Another character is introduced! Let’s see how this will play-out kittens!

Here’s Chapter Twelve, marking the half of the story. Have a blast meows~!

Don’t forget to share your thoughts later.

"Are you not happy Eros?"

"What should I be happy about? To be a cupid? You even want to play cupid, you and your antics! You even included me to your foolishness!" They walked together heading home.

"Don’t you like it? There’s a chance for you to have a new friend? And most importantly, he’s a math genius! It's fortunate, I’m not good at math so I can’t teach you but Yohanne is there, he can teach you for you to pa.s.s the exam! He agreed as long as we’ll get him closer to Gazelle Ocampo, his crus.h.!.+”

"Tss! I don’t know with you! As for me, I won’t play cupid! Suit yourself!"

“Eee Eros!” Eris held his arm and shook him while they were walking, she pouted. "Come on, your role is easy! You’ll just need to get to know Gazelle then you’ll gather information about her that we can use for Yohanne to be closer to her."

"I don’t want to. I told you I don’t want to take part in your foolishness."

Eris pouted, letting go of her hold on Eros, and stopped walking. He noticed it and he looked back at her.

"You don’t want to exert an effort to change. Do you remember the Evil Dummy’s Guide to Kindness that we made yesterday?" Eris crossed her arms while she continued pouting. “Number 2: Make friends, learn to smile and laugh with others.”

Eris walked towards Eros and pointed her index finger at his chest. "This is your opportunity to make friends with one of your cla.s.smates, but you’re wasting this opportunity! If you really want to change, make an effort!"

Here comes Eris with her sermons to him. Eros was really contemplating what she said but he almost smacked her when he heard what she added.

“And treat me an ice cream!”

"Whatever. Just stay there!” He turned his back to her.

Eris continued nagging him but he ignored her. She went home first since the clubhouse was along the way.

When Eros arrived home, he went directly to his room and closed himself off. He lay down; he placed his arm on his forehead and closed his eyes to think.

He doesn’t know Yohanne even though they are cla.s.smates. He doesn't know his cla.s.smates and their names; he only recognizes them with their face. He was never interested to get to know them or talk to them since they seem not to like him. They avoid and fear him.

And now he was made to play cupid by that annoying angel! She said he’ll serve as a bridge between Yohanne and Gazelle Ocampo, Yohanne's crush.

But how will he do it? And will Yohanne be his friend in the end? And why does he feel like he’s hoping for them to be friends? Since Eris arrived in his life and with her frequent sermons, he often reflected on his actions. He can now even feel his heart that he forgot existed. He now wants to be with people, he doesn’t want to be alone.

He wants to have a friend. He wants to be accepted by people.

"Aaaaah!” He messed up his hair. "I want to smack you Eris! Because of you my mind is in a mess!"

* * * * *

"Go now! Faster!”

“Aray oy! Don’t push me!" It’s already lunch time and they are at the back of a wall, Eris was pus.h.i.+ng Eros towards the tree where Gazelle Ocampo was, she was with her friends and cla.s.smates having lunch.

"Tss." Eris copied Eros’  'tss’ whenever he was irritated and she placed her hand on her hips. "You said you’ll do it!"

"Yes! I’ll do it but don’t push me! I just don’t understand why I’m the one who should approach her? Why not you?" Eros went near Yohanne and pointed at him. "You're the one who has a crush on her, you should be the one to approach and introduce yourself to her!"

"Wh-what? I-I don't want to!" he stammered, his head bowed. "It's embarra.s.sing."

"Tss. You’re a man."

"Hey Eros!"

Eros is getting impatient.

"You're also a man but you have plenty of complaints, just do what you promised me! Come on, go now bridge!"

Eros is annoyed again because Eris gave him plenty of nicknames. He’s now called bridge because he’ll be a ‘bridge’ a.k.a Cupid of Yohanne and Gazelle.

"Yes, I’ll go so that this foolishness will end!" Eros walked irritated towards Gazelle.

“Don’t forget to smile Eros!” Eris reminded.

“Tss.” That's his only reply and he went towards Gazelle.

“Umm…” The four girls were eating under the tree looked at him. Their eyes widened and he heard one of them whisper.

"Isn't he the bad guy from Cla.s.s 4C? The bad one and who beats? Oh my gos.h.!.+ What does he need from us? It’s scary."

Eros stopped himself from being irritated from what he heard and forced a smile, he looks weird.

“h.e.l.lo miss.”  He immediately faced Gazelle and talked to her since he wants it to end this immediately.

“Ah! H-h.e.l.lo!” Gazelle was surprised when the rumored bad boy of their campus went near and talked to her.

"You are Gazelle Ocampo right?" Eros sat beside the short haired chinita.

“O-opo!1 Yes it's me po!2 I’m innocent po, I promise. I’m a good person! I haven’t done any evil deed!" Gazelle panicked, her heart beat faster, she’s nervous because she doesn’t know why the bad boy is talking to her, she doesn’t remember she did something wrong to him for him to approach her.

"What?"

"If ever I stepped on your shoes or I spilled juice on you or whatever wrong thing I did to you which you didn’t like, I’m sorry po! Spare my life please!" Gazelle covered her face because she panicked.

Eros was surprised to what Gazelle said. Be blanked out for a second but when he a.n.a.lyzed what she said, instead of getting angry he laughed out loud. He can’t contain his laughter seeing her facial expression.

“Hahaha!”  Eros held his stomach while laughing.

Gazelle slowly removed her hands from her face and curiously looked at the laughing Eros. She didn’t remember if she said something funny..

"Uhh.. Are you crazy?" She immediately covered her mouth; that automatically went out from her mouth, she did not intend to say that but it was too late. She was nervous that the bad boy in front of her will get mad because of what she said. "Sorry, I didn’t mean to say that!"

“Don’t be, just relax! I will not swallow you!" Eros was having difficulty saying that since he was still laughing, he finds this girl in front of him very entertaining.

“You mean you’ll slaughter me first? You’ll chop me to pieces while I’m still alive before swallowing me? Uwaa!"

Eros’ laughter became louder. "Hahaha! No! I said to relax; I will not do anything bad to you. I’m just here to get to know you."

"Oh." That’s what Gazelle only said. Get to know her? She was confused, why would a bad boy want to know her?

"I'm Eros and you’re Gazelle right? I want to invite you to go with me and my friends." He looked back at where Eris and Yohanne are and pointed them out to her. "If you’re free after cla.s.s, let’s meet at the gate of the school."

“Ha? What would we do?”

"Nothing special. Let’s eat, have some snacks at mini stop or 7eleven so we can get to know each other."

Actually, it was what Eris instructed him to say to Gazelle. Eris’ plan is to invite Gazelle to come with them later that afternoon to 7eleven so that Gazelle and Yohanne would be introduced to each other.

"Oh… Is that it? You promise not to kidnap me and sell my internal organs to bad people?" Gazelle still panicked and innocently asked.

“Hahaha! My friends are not bad people." He meant Eris and Yohanne. "I'm a little bit bad but I’m trying to be a good guy. Trust me, I just want to get to know you. So I hope you’ll join us later."

"Uhh.." Gazelle thinks a little bit but later agreed. "Okay… Promise me you’ll not kidnap me."

“Hahaha. Promise.”

* * * * *

On the other side, Eris and Yohanne were curious as to why Eros kept laughing. They were not close to where Eros and Gazelle are, that’s why they can’t hear their conversation. But whatever they were talking about, it looks like Eros was enjoying himself since he kept on laughing.

Eris was happy seeing Eros laugh but there’s a part of her that’s not at ease. It looks like Eros was really happy talking with Gazelle which he still didn’t know so well. She didn’t understand what she’s feeling, she’s uneasy feeling this feeling.

Not long after, Eros went back to them with a smile adorning his lips and doing a thumbs up. "Mission accomplished. She agreed."

"Eros… You’re smiling." Eris commented.

That’s when Eros realized that he was smiling and that he really enjoyed talking with Gazelle but maybe because he was conscious, he removed his smile from his lips. "Tss. I’m not. Later this afternoon, after cla.s.s, she’ll see us at the gate."

"Really?" Yohanne excitedly asked.

Eris clapped and patted Yohanne. "See, Yohanne! You’ll finally get to talk with Gazelle! This ends your gazing at her from afar, you’ll get to be with her this afternoon and you will have the chance to talk to her so do your best! You need to have a progress even for a little bit after this!”

They walked back to their cla.s.sroom but Eris noticed before they entered the building that Eros looked back at Gazelle’s direction. She saw a smile on his lips.

Eris felt something in her chest, she felt sad somehow.

She doesn’t know why.

TL Ramblings: Uh-oh Eris, what could you be feeling? >.

Footnotes:

1 Opo: Polite way of saying yes or agreeing to something. Usually used when speaking with elders or strangers but can also be used for all ages to be respectful.

2 Po: is used to make the statement polite.