Chapter 4

3rd Person POV

As soon as she entered the classroom, she immediately looked for Bryan, but she could not find him. She first placed her bag on her chair before walking over to Bryan’s male friends.

“Hi! Good morning. Have you seen Bryan today?” she asked one of them.

The guy smiled at her. “Hello, Suzy. We haven’t seen him yet. Have you tried messaging him?” he asked.

She shook her head. “Not yet. I’ll try to message him right now,” she replied.

The guy nodded, so she returned to her seat. She was about to message Bryan when their first teacher of the morning arrived, so she decided to put her phone back in her bag.

“Good morning, class.”

All the students, including her, stood up.

“Good morning, Ms. Berlin!” They all greeted the teacher in unison.

“Okay, you’re all complete.” The teacher looked around the class. “Is it because we have a quiz today?”

Some of their classmates started making noise after hearing what the teacher said

.

Someone raised a hand.

“Yes, Mr. Ramos?” the teacher asked.

“Uhm, Bryan isn’t here yet.”

The teacher looked at Bryan’s seat in the middle of the class. “Oh right, my bad. Okay, let’s begin. Bryan can just catch up later. Since we’re having a quiz now, after this I’ll discuss a new lesson, and then we’ll have another quiz at the next meeting.”

Her face wrinkled at the teacher’s last statement as the teacher walked to the front where the quiz papers were.

Two subjects finished before their break. Even though their classroom was on the sixth floor, she had no choice but to go down to the canteen to eat. She immediately went to line up, and she had not been waiting long when a girl suddenly stopped beside her, breathing heavily.

She stepped back in surprise. “H-hello, Suzy,” the girl said while catching her breath.

“Hi,” she replied awkwardly. The girl was clutching her chest because of how hard she was breathing. It almost made Suzy feel out of breath as well.

“Did you see Bryan?” the girl asked shyly.

“Ah, I haven’t seen him yet. I don’t know if he’ll come to our next subject. Why?” she said as she moved forward when the line advanced. The girl followed her.

“Ohh, it's still Friday, that can only mean one thing, I still have to wait until Monday.,” the girl said with disappointment, which made Suzy curious.

“What do you want to give him? I can just bring it to him,” she offered.

Aside from wanting an excuse to pass by Bryan’s house, she also wanted to ask how he was doing. As a friend, she was worried about why he wasn’t replying to her messages and why he didn’t come to school.

“But wouldn’t that be embarrassing?” the girl asked shyly.

“It’s okay. I also want to check on him since he didn’t come to school,” she replied.

“Are you sure it’s really okay?”

“It’s okay.”

“Alright, I’ll bring it to your classroom later.”

Suzy nodded. The girl said goodbye and left while Suzy moved forward since it was already her turn in line.

She ordered her food, and after receiving it, she decided to just eat in the classroom so she wouldn’t be late again because of how high their classroom floor was. When she arrived there, she wasn’t surprised to see the desks messy again.

Before going home, she kept her promise to the girl. Instead of riding a jeep going to Bakakeng, she rode one going to Crystal

Cave so she could go to Bryan’s house.

It was a bit of a hassle because she still had to go back to town to ride another jeep going to Bakakeng, but she couldn’t back out anymore since she had already promised to deliver the girl’s gift to Bryan.

“Is Bryan here, Auntie?” she asked Bryan’s

mother, who she saw at their small store.

“Oh, Suzy, it’s you. He’s inside his room. His sibling said he’s sick, that’s why he didn’t go to school. Are you here to check on him?” the woman asked.

“Ah yes, Auntie. That explains why he didn’t reply to my messages.”

“You can go inside and check on him.”

She followed the woman’s instructions and entered the house. She saw Bryan’s two siblings, but they only looked at her.

She was already used to visiting their house sometimes. She greeted them, but they didn’t respond, so she went straight to Bryan’s room.

She cleared her throat. “Bryan?”

“Bryan?”

No one answered except for a faint groan, so she turned the doorknob. She was surprised that it was unlocked.

Darkness greeted her. She frowned and looked for the light switch. Fortunately, she found it, and the room lit up. She saw Bryan lying face down on the bed.

She decided not to wake him up. Instead, she placed the item the girl gave her on the sofa. She left a note with it before leaving.

“I’ll go ahead now, Auntie.”

“Did you talk to Bryan?” the woman asked.

“No, I just left the gift our schoolmate gave him.”

“Oh my, my son seems like a playboy.”

She laughed and shook her head. “Not really, Auntie. Your son is just kind, that’s why many girls like him,” she said with a smile.

“How about you?”

“Ah, no. I only see him as a brother,” she said nervously, worried that the woman might misunderstand their relationship.

Before the woman could tease her further, she left. She rode a jeep going to town and then another one going to Bakakeng.

It was a bit of a hassle because the jeepney line was already getting longer, but it was fine. She would just check on Bryan tomorrow through a message.

As she got closer to their house, she saw the same guy again leaning against their gate. Bryan’s words from yesterday suddenly came back to her.

“I really think he likes you, Suzy. Don’t give in too easily, or you might get hurt in the end.”