Chapter 35: Chapter 35

Inez smiled radiantly at Cakra as she waved her hand to him, but he stayed where he was, staring flatly at her.

"Why are you looking for me?" Inez asked, folding her arms across her chest. She looked up, waiting for a response from him.

Cakra was a little surprised to hear Inez's question. Shouldn't she know why he was looking for her? Cakra let out a rough breath, feeling out of his mind. He suddenly felt dizzy himself.

"Seriously, Nez, are you asking me that?" He cast his gaze to the side while chuckling. He shook his head.

Meanwhile, Inez immediately frowned. "What's wrong?"

"Yeah, I just can't get over you, Nez," said Cakra. "You should know what I came here to do."

Inez clucked her tongue, "You don't even talk, how do I know what you came here to do? You think I'm psychic." Inez laughed softly. "You've got something going on. "

"Nez, don't joke around like this," said Cakra. "I'm serious."

"Well, don't go around like that, what do you want to say?" Inez asked as she looked up. "Can't your face be normal? Don't look at me like that, I'm scared to know!" Inez hit Cakra lightly on the shoulder.

Cakra let out an exasperated breath, then he took something out of his pants pocket and showed it to Inez. "What do you mean by putting this on the board, Nez?" Cakra asked with the intonation of his voice that he kept as much as possible to sound not angry, afraid that Inez would run away because she felt intimidated. Instead of getting the answer he wanted, of course, Cakra would lose the opportunity to hear the words from Inez's lips. "That's what confused me earlier, you should know I came to see you to discuss this."

Inez took over the paper in Cakra's hand. She frowned, but once she saw the paper, Inez immediately understood what Cakra meant. "Oh this...," she said while nodding, and the next second she glanced back at Cakra. "Have you seen it too? How's my idea? Good, right?" Inez showed a row of neatly arranged teeth.

"When did I start dating you?" she asked again, focusing on her main goal.

Inez scrunched her waist in front of him. "Never mind, just obey me. You should be happy."

"I'm not happy. Besides, dating must be agreed upon by both parties, you can't do this, Nez."

"So why don't you just agree?"

Cakra exhaled a long breath. Talking to Inez really tired him.

"Isn't the problem solved?" Inez continued.

"Finished where? It hasn't even started yet," Cakra protested.

"Alright, you just obey me. You should be happy too, you're getting more famous because you're dating me. You're lucky! Every boy wants to be in your position, Cakra."

"Why should I be famous? I don't need that," Cakra refused, shaking his head. "What I need now is for you to explain to everyone that what you put on the wall was a fabrication."

Inez burst out laughing. "You're weird, you're really weird. You're not normal, Kra. You should be happy, why are you angry with me?"

Tired of arguing with Inez, who didn't know when it would stop, Cakra immediately turned around, not forgetting to give Inez a sharp look. Cakra had walked three steps before Inez finally caught up with him.

Inez held Cakra's hand, holding him back from leaving. "Where are you going?" Inez asked.

"Go," he replied quietly. He let go of Inez's hand slowly. Without a smile, he continued his steps.

"Are you mad at me, Kra?"

The movement of Cakra's feet stopped abruptly, he tilted his face, slightly turning his head towards Inez.

"I'm not mad, I'm just tired of talking to you," she replied.

"But your voice and the look on your face make it clear that you're angry with me."

He turned around with a faint smile on his lips. "I'm really angry, not with you, but with your behavior. I don't like it."

"What's wrong with you? I swear, you're weird!"

Always twisting in the wind, talking to Inez was time-consuming and too long-winded. Cakra tried to restrain himself a little longer.

"I don't like what you're doing, Nez," said Cakra. "Don't bother me with insignificant things like that. Don't spread baseless hoaxes, either. I'm not dating you, it's better for you to solve this problem."

"I—"

"Unless you don't want to see me anymore," Cakra said, cutting Inez off. The boy emphasized the look in his eyes.

"Are you threatening me, Kra?"

"No, I don't feel that way," he replied with a quick shake of his head. "I'm just doing you a favor."

"This is indirectly your problem too, you're involved." Inez protested, disagreeing with Cakra's words. "You also have to help me solve this problem."

"I'm not involved if you don't put me in jail." He replied calmly, his hands raised. "So I don't want to get involved, I'll take it clean. And all that, I'll leave to your own devices."

After successfully saying that, Cakra immediately turned his body around, continuing his steps to leave.

Inez growled in annoyance as she stomped her foot irritably on the floor. She stared at Cakra's retreating back.

"How annoying!" Inez grumbled, "It's a good thing you're handsome, otherwise, I wouldn't want to chase you like this." Inez immediately stepped into her class again after Cakra's back was out of sight.

Before sitting in her seat, Inez was asked a question by Melisa, her classmate, whose seat was right in front of Inez and Ghea.

"Nez, is it true that you and Cakra are dating?" asked Melisa curiously.

Inez rolled her eyes, she knew that was the question Melisa was going to ask. Inez snorted tiredly, and then she landed her body next to Ghea.

"What do you think?" Inez demanded in an unusual tone of voice. She glared, before pressing her cheek against the table.

Melisa's lips twitched. "It's normal! I'm just asking." The girl then stood up from her seat and walked over to her other classmates.

Ghea shook Inez's body gently. "What's wrong with you, Nez?" she asked. "I'm really lethargic, shouldn't you be happy? A few minutes ago, I think you were still happy because you managed to surprise all the kids with what you put on the board."

Without lifting her head from the table, Inez replied lazily. "Shut up, Ghe, I don't want to be bothered."

"You can't do that, you have to tell me."  Ghea insisted.

"I'm upset."

"Why?"

"Cakra is angry with me."

"I knew it," said Ghea.

Inez laughed, sitting up straight with her eyes fully on her best friend. Inez squinted her eyes.

"What do you know?" asked Inez. "I haven't told you anything yet! Don't be so mysterious."

Ghea sneered, her eyeballs rolling lazily. "I know, how can I not be angry if you're selfish like this."

Inez locked her mouth, making Ghea, who had the opportunity to continue speaking, immediately continue her words.

Letting out a breath, Ghea turned her body to lean more towards Inez. The girl with glasses refocused her gaze on Inez's face.

"Look, Nez, by putting that on the board without asking Cakra's permission, you're being selfish. You didn't ask her opinion, and you dragged her into this. It's not wrong that she's angry with you."

"She should be happy."

"Other guys might be happy if you do that to them, so what's up with Cakra?" Ghea said. "Didn't you say that he's not like other boys? You said yourself that he's different from others. You should be able to understand."

Inez looked down, staring at the table with her mind already wandering somewhere. Regret and guilt immediately struck her. What Ghea said was, of course, true.

"What should I do now, Ghe?" Inez asked softly.

"What else can I do? Apologizing is the only way you can go."

"I apologize?"

Ghea nodded firmly. "I know that you're really against apologizing to boys. But I need to remind you, Nez, that your self-esteem doesn't drop if you just apologize. Especially with Cakra, you're clearly in the wrong here. It's not like you like him either, right? "You don't want him to avoid you because of this, do you?"

"That's right, earlier, Cakra also threatened me like that."

"Threatening how?"

"He said that if I don't solve this problem, he doesn't want to meet me."

"It's worth it." Ghea nodded her head. Making Inez snort tiredly.

"How come you support Cakra anyway, Ghe!" Inez was annoyed, she looked at Ghea sarcastically. "You should defend me, you're my best friend."

"But you're wrong, I'm defending Cakra." Ghea didn't want to be blamed. "Alright Nez, just do what I say. There's nothing to lose if you apologize, you were wrong here too. Let's get this over and done with quickly."

"This is the first time I've been confused about a boy." Inez sighed deeply.

***

It wasn't just his head that was spinning, Cakra was also feeling very upset. Repeatedly, the boy exhaled violently. The information that Inez had spread about him and the girl who had just started dating had caught people's attention. Cakra was tired of denying, explaining, and giving understanding to someone who asked him about it.

He didn't have more than one mouth to explain the series of questions they asked. He was tired, and all of this was because of Inez, who had spread unfounded information.

"I'm not dating Inez." For the umpteenth time, Cakra had to explain the same question. This time, he answered with a crumpled face. Staring at his classmates, who seemed to be interrogating him.

Cakra's classmates crowded around Cakra, who sat on his bench. Apart from being body-hungry, he was also heart-hungry. Cakra moved uncomfortably, being the center of attention made him awkward.

"No need to lie to all of us, Kra." One of the girls said it, followed by nods and shrieks of agreement from the others. Making Cakra close his eyes while snorting loudly.

"I'm not lying to you all," he said tiredly. He rubbed his face in frustration, then looked at each of the faces surrounding him.

"Can you give me a more intelligent reason?" asked Zidan. Even Cakra's benchmate also participated in this impromptu interrogation event. Cakra again exhaled a long breath.

"You should just sit on your own benches, okay?"

"You haven't explained it to us yet."

"I told you, that information isn't true." Cakra replied with an annoyed tone of voice. He was tired, this was the first time he had spoken and explained something at greater length than before.

"The one who taped the paper saying that you and Inez were dating was Inez herself. Inez is lying, you mean?" One of them interjected again.

Cakra nodded slowly. "That's the truth."

"So we're just going to believe what you say?"

"It's up to you," said Cakra. "Whether you believe me or not, the important thing is that I've spoken the truth."

"But we don't believe you."

He stood up from his seat, and the crowd around him automatically dispersed. He looked at his classmates, before finally walking out of the classroom.

Being here made his mouth tired. No matter how hard he denied and explained that what Inez posted on the board was false and unfounded information, no one wanted to believe him.

The purpose of Cakra leaving class was, of course, to meet Inez, even though he had previously vowed that he would not come face-to-face with that girl before Inez resolved this problem. But Cakra forgot his words, he had to talk to Inez, again.

Cakra was also indirectly involved, Inez was indeed carrying Cakra's name even though Cakra didn't know about it before. It felt a little unfair that Inez had to bear it alone. Suddenly, Cakra changed his mind.

"What are you doing here again?" Inez asked a question with a rather sarcastic tone of voice for Cakra. "I haven't carried out your orders, do you want to be angry with me?"

"I'm not angry."

"Lying!" Inez yelled, "Your face is very clear that you're angry with me."

"I want you to get a marker and paper."

"What for?"

"You'll see," Cakra replied.

Inez snorted in annoyance, but she still complied with the boy's wishes. Inez immediately turned around and stepped into her class, in no more than five minutes, she was near Cakra again. With a look of annoyance, Inez handed over the items that Cakra needed.

"What do you want?" asked Inez as she sat on a bench.

Cakra did not answer the question that came out of Inez's thin lips, instead, he began to open the marker cap and write something on the paper. Inez peeked at what Cakra was doing. Her curiosity about what he was writing grew.

After finishing, Cakra closed the marker. He looked at Inez again, who was trying to spell the writing there.

Inez sighed tiredly, then she looked up, looking at Cakra with a sharp look in her eyes.

"What do you mean by writing like that?" asked Inez. "Delete it, I don't agree."

"You can't."

"What are you doing? Did you throw the paper away?" Inez said this exasperatedly while grabbing the paper in Cakra's hand. However, Cakra immediately lifted the paper high into the air. So that Inez couldn't reach it.

"No Inez."

"Here's the hard one!" Inez glared wide at Cakra.

"I wrote this."

"But use my paper and markers!" Inez was not to be outdone. "What's wrong with you? What do you mean by writing like that? Do you want me to be more embarrassed?"

"I'm actually helping you solve this problem."

"But what you wrote will embarrass me!"

"It won't, Nez, this is the right way out."

"I've never been rejected by a boy until now, do you want to step on my pride? What will the other students say if they see what you wrote? Where will I put my face?"

"I just want to help you, Nez."

"You don't want to help me, but you want to make the problem bigger and make me more embarrassed. That might be good for you, but not for me. It means you only care about yourself. You're selfish, Cakra."

Cakra let out a long sigh. His intentions were misinterpreted by Inez. This is not what she thought. He clearly just wanted to help Inez find a way out of what she was doing with the false information.

"I don't want you to paste that paper on the wall." Inez said it rudely again, and she pointed at the paper in Cakra's hand. "I don't want it anyway, you should throw it away."

"Do you have any other ideas besides this?" Cakra asked, making Inez pause. "Nothing, right?"

"But I don't want you to spread that false information."

"Not true?" Cakra muttered, his forehead already folded, indicating that he was quite confused by Inez's statement. His eyebrows almost came together. "You're saying what I wrote isn't true? It's not like you're the one who spread bad information in the first place. I just want to help you, Nez."

Inez let out a long breath. She stared straight ahead while folding her arms over her chest. She was upset, but she also didn't have the right idea to find a way out.

Inez turned her gaze back to Cakra. "Why don't you just accept me?"

"I can't."

"You don't like girls?" Inez quipped, making Cakra's eyes widen.

"Hey, don't talk nonsense."

"You rejected a girl as beautiful as me, it's only natural that I'm suspicious that you're turning."

"I can't get over the way you think, Nez." Chakra closed his eyes with a rough sigh. "I'm going to put this paper on the wall."

Inez laughed. "And I'm going to be embarrassed?"

"Don't exaggerate, they'll talk about you, but not all the time, right? In a day or two, it'll be like it was before."

Inez stood up from her seat, "Whatever!" she said firmly, then she stomped away from Cakra to go back to her class. Inez was annoyed.