CHAPTER 18 "FIRST FIGHT"

"WHAT took you so long to go down?" Jason asked her with a frown when she caught up with him waiting on a bench right in front of their college building.

"Oh, Leo and I need to take care of the things and materials that we used earlier in our report," she replied then smiled. "Ara and Daniel, won't they come with us?" she asked then looked up at the young man.

Jason shook his head. "Is that guy courting you? Tell me the truth and do not lie to me, okay?" the young man's tone of voice causes Jenny to frown.

"What is wrong with you?" that is what Jenny replied instead.

Jason clicks his tongue. "I was the one asking you to answer my question. Who is that man in your life and since a week ago since that report started, you've always been with him? Does he even need a tail when you walk from the library?" the annoyance was obvious in Jason's tone and that was what made Jenny so confused.

"I'm getting tired of your nonsense, just a little and I won't talk to you anymore," she whispered then frowned as she bowed her head.

"I don't want him talking to you, what if he's got a plan to court you and will just make you cry in the end?" Jason replied in a lower tone.

Jenny let out a laugh because of that. Then hurried her steps and he left the young man who quickly chased after her.

"Hey! Why did you leave me?" he asked still holding her arm.

Jenny quickly pushed Jason's hand so she was able to pull her arm back. "I'm not what you think! And did you honestly have had this thinking that anyone who wants to court me would be ended up as my boyfriend? You know what you should stop thinking so badly about me because you are getting into my nerve! You go ahead and have lunch all by yourself!" she said and with large steps walked back to the school then left Jason.

She will just have her lunch at the university canteen all by herself.

*****

JENNY did not know if she would be happy or hurt because the young man did not follow her when she returned to school and eat lunch at the canteen instead.

She went straight to the library and there she caught up with Daniel who was on duty at the baggage counter.

"Where's Ara?" she asked the young man then handed him her library card.

"She's inside, reading. Where is Jason? Didn't you eat lunch together?" Daniel asked her.

That was when Jenny sighed and frowned. “We fought,” was her short reply.

"Fought?" Daniel asked in a tone of disbelief.

She also considers Daniel as her best friend just like how she sees Ara and Jason who are both close to the young man as well.

Jenny nodded then opened her mouth again to speak. "Why is he like that? Very ill-tempered? Ever since Leo and I became partners, he has always been annoyed and kept on telling me that Leo would only make me cry when he became my boyfriend," she asked confused.

Daniel just shrugged his shoulders. "It's better for you two to talk. But he's really just concerned about you because your classmate is really very good-looking. He is worried that you might fall in love with him and then suddenly leave you, he doesn't want that to happen," Daniel explained to her.

Then Jenny was stunned and at the same time, she felt a pinch of guilt in her heart. It was as if now she wanted to regret that she had fought Jason earlier. She hopes she remained to understand him as she often does.

*****

"WHAT am I going to do? I'm afraid he might not talk to me anymore?" she told Ara the truth when they were together in the library.

"Jason won't talk to you? It's unlikely that that will happen. You know what, I think that's why he's acting like that is because he's jealous," Ara replied, followed what she said by a weak and trembling giggle.

"What did you say?" she in a tone of disbelief then she voluntarily lowered her voice as she was worried that the other students who were there might hear her in addition to the fact that it is strictly forbidden to make noise in the library.

"Do I have to repeat that I said? Okay, I'll just repeat, he's jealous of your classmate," Ara replied. "That's what Daniel thinks too,  but hey, don't tell anyone that I told you that ah, it's just our secret," Ara added.

For a moment she remained to stare at Ara's beautiful face. In the way that she seemed to be measuring whether what she was saying was true or not, and in the end, she also saw the seriousness in her best friend's beautiful eyes.

"He's not saying anything," she said sadly.

Ara shrugged her shoulders. "You don't have to expect that tomorrow morning he will admit and tell you what he actually feels about you. But with the behavior that he shows, especially that one he did in the dictionary?" Ara reminded and eventually laughed softly.

Jenny also laughed at what Ara said.

Honestly, Jason was really funny back then.

He actually thought of taking a dictionary just to say that he was reading apart from the fact that it was very thick.

"He seemed really crazy then until we got home, in the car Daniel and I were talking about him and we couldn't stop laughing at him. But Jenny, even if we think so you should teach yourself not to expect because we don't know if our suspicions are right. Or maybe we're right but he doesn't really have a plan right now to admit because he doesn't prioritize a serious relationship yet," at the end that's what she heard Ara explain to her which made her sad.

"Oh, don't be sad, I'm just saying those are possibilities because I don't want to hurt you. You see, he changes girlfriends almost every month, doesn't he? He texted different women. I don't want you to be counted among the women who are only temporary in his life. What I want is for you to be his forever because I know what your true feelings are for him."

A bitter smile tore from Jenny's lips because of what her best friend had said. It looks like Ara already knows how to read her about her true feelings for Jason. She thinks so does Daniel.

It looks like Jason is the only one who remains numb and ignorant.

There she laughed softly.

That would be better, and at least she could save her pride.