|| Arabella ||

The silence in the car was suffocating.

Wyatt decided to walk Coral home on foot after our dinner at McDonald's, leaving me and Theo to drive home alone.

I didn't know why it was so awkward, but it seemed like Theo had a lot going on in his head. Not to mention, he had seemed bothered ever since I agreed to go on the date with Jack.

Ah, the date with Jack. My worst date ever.

No, not because he was bad. He was nice. Maybe the flowers were a bit... Well, let's not go there.

Though he was good, I couldn't help but feel guilty towards him because my attention was fully on Theo. And it felt morally wrong to go on a date with someone else when I have a particular guy in mind.

Maybe a part of me wanted to prove what Wyatt said to me wrong. But a bigger part of me wanted to confirm my feelings.

The bottom line was, I wasn't interested in other guys at all, and Theo was the only person I had in mind.

I laughed at Jack's stories, all the while thinking about Theo. I even swatted his hand away, realizing that I would only let Theo hold my hand like that.

Maybe... just maybe... that I—

"Ara," Theo called out softly, and I turned to look at him for the first time since I got into the car. "Um, can we talk?"

For no particular reason at all, my heartbeat quickened. "Sure."

He parked the car at the side of the park near our block and shifted on his seat to face me. The determined look in his eyes made me want to look away, but I was enraptured by its intensity.

"I have thought about it a lot, and I have decided that there's something I have to tell you."

God, my heart was beating so fast it could jump right out of my chest. "Okay..."

I held my breath as he didn't break eye contact and started to say, "I—" when my phone rang up. "Fuck," he cursed and looked away, burying his head in the steering wheel.

I had never felt more enraged towards a phone call than now. Gritting my teeth, I took my phone out of my purse to find it was a call from my cousin Mandy.

What the hell does she want?

Procrastinating under my breath, I received the call. "Hello?"

"Hello, Ara! Where are you right now?" Mandy asked desperately. She sounded like she was crying.

"I'm somewhere still alive. Why?"

"You know Mom has hemophilia, right? She fell down the stairs this evening, and her bleeding isn't stopping. They don't have AB negative blood in the book bank," Mandy sobbed.

After almost three months, she called me for this?

"So you need me for the blood transfusion?" I asked, which made Theo raise his head and give me a questioning look.

"Yes, yes, can you please come now?"

Even though my aunt and my cousins put me through a lot, they still let me stay with them and I wasn't taught to be ungrateful. "Yeah, okay. I'm coming. Which hospital?"

After she told me the hospital name, I hung up the call and told Theo about it.

"Karma really is a bitch, huh," he commented as he started to drive. "They kicked you out on the streets first, and now they beg you to help."

I hummed in response. "So what were you going to say earlier?"

"Nothing for now."

"Why not?"

"Maybe that phone call was a sign that I shouldn't right now," he said, keeping his eyes on the road.

I nodded my head in understanding. But I couldn't help but wonder what he wanted to say. Not what I was imagining, right?

"But are you sure you want to do the blood transfusion?" he asked after a moment.

"Yeah."

"Finals are starting in a week. Won't you be too weak to study?"

I smiled at his concern. "I don't think that would be an issue. You will be there to help me out, right?"

His lips curved up as he responded, "That goes without saying."

After a few minutes, we reached the hospital. Though I told Theo to go home since this could take a while, he insisted on staying.

I met with Mandy and my other cousin Owen outside the emergency room before I was taken for some testing. I hated needles, but I had no other option than to accept it to have blood being sucked out of me.

After the donation and the rest of twenty minutes, I got out to find Mandy and Theo talking.

I ignored the churning feeling in my stomach and coughed to let my presence be known. Theo immediately came to my side and wrapped an arm around my shoulder as support.

"How are you feeling?" he asked.

"Just a little tired, but good to go home," I answered, and he nodded.

"Ara, wait," Mandy called out and came in front of me. "Thank you so much for coming. I know this is going to sound pretty meaningless after we had you leave our house, but we really regretted doing that. We are sorry about it."

"Is that why you didn't invite me to Thanksgiving?"

Mandy got tongue-tied. "That's—"

"It's okay, Mandy. I don't really care about that. I have better people to celebrate it with now." Theo gave a squeeze to my shoulder as I said that. I looked up at him with a smile and continued, "You know what? Thanks for kicking me out that day. Otherwise, I wouldn't have got to know a few amazing people out there."

A father figure who genuinely wanted to help me out through life. He picked me up from the streets and gave me a place to stay. A brother figure who is always willing to help me out and cares about me. And—

What was Theo?

I realized it didn't matter. Our relationship didn't need a name. It was as it was. Unique and special. I got to know him underneath the prankster facade. I discovered that he was so much more than an annoying boy at school. He was a sweet, kind person who healed into a stronger self from his past experiences.

And now, I knew what I felt for him. No matter how much I wanted to deny or suppress my feelings—it clearly wasn't working.

I liked him. I liked him so much. And I couldn't stop that anymore.

At the same time, my heart said that my feelings were too intense to just be 'like'. But I didn't want to delve into the love part. For now...

I like you, Theo Benedict.

As I kept looking deeply into his eyes, someone cleared their throats. I turned to Mandy who smiled at me and said, "Well, good for you then. I hope you have a great life."

I smiled back at her and said, "You too. Keep me updated on Aunt's health."

"Shall we get going?" Theo asked, and I nodded.

Both of us got back into the car.

Now that I had my feelings sorted out, I wasn't going to hold back. I had no reason to be all shy around him. I could be myself like usual. So I started chatting happily with him about our finals and how much help I would need from him. I didn't even feel like I just donated a large amount of blood.

"We are going to be hella busy with the finals. We need to do really well this semester unless we want to go into a local third-rate university," Theo said.

"I'm just waiting for the winter vacation after the exams."

He rolled his eyes. "That's all you care about?"

"Of course. I love sleeping under blankets during winter. It's just so cozy," I exclaimed. I had already planned what else I wanted to do this Christmas. First of all, make my confession. Secondly and finally, spend as much time as I could with Theo.

"By the way, I'm going to Atherton for Christmas," Theo informed.

My excitement died down. "Oh. That's cool."

"Do you want to come along?" he asked, and I perked up.

"I would love to!" I instantly replied but lowered my voice as I said, "But only if it's not intruding into your family time—"

"Like I said, you're already family. Uncle and my cousin Susan would love to have you over," he assured.

I grinned and said, "Okay then! I'm really excited to meet them."

"Me too," he added with a smile tugging on his lips.

I admired his smile for a moment before asking, "Is Wyatt coming?"

"He's not sure yet. He's got university applications and all that," he replied.

We kept talking until we got home. Both of us changed into our pajamas for the night and came to the living room.

We both agreed to have a movie marathon as the last day of freedom before we got busy with studying. However, I was happy doing anything with him. Whether it was studying, watching movies, cooking, or just simply listening to music in the car.

After we both huddled up next to each other and turned on a comedy movie, suddenly Clover came and sat on my lap.

"Oh, my God. Is Clover finally starting to like me?" I asked in surprise.

"Maybe she finally realized that you aren't out to kill the poor thing," Theo joked.

I nodded and tried to pet her head, but I was scared. Clover has always tried to bite off my finger whenever I tried to touch her. But then I realized something.

Clover wasn't hostile to Wyatt or Ian. Because they love and care about Theo. And somehow this cat now knew that I liked him too?

I wasn't afraid to touch her anymore and petted her head as she meowed softly. My heart melted.

"I can see why you love her," I said, smiling.

Theo smiled too and tickled under Clover's chin. "You know, she's been with me ever since I was six. She was so small back then."

"Really? That's a long time ago."

"She has been taking care of me ever since, just like you're doing now."

★★★