FOREIGN BLISS

CHAPTER THREE

“Why are-” Daphne’s father stopped midway and shook his head, blinking twice before speaking again, changing his question. “Are you in love?”

“H-huh?” Daphne uttered, shocked about the question her dad asked her instead of answering her own question. Her dad stared at her seriously, with curiosity evident on his eyes. “Why are asking about it? Have you experienced it?”

“Daphie, why are you asking about love?” Daphne’s mom asked, making her dad’s question hang for the mean time. Daphne tilted her head and faced her mother who’s currently holding stacks of plates, her brow slightly raised.

“Uhm, curiosity?” Daphne answered in a questioning tone. Her mom remained standing with the same curious expression, visibly unconvinced about her daughter’s reason to suddenly ask about the topic she never mentioned in their household before.

Her dad cleared his throat, making her face him with slight shock. “Let’s discuss this in dinner.” he said then stood up, glancing at Daphne before making his way towards their dining area, passing by his wife that passed him the plates before going in the dining area herself.

Daphne sighed. She knew their talk about her sudden question will be long, considering that her dad used the term discuss instead of his usual term, talk. She walked silently, mentally preparing the possible answer she’ll blurt out when they’ll ask her series of questions that she knew is needed to be answered, or else, that topic won’t ended until she said everything.

Typical parents, Daphne thought. She now realized that the things she read in stories about parents isn’t an exaggeration. They do freak out when their child mentioned anything related about love. Daphne is now rethinking her decision on why did she suddenly asked about something without even thinking about it.

They were now seated in their dining table. The usual light and airy atmosphere were nowhere to be seen. Instead, the weird, serious yet freaking out vibes of her parents were the ones that enveloped their dining area.

“So,” Daphne started, awkwardly trying to ease the tension that was formed by her single question. “About it, it’s just-” she hasn’t finished her statement in clearing herself when her mom butted in.

“Daphie, you won’t ask it when nothing reminded you of it.” her mom said, putting the rice on their plates. “And that means something happened.” her dad seconded, staring at her while her mom putted their plates with food in front of them.

“Fiona told me that her cousin confessed to her that she had taken interest in her new classmate, claiming that it was love at first sight.” Daphne said, creating a false reason just to make her parents let her off the hook.

It is also one of her habits to save herself and hide: lying. She can be considered as an expert in that field, knowing that she tends to lie whenever something personal was being asked on her.

“Are you sure?” her dad asked. “This is the first time you asked something about feelings, especially that love at first sight thing.” he added before taking a spoonful of their dinner. Why would she suddenly ask me that? He thought, trying to remember if they talked or saw something that sparked the question.

“I just don’t know why they call it like that.” Daphne said smoothly, taking a piece of potato and put it on her mouth, munching it fast before swallowing. “I just want to know why she called it like that.” she added.

“Is that so?” her mom asked before drinking cold water from her glass. “Then why are you curious about it?” she asked again, trying to get more information to check whether Daphne is lying or not. Is she growing to be a real young lady already? she thought, genuinely curious and worried if her daughter is really having love issues.

“Because I don’t know why. I got curious and I want answers.” Daphne answered, stating the half-truth. Her mom stared at her for a while before nodding, finally decided that Daphne is really just curious about it.

“I do believe in it.” she said, answering the question that sparked up a discussion with Daphne being the interrogated, and her parents being the detectives. “Love at first sight means literally feeling attached to a person you just saw.” she added, elaborating her answer.

“Attached? Why?” Daphne asked. Her dad noticed her growing curiosity so he stepped in the conversation, trying to make his daughter understand the concept. “Attached in the sense of having the feeling of wanting to know the person more.” he said.

Daphne nodded, processing the information her parents just gave. It’s really hard having no knowledge in a certain topic. Am I that slow? I shouldn’t have focused on studying school books, she thought, disappointed in herself for being unaware of such things.

“Don’t force yourself in understanding it, sweetie.” her mom said, facing her with a smile. “It’s hard to understand things you haven’t experienced yet.” she added, leaning over to pat Daphne’s arm as a form of consolation.

“Your mom’s right.” her dad seconded. “You’re still young. You’ll understand it if you already had it.” he continued.

Daphne nodded and continued eating, containing her thoughts and trying to stop herself from asking any more questions that might trigger her parents once again. What if I already had it? How do I even confirm that I felt it already? Ugh, this is making me crazy. Daphne thought.

After their dinner that included an almost major discussion, Daphne excused herself and went to her room, leaving her dad to go to his office, and her mom to take over the chore of cleaning the dining area and washing the dishes.

Daphne took a half bath before changing in her pajamas, finally letting her body crush in the soft cushion of her huge bed, staring at the ceiling while thinking about the things that happened on her first day of school.

Her purple and black themed colored room looked dull with her room’s light turned off and her lamp shade on it’s lowest brightness. The window was closed yet the little light given by the crescent moon peeked slightly through her untidily tied curtain, making the atmosphere in her room duller.

Her chain of thoughts was broken when her phone’s screen lit up beside her, with it’s vibration creating a slight movement on the cushion. She took it and held it high in front of her, reading the notification that was present in the screen.

Fiona: hey check this out!

Fiona’s message included a link that was attached below it. Uninterested yet still needed to check it for her friend’s sake, she tapped it, changing the screen’s visual into a poster type image with some words printed on it.

BLAZING STAGE: GRAY SKY on FIRE

July 27(Saturday) 6:30 p.m- 8:00 p.m

Save the date!

The poster had the members’ stolen picture during one of their concerts, with series of lights shining with different colors, effects decorating their background, and the people below the stage with hands lifted up high as if enjoying the entire event.

As if on cue, her phone rang and revealed Fiona’s name on it, calling Daphne in the middle of the night. Daphne concluded that it is about the message she sent some minute ago, and it turns out that she’s correct.

“Let’s go there on Saturday okay?!” Fiona’s loud voice was heard after she pressed the green button. “You’re supposed to be sleeping.” Daphne commented and put her phone beside her, putting it on loud speaker.

“You too, silly.” Fiona retorted. “Anyways, I was supposed to go and sleep when my phone buzzed and showed me the newest post of Gray Sky, so I figured that I should share it to you guys.” she continued, telling the reason on why she’s still up despite saying she hadn’t got enough sleep last night.

“You should have called Mela, she’s so into the group just like you.” Daphne said, stating the other way Fiona should have did if she really wanted to share her excitement. For her, it’s better to talk to someone who has the same interest with you rather that someone else.

“I would have if she hadn’t kept on complaining that she’s sleepy when we’re at the mall.” Fiona answered. “Besides, I really wanted to share it with you too. I want you to be involved with us you know.” Fiona said before chuckling.

Daphne laughed along with her while staring at the ceiling. She was supposed to say goodbye and go to sleep when Fiona spoke again on the other line. “Let’s go okay? The three of us will.”

“I dunno yet. I’ll think about it.” Daphne said, uncertain on the answer she should really give. “Well, that’s better than hearing a no, right?” Fiona said, chuckling at her own statement, followed by an audible yawn.

“For now, let’s sleep.” Daphne commented after hearing her out. Fiona sighed and chuckled again. “Yep, I’m” her words were stopped midway when a yawn escaped her lips. “sleepy now so, good night.” she continued and laughed lightly.

“Nighty.” Daphne said and ended the call. She looked at the clock and saw the time reading 10:42 p.m. She sighed and opened her phone’s music app before playing one before putting it on her drawer, then turned her back to face the window and stared at the dark night outside. After several minutes of her aimless thoughts and music that was echoing in her room, she finally drifted off to sleep.

***

Cringg!

Daphne was jolted awake after her horrible dream of being chased by a caped man and being drowned in the sea with a swarm of piranha was cut off by the loud sound of her alarm clock.

“You should’ve woken me up in a better way, stupid clock.” Daphne muttered while glaring the clock beside her. Waking up with a fast heartbeat and in panic state is never a good feeling. She sighed and sit up properly, calming down her nerves that was messed up by her nightmare.

After her long internal monologue, she finally got up and went in her room’s bathroom to rinse her face and mouth, before going down to get breakfast.

“You’re up early.” her mom commented when she saw Daphne standing beside the kitchen wall. “My clock worked today.” Daphne answered and continued her way towards the dining table.

It sure was an unusual sight to see Daphne awake by this time, for she tends to shut hid clock down if it rings for her wake-up call. Besides her reason of overthinking, she is genuinely late at almost all the time. It can be because of tiredness, laziness or plain uninterested in the certain event.

“Oh, you’re up.” her dad said after seeing Daphne seated on her usual seat. Daphne just shrugged and laid her head on the table, waiting for her mom to put their breakfast in.

 Her dad just sighed and fixed his neck tie before grabbing the daily newspaper and waited for the breakfast before going to work. “Seems like you’re forced out of your bed.” He commented after taking a glance at his daughter whose nearly on the verge of sleeping once again.

“My clock forced me.” Daphne answered before slowly raising her head and stretched her arms. “That nightmare sure is horrible.” She added, remembering some parts of her dream were her body nearly pierced trough a long metal that the caped man used and being attacked by loads of dogs before falling in the ocean with piranhas on it.

“You shouldn’t start your day with that kind of attitude, sweetie.” her mom chimed in, carrying the toasted bread on one hand and the plate filled with bacon and eggs on the other. “That might make you lose focus on your studies.” she added.

Daphne mentally sighed and silently took a piece of bread. “I know.” she answered.  “Make sure you won’t be late today, okay?” her mom reminded her. “Yeah.” Daphne answered, taking another bite at the bread she took. I’ll try, she thought.

One of the most reminded lesson to her is to create a good impression and maintain a good image. Daphne took it seriously to the point that sometimes, she forgets about herself and tried to fit in the standards of those with her. In return, if she said anything opposing the majority, she’ll be outnumbered in terms of allies.

So in the end, she tried her best to keep herself silent, yet there’s still the times where she’ll forget her own rule and snap, making her regret it over and over again after it happened.

After finishing a toasted bread, two bacon and an egg, she drank her usual morning milk before excusing herself to get herself ready for school.

Daphne went upstairs and brushed her teeth before taking a bath, then changed into her school clothes: lime green thick, knitted sweater and a denim ripped jeans, before sitting on her bed while wiping her hair with a towel to remove the excess water.

She took her phone on the draw and opened her social media account, looking at the newest notifications and check on announcements to make sure she hadn’t missed a thing. Upon browsing using her left hand while her right hand continued wiping her hair, she stumbled into a shared post about ‘Gray Sky’, all about their upcoming concert and it included some of their individual and team photos.

Her eyes were locked in Christopher again, looking at him who was leaning on the wall with a smirk, wearing a plain beige shirt inside his dark leather jacket, partnered with a black faded jeans and red and white sneakers.

Her interest about him perked up once again. Because of that, she decided to search him up on the internet. There are numerous results that popped up, with one of them stating about the label that people gave Christopher, ‘a badass versatile’, which they believed to be his perfect description.

According to them, he is a person that can fit in with almost anyone. He can be a serious, cool guy on stage, a kind and sweet man on fan meets and other public or private social interactions, and so on and so forth.

She was immersed in reading articles about him when her clock ringed again. Her focus was now lost and her brain drifted into the thoughts of being late again to school. “Crap.”

She hurriedly took her bag from the table and walked into the mirror, checking herself once and for all. “This will do.” she commented after a while of staring at herself.

After almost running to go down, she met her parents that was currently sitting on the couch, with her dad talking to someone on the phone and her mom busy on typing on her laptop.

 She silently went near them and kissed her mom’s cheek before offering just a normal high five to her dad, then waved her hand and quickly approached their shoe rack and grabbed her sneakers before hurriedly putting it on and went out as fast as she could.

Just like yesterday, she had no choice but to run again in order to reach the school with the littlest minutes of being late she can afford. “I better ask dad to return my car later.” she said to herself as a mental note while running.

“You’re lucky I’m the one in charge today.” Nicholai said with a smile while shaking his head, used on Daphne being late with numerous reasons he doesn’t know and wouldn’t want to know, he wanted to respect the other’s privacy after all.

“Thanks, I’ll try not to be late again.” Daphne said before wiping the sweat that formed in her forehead. She waved her hand and quickly dashed towards their classroom, hoping that their new professor isn’t there yet.

After her another set of aerobic exercise, she finally arrived at their classroom and was greeted by her classmates that, as usual, is in their respective group of friends and talking while waiting for the professor to come.

“I thought Mr. Harrison is allergic to lateness.” she said after reaching her seat and saw Melanie and Fiona. “So why is he not here yet?” she continued, resting her elbow on the window sill.

“That doofus is wrong.” Melanie answered and looked at her, bringing her phone down and put it on the table. “I heard it’s the new professor who’ll replace Mrs. Graye.” she continued, spilling the new rumor she heard when she arrived at the school.

“It’s not my fault they changed plans.” A voice interrupted, revealing Yuan with his bag on his left shoulder. “Hey pal, wanna trade seats with me?” he said, asking the guy seating in front of their table, causing him to gulp and nod quickly.

After their classmate left and sat at Yuan’s seat in the first row, he quickly put his bag on the chair he just bargained with and sat backwards to face them.

“Don’t scare the poor guy, Yuan.” Fiona commented. They all knew most students feared their annoying Yuan in many ways. Being the capital investor’s grandson and the heir of a successful technology business that can be used to track them down and make them suffer in many ways, of course, people wouldn’t want to go against him.

“I asked nicely.” Yuan argued. “It ain’t my fault.” He added.

“It ain’t my fault my foot.” Melanie said and rolled her eyes. “That’s not the first you asked people favors then blackmail them if they don’t want to do it.” she added, still remembering the times Yuan did used his power to order people.

“Come on,” Yuan said, a smirk slowly forming on his lips. “It’s not like I’m really gonna do it.” he said, defending himself, but is laced with cockiness.

“Jerk.” Melanie said and rolled her eyes again. Yuan just scoffed; his smirk still displayed on his lips. “But I’m pretty sure it’s the new one. Lewis Sawyer, I think.” he said.

“And what if it isn’t?” Melanie asked, challenging him. “Then I’ll buy you lunch for the whole week.” Yuan answered.

“What about me?” Fiona asked, pointing at herself. Daphne rolled her eyes and joined in the conversation. “You didn’t even include me.” she said, making Fiona smile innocently and gave a peace sign.

“Fine.” Yuan replied, sure that he’ll win. “And what if I’m right?” he asked, demanding the thing they’ll do for him if the tables turned according to his favor.

“We’ll buy you lunch for the whole week.” Melanie said. “Hey! I’m not included in your deal!” Fiona objected, trying to exclude herself from the deal they just started.

“You just said that to save yourself.” Daphne interjected then rolled her eyes again. Yuan shook his head at their antics and just nod. “Okay then. Buy my lunch for the whole week, girls.” he said, closing off the deal.

“You are pretty confident about it.” Melanie commented, her brow raised in a serious manner. “Have you forgotten who I am?” Yuan replied, still with the cocky attitude.

Fiona sighed and looked at the door. “I have a feeling we’ll lose.” she said before turning to look at them. Melanie gasped offendedly and slapped her arm. “Which side are you really on?!” she asked.

“On the side with sure win, obviously.” Fiona answered with a smirk, earning her another slap on her arm. “Ow! Your future husband will be a battered one if you keep this up.” Fiona said, teasing Melanie.

Before Melanie can answer to tease back, a figure emerged from the doorway, revealing a young man with a laptop and a huge book on his hands. “Told yah.” Yuan said with an arrogant smile before facing the front and sat properly.

“Why did I even involved myself?” Fiona asked, regretting the actions she did that included her in a deal she hasn’t supposed to be part of.

The man in front took them whiteboard marker and wrote his name on the board, officially declaring Yuan’s victory. Mr. Sawyer faced them and roamed his eyes, then smiled before giving a slight bow.

“Good morning students, I am Lewis Sawyer, your new Genetics professor as a replacement in your former professor, Mrs. Leticia Graye.” he said, introducing himself. His tanned skin matched his cream-colored long sleeves button down polo shirt, with black pants and shoes.

“Is it just me or he really looked familiar?” Fiona asked while eyeing their new professor. “I think so too.” Melanie seconded, remembering the possible instances she might have seen their professor.

“You can ask me anything for now.” Mr. Lewis said with a smile. “I would like to develop a good bond with you guys. Later on, I would like all of you to introduce yourself one by one.” he added.

A girl from the second row raised her hand, highlighting her presence. “Yes miss?” Mr. Lewis asked. The girl stood up and cleared her throat. “Are you, by any chance, a relative of Mr. Lucas Sawyer?”

Mr. Lewis chuckled. “Yes, he’s my brother actually.” his answer made lots of the students- mainly girls, gasped in he revelation, and some even erupted  in loud squeals, it even included Melanie and Fiona.

“I knew it!”

“That’s why he looked familiar!”

Many reactions started to rise and create a loud noise with almost no understandable words and phrases. But what caught Daphne’s interest is the mentioning of the Gray Sky.

“Why is Gray Sky involved?” Daphne asked the two curiously. They faced her with shock and delighted expression still seen in their faces. “Our professor is the brother of the Gray Sky’s manager!” Melanie and Fiona answered, almost in sync.