"Basically we are having lunch, aren't we?"
"Who insisted on finishing the shoot first?"
"Yeah, yeah, I did. Pardon," Alexis picked up her cutleries as the dishes were placed in front of her.
She wore a cute baby pink skirt and a white sleeveless top to keep her mind energetic and away from heavy thoughts. Dressing up always helped her in a unique way.
She quickly clicked a photo of the dishes and herself before hitting the message app button. Alexis almost forgot she had someone to bother to and she didn't do it for quite some time.
Stefan and Kim were busy with their conversation although she could feel Stefan stealing one or two glances towards her.
Not like she cared.
She instantly distracted herself in a much more fun activity, that is teasing her little not-so-friend.
Alexis: sent a photo.
Alexis: Haven't tasted it. But can be better than yours.
Alexis waited for two minutes and finally saw the message seen by the receiver.
She couldn't help but chuckle in excitement as she could see the person on the other end was typing something.
Both Kim and Stefan were drawn to her as they looked quite surprised. It must be the first time in a while Alexis smiled like something really good happened.
"Any good news to share with us?" Kim lifted his eyebrows in curiosity.
"eh? Uh, no no. Nothing like that," Alexis waved her hand in dismissal but Stefan's gaze lingered on her.
She was going to put the phone back in her bag when a notification sound was heard, which of course Stefan noticed.
Mr. Grumpy: try and confirm. I'm waiting.
Alexis put her phone beside her plate and finally started to dig in. One bite and she could instantly tell the food was amazingly cooked. Yet she wasn't close enough to say it tasted better than Arthur's cooking.
She instantly took the phone and started to type. The whole activity was hard not to notice as it looked ridiculous from outside.
Alexis: It's good, but yours better. You're lucky I'm being honest.
"What got you so excited, Alex?" Kim teased. "Did you get a secret boyfriend or what?"
Alexis almost choked on her food as she heard the word 'boyfriend'. That guy doesn't even want to be friends!
Alexis suddenly realized the thought she had just now and wanted to slap herself back to logic. Doesn't even want to be friends? She only wants to be friends with him, of course. Nothing else!
"Haha, so funny. I laughed a lot, thanks for your joke, Kim," Alexis showed her fake grin although she darted cold glare at Kim.
Stefan was cutting the food on his plate neatly as if his sole focus was on the food. But honestly, food was the last thing he was thinking about.
"Why is it so funny? You can have a boyfriend, can't you?" He finally lifted his neck as his sharp blue eyes fell on her.
Kim shook his head in dismissal. He knew how hellbend Alexis was about not getting into a relationship, just restrained himself in front of her senior.
"She will be the last person to have a secret one. I bet when she finally gets a boyfriend, the whole world would know it."
Yeah, it's not helping at all.
Alexis felt like choking Kim with her own hands over his food as she darted her burning gaze at him, and Kim raised his hand beside his ears in expression of surrendering.
"Was she like that in college, too?" Here goes another one.
Alexis coughed hard as she almost got choked on her food. What is this man pulling now?
Stefan glanced at her just for a second before returning his gaze on Kim. As he was about to say something, Alexis interrupted.
"I told you before, we weren't close."
She signaled the discussion to finish where she directed the conversation.
Kim felt a little disappointed but his friend didn't completely disappoint him. Despite Alexis's signal of words, Stefan seemed to continue with whatever he wanted to say.
"We weren't close but she is hard to miss among the crowd. In fact, she was the favorite topic when it was about romance," Stefan sipped on his drink a little in a leisurely manner as if he had all the time in the world after saying whatever he wanted to say. As if he didn't ruin all her work to not let them talk about those days.
"Oh my God, really?" Kim was truly astounded as he didn't expect to hear something like this. He did want to find old dirt on her but it looks like she had more than just dirt. "Don't tell me you went from the classic lover girl era to this single baddie era?"
Even though Alexis was feeling quite tense, that single remark of Kim made her chuckle. Kim with his idioms!
She cleared her throat before replying and replied looking at Stefan this time, "Who knows? It's been so long and I can't even remember how I was back then. But one thing is sure, that Alexis lived her life to the fullest just like this one, no matter how different they are from each other now."
Was it a good speech for closure? She didn't know. But she wanted to do this for so long, as she wasn't given the opportunity to put a closure to a few things herself.
She was forced to put an end to her complicated emotions back then. But now she wants to be the person to never reopen old wounds with a perfect and direct message of closure.
Her attention was shifted to her phone as another message came from Arthur.
Mr. Grumpy: When are you coming back?
Alexis couldn't help but grin a little. Does he miss her?
Alexis instantly dismissed the idea. Him missing her will be the last thing possible on earth right now. It's been only a few days since she came back to work. She might need to stay even longer than usual as her schedule seemed really packed. Alexis still felt she wanted to bait him with something.
Alexis: Why? Miss me?
The message was read again. He didn't reply to it, not like she expected him to. She knew he would never take an easy bait like that.
As the brunch was finished, Alexis finally felt like she could excuse herself and get ready to go back to work again. But it didn't seem her plan was going to work at all as she saw Stefan following her steps towards the hotel.
Alexis stood still on her way and could feel he stopped too. She needs to deal with him sooner or later. And he is not going to give up until she has a better face-to-face conversation with him.
She turned back, surprised by how close he stood behind her.
Yeah, how can she forget? He is like that. He doesn't care about anyone's personal space, especially hers. As if standing so close to her was his birth right.
He was like that back then too. Invading her personal space, forcing him to see his dazzling and smiling face, almost making a habit of her to dream about his beautiful blue eyes.
It was something she hated at first, and then fell used to the exact same thing. Fell in love with this mischievous side of him. Right now, there's no resemblance of that mischievous Stefan in front of her, but the stubbornness was just the same.
"What is it now?" Alexis couldn't help but squint her eyes in impatience as she really wanted to stop reminiscing about her shitty past.
"We didn't get to talk," he simply stated.