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The rest of the night passed in a blur. I saw Zander, but he was always mingling with other people. He had no shortage of female admirers. Women of all shapes, sizes, and hair color flocked to his table. I knew I told him I wasn’t ready for dating or anything like that. So, he moved on to his ardent female admirers. It just sucked to see him laughing and flirting with all these women.
A baseball player won the Sportsman of the Year award. Nalee and I talked about how proud we were of Kieran as he drove us home. Kieran, in all his cockiness, said that the baseball player won because he was the Dean's grandchild. I had no inkling of that baseball player’s relationship with the Dean or if it had anything to do with his win. I just knew for sure that Kieran hated to lose, at anything.
It was almost 1 AM when we got home. I didn't receive any texts from Zander. The last time I saw him was 3 weeks ago and that was when I told him I wasn’t ready for anything. However, every single night since then, he had texted me. Just a simple, ‘Nite’ or ‘Sleep tight’. His texts made me think that he was waiting for me, until I was ready.
Seeing him tonight made me think of him again. It awakened my thoughts and desires to maybe pursue this attraction between us.
The way he left after Kieran showed up bothered me so, I texted him;
Congrats on your nomination 2nite! It was nice seeing you again.
I fell asleep waiting for his response.
*****
Two days after the awards ceremony, Kieran and I were eating a very late lunch at our favorite Chinese restaurant. He was busy scrolling through his phone when Mrs. Wei, the owner, came up to greet us.
"It’s nice to see you here, pretty eyes.” She had called me ‘pretty eyes’ from the very first time Kieran and I discovered this place. I thought it was so cute the way she said it so the name stuck.
I smiled at her and she said, “Mr. Kieran is too busy, huh?” Noticing that Kieran was on his phone and not conversing with me.
“Yes, I think he has a couple of e-mails to answer,” I answered for him. Kieran glanced up and smiled at the both of us.
Mrs. Wei was a charmingAsian lady who owned the place with her husband. She was also a hands-on owner and was very friendly to the staff and customers. She always took the time to chat with everybody.
Kieran was still busy responding to e-mails when our orders arrived. When our server placed our orders of Cashew Chicken and Kung Pao on the table, he set his phone aside. He started removing the hot chili peppers from the Kung Pao chicken. I hated the hot chili peppers, especially when I unexpectedly bit into them, so Kieran always took them out.
The orange chicken and sweet and sour shrimp plates were also brought to our table. Kieran moved the shrimp dish to his side. I was allergic to shrimp so he was the only one who ate the dish.
We were in the middle of talking about our upcoming schedules, when my phone pinged from my purse. I normally let it go, especially when I was eating. Kieran signaled me to check it.
Nalee: Check ChattyPepper.com now!
Kieran saw the change in my expression, he asked, “What’s wrong?”
“I don’t know. Nalee wants me to check thatChatty Pepper gossip website now.” I put my phone back in my purse. It pinged again.
Tanya: You gotta check ChattyPepper.com
“Now what?” Kieran asked again.
“It’s Tanya, she said to check that Chatty Pepper site. What is it with that site?” I resumed eating the cashew chicken on my plate. Kieran picked up his phone.
“Oh,” he said as his gazelanded on mine.
“Now what?” It was my turn to ask. So much for eating. Too many interruptions were going on.
He handed me his phone. My heart dropped when I saw the screen. There were two images juxtaposed against each other. The first picture was of me in my light yellow bikini and Kieran in his trunks. We were at the beach; we both had sunglasses on, his left arm wrapped around my shoulder. This must have been taken a few weeks back during semester break. The second image showed Kieran in his dark, green suit smiling at me. This was obviously taken atthe awards gala.
Under the picture, the words “Mighty Z’s girl seen with our swim SEX-sation, Kieran” were displayed. A short paragraph described Kieran as ‘hot and hunky’ and a love triangle between Zander, Kieran, and I was insinuated by the writer.
I felt suffocated, violated. I was in my bikini, spending time with my best friend, and someone took a picture of us to put it up in a sleazy gossip website, without my permission! I lost my appetite. Kieran saw myface getting paler.
“Ace, it’s no big deal. These people have nothing else to do,” His voice calm but his eyes were anything but. He was tamping down his rising anger.
I wanted to cry. I wanted to scream at the writer. I wanted to tear down this website.
“I don’t know what to do.” I was livid with anger and mortification. Who were these people? What right did they have to take pictures of us? Or, better yet, why did people even care what I was doing?
