Chapter 52: Magic Or Skill
JADE:
I had a nice evening, so when morning came, I was more than energetic to start the day.
Last night, Liam and Kix both slept beside me. They really looked adorable as they hugged each other tightly throughout the night.
When I woke up at six in the morning, however, none of them were there. Maybe I just dreamt all of that up…
I smiled. Even if it was just a dream, it was still a very nice one…
Liam greeted me cheerfully too, although his perfect face looked a little sallow perhaps due to the uncomfortable sleep he had last night.
We walked to school happily that morning. I was excited to get to school that day. Specifically, I was very excited for lunch time.
“Um, Kix and I still need more respondents for our survey report,” I told Liam. “Let’s have lunch tomorrow instead, alright?”
Liam brushed the top of my head gently while nodding reluctantly.
“Sorry. I’ll make it up to you tomorrow… hon,” I whispered to him before I went towards my seat at the back.
The smile that was plastered in Liam’s face became wider as he walked to his own seat in front of the classroom.
“I see you two had a good morning,” Kix said dryly as I approached my seat next to him.
“Yes. Thanks to a certain someone, it was.”
“And who might that be?”
I leaned over to him. “It’s… None of your business.”
Rats. I had almost let slipped that because of his wolf, I had a really good time since last night.
“That broke my heart, partner… Anyway, you up for doing our project at lunch?”
I nodded. I really appreciated Kix playing it cool right now. It almost felt like I gained my old high school best friend back once again.
Hopefully, we could still really remain good friends till the end… right?
The morning classes came by rather speedily this time. Before we knew it, lunch time was already up.
I waved good bye to Liam as he headed out with his survey project partner. Kix pushed me out of the class by the shoulders towards the eastern wing away from all people soon afterwards.
“Why are you on a hurry this time,” I asked. Our lunch time today was unexpectedly two hours as the professor had a scheduled meeting.
“Jade… How much do you really know about that ra-, I mean Liam?”
“I’ve known him for two years. Why?”
His face started to look serious. “Have you ever seen him wounded?”
“Uh, yeah. Several times.” The most recent one was when Kix actually punched him. I remembered that Liam sustained a cut near his eyes because of that.
“Well… Did his wounds ever get bloody?”
“What?... Why?”
I don’t know why Kix was asking these weird questions. Why does he want to know if Liam bleeds?
“Nothing. I was just curious,” he said quietly.
Just like yesterday, Edril came to us while we were sorting out our survey papers at the eastern wing of the university. I still had no clue how Edril was able to bypass the school security who prohibits outsiders to get into the school grounds…
Just like yesterday, he laid out several gourmet dishes on the table, which Kix pushed towards me to eat.
“How about you, Edril? You must eat with us too,” I said. I pushed a plate of some fancy looking chicken fillet dish towards Kix’s assistant as I spoke.
“Thanks, Miss Jade, but I’m already full,” he said.
It was Kix however who pushed the plate back towards me.
“Eat up. You’re rather thin.”
“My weight was the same in high school.”
“Well, you’re bonnier than when you were in high school.”
“And how did you know that?”
Kix opened his mouth and closed it again immediately. He then took my plate and began to cut the chicken fillet into smaller strips before returning it back to me.
“Just eat up. I think you don’t eat enough since you keep on feeding leftovers to other people,” he muttered.
I wanted to laugh. To whom was Kix referring to?
After that awfully fancy lunch, Kix and I started distributing the survey forms, which were really just a cover for us to get more information as we spied on our suspect.
After fruitlessly trying to spot our man and our other target students for thirty whole minutes, we felt frustrated.
“Do you think they’d show up? Are they even here at school?”
“They’ll show up… Don’t worry,” Kix said, patting my head like a child.
How can he remain so positive?
Right after he said this though, Kix and I saw a familiar face approach.
“Hi! You’re one of the students who organized the Annual Psychology Society Ball, right.” Kix beamed warmly.
“Yes. Wow, you still remember me?”
“Of course! This year’s ball was great. My girlfriend and I really loved it,” Kix said as he immediately squeezed my hand. How could he come up with such excuses so easily?
“Thanks. It was my first time at the committee too. I’m glad you enjoyed the concept,” the student replied bashfully.
“The band was cool. Were you personal friends with Gary Eduardo, the bassist?”
“Um, we’re on the same college, but we aren’t actual friends.”
“That’s such a shame. We were also planning to organize an event at the College of Nursing. We were thinking he and his band would be a good fit. Do you have any idea how we could contact him or his band mates?”
“Uh, well, yeah. I have Gary’s contact number right here. Let me give it to you,” the student exclaimed.
Kix excitedly squeezed my hand, which he still had not released since earlier. My heart was all giddy too as the student searched through the contact list on his phone.
“Great, man! I’ll come give you free tickets to our event if it pushes through,” Kix said after he had given us the number of our suspect, Gary Eduardo.
“I really won’t doubt your magic from now on,” I said breathlessly to Kix as I stared at his phone’s newly saved contact.
“Magic? It wasn’t magic. It’s what you call skill, Jadey.”
I smiled. Whatever it was – magic or skill – I was glad Kix had it.
“If you’re truly happy, how about giving me a kiss on the cheek?”
“How about a punch,” I said in jest.
“I’m more than welcome to get punched by your lips, if that’s what you mean.”
I sighed. Kix will always be Kix.
I stared at Kix’s phone once more. After a while, I began to frown.
“What is it, Jade,” Kix remarked as he looked at the change in my mood. “Is something wrong?”
“This number… It looks very familiar…”
Suddenly, it began to dawn to me where I had seen this number combination before…
