Capítulo 5: Sato
Rachel looked a bit embarrassed as she told him.
"You know how my family went under and how my dad went to prison for all the corruption he got himself involved with? It wasn't easy to deal with things, so we relocated to the countryside, where my mother's family lived. Fortunately, my credits from NA were transferred to a local school over there so I could complete high school, and it also wasn't difficult to maintain the top position just like in NA. I was able to apply for a scholarship here after bumping into the ad, and here I am! Studying Economics for free. This is my second year. I'm taking two elective courses from your class." She concluded with a smile.
"It must be hard on you," he said while looking at her with pity. He couldn't imagine the same happening to him. Surprisingly, she was looking okay.
"It is. But I'm happy to be here. It's been so great! I know it's silly, but I'm still like acting like my family is a... you know... big deal, so people treat me really well here." her face flushed again.
He almost laughed at that. She was pretending to be a princess while he was pretending to be a pauper. What a weird novel plot.
He also summarized his story to her since she opened up to him. Since they were in a foreign land, they had to have each other's backs.
"But I think they would have also treated you well even if they knew your family wasn't. People here seem nice."
"And they would probably not treat you any differently if they knew you were a prince." She quipped.
"You never can tell."
"I didn't mean to lie though. I came here looking like myself. But they saw how expensive my clothes and stuff were and assumed I was a humble nouveau riche. Even when I tried to tell them I was not, but then, I couldn't tell them about my family, so yeah, they just assumed and I just left it that way."
He nodded. He wouldn't judge her for any of it. He wasn't better either.
"How is this place like?" he asked her.
"Aside from all the gorgeous faces?" she wiggled her brows.
"I thought I was the only one who noticed it." He laughed.
"There have been 2 Miss Worlds from this place. And it makes perfect sense. One of them has children who study here. The girl won the Miss Fresher last year, while her twin brother, who is simply drop-dead gorgeous, by the way, won Mr. Fresher. Just imagine it!"
Chris almost rolled his eyes.
"You're into him?" he asked as he took a bite of his sandwich.
"Everyone in this school is into him!" She all but gasped.
"He is the cutest, nicest, most talented, smartest, and sexiest guy alive." She moaned.
"Everyone here is cute and nice," he reminded her.
"But not talented, smart, and sexy altogether. But this guy, he is all of it!"
"Does he have a partner?" Chris asked curiously.
"I heard he doesn't. No one knows for sure though. His sister hardly says anything. And his friends are tight-lipped. It's so difficult to know much about him. I have tried to be friends with his sister for a long time, but it's not been so easy to get much from her." She sighed in frustration.
"He must be doing all the 'mystery thing' on purpose. Maybe he doesn't want to lose his 'fans'? Seem like a narcissist who enjoys the attention." Chris shrugged again.
"Sato is anything but that!" she scolded harshly.
"You don't even know him personally," he pointed out.
"And I've heard everything I need to know."
"Whatever you say. I just want to live quietly here. We're going to keep each other's secrets, right?" he asked, even though it was obvious what the answer was.
She nodded. "I can't believe you are really pretending to be broke here."
"And I can't believe you aren't taking advantage of it to throw yourself at me."
She blushed and laughed. "Maybe I would have if I didn't have my eyes on Sato."
"Is his family loaded?" Chris asked, not sure why he was interested in knowing about these people. Maybe because he had been a god in high school and wanted to keep up with the god here? But he doubted the guy would be able to measure up to him.
"I hear they are pretty average. I don't mind though." She shrugged again. "I can keep a rich guy like you as my friend and Sato as my boyfriend."
Chris laughed. "Big dreams." He said before asking seriously,
"Any particular thing I need to do to stay out of trouble and not be in the spotlight? Things to just watch out for?"
She leaned over the table and raised a finger each time she listed one.
"Do not just get yourself in trouble. No fighting. This is a friendly environment and do not forget, we aren't from here and we are on scholarship."
He nodded. He had the sense to know that already.
"Do not speak badly about Sato in public. He has fans. I'm telling you. Like, real fans even though he is not on social media. So one bad word and they'll ruin you."
He could not stop the eye roll.
"Okay. What next?"
"And... do not be gay. Those people are put in the spotlight for no reason at all. Instead of your name, you'll become 'the tall gay boy'. Wait... you... like boys, right?" she said, remembering some rumours she had heard while in school.
"Girls, boys, and everything in between," he said casually. "But thanks for telling me. I think I'll stick to liking girls here even though I'm not exactly looking to like any girl."
She laughed in amusement. "You are going to have a filled day staring at so many good-looking people. Anyway, like whoever you want, but not Sato."
"Why?"
Capítulo 6: Speak of the angel
"Because one, girls are going to kill you if they suspect you have any intention of taking their dream man from them. Me included. Two, there is a very high probability that he isn't gay. And three, just stay away from him."
"Who said I was going to be interested in him anyway? Not that I am interested in any relationship, but I lean more towards the feminine folks than towards guys."
She laughed again. "You obviously haven't seen him."
"I don't like every pretty boy I see." He lectured her.
She was about to say something when Chris's phone dinged. He took it out and saw he had two messages. One was spam and the other one was from Sky. He realized the message came in about an hour ago and had missed it because he was in class.
SKY: Hey, So, one, that was my laundry basket. Two, I guess you do not like burgers. Sorry for troubling you with that. Let me know if you run into any trouble in school.
Chris's face burned from embarrassment as he remembered throwing all the trash inside the basket he found in the room. Including the burger.
Despite that, Sky was still kind about it. He felt very awful and guilty.
CHRIS: I apologize. And I love burgers. I kind of slept off and figured it wasn't safe to eat anymore this morning. I'll make it up and buy you dinner if you're coming tonight.
He was about to put down his phone when he noticed the text had been marked read and he realized Sky was typing. That was... unusual. Usually, it would take hours. He waited patiently until Sky's message came in and read it as soon as it arrived.
SKY: Oh, it's nice to know you didn't deliberately throw that out. And you don't have to worry about buying dinner. My mom made enough, and I've been asked to drop by home to get some to share with my new roommate. So you can skip dinner and wait for me. I'll try to be there early.
Another message came in as soon as Chris finished reading that one.
SKY: Is that fine? I don't want to impose.
Chris could not help but smile. Why was this guy so adorable?
CHRIS: That is fine. Thank you.
Sky sent a smiling emoticon and that was it.
"You are smiling. Is that a lover?"
Chris snapped his head up when he heard Rachel and kept his phone back.
"My roommate. He's... interesting."
"Roommate? And you're smiling that much? Are you really sure you want to stay out of trouble?"
"Come on, I haven't even seen this guy before. He is just kind of nice and not something I'm used to from a guy here."
"Wait till you meet Sato."
"Jeez! Enough of this Sato guy. How many times have you met him anyway?"
"A few times. But trust me, I know what I'm saying. Come on, we have business math in 20 minutes. Let's go."
He stood up after her and just as they turned towards the door, Rachel gasped when she saw who had just opened the door and was waiting for the little girl beside him to enter inside before him.
"Speak of the angel!" She whispered excitedly with her eyes not leaving the young man.
Chris followed her gaze and felt his heart stop in that moment.
Wait... Isn't that the model in the poster?
"That's him." Rachel whispered breathlessly.
It seemed like what Rachel had been trying to make him believe the entire time was correct because all the attention in the cafe went to him and the little girl beside him, who was probably around 11 years old.
Sato was tall. As tall as Chris. It seemed Rachel had forgotten to give him an important detail about Sato. The guy played sports. There was no way that body was just from workouts. He was fit and lean and firm.
He wore a black shirt with the first three buttons undone. The first wasn't fitted to his body, so it was a little big on the sides, but it was tucked into fitted grey pants and nice Oxford shoes. His earring was still there, as well as a tiny stud on his nose. He carelessly ran his hand through his hair as he entered the cafe and asked the girl he was with what she wanted to have.
"Uhm... excuse me? Sorry, you are in the way." He said to them with a polite smile.
God, his voice was crazy.
He reminded Chris so much of someone he was supposed to not be thinking about.
"I'm Rachel!" She squeaked, bringing Chris back to his senses as he cringed on her behalf. What the hell was that?
Chris looked at her and noticed how bright her face was burning now from embarrassment.
"Sorry." Chris said to Sato, adopting the "Sorry" the people here liked to say.
He quickly moved Rachel out of the way and pulled her with him outside.
"That was so embarrassing. I can't believe it was the first time I got to really bump into him like this in over a year and I made a complete fool out of myself." She cried.
"Do not beat yourself over it." He could perfectly understand why.
He could perfectly understand.
Usually, he was confident about things. But now, he knew he had to make a conscious effort to stay away from this one. He just had to.
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