It’s just another day at school for Diana, Justine, Ailee, Rhian, and Shane. Nothing new, just a typical, exhausting college days. They were walking along the school grounds when Rhian complaint about her feet being tired of walking. They have been roaming around for 30 minutes anyway, looking for their English professor.
“There, let’s just sit there.” Justine pointed out at the triangular bench around an umbrella tree. They all went and seated. Ailee and Shane rolled in their long sleeves. “Hey, roll it back on. You don’t want to get noticed by the Dean.” Justine said.
“It’s fine! She won’t see us here, Just. Chill out, mom!” Shane said.
“Hey, Hey, Just is right. Dean knows us and she would definitely get your attention if she sees you rolling your sleeves like that.” Diana agreed to what Justine had said.
“Well, thank you.” Justine said and smiled.
“It’s very hot!” Rhian said, a hint of annoyance in her voice.
“Don’t state the obvious. Let’s just be quiet and let the wind pass by.” Justine said and whistled.
Suddenly, a red minivan stopped just in front of them. They all looked at it. The door opened and a bunch of guys wearing black clerical polo got off. There are 12 guys who got off the minivan but Diana’s eyes were fixed at only one guy. He is a faired-skin fellow, has a thin almond eyes, an aquiline nose, and a smile that reaches his eyes. He is quite tall, probably 5’8. He looked directly at Diana and smiled. Diana only stared. The guys stood there as the minivan went off.
“Do you know that one of them is actually the only son of the owner of the Altamira Family Learning Center?” Rhian whispered.
“Who?” Justine asked.
“There, the light skinned guy. He is Ferdinand Altamira Jr. Arjay for short. They owned a school.” Shane said.
“Wow. Good for him. But why would he enter the seminary if they have a school whom soon enough he would inherit?” Justine curiously asked.
“Actually, they don’t want him to enter but he is persistent.” Ailee added.
Diana’s eyes were fixed at Arjay. Justine elbowed her. ‘What?’ she mouthed.
“Why are you staring at them?” Justine whispered.
“I’m not.” She whispered back.
“Yes, you are. Or are you looking at a particular person?” Justine asked her again, teasingly.
“Stop it. I’m not.” She said.
They were all startled when the seminarians went and seated just across them. The guys are talking about something when the guys all looked at their area. They had a fair share of eye contact with the guys, especially her and Arjay. He smiled at her again but she tried to ignore it.
“I just realized, I need to go to the library.” Justine said and stood up.
“I’ll come with you,” she said and stood up, too. She knew Justine felt awkward, and so was she.
“Let’s go then.” Rhian said to Shane and Ailee and the three of them stood up, too, and followed Justine and Diana.
The 5 of them walked past the seminarians. They went straight to the library. Justine went to the bookshelves and asked Diana to help her look for a particular book. Diana went with her. While browsing at the bookshelves…
“So, tell me who was it?” Justine asked out of nowhere.
“Who was what?” Diana innocently asked.
“Oh come on! I know you knew who I meant.” Justine said and looked at her meaningfully.
“No, I don’t.” she said and continued to browse.
Justine went to her side of the bookshelf. Her arms crossed in her chest.
“Really? We are really doing this now?” Justine asked her, annoyed.
“Doing what? You’re the one who started it!” She said, equally annoyed. Justine sighed.
“Fine. Seminarians? Who?” Justine asked and glared at her.
“Oh! Oohhh! That’s what you meant? Ooohhhh~ are you curious? You like someone there, too?” she teased Justine back and grabbed something from the bookshelf.
“I am curious, but that doesn’t mean I like one of them. Don’t change the topic. You know my sister is a friend of them, right? I could just ask her—“
“Gosh, no! Don’t tell Jace about it. And as for ‘Who’, you have to figure it out. I know you would.” She smiled sweetly at Justine and handed over the book she was looking for.
“Oh, gee, thanks! So you really want me to guess who it is, right?” she asked.
“Sure, detective. And don’t tell them. They will torture me.” Diana said.
They walked towards the table where Shane, Ailee, and Rhian are seated. Justine laughed and they seated with the three.
“Who are you smiling at?” Jc asked Arjay when he caught him smiling, looking at the five ladies in front of them a while ago.
“Who am I smiling at? No one.” He defensively said.
“Are you sure, because I just caught you smiling a while ago.”
“I didn’t. I swear.” He said.
“Okay. If you say so. But I saw Ms. Red lipstick looking at you.” Jc said and shrugged his shoulders.
Ms. Red lipstick? Is Jc referring to the short girl he was smiling at? Yes, he was smiling at her. She’s pretty, besides, she’s already staring at him when he noticed.
“Brothers, it’s already 1:30. Let’s go to our class.” Heinrich said.
While walking along the corridor, Diana and her friends came across the seminarians. Turns out, their class was just in the classroom beside their classroom. They collided at the doors. Justin pushed her slightly which made her lose her balance. She bumped into Arjay who was the last person to enter the room.
“Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry.” Diana said apologetically.
“It’s okay.” He said smiling. He went inside their classroom.
“What did you do that for?” she whispered angrily at Justine. Justine smiled mischievously.
“Nothing. Just for confirmation.” Justine said and winked at her. They both entered their classroom.
“Confirmation of what?” she asked her when they took their seat.
“My hunch. You know I always trust my hunch.” Justine said and seated comfortably at her seat.
“Wait, so you figured it out?” Diana asked. Justine laughed. She looked at her, frowning.
“Gotcha!” Justine said triumphantly.
“What the hell! You tricked me!” she said laughing at her own stupidity. How come she didn’t see that coming! She knows Justine has a lot of tricks on her sleeve and she fell for it.
“I didn’t! I knew it, actually. I just wanted to confirm it with you.” Justine said.
“How come you know?” she asked.
“I observed my surroundings, darling. And that includes the people around me. When I asked you under the tree a while ago, I know you were looking at someone in particular but I couldn’t figure who it was, and then, he smiled towards our direction. Obviously, he wasn’t smiling at me! So, I followed his gaze and voila! It’s you. And then, when they are seating across us, he smiled again, and I looked at you, you were staring back at him.”
“That obvious?” she asked.
“Not really. But you know me, when I put my mind on something, I don’t stop.” Justine said and winked at her. Their teacher entered the room and their class started.
Days and weeks past, Diana and Justine’s routine was to wait for the red minivan just to see a glimpse of Arjay. Eventually, the three found out and it became their routine, too. Diana and Justine was having a research and they have forgotten about the time when Rhian called Justine.
“Where are you?” Rhian asked.
“We’re still at the library, why?” Justine answered the call in a very soft whisper.
“Aren’t you coming? It’s almost time. You only got 5 minutes. Come here now.” Rhian said and ended the call. Justine fixed her things. Diana did the same.
“Who was that?” Diana asked.
“Let’s go! It’s already 1:26 pm. We’ve forgotten about them.” Justin said.
“Oh shoot!” Diana said and they both rushed out from the library. They took the shortcut on the third floor.
When they looked at the seminarians’ lair, they are not there anymore. Diana sighed.
“Hey, don’t lose hope, you’ll see him. Anyway, their class will just be on the other door. So probably, they are in their classroom already.” Justine said reassuringly.
They are already at the corridor along their classrooms.
“Where are they? Where are they?” I asked, whispering.
“Where Arjay? Where Arjay?” Justine said, excitedly.
And repeatedly, they are chanting the question in a very soft voice, not knowing they are already passing in a room where Arjay and his co-seminarians are sitting, waiting for their class. Diana glanced inside the room and to her surprise, she made an eye contact with Arjay. He smiled at her! She cut the eye contact and pulled Justine inside their classroom. Justine was laughing because she saw what just happened. When they are finally seated, they looked at each other and they laughed. The three were clueless to what just happened to them.
‘I wonder if he heard…’ she said to herself.