Chapter 4

                                    

                                          
'Guess what!' Roy told me excitedly as he sat down next to me in the cafeteria. He put his meal on the table and smiled. I knew that whatever Roy was about to tell me was not going to be something I would be interested in.
                          
'What?' I asked boredly. 'Why aren't you sitting with your friends?'
                          
'Sit with my friends and let my baby sis sit alone?' he shook his head. 
                          
Sometimes Roy could be sweet, like how he would always give me company when I needed it. The problem was that I was always with Junlin, so now I was having a hard time making friends or sitting with other people now that Junlin was gone. I ended up looking like a lonely mess most times, but Roy wouldn't let that happen when he was around. 
                          
'Anyway, I said guess what?' he changed the subject. 'Remember Mr. Yin?' 
                          
'I think so.' I answered. He was our neighbor many years ago, but he had moved away once he made it big. He moved to the much more affluent part of the city, and we never saw him again unless it was in newspapers where he was talking about his new found success. I didn't know why Roy would bring him up, I certainly had no care for him. 
                          
'Well, his child's been kidnapped and the kidnappers are apparently demanding ransom.' he widened his eyes as if reacting to his own story. 'Isn't that crazy!?' 
                          
'Wow, I wouldn't have thought his kid would be kidnapped...I guess that's proof that he's a bigshot.' I also couldn't believe it. I had known his son but I never used to play with him because I was young when they were still living next door. We were at that stage where boys and girls hated each other, and he believed that girls had cooties. 
                          
'Well you know this isn't the first kidnap of an influential figure's child right? That's exactly why I'm investigating where it all began. That's what I was doing last Saturday in the library.' he informed me.
                          
But I wasn't paying attention to him any longer, my attention was now on a boy who had just gotten his food and was now walking to an empty table. It was unmistakably Yaxuan. He wore a black T-shirt and jeans, with a silver crown necklace I was sure I had seen on him almost every time I saw him. He was undeniably handsome, but I was probably too heartbroken to even be drawn in by his looks. I was probably not going to have a hard time with him.
                          
He finally made his way to the empty table, and I was surprised by the fact that he wasn't sitting with anyone. He seemed to be the type who had a lot of friends. But soon enough, two boys joined him, followed by one more. He gave each of them excited smiles, but I wasn't sure if he actually wanted them there. But I knew for sure that by now he realized that when you're a rich kid, not every person who wants to hang out with you really wants to be your friend. Among the boys who had joined him, I noticed there was no Junlin. 
                          
'No!' Roy cried, grabbing my attention again. 'You're looking at Yaxuan? I thought I already told you that it's a bad idea. You can't like Yaxuan, he's not a good guy.' 
                          
I turned to him and chuckled. 'Relax, I don't like him.' 
                          
'Then why are you looking at him like that and ignoring my way more interesting story?' he complained. 'Seriously, if you're getting into Yaxuan, I will murder you.' 
                          
'I guess you don't trust me.' I grabbed my fork and continued to eat. Now I was wondering how Roy would really react when he would soon see me hanging out with Yaxuan. This was the hardest thing I've ever done in my life. It always looked easy when other girls were doing it but probably they didn't have so much against me as much as I did. 
                          
'Of course I trust you but...' Roy was cut off by his cellphone ringing. He took it out of his pocket and checked the caller ID, before answering it with an annoyed face. 'What Jackson?' There was silence for a moment as he listened. 'Are you serious dude? Right now? – fine, fine. It's not like I even have a choice.' he hang up and put his cellphone back in his pocket. 
                          
'You're leaving right?' I asked him.
                          
'No, we're leaving. I asked Jackson to look for some old magazines for me since his mom is a collector. But he can't bring them all here so he wants me to go to his place and pick out the ones I need, so let's go.' Roy got up from his seat.
                          
'No, go on, I'm not going anywhere. I wanna finish eating my lunch.' I answered with a mouthful of my food. 
                          
'You want me to leave you eating alone?' 
                          
'Yeah, it's not like I'm going to die.' I chuckled. 'I'm fine, really. Go on. Besides, I don't want to be around your friends.' 
                          
Roy sighed. 'Fine then, I'll see ya later. I'll probably be back before 4pm.' 
                          
'Sure, just don't skip classes again like you did last week.' I advised. He rolled his eyes at me and walked out of the cafeteria. Roy was notorious for skipping classes several times, it wasn't anything new. But he always made sure to at least attend the minimum number of classes required for him to write exams. 
                          
Now, I had other issues to attend to. I had to make my move soon enough, and it was better to meet him whenever he wasn't with Junlin. Maybe I could even finish my whole task without meeting Junlin; that would be way better. 
                          
I got up from my seat with my tray and walked over to Yaxuan's table. He looked up at me with a curious face, probably because he didn't expect someone he hardly knew to come over to his table. 
                          
'May I seat?' I asked him with a smile on my face. 
                          
'Uh...sure,' he answered after a while. The boys he was sitting with looked at me curiously, but none of them said a word. I sat down opposite him, and he continued eating in silence. I needed to show him I was interested in him, but the problem was that I was a bad flirt. 
                          
I just had to try something I had seen in movies. I picked up a napkin and wiped the imaginary food that had somehow made it's way to Yaxuan's face. I softly wiped the corner of his mouth. 'You had a little something on your face.' 
                          
Yaxuan smiled at me after I was done. I felt awkward but I maintained a cool exterior. 
                          
'Thanks,' he said to me then looked at the distance as if he was trying to recall something. 'What's your name again?' 
                          
'Akira.' I answered sweetly, even though I could feel the eyes of the other boys sitting at the table boring into me. 
                          
'I'm Yaxuan.' he answered me. 
                          
'Of course, why wouldn't I know the name of the cutest guy in school?' 
                          
'Well I regret the fact that I didn't know the name of a pretty girl like you.' he replied smoothly. 
                          
I felt my cheeks burning up, but it wasn't because I liked him, it was more because I found the whole conversation super cringy and embarrassing. I've never really flirted with boys before except Junlin, so this felt really weird. 
                          
'I can't believe this girl,' one of the guys commented to the other in a whisper, but I had heard it. And I knew exactly what they meant; probably the fact that girls were still falling for Yaxuan even though he was a well-known heartbreaker at this point. Well, it was a good thing I wasn't actually falling for him like other girls were actually doing. 
                          
We continued to converse a little more, and he was clearly showing interest in me. The girls were right, he was much easier than I had expected. I guess that was probably because he was always prepared to break another person's heart, so flirting came easily to him.
                          
'Thanks for coming over to sit with us Akira,' Yaxuan concluded as he got up from the chair he was sitting on and picking up his tray. 'I hope we can hang out more next time too.' 
                          
'Sure!' I answered the innocent looking boy in front of me. If I didn't know any better, I would probably be overcome by his gentleness and friendly behavior. These were the most dangerous people in the world, those who looked so pure yet were inward monsters. 
                          
He gave me one more smile before walking away, leaving me with the boys who had been sitting with him. 
                          
'I will never understand you girls.' One boy shook his head at me.
                          
Well, of course he wouldn't understand anything I was doing, because he didn't know about the existence of the Heartbreak Club.