks very ruthless and vicious. I never saw his million dollar smile.
He turned his back on me. My eyes followed him as he walked towards the steep place behind their house. With that, I decided to just come with Zia while holding Kesha in my arms.
This will be the first time I'll go to the field to visit Zekiah, I usually wait for him to arrive from his work.
While walking, we stumbled upon some workers carrying a basket and a big rusty knife.
"Good morning!" I greeted them.
"Good morning to you too, young lady," he said. "Aren't you Hezekiah's girlfriend?"
I nodded at the old man and smiled. "Yes, I am..."
"Oh! You should come to Zekiah fast. Julieta's already there." The old man laughed.
My forehead creased as my brows knitted together. "Who's Julieta?"
I noticed how the man beside him nudged him. "Ah, right. We should go first," they bid goodbye.
I tried to be unbothered by what they said, taking a deep breath to remove all the uncertainties in my heart, but as we walk our way to where Hezekiah is, I just can't help but to think about it.
"Zekiah!"
Zia ran to the little cottage where we saw Hezekiah. My eyes immediately roamed around to find the Julieta they said, and I wasn't mistaken. There's a girl inside the cottage. I forced myself to smile when I saw Zekiah being pulled by Zia.
"Hi!" I greeted.
"What are you doing here?" he said in a low tone.
He slightly wiped his sweat using the T-shirt hanging on his shoulder.
"Uh, I just visited your sisters..." I averted my eyes away from him and played with Kesha who's in my arms.
He got Kesha from me and put her down. "Where's Iseah? Why did he let you come here instead?"
"He's behind our house, harvesting some avocados," Zia loudly said as she ran away from Kesha who's trying to catch her.
He looked down at me with his dark steely eyes. Scanning from my hair line, to my feet and back up again.
I copied what he did. I'm wearing a simple shorts and plain hanging blouse. Because of my height, a small skin was seen on my stomach, my thighs were also a bit exposed.
"Uh, I came from the house..."
I swallowed slowly before pulling my shorts down, but I can't seem to cover my tummy because of the strong wind.
"Damn it!" he cursed sharply.
He quickly turned his back on me. I can feel myself getting colder in nervousness.
He entered the cottage where some workers are peering at me, the same goes with the only girl in there.
"Bro, let your girlfriend shade herself here. The sun's scorching hot!" I heard someone talking to Zekiah and laughed after.
I straightened when I saw him walking back with a shirt on his hand. He didn't talk, clothing me with that shirt himself.
"It's hot in here, you might get sunburns if you go here wearing those..." he said in a calm tone.
I gulped and closed my eyes in embarrassment. I don't know if my cheeks reddened because of the heat or because of what he said.
"Zekiah, let's eat!" the girl from the cottage called.
He didn't give any attention to her, instead he held my wrist gently.
"Let's go back to our house..." he softly said.
I turned to the girl who's standing by the cottage's doorway while the others kept on teasing her.
"It looks like it's your break time. Eat first, I'll just go back with your sisters..." I said in a low voice but I can't seem to hide the irritation in it.
He ran his free hand through his hair gently, it made him look more masculine. I can't help but to survey his naked half body. His bulging biceps and hard abs made me blush.
"Zekiah!" the girl called again.
"Go, they're waiting for you," I almost whispered as I lowered my gaze.
"Join me first, I'll introduce you to them." He held my hand gently and pulled me to the cottage. Their laughs died down as soon as they saw me.
"She's Meredith..." he introduced me. A smile lifted from my lips as I held onto Zekiah's arm tightly.
"Hi, Meredith! My name is Rupert." He wiped his hands on his pants before lending his hand for a shake.
He was tall and had a defined nose. Like Hezekiah, his skin was also slightly red from being under the sun all day, but it seems like it helped bringing out his natural masculinity even more.
"Nice meeting you, Rupert," I responded.
"I'm Wilfred, the strongest in the group!" a dark-skinned guy confidently introduced.
"That's Celso, the oldest," Zekiah whispered as he pointed the old man. The latter only nodded at me and started eating.
"And I'm Badong, the most handsome man here! Zekiah's just somewhere below me," a not-so-tall guy with a curly hair said.
I smiled a bit, "I'm glad to meet you, Badong..." I accepted his hand.
"Hey, how dare you?" The girl pushed Badong who just scratched his head.
"Ah, that's Julieta... she's Celso's daughter who often gives us snacks," Zekiah told me.
Smiled at her, she just nodded but didn't smile, instead, she lent Zekiah an empty plate.
"Let's eat..."