AGNES

Here I am in the hallway minding my business, selling cookies with Yvonne, but Felix won't let me be. He keeps gawping from the distance, as he's been at it since lunch break started.

I turn to other directions, anywhere else where he isn't in my scope of vision but I cannot shake off the feeling.

Every time I look behind, he is there still, and it is highly discomforting.

Not too long after, I hear his footsteps coming. "You could grow bigger in your business. I have a few ideas actually that can help," he says over my shoulder.

Stay calm, stay cool, stay collected. Today, you won't cause a scene, Agnes. Perhaps if you talk to him in a civilized way, he will understand you and leave you alone. You can do this, Agnes.

I finally face him. "What is it this time? Is it ever possible to avoid you, like, ever?"

He plays down my quietness, I presume, acting as though my humble request wasn't relevant. "I want to buy those cookies."

I wonder what is going on with him these days. We barely said a word to each other in the past three years of studying in the same school, and then out of the blue, he stalks me everywhere I go; the dance club, and now he's invading my business. Do I continuously have to go through this stuff every year?

Whatever this is about, I'll find out, and I won't let him get away with it so easily. I'm definitely not one of those girls who will fall for his stupid charms.

"What do you really want from me, Felix?" I ask as calmly as possible.

"Don't get the wrong idea. I was on my way to the field, but I decided to eat something first."

"Like I'm supposed to believe that dumb lie."

"If you don't believe me, then tell me what you really believe in. Do you believe in loathing and spitefulness?"

Uh-uh, I'm not doing that with him right now. I am not going to continue this conversation. He must be crazy to think he can play mind games with me.

"Well? Why so quiet?"

"I don't have to answer your question."

"But at least you can tell me why you won't sell cookies to me. I doubt these beautiful innocent cookies have something to do with your hatred towards me, or does it?"

"What the hell do you want from me damnit?!" I lose my temper from here on, raising my voice to the max. "Go ahead and tell me because I'm so sick and tired of being around you and trying to force myself not to feel annoyed every day."

"Like I said before, I was on my way to—"

"Yeah, sure, I heard it the first time." I sincerely can't deal with him one more minute. It's going to take more than a humble request to actually get him off my case for good. And if this cookie is the reason he's bothering me, I better let him have it. "Which one do you want?"

"One triple chocolate chip and a milk chocolate chip, please."

I select his order from the container, wrap it in a plastic bag and hand it over to him. "Anything else?" My voice unveiling a scathing tone.

"Nothing else." He dips his hand into his pocket and fishes out fifty pence coins.

I accept the payment from him, expecting he'd leave right away, and not spoil my day. Rather, he still stands in front of me with his insatiable demeanour.

"What else do you want?! Aren't those cookies enough already?"

"Um... actually, I wanted to ask you something, and I'm sincerely hoping you don't refuse."

Aha! I knew it! Someone like Felix doesn't have the ability to talk to a person without throwing in one or two lines. If he assumes I'll fall for his trickery, then he has got another thing coming. "I'll spare you the trouble. Your answer is no."

"You haven't even heard my request!"

"There's no need to. I would know it isn't worth hearing."

"I was going to ask if I can help. I'm surprisingly good at wheedling customer to buy stuff."

"No thanks, I'm doing just fine."

"You don't believe me? Just watch." He swivels left and right, looking for God knows what, and then he finds a girl passing. As though he's ever ready to flirt, he stops in front of her and waves the bag of cookies in his hand over her face. "Hi there, have you had a taste of these cookies?"

"No," she replies.

"Huh!" He exclaims. "You haven't tasted these delicious cookies! And you claim to study here? Are you allergic to awesomeness?"

I fix a thunderstruck stare at him while he does whatever he's doing, literally containing myself from going over there and yanking his shirt.

"I'm watching my sugar level, plus I'm on a diet so I have to avoid calories," she responds.

"Seriously?" He chortles mischievously. "Don't you think you're too young to be watching your diet? Look at you! So skinny! It not fair if no one told you how thin you are to starve yourself so unjustly? And who said young folks suffer from diabetes? Or do you have an insulin problem?"

"Um, no actually," she replies in defeat.

"Then you should try this chocolate cookie. It is appetizing and packed with essential nutrients that gives energy and boosts the brain function for scholars like yourself. You need these kinds of snack to concentrate as well as improve your memory capacity, trust me."

Lies! All lies!

I mean, Felix being this kind without some dark twisted reason. He is doing too much here, and those features he mentioned I didn't know the cookies had! He's good, I hate to admit.

"Okay, I'll try it. How much?" She asks.

"Sixty pees! Come on, how inexpensive is that? You can't find cookies this good at this friendly price available elsewhere."

"That is true. Give me four, please."

Without acknowledging my opinion, Felix sells four cookies to her and she leaves. "Have a nice day!" He calls after her.

I angrily walk to his side, intending to scold him silly. I don't mind if I'll sound like an ungrateful brat, but he must tell me what the hell is going on in that head of his. "What was that about?!" Standing closer to him, I virtually smell his aura and confidence. My head tilts up to look him in the eye.

"I just helped you. You're welcome."

"Did I ask for your help?"

Before I know it, three girls who are most likely freshmen, ramble with excitement towards us. They chatter incessantly among themselves as they leer at Felix with goo-goo eyes.

One of them comes up to him with a broad grin across her face. "I heard you are selling cookies now! Um, my name's Betty, and my friends are here, Dorothea and Inez. We're very interested in buying all your cookies."

"And we mean all of your cookies," the second one emphasizes with a sly tease.

One would think they came all the way here to buy cookies for themselves, right?

Wrong!

They come for Felix to drown him in the centre. I almost feel like a third wheel being near them, like, I was redundantly shoved aside.

"All my cookies, huh?" Felix acts as though he's not revelling in the attention the girls are giving him. "Sure. I can give you guys that." He flashes a conceited simper at them. He must think he's so cool when he does that.

I roll my eyes so much it wears me down. In the meantime, I watch the girls snigger pathetically as if they just met their celebrity crush.

"So what's your favourite?" He asks them.

"You are my favourite!" Inez replies.

"Her favourite is my favourite," Dorothea adds.

"And their favourite is also my favourite," Betty concludes.

My blood boils, my hand itching to knock some sense into these freshers. He's not so great like they pictured him to be, but I can't do anything about it, can I? What could be more infuriating than the tiny fact that he is having so much fun with every minute of this scenario?

He takes a quick lofty glance at me, probably to see if I am jealous or whatever. Disappointingly for him, my countenance shows no iota of such nonsense. I am rather waiting patiently for him to be done so I can put him in his place.

"Okay, ladies, calm down. If you can buy all the cookies here, you'll surely find your favourite."

The girls do not waste any moment, they attack with hugs and kisses on his face.

Ugh. How disgusting!

After receiving all their love and adoration to a satisfiable amount, he breaks away from them. "Alright! Ladies! Listen to me. There are about thirty cookies left, can you pay for all of them?"

"Of course!" They chorus at once.

One brings her money from her purse, another gives him all her pocket money and the last one fishes out her remaining change to hand it over to Felix without regrets.

"Do not worry. This is already enough," he says to Inez, rejecting her money. "You can have the cookies now."

I'll never understand the audacity they possess to walk pass me and grab my cookies even with the container, rejoicing in their fangirl moment as they leave.

"What just happened?" Yvonne asks me out of nowhere. She wasn't present all the while Felix dramatized his foolishness. I could just imagine how surprised she would be if she saw it before excusing herself to the restroom.

"I will tell you what happened... that flirtatious jerk just sold all our cookies to those freshmen and allowed them to take the container away!" I summarize with every bit of me steaming hot.

Felix rushes to defend himself. "Oh no! I'm not flirtatious. They just—"

"Admire you? No, they probably worship you!" I cut him off. "They must be the superfans since you're the school's gold rush everybody loves."

"But—"

"Don't worry. You can keep the money."

I'll probably regret it in the long run, but I'm so angry right now to care. I stomp away, focused on going to class and ridding this rage off. Felix has pulled the last straw. I don't think I can take one more from him.

Yvonne follows me. "Are you seriously going to leave the money from the sales in Felix's hands like that?"

"He worked hard for it, so he deserves it," I say, still forging ahead.

"And aunty Cherry?"

"Let me worry about that later." I move on and Yvonne stops trailing me.

* # * #

Have you ever thought about how complicated life is sometimes? I don't have the right words of comfort but the ultimate goal is inner peace. I hope you find it.