Fall and Spring

Chapter 6

HARUMI's POV

I’ve been watching Autumn working non-stop for a while now. It’s not that hot, but she keeps wiping sweat off her face with the sleeve of her shirt.

She’s wearing long sleeves again. I’ve only seen her not wearing long sleeves or a jacket once, and that was when something happened between us at the hotel.

I grabbed a bottle of water. I was about to give it to her, but Kristine beat me to it, so I went back to my spot and watched them sit under a tree.

I’ve been wanting to approach her, but I didn’t want to because I’m afraid of what she might think.

I suddenly stood up when I saw Kristine wiping her sweat. I got even more annoyed when I saw them laughing together.

We’re not together yet but she’s already flirting with other girls.

A phone rang on the table near me. All our phones are on it, and that phone belongs to Autumn.

"Miss Yamada, can you pass that to Miss Ortega? It might be important," our instructor had ordered.

Lucas💙...

Anger started to rush all over my body when I read the name.

It even has a heart!

The phone stopped ringing, but I quietly approached them until I heard Kristine’s question.

"Then can you kiss me?"

"Well, yeah, you’re right---" I immediately pulled her away from that classmate of ours.

"Are you seriously messing up with me?" I asked Autumn, irritated. We stopped when we were out of sight from the others.

"Oh, Haru-chan. Hi?" she greeted awkwardly with a smile.

"So, you’re just going to let Kristine kiss you?" She looked at me for a moment.

"No, why would I do that?"

"I heard you."

"Are you jealous?"

"Of course not. Why would I be jealous when we’re not even in a relationship?" Her smile suddenly faded, and I felt guilty.

But what I said was true, right?

We’re not in a relationship.

"What am I to you?"

"A friend," I answered bluntly.

"I'm your suitor, Haru-chan."

"I didn’t agree to that."

"But you sat next to me on the bus earlier."

"Because there were no other vacant seats."

"And the jacket you put over me?" I was puzzled by what she said.

"What jacket?" I asked, frowning, which also confused her.

"I mean the jacket you used to cover me on the bus. Isn't yours?"

"No. Stop assuming things," I said, and she become silent, looking down, clenching her hands and closed her eyes.

"So, why did you drag me here?"

I handed her the phone.

"Someone called earlier. It might be important," she took it and turned her back to me. I heard her make a call.

"Do you need anything?" I heard her ask. "Okay, I’ll go there. Okay, take care. Bye," she ended the call and I asked.

"Who's that?" She didn’t answer, she just looked at me before walking back to our classmates.

What the hell?!

I immediately followed her.

"Excuse me, Miss, can I leave early?" she asked our instructor.

"Huh? Is there a problem?"

"I need to go somewhere. It’s important."

"I see. You’ve been working for a while now. Take care, okay?"

"Thank you," she smiled before grabbing her bag.

"Wait, where are you going?" I stopped her.

"To another campus of the university," she answered softly. Our university has two campuses. Campus A, where we study, and Campus Z, which is close to where we are now.

"What are you going to do there?"

"Why do you need to know?"

"Because we’re friends?" I asked, so she laughed even though it wasn’t funny.

"I just have an acquaintance there."

"Who? Lucas?"

"Yes." Who is this Lucas?

"Is he your boyfriend?" This time she laughed for real but then became serious again.

"Please, Haru-chan, I don’t want to think that you’re jealous. I need to go now," she said and left without looking back.

***

Sunday came and I went to Bailey’s house. They live in a subdivision where the residents are extremely wealthy.

"What’s up, sis?" she asked as he adjusted his dog’s leash. We were going to walk around their subdivision.

"Nothing, just bored."

"Sis, I know you’re not bored. Your store is busy on Sundays, and you chose to visit me instead." I sighed.

"It’s just that Autumn—"

"Oh my gosh! I knew it. Something’s going on between you two?" I hit him playfully before grabbing the dog’s leash and heading out of the gate first. "So, what’s up?"

"I don’t know if she’s serious about the courting me."

"Huh, why not?"

"Yesterday, she was flirting with someone else, and then someone called her with a heart in the name."

"HAHAHA! Are you jealous, girl?"

"No!" I quickly denied. "I don’t even like her. I’m straight, okay?"

"Straight, straight. You were the one who made the first move," he surprised me with that. "I saw it at the bar, you initiated the kiss."

"Why didn’t you tell me you were there?"

"Of course, it was your moment. I thought you were just talking at first, but you had other plans," I had no response to that. "So, besides being jealous, what else?"

"I’m not jealous."

"You’re in denial!" I had no choice but to tell him everything that happened from the kiss in our CPR demonstration. At first, he was excited, but when I mentioned our conversation from yesterday, he hit me.

"You’re so dumb, girl! You’re wasting a diamond."

"But we’re just friends."

"Yeah, you’re friends, but she wants to court you. She’ll be really happy if she sees you’re jealous and then you told her not to assume? That hurts, sis. You’re so dumb, for real," he really was harsh.

We continued walking until I suddenly stopped. I saw a woman coming out of a house.

"Oh my God," Bailey whispered when he saw Autumn.

"Let’s follow her," I said, and Bailey’s dog joined us.

She rang the doorbell, and after a few minutes, the gate opened, and a girl greeted her with a smile.

"See, she’s a womanizer!" I said, annoyed.

"Girl, we don’t know what she’s doing there."

"Wait a minute. Tell me the truth, does she live here?"

"Ortega? No."

"Is she always here?"

"Well, I don’t know... but wait, are you jealous?"

"I’m not jealous!" I yelled at him and walked back the way we came. As we passed by the house Autumn came from, a boy with a bike came out.

"Excuse me," he looked at me.

"Who’s the woman who came out of your house earlier?" I asked calmly.

"You mean Autumn, right?" I nodded.

"She’s my future wife." My ears perked up at what I heard. I was about to hit him, but Bailey stopped me.

"Sis, he’s a kid."

"Why should I care? He’s just a kid, talking nonsense. He might not even be circumcised yet," I said angrily.

"Hmp!" the boy pouted before getting on his bike and left.

"Sis, you’re even jealous of a kid."

"I’m not jealous!" I continued walking back to Bailey’s house.

What is she doing here in Bailey’s subdivision? And who was that girl earlier?

Hours passed as Bailey and I chatted about various things. It was already four o'clock when I decided to go home. Since Bailey was kind, he offered to give me a ride.

"Let’s stop by the mall first. I need to buy something," I said as I got into his car.

"You should have told me earlier."

"Why?"

"Well, I might have needed to get ready. What if we run into a handsome guy?"

"Ugh. Shut up and just drive" I said, and he started driving.

As soon as we entered the mall, I saw someone mopping the floor.

What the hell?!

"This is exactly what I was talking about. This must be destiny," Bailey said, struggling not to laugh. "Hi, Ortega." She looked at him.

"Bailey? What are you doing here?" She smiled, but it quickly faded when she saw me. "Hi"

She didn’t even smile at me? What did I do to her?

"Have you been working here long?" Bailey asked.

"I just started today, and I’ll only be here every weekend."

"What time is your out? We might eat here too if you want to join us," he offered, but Autumn shook her head and looked at me.

"Maybe next time. Ah, I have to get back to work now," she said and left.

"Sis, it’s like she doesn’t even know you," He teased but I ignored him and went into a bookstore to buy what Mom asked for.

Is she really not going to ignore me? I thought she wanted to court me? Did she give up? Tss.

"Let’s go," I told Bailey.

"Aren’t we going to eat?"

"I’m not hungry," I replied dully.

"You know, sis, I can say that this is how far it will go with you two," she looked at me. "A week-long love," he hit me hard. "HAHAHA… It’s true, your relationship last for only a week"

"Shut up," I said as I started walking, and he followed me.

"But you know, it seems like your love story is moving backwards."

"Why do you mean?"

"Oh, she's agreeing with the 'love story'." I gave him a glare.

"Just kidding. Here’s the thing, some people start from strangers to lovers. And the two of you? s*x comes first. HAHAHA!" I blushed. "It would be okay if it were just a one-night stand, but no. One of you wants to pursue the other, and the other one’s dumb. So, boom. Back to strangers." I sighed.

Is this really the end of us?

"Oh no! She’s overthinking," and he laughed again. "Why don’t you talk to her?"

"You saw how she avoided me earlier."

"That’s because you hurt her."

"What am I supposed to do?"

"Tomorrow, when you don’t have classes, look for her."

"But what if she has class?"

"Hold on, let me check her schedule." I was surprised by what he said as he grabbed his phone. He really had Autumn's schedule.

"How do you have a copy of this?"

"It’s a secret. I’m our representative and helped the chairperson of our course during enrollment, so I know."

I looked at Autumn’s schedule again. She had class from 9:00 to 12:00 in the morning. From 1:00 to 3:00 in the afternoon was also listed.

"Yeah right, we’re classmates from 1:00 to 3:00pm class."

"Call me after your class."

"You can also try to find her at lunch."

"Where does she usually go?"

"Just ask around. You’ll find her easily. Just mention Ortega, and they’ll know." I sent Autumn's schedule to my phone.

I’ll talk to her tomorrow to explain that we’re only friends.

The next day, I searched for her immediately. I thought she might come in early and I could run into her on the way, but I didn't see her. At lunch, I went to her department.

"Excuse me, have you seen Autumn Ortega?" I asked a student.

"Oh, she passed by here earlier going up the stairs."

"Thank you." I went to second floor and asked again. Bailey was right, it was easy to trace her since everyone knew her.

I was out of breath by the time I reached the rooftop.

"What are you doing here?" I was surprised to hear someone speak from behind me. It was Autumn. I bit my lip when I saw what she was wearing. She was in a business suit that complemented her wavy hair. Other students I saw earlier wore the same outfits, but she stood out. "Haru-chan?" she called.

"Uh, I was looking for you."

"Why?" I took a deep breath.

"I wanted to talk to you." I saw her lower her head. "About you pursuing me."

I wanted to say that all I could offer was friendship, but I couldn’t bring myself to say it. So...

"I'm good with it now"