I didn’t wait for so long, I wrapped my arms around him with my head facing away from Hellena. I knew he was surprised by my action, but I pretended I didn't know.
“I’m sorry, I should have told you that I love you too,” was the only thing I could say as a surprising answer to his question. However, I whispered to him, “I’ll kill you!”
He chuckled. “I know you love me too. I know it,” he wrapped his arms around my waist.
I heard Hellena hiss. She sounded really annoyed and left us. I knew because her steps were audible enough to hear.
I wanted to let myself out of his embrace because his arms were wrapping me against his body so tightly, but didn’t let me go until I said, “Gee Kay, I know Hellena is gone. Let me go now,” and he backed away. I stepped backward and made a space between me and him.
It felt awkward to stand so close to Gee Kay. I didn’t even dare to look at him. I crossed my arms against my chest and remained silent. I promised myself I would not speak until he spoke.
We were standing there for almost five minutes without saying anything. This was something I really couldn’t stand. I didn’t know how he could survive without saying anything while somebody was standing next to him.
“Didn’t you want to say anything?” I decided to break down the silence. I glanced at him.
“I-I don’t know what to say,” he admitted.
I sighed and shook my head repeatedly in disbelief. What was wrong with him? Well, yeah he was wrong. It’s a really bad idea and he put me up to it. And I had no other option.
He rolled his eyes before he said, “Can we just go from here as planned, before the, um, the, what just happened?” he offered.
“Yeah. I just want to get some fresh air. It’s too hot in here,” I said, wiping some sweat on my head. “Let’s go.”
We left Hellena’s house without telling anybody. I would text Gina later. Then, we got into Gee Kay’s car and departed to somewhere.
We didn’t spend more than five minutes on the road because Gee Kay stopped his car by the side of Virginia Lake Park. I had read so much about Reno so when I saw this lake and some children's playground on the side of it, I recognized it in no time. We walked to the children's playground area and we sat on the swings.
“Thank you so much, Cynthia,” Gee Kay started the conversation after we sat down.
I laughed softly and looked at him. “Yeah, you are so welcome that I wanted to kill you at that moment,” I said and he smiled. “Yeah. Whatever. What happened, just happened. So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.”
“Hey, that’s from Matthew 6 verse 34, the New Living Translation version,”
“Wow, you know it,” I wondered. “Do you memorize every sentence in each Bible version?”
He shook his head. “I just read it yesterday,” he replied.
“Well, it speaks to you today,” I said and started swinging slowly.
It was a beautiful night. The sky was clear, though I couldn’t see any stars because of the lights from the houses and buildings around the lake. Well, I considered the lights replacing the stars, however I felt a little bit cold. I took out my cellphone and saw the weather forecast widget on my home screen. It was 51̊ F. That was why. I stopped swinging and crossed my arms against my chest.
Noticing it, Gee Kay asked, “Are you feeling cold?”
I smiled. “Yeah. I’m all okay though, only need to get used to the temperature,” I answered.
“Wait here,” he told me.
Without even responding to what he said, I kept sitting where I was and watched where he went. He went to his car and disappeared behind it.
The temperature was getting colder. I remembered to do what the physicians and doctors talked about to overcome the cold. Move your body to increase the heat inside your body. Therefore, I did it. I walked to and fro while I was rubbing my palms together. Sometimes I blew air from my mouth to transfer the heat inside my body to my palms.
“Here's my jacket. You can wear it,” I stopped moving when I heard Gee Kay speak.
“Oh, thank you so much,” I grinned and took his jacket. When I wore it, it seemed to be oversized and completely covered my body. “Hey, Gee, can we walk around? I want to see more of the other side of the lake, and also move my body to keep the heat.”
“Sure,” he agreed. “Let’s go this way.”
We walked slowly alongside the lake. We didn’t talk for some time. We were just walking and enjoying that night.
Again, while I was walking, I gave a silent deep gratitude to the Lord for His kindness to me. For the chance to get the scholarship to school and live here in Reno, Nevada, for giving me such great friends, and also for teaching me to overcome life problems -- my own life. Because before I came here, every life problem seemed to be my parents’ even though I also experienced the problems.
“Cynthia, as we know Brenda needs someone to be an actor in her short movie. I think it’s my time to put myself forward,” Gee Kay opened up conversation.
I glanced at him and said, “Oh that’s great,” and then looked forward again as I was still walking. “So, have you learned to speak Bahasa Indonesia?”
“Yeah, like very often, but I’m just not sure about it,” his tone lowered.
Recognizing it, I stopped walking. “Let me hear you read Bahasa Indonesia text,” I took out my cellphone from my pocket. I opened the Bible app and opened my last bookmark which was Psalm 121. I changed the language into Bahasa Indonesia. “Here. Read the title.”
He moved closer to me as to see the text, “Tu-han Pen-ja-ga I-sra-el,” he pronounced.
“Okay, that’s pretty good, but don’t say the word "l'Israel' the way we say it in English,” I said. “Repeat after me, I-sruh-el.”
“I-sruh-el,” he repeated the way I pronounced.
“Yeah, that’s right!” I noticed the change in his pronunciation of the word. “Now read it again by yourself.”
“Tuhan penjaga Israel,” he said it very well and faster than before.
“Hmm. So much better,” I gave him a thumb up. “But surely I need to teach you deeper. Anyway, after you tell Brenda that you want to help her, just call me anytime. I’ll teach you how to read and memorize the script.”
“Okay. I’ll work hard on it,” he said.
We continued walking for some time until we arrived by the side of the lake where his car was parked. We got into his car and he drove me back to Argenta, and he went home to Sierra.
After that night, I woke up to a brand new day. A brand new day on which I definitely would never feel the same the way I did before. What I meant was my feelings toward Gee Kay. To be frank, during the entire night I couldn’t sleep really well because I kept thinking about what would happen when I met Gee Kay again since the fake incident of expressing love the previous night.
I didn’t tell Cassie or Julie about it. I would let them find out for themselves. I didn’t think that they'd find this out anyway. During my first class, Julie surprisingly texted me and asked if I was dating Gee Kay since yesterday. I didn’t text her back. Not only because it was still during the class, but also because I wanted to wait until we met. Then when I finished my first class and was about to move to my next class, because on Friday I had alternate classes, Cassie stopped me.
She gave me that smile. A smile that I categorized as the Snow White witch’s mischievous smile.
“I know, I know,” I guessed what she was trying to say before she could even say a word.
She was still smiling and nodding repeatedly. “Tell me,” she commanded.
I sighed. “You’re just the same with Julie. She texted me during class, you know,” I told her.
Cassie giggled. “I believe that. It’s trending now, in case you didn’t know,” she commented.
I believed my eyes had just popped out of my head. The news startled me. “How could it be trending? What do you mean?” I was so curious.
“Hey, don’t you remember that everyone here knows who Genesis is? And don’t you know that every girl wants to be his girlfriend?”
“Well, I guess I’m not included.”
Cassie giggled and said, “But that’s the funny thing. You don't seem to care but you are Genesis’ girlfriend.”
“No,” I interrupted. “I'm not.”
“You are,” she countered.
“No, I’m not.”
“Yes, you are.”
I hissed. “Stop it,” I ordered. “Just tell me how everyone knows, because there was only one girl who saw it.”
“It?” the word ‘it’ had just captivated her. Gosh, I just made a mistake. “Tell me what it refers to.”
I shook my head. I was really impatient for the answer to how everyone knew about the ‘fake’ dating with Gee Kay. I insisted that Cassie answer my question before I told her what ‘it’ referred to. Then, what she said afterward was so surprising that I couldn’t believe it happened in reality.
“There are two videos on Instagram from when Gee Kay asked you to be his girlfriend and your response to it,” she told me and took out her IPhone to show me both of the videos.
I watched the two videos Cassie mentioned. They hit 5k! What made me disappointed the most was not that everyone knew about this relationship between me and Gee Kay—surely they didn’t know it was fake—, but that the videos came from Gee Kay’s Instagram. What’s this?
My decision to help Gee Kay was only to free him from Hellena’s grip that night, nothing more. I believed it was also pretty clear to him that my principle of ‘One, Once, For Eternity’ kept me from wasting time with a guy who wouldn’t be the ‘right one’. What was happening at the moment was beyond that. I couldn't believe Gee Kay did it. He posted it on his Instagram? Oh goodness, how dare he do it!
I was so disappointed, almost angry—but I tried my best not to be, because I would definitely cry right away— that I left Cassie without telling her I was leaving. I was sure that she'd wonder what had happened to me or she might worry about me, or whatever. I didn’t know. I just left in a hurry to find Gee Kay. I texted him as I was walking and he replied that he was at the park. I texted him back that I would meet him right away. I walked as fast as I could to meet him while I was searching for the videos on Instagram with my cellphone.
Gee Kay was doing nothing as I approached him. He was sitting on a bench and he seemed to have been waiting for me since I told him that I wanted to meet him.
I was too furious to greet him, only sitting down and showing him one of the videos, then I asked, “What’s this?”
Gee Kay watched it. It was only a 15-second video so he quickly finished watching it. “So, this is it,” he responded flatly about the video he just watched.
“'So this is it' is your response? What do you mean?” I couldn’t believe it. I stood up because my anger was rising.
“Cynthia, let me explain.”
“How could you do that, Gee?” I sighed in disappointment.
He held my arm and hinted to me to sit back down. Then I did what he asked. I tried again to dampen my anger because I felt tears at the edge of my eyes.
“Look, Cynthia. It wasn’t me—”
“How could you say it wasn’t you? You’re the only one who can access your Instagram,” I interrupted in a raised tone but then I realized it. “Sorry.”
Gee Kay’s deep blue eyes looked into mine. They suddenly soothed my anger. “Cynthia, I've lost my bag since the night we were in Hellena’s house. I just recognized it this morning and then I heard from my friend about the videos, then from you too,” he gently explained and I felt guilty all the more because of it.
“Gee, I’m sorry. I didn’t know—”
“It’s fine,” he cut me off. “I completely understand.”
I should have never been angry before I knew the truth. I felt guilty before the one I almost accused—well I did—for my prejudice.
“So what are you gonna do?” I asked him.
He shrugged it off. “I have no idea where to find my IPad because I don’t know who could've taken it,” he said. “I’ll just.. let it go. I’ve changed all my online accounts’ passwords through my Mac so that no one can access it, again I mean, because she or he has accessed it once.”
I also didn’t know and had no idea who'd taken his IPad. Hellena? She had been with us when the incident happened. It couldn’t be her. I wondered if it had been one of the youth members. I truly had no idea. They all seemed like good people. So who?
We didn’t talk much after that. We separated because he had a class to run and I was still on my break time. Therefore, I remained there alone while I was reading some stories written by indie authors on a writing site on my cellphone. I was a currator there, so when I finished reading the stories, I rated them and commented to encourage the authors or just to compliment their works.
As I was into reading my stories, I heard some audible whispers behind me but I couldn’t catch what was being said. I was thinking I'd neglect it and keep on reading but I was distracted. I couldn’t even focus on what I was reading as the whispers turned into utterances I could hear clearly. I heard someone behind me mentioning my name. Without delay, I turned backward to see who was speaking behind me.
I saw three girls and two boys standing only about two feet away from where I was sitting. They went back to whispering to each other again when they saw me looking at them.
I gave them a smile, so as to be friendly, and asked, “I heard my name mentioned, so did any of you want to talk to me?”
A girl stepped forward and I got up from the bench I was sitting on, then I walked to behind the bench. I was standing there and the girl approached me.
“Well, actually I found this laid on the floor in front of my locker,” she took out what she had in her bag and thrust it to me, which surprised me because it was Gee Kay’s IPad, then she continued, “So I think I should return it.”
“But why didn’t you give it to Genesis?” I asked without taking the IPad.
She shook her head. “My friends and I,” she tilted slightly and her friends walked closer, “were guilty—”
“You mean you guys were the ones who took his IPad?,”
“No,” another girl responded as fast as lightning. “We opened it. We saw everything there.”
I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion. “So like what do you mean you saw everything?” I asked.
“You may want to see it for yourself, so just take it,” the first girl who talked to me said.
I hesitated at first but then I took it. I thanked them and they left. Yes, they left me in curiosity.
I got back to where I was sitting and I put Gee Kay’s IPad on the bench beside my bag. I didn’t dare to see what they'd mentioned as ‘everything’ inside his IPad. I took my cellphone out again and went back to my reading. However, it only lasted about two minutes. I couldn’t bear to resist looking at what was inside his IPad.
I opened the cover and then pushed the power button. The home screen was fine. There was nothing to cause suspicion, however something inside my heart stopped me from pressing anything more there. I closed the cover and put it back down.
I thought it would be better to give it to Gee Kay right away, or— an idea came into my head! I texted him and wrote ‘If I could find your IPad, would you let me know what’s inside of it? Reply back when you’re free and please no questions. Just say yes or no.” Then I put a smiley face on it. I was trying to test him. By his reply, I would know if he had something to conceal from me, which was mentioned by one of the girls I didn’t know as ‘everything’.
In no time, my cellphone buzzed and I got a reply from Gee Kay. According to my proposition, he wrote no other word but ‘yes’. Wow. That guy is— I couldn’t find the words. I just laughed silently.
I was wondering if he didn't hesitate to let me know what’s inside his IPad, then why did the word ‘everything’ that the girl said sound like there was something—I emphasized this word— private or that shouldn’t be seen by anyone but him? I also wondered how that word ‘everything’ could stir my mind at this moment. Yes, I was thinking in confusion.
“Well I guess I’ll surprise him when he sees me with his IPad, and then I'll ask him to show me what’s in it,” I mumbled to myself.
I got a message on my phone when I was about to get into Casey’s car. I sat in the front passenger seat while I read the message. Casey started the engine. When she was about to leave the parking lot, I told her to stop as the message was from Meredith, saying she wanted to meet me right then.
I told Casey that I couldn’t go home with her because Meredith asked me to meet up. She told me to take care of myself and I got out of her car. I stood there in the parking lot as I watched her leave. Simultaneously, my cellphone buzzed and I got a call from Meredith. She asked me where I was and I told her. She said she would meet me there right away, then she ended the call.
I walked to the side of the parking lot and waited there. It didn’t take a long time until Meredith showed up with Kyle. They walked toward me.
“Why did you want to meet up?” I asked as they were standing in front of me.
“No specific reason. Just want to hang out with you.”
I knitted my eyebrows together. “Seriously?” I asked because I still wasn't used to hanging out with them. It was even the first time—I mean without Gee Kay.
“Hey, you don’t need to go on thinking we're like those bad people that pretend to be good just like in the horror movies.” Kyle tried to convince me.
“I actually never thought that,” I giggled. “Okay, now where do we go?”
“Just come with us and you’ll find out,” Meredith said.
I grimaced. “Okay,” I said and followed them to Kyle’s car, and then we left.
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