Love Business

The night is getting deeper when Yara and Pan finally arrive at the dorm building. All through a way back, Yara was not engaging much with any form of communication with Pan or Han. The man even remarked a few times how much Yara stays silent tonight.

"Yara... Are you okay?" Pan slowly gets worried. It's weird when you know someone who is usually super talkative behaves in such a weird way. It's better if Yara keeps gibberish even though sometimes that makes Pan and Han confused. At least, she utters something.

"I'm okay. I'm fine..."

"Gwenchana...gwenchana..." Pan spurs some in trend joke, in hopes that it will make Yara at least bashing her about the kiddie behaviour.

But the girl keeps stoic.

"Yara... You look like a mother fucking stone..." Yara sighs.

No response.

Okay, this is weird!

"Is it about Aye Yi?"

Yara quickly turns her head and looks at Pan with her boba eyes. Pan flicks her finger and smiles.

"I know it's about him..."

"Nope! Says who?!"

"Your aggressive denial makes it even more clear, Yara..."

"I'm not!"

"You like him? You want me to help you?"

"Nope! Shut up, Pan!"

"You're blushing..." Pan teasing Yara. The girl playfully smacks Pan's shoulder. As they bicker, Yara's phone suddenly blasts.

She fishes the gadget out from her tote bag and checks the ID. Quickly, she rejects the call and puts the phone in silent mode.

"Who's calling?"

"No one."

"Is it Aye Yi???" Pan teases Yara again. The girl whines and smacks Pan with her throw cushion.

"C'mon, if you like him... We can arrange a strategy. Plus, he is our mentor now! We're gonna meet him almost all the time!"

"That's the most horrible thing I have ever imagined in my life," Yara sighs deeply.

"What's the horrible case of falling in love?" Pan asks. She slowly draws a smile on her face.

Yara stares at her friend. Pan's sincere smile makes her feel bleak. How she wishes she can talk about how she lives her life in reality. About her family, her relationship with her step brother and many other things.

"Love is nothing but a problem. I have 99 problems and I don't wanna add one more..." Yara replies to Pan before she leaves her standing alone at the front door.

Little did Yara know, Pan agrees with her claim.

Love is nothing but a problem.

***

"Why are you rejecting my call?"

"I'm busy," Yara replies to the caller in short. She glares at Pan who is busy cleaning the dishes outside.

"With whom?"

"None of your business..." says Yara.

"Yara, I have to check on you more now. Mom is worried about you..."

"Did you tell her?"

"No. I was just complaining to her about your behaviour..."

"You son-of-"

"She asked me if we spent the weekend together. What did you expect me to tell her? Lies?"

"Yeah. Do what you're good to do..."

"Yara... Please don't do this!"

"That's what I wanna tell you as well. Stop towing me as if I was a child. And please stop pretending that you care about me when you're the one to blame for," Yara cuts the call. Talking with Kluen takes away her energy. It's tiring and useless.

"Are you okay?" Pan comes in while wiping her hand with a clean towel. Yara nods. She pretends to check on her work sheet.

Pan wants to ask her about the call, but she lets it pass because it feels kinda like private. She slowly takes out some books from the drawer and starts doing her assignments.

Five minutes later, Yara's phone was blasting again.

"I swear to God..." Yara rants before she halts for a second.

"It's me. Aye Yi."

***

"Where did you get my number?" asks Yara. Aye Yi smiles widely. He shows Yara the list in his hand.

"Abusing the power. Why am I not surprise?"

"You seem to have a duality, you know?"

Yara's brows almost entwine.

"I don't know what are you talking about..."

"You acted so gentle in front of Pan. And a bit childish. But, when we are alone, you're icy cold. Even your voice changed," Aye Yi points out every details that he extract from his observation.

"Look, I am who I am, with who I was. If I choose to be savage, I'll be one. There is no reason why I have to be nice to you, just because you're my mentor," Yara replies.

Aye Yi flashes his grin. He leans closer to Yara.

"Oh, you have no idea the whole reason why you should be nice to me..." Aye Yi moves even more closer to her. "We did slept together, you know..."

Yara feels the fume sips into her body. She swings her hand for a hard slap but Aye Yi manages to grab her hand before that soft palm touches his cheek.

"You son of a bitch!"

"Call me whatever you want. I guess you never care about your image anymore. Imagine, what if Pan knows about the hot night between-"

"Tell me what do you want!"

Aye Yi smirks.

"As long as whatever happened between us that night, stays under radar..." Yara warns Aye Yi.

"Fine then. Let me get this straight. I like Pan,"

"Hah?"

"Yeah. I like Pan. I want you to help me getting close to Pan. Create any scenarios, as long as I can get closer to her," says Aye Yi.

"If that's the case, get in line, sir..."

"Why?"

"There's a lot of men who like her. I can name them one by one. Everyone is a hardcore contender. A trouble maker like you won't stand a chance," Yara lifts her shoulder, looking at Aye Yi with her cynical look.

"But, they don't have something, unlike me.."

"If you talk about money, just save it!"

"Nope..."

"Then?" asks Yara.

"I have you to help me,"

Yara glares at Aye Yi. This annoying dude really messing with her.

"More like a slave, I think..."

"Well, if you wish to share the rendezvous adventure between us...."

"Fine! I'll help you!"

Aye Yi smiles with satisfaction. Finally, a person who is willingly to help. Well, not technically volunteer to help, but at least he is close to his true intention.

"Great! I'll text you from time to time. Be prepare, okay?" says Aye Yi.

Yara stomps her feet a little, watching Aye Yi slowly disappear in the dark. Her guts churn a bit just now, almost causing her to throw up a bit. Inside, she prays silently that no one will ever find out that the man who slept with her that night was Aye Yi.

Finger cross.

***

Walking back to his dorm, Aye Yi smirked as he feels the scent of victory has been on his side.

If I can hurt the most softest part of you, I know you will not survive until the end, Zee! We will be equal again. That time, the real game begins!

Aye Yi chuckles as he lifts his right arm, greeting someone who has been waiting for him at the parking lot.

"I can see you wide smile..."

"Drama!" Aye Yi smacks Top's shoulder jokingly before his friend shakes his head in disbelief.

"Your smile is so wide, that I guess your mom can see it from Bang Saen..." Top sarcastically points out Aye Yi's weird attitude.

"Dragging my mom, huh?" Aye Yi chuckles. As they were talking, Top's expression turns a bit dull.

"Are you sure you wanna do this, Aye Yi? Do you think it's a bit too harsh for Zee?" asks Top.

"Top, if he didn't betrayed me at the first place, I will never take things to this extend," Aye Yi casually answers Top. "Besides, he's the stupid one to believe that I won't do anything after I learnt everything about him. He should've know me better."

Aye Yi smirks as his sight looks away on the empty space. The hidden agenda that he has been planned since he met Pan at the first place will be execute soon. He will destroy Zee from inside out.

Just wait for your karma, Zee!