Chapter 20: Chapter 20

Sunny

"Grandma, message or call me when you get home. Okay?" I told my grandma. "If it is an emergency, call me immediately." I added, reminding her.

"Do not worry too much. I will go home straight to our house, and I won't go anywhere." Grandma replied.

"I just want to make sure." I smiled. "You know how much I love you." I added.

Grandma ended up smiling and giving me a hug. "I will be alright. I had been traveling alone, and I was still able to go home safe and sound." She replied. "If we are talking about reminding, I have to remind you to take care on your way home later. Do not go home late." She said, now reminding me back.

"I will, grandma. I will go home after I finish what we need to finish. I forgot that we needed to pass it tomorrow and I have not watched it yet. I think I am starting to forget things lately. Is my brain malfunctioning?" I asked her.

"Then, that is bad." Grandma answered. "I will go now. Steven, I will go now. Tell your brother that I went home and won't be able to wait for him since he is still not here and probably taking overtime." She added.

"Yes, grandma. I will tell him. Thank you for the lunch." Steven replied.

Grandma head inside the taxi.

"Sir, drive safely." I told the driver and received a nod back.

When we could not see the taxi anymore, we headed inside their house again.

"Are you that close to your grandma?" Steven asked.

I nodded. "Yeah, why?" I asked back.

Steven shook his head. "I just find it good and cute at the same time. You know, we were not able to do that with our grandparents since they were busy at that time and we were still kids." He shared.

"You can treat my grandma as your grandma too. And also, my grandma likes you and Mavin. She treats you guys like you guys are her grandson." I told him.

"How about your grandpa?" He asked.

"My grandpa is in our province. He does not feel like living here. He just comes here for a short vacation and leaves after a few weeks. He is also taking care of my auntie's son." I shared.

"What is his work?"

"He is a farmer." I replied. "Although he is older than grandma, he can still work too. He even loves to drink beer, but we are telling him to minimize it and he is scared about mom scolding him nonstop." I laughed.

"Anyway, do you need some paper to take some notes?" he asked. "I will get my things now from my room, so that we can start watching it. Mavin might bother us when he gets here, so we need to do it." He added.

Mavin can really do that.

I nodded. "I need it too. As well as bond paper, I will do it here too. So that I can do other things." I told him and shooed him away.

I sat down on the couch and waited for him to come down. After a few minutes, he went down with school materials. He also played the movie we needed to watch on their television.

We will be watching a movie about a historical event in our country, and we will need to reflect and summarize it if we actually watched the movie.

"Do you want me to make some popcorn, so while we are watching we are eating it, like in the cinema." I told him.

He looks at me, wondering. "Do we have it here?" he asked.

I nodded. "We have it! Mavin bought it since he wanted to try it." I replied. "We will have to cook for him so that he cannot get angry when he knows that we started it first." I added.

"I cannot accept the fact that I am listening to you." He replied. "Instead of doing it already, you decided to delay it. You did not plan to delay the making friends things and here you are delaying the movie." He added.

"You need to chill! Life is not all about studying. We should know how to have fun while we are studying. Do you know that people who are so intelligent can get crazy?" I shared. "That is why we need to relax our mind."

"But you are relaxing your mind too much." He replied, that hurts me.

It is just that I feel like the dinosaur bit me.

"HEY! YOU ARE HURTING MY FEELINGS!' I yelled at him. "I am not relaxing too much. It is just that you think that I am relaxing too much because you are not used to it." I explained. "Trust me, we need to do this. Do not stress yourself too much about studying. You will understand it soon."

"Then start making popcorn now. If Mavin comes home and starts bothering us, I will stop the movie and watch it alone." He warned.

I pouted. "Have you ever watched how to cook popcorn?" I asked him.

He shrugged. "No. I do not know anything about cooking." He replied.

I held his arms. "Come with me and learn how to cook popcorn. You guys love to watch movies, and I noticed that. Popcorn is the best while watching movies. I even bought the cheese powder." I said as I pulled him towards the kitchen. "And you can cook for your brother when you watch the movie together." I added.

"There is no way I will cook for him." He replied. "If he wants it, then cook it himself." He added.

"Don't be too hard on Mavin. He is more kind than you though." I answered and put the large saucepan on their electric stove. I opened the stove and put some oil on it. "This is how you do it. Remember this." I told him.

When it was ready, I began to add the kernels to the pan and quickly replaced the lid.

"Why are you closing it?" he asked.

"Watch and learn." I replied. After a few seconds, we can hear the kernels popping on the sides and lid of the pan. "That's what will happen if you don't put the lid on quickly." I explained. After a few more seconds, I shake it gently before turning the stove off.

I put the popcorn in the bowl and got the cheese powder from their cabinet. "And lastly, you just have to sprinkle the cheese powder on it and call it done. Bring this, I will get us water. Turn the movie on."

He quickly followed it, and I got two glasses of water before going back to the sala. I sat on the couch and started to watch the movie. Since their television is big, it feels like we are in the cinema already.

We quietly watched the movie and jotted down some important notes.

As I watch the movie, I am starting to get curious about our history. There are many people who have sacrificed their lives for the future. That explains why we should not let the other country seize us.

"Love can really grow, even in the middle of a battle. How cute." I commented after seeing a loving couple in the movie.

Although they are in the middle of a battle, love is still flowing.

"Oh, Steven." I called him as I ate popcorn. "I want to ask some questions. Can I?" I asked.

He looks at me with disbelief in his eyes. "Why are you looking at me like that? I did not do anything to offend you. I am just merely asking." I explained myself quickly.

"You are talking already. Why bother asking for my permission?" he asked back. "As if you won't ask me if I told you that you can't." he added.

"Tss. I just want to ask you if you've ever had a girlfriend before?" I asked.

"Why are you asking about it?" he replied.

I drank some water. "I was curious after watching the couple. You know already that I have mine, so I am asking you." I answered.

"I had." He replied shortly.

I was waiting for him to continue it, but he did not. "And?" I asked. "Share some story." I added.

He now turned to me, glaring. "I should not have invited you to watch it with me because you are too noisy. I regret asking you." he replied.

I cannot help but to pout. "Sorry." I apologize. "Alright, let's finish the movie first. I will just ask you later, after this. We are friends. We can share things about this, and it is so normal. I can promise you that this would not go out to anyone. Promise." I told him.

It looks like he does not trust me at all, since he caught me twice sharing his information.

We finished the movie after two hours. I cleaned the table and wiped some clean cloths so that we could do our reflection and summarization.

"Share now." I broke the silence.

I always broke the silence between us. You know, he does not talk a lot. I adjusted for him. Although he is quiet, I do not feel awkward at all. It is better than being awkward, lol.

"Share about what?" he asked, feigning ignorance about what we had talked about a while ago.

I sighed. "Nice try. But you have to tell us about your lover before. What about now? You guys broke up? Third-party? Misunderstanding or long-distance relationship?" I asked.

"We have different beliefs than yours." He stated.

I stopped writing and turned to him. "What do you mean?" I asked.

"We are different. For example, we are cats and you guys are dogs." He explained.

"And so?" I asked back, still wondering. "We are all different, and I do not see any problem with that. It is just all about acceptance and it is okay. It is like you are rich and we are poor. It sounds the same." I told him, laughing.

"Even if we were some creature, you do not believe that still exist?" he asked nowhere.

I nodded. "You know, there are a lot of things we can't explain until today. It is scary, but it is true. We are not the only ones who are living on this planet. An alien might exist, as well as a ghost. I just hope they won't show up here and there. Give me some warnings before they do, so that I can prepare myself." I answered. "You are pushing me to another topic, do you? Tell me about it!I want to hear something from you." I said, forcing him to share his love story.

"I met her before, but was not able to see her. I only...we believe in destiny. I think she was the one for me, but I never met her personally." He shared.

Woah. A guy who still believes in destiny is so rare.

"You are still young and maybe you can see her sooner or later. So, you never had one officially?" I asked.

He shook his head. "No." he replied. "I can wait and see if we will meet each other again." He added.

"Cuteee!" I exclaimed. "I hope you will meet her soon. Destiny will make its own plan. Just wait for her patiently. If she is really for you, then destiny will work its magic, and if not, maybe she is not really the one for you." I told him. "How about your brother, Mavin?" I asked.

"He met his." He shared.

My eyes widened. "Really? Are they a couple now?" I asked excitedly.

"No. I am not sure. Sometimes they do not look like one and sometimes they do." He explained. "Only him can answer that." He added.

I should ask him when he gets here.

"Is she pretty? Kind?" I asked, trying to picture her out.

He nodded. "She is. She is scary. Mavin and she have the same kind of work, but she works in our place, not here." He explained.

"Why are you guys talking about us?" Mavin suddenly commented.