It bugged Tiffany to no end when Jessica became closer to Erik. It annoyed her but she already gave her word to Jessica that she would not stop her from befriending him. Therefore, instead of reprimanding her friend, Tiffany fretted from a few yards away from both Jessica and Erik as they talked as if Tiffany was not there.
That day, she felt as if the lady-luck purposely cast a bad luck on her as she and Jessica bumped into Erik on their way to class. The first time was okay since they were in a rush to get to their class on time but it happened a few times that day that Tiffany began to question her existence in the world.
Suddenly, her eyes caught on a familiar looking boy standing beside Erik. She recognized him as the one who came to their flat on the first day they moved in. He was Erik's friend. Then another one came, taller than both Erik and his friend.
"Tiffany!" she heard Jessica called her. Tiffany looked at her friend and saw her friend gestured her to come over to them. She shook her head no and about to insist until Jessica showed that face again. The face that really made her want to barf but could not. With a heavy heart and steps, Tiffany made her way towards the group.
"Oh, hey Erik's housemate!" the tall boy greeted her enthusiastically. Tiffany greeted him back half-heartedly while her hand went to Jessica and pulled the girl's shirt gently.
"Boys, this is my housemate, Tiffany," he said, hand pointed at Tiffany without looking at her. "…and this pretty girl is Jessica." Erik then introduced Jessica to his friends. The boys eagerly introduced themselves to both girls while Erik seemed to notice Tiffany's discomfort. Erik immediately stepped forward and held the boys' arms back. "Hey, hey. Don't crowd them."
Maddox and Sinclair seemed to realize that maybe they were too eager so they backed a few steps and apologized. Both girls smiled and Erik noticed that Jessica was blushing.
Erik was flattered at first when he thought that perhaps Jessica was blushing because of him—a boy has a right to dream, yeah?—but when he connected the dots, he soon realised that Jessica only blushed when his friends came.
He grinned, knowing that one of his idiotic friends might be someone's crush. Someone very pretty, too.
"Shit! Jessi, I think I might've forgotten my keys on the vanity." Tiffany exclaimed while searching for the said keys in her bag, hoping that it might be there somehow. "Shit! How are we supposed to get in now?"
"Well, we can call Erik. He did say that their class ended at the same hour as us." Jessica said, leaning her body sideways on the doorframe. "Who knows maybe he's on his way back here?"
Tiffany grimaced upon hearing his name. "I hope you know that I don't keep that asshole's number," She grumbled.
"Well, I didn't say that you're the one who should call him." Jessica pulled out her phone and typed on the screen before showing it to Tiffany. "Ta-da! Erik's number!"
Tiffany's eyes widened in surprise. "How did you even get his number?"
Jessica scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Duh! I asked for it. Unlike you, I have manners and talked to him decently. Now shush while I call him." She held the phone a few inches away from her face and dialled Erik.
"Put it on a speaker!"
Jessica did and the How Long Will I Love You ringing tone filled the empty hallway. Jessica's eyes widened in surprise and she grinned as she hummed along to the tune of the song. Before long, Erik picked up the call. "Hello?"
"Hi, Erik!" Jessica greeted eagerly, which earned a glare from her friend to which she responded with a teasing raise of eyebrows.
"Ah, hey Jessica! What can I help you with?"
The girl looked at Tiffany who perhaps have rolled her eyes for a thousands of times that day, and quietly scoffed. "Your beloved housemate here forgot her keys on the dresser. Could you possibly come faster and unlock the door for us, please?"
They heard some rustlings from the other line. "Okay. Be there in fifteen or more. I'm on my way home anyway." He paused. "And Jessica, don't wait up in the hallway. I saw a neighbour walking home drunk just now. Who know what he might do. Just be careful, alright?"
The blush on Jessica's face was visible and it annoyed Tiffany to no end when they ended the phone call sweetly. She barfed when Jessica squealed and hid her face in her hand. "Stop blushing like that. You're creeping me out."
"I don't care. Erik Kim is the cutest guy I've known." Jessica said.
"Whatever." Tiffany rolled her eyes.
Jessica laughed, and then sighed in amusement at her friend's obvious disgust for her infatuation towards her housemate. For a few seconds, she went silent before she remembered something that she intended to tell Tiffany. "Hey babe, remember that tall hot guy beside Erik today?"
Tiffany looked up from her phone to Jessica and cocked her brows. "Yeah, what's with him?"
Recalling how the boy was so close to her earlier that day, Jessica blush, lips forming a wide bashful smile. "That's him. My own Ki-Hong Lee."
"What?! Him? Maddox? Are you serious?" Tiffany's eyes widened, shocked at the revelation. When Jessica nodded enthusiastically, still with that wide smile, her shock increased. "Gosh…I can't believe someone as horrible as Erik befriended with someone as hot as Maddox…" she muttered in disbelief.
"Tiffany!" Jessica reprimanded, hitting her best friend's arm and laughed. "You're so mean! Erik isn't that bad! It's true that he's not as hot as Maddox but he's got his own charm."
Tiffany scoffed, rolling her eyes in displeasure. "Whatever." She said.
The silence surrounded them. Although it gave Tiffany the feeling of discomfort, she felt the exhaustion from walking all day finally kicking in. "Let's just wait here. I don't think the drunk neighbour Erik told us would come just yet," she said, sitting in front of her apartment unit with her back leaning against the door.
Tiffany looked up at Jessica and frowned when she saw that the girl was not paying any attention to what she said as she was busy looking at something at the end of the hallway. Huffing, Tiffany rolled her eyes and called Jessica again, "Jessi—"
"Shush! Look…" her best friend whispered. Jessica's eyes never left the thing that she was seeing. Tiffany followed Jessica's line of sight and eyes widened when she saw a very drunken man staggering his way towards them.
Tiffany first intended that the man may mean no harm but as he was closing in, the hallway instantly filled with the putrid stench of alcohol. Both young woman kept quiet and moved to the opposite site of where they stood so as to avoid the man's way.
They thought they were safe but when the man changed his lane too, Tiffany started to get anxious and Jessica noticed how tight Tiffany was gripping her arm. She was afraid too, perhaps even more than Tiffany, but Jessica had to get her mind straight and pulled Tiffany closer to her side.
"Let's quietly go from here." Jessica whispered, and Tiffany nodded quickly.
With a fast-beating heart, both of them tried to walk away from the man whom was getting nearer to them. Just before they could quietly escape, the drunken man had quickly noticed them moving away and started calling them, coming for them.
Both Jessica and Tiffany quickly accelerate their pace, ignoring the man's call. However, the man also gained his speed and in no time, he was right behind them, surprisingly managed to safely stagger his way to the stairs.
"Faster Tiff! He's gaining!" Jessica shrieked while they descended the stairs. As they reached the door to the lobby, they felt an instant relief but it was short-lived when the man swiftly got past them and closed the door behind him. The bad odour coming from the man and his sleazy, perverted grin scared them witless.
Fortunately—or perhaps unfortunately—the door opened which pushed the man towards them and in came Maddox and Erik. Maddox was swift enough to pull the girls behind him and shield them from the drunken man. Erik then stepped forward fast and pushed the man away, trying to hinder any unpleasant incident to occur.
Well, at least he tried to.
As Erik tried to reason out to the man to not cause any problem—in a way he thought should be civilised enough—in a drunken rage, the man punched Erik. Hard. The three friends could hear the cracking sound and prayed hard that the damage was not that serious on Erik.
Seeing his friend on the ground holding his cheek, Maddox lifted the drunken man off his feet and harshly slammed him down to the floor. "You fucking drunkard!" When he knew the man would not retaliate as fast as his fist, Maddox rushed to help Erik off the ground with Tiffany and Jessica's help. "Here, c'mon buddy. Can you stand?"
The door open before Erik could answer his friend's question. "What the bloody hell is going on here?!" The security guard came barging in. As he saw the familiar drunkard and Erik's condition, he immediately knew what had happened. "Fucking bastard…" he muttered, approaching the drunken man who was now sitting on the floor with his back against the wall.
"It was not our fault sir," Maddox tried to explain.
The guard turned to them and smiled apologetically, "No, no, young man. It's fine. I know this man. I'm sorry for the inconvenience." He chuckled before kicking the man who was now unconscious. "I can take it from here. And I'm sorry again. Are you alright, young lad?" He asked, referring to Erik.
Erik smiled although his cheek was hurting. "I'll be fine. Although I might need to go to the clinic for check-up. The man got quite a punch." He chuckled and then groaned when he felt his side was hurting form a sharp pain.
The guard looked at him apologetically. "I'll make sure this bastard pays a visit to you and apologize for his own. This is not the first time this has occurred."
All four youth nodded almost at the same time before bidding the old man goodbye. As they ascended the stairs, Erik hissed in pain, frowning. Maddox stopped climbing the stair right below the second flight of stairs and went to his friend's side.
"You 'kay?" Maddox asked. Erik just shook his head before looking up to his friend's face, grinning.
"I think I bruised my ribs. I fell with my fist on my side just now and it hit right on my ribs." Erik said, holding his sore spot. Maddox frowned and held Erik when the boy nodded, grimacing when he pressed the spot gently.
"Let's not hope you didn't broke any bones in there, yeah?" Maddox softly said, chuckling to lighten up the atmosphere. "Let's get you upstairs, buddy."
Jessica who was still in trance finally became aware of her surroundings as she followed them from behind with an equally stunned Tiffany in tow. When she saw Maddox and Erik sitting on the stair with the latter holding his torso, she frowned. "What happened?" she asked Tiffany.
The girl shrugged and went to the two boys. "Is everything alright?"
Maddox looked up at Jessica and shrugged. "I think Erik needs to go to the clinic. He said he fell on his—"
"It's fine. I'm fine." Erik said, stopping his friend's sentence. He saw the look of disapproval on Maddox's face, and pat the boy's hand. "I'll be fine. Don't worry. Just going to need an icepack for the bruise on this handsome face." He jokingly said to which triggered a look of disgust and an eye-roll gesture from Tiffany. Erik smirked when he saw how repulsive Tiffany looked with her grumpy face.
"Yeah, yeah. Let's get you upstairs and smear some cream on that cheek." Maddox and Jessica were unaware of the exchange between the two archenemies. All they knew was to help Erik get upstairs.
…
"Tiffany." Maddox called the girl once they got inside the flat unit. Tiffany, who was in the hallway of their unit, peeked her head through the corner.
"Yeah?"
"Can you help me get a first aid? I don't know where it is." Maddox said, rubbing his nape. After he heard an 'okay' from Tiffany, he turned his head towards the girl who was rummaging the fridge. "Are you searching for an ice pack?"
Jessica jumped in surprised when she heard the voice behind her and turned around, only to be instantly flustered when she saw that Maddox was a few feet away from her. "U-uh yeah. I-I was." She stuttered eyes anywhere but to the boy in front of her. "B-but there's none, except for the frozen peas."
Seeing how the girl fidgeted, Maddox took it the wrong way and awkwardly chuckled as he took a step back. "Oh, uh…frozen peas are fine too, I guess."
"Okay…hold on, I-I'll get it for you." Jessica mumbled before turning to the fridge again to retrieve the frozen peas. As she handed the cold pack, her hands trembled.
Seeing this, Maddox could not help but ask her the question that ran through his head. "Are you scared of me?" he asked, his heart went out for the beautiful girl in front of him as she looked as if she had seen a very terrifying ghost.
Jessica's head shot upward in surprise and quickly shook her head. Before she could explain herself, Tiffany came into the living room. "Maddox, I couldn't find the box but I got this soothing cream."
If Maddox had stayed and ignored Tiffany just for a few seconds to look at Jessica for a little while longer, he would have catch the look of disappointment on her face. Jessica had already formed a sentence of reasoning in her head when Tiffany came and ruined the moment. The girl was a tad bit upset that she had planted an idea of him scaring her, even more upset when she could not explain why.
Maddox immediately went to Tiffany and checked the cream on Tiffany's hand. "I think this'll do." He said, subtly glancing at Jessica who was walking towards Erik with an unreadable expression. Maddox sighed and frowned, feeling helpless all of a sudden by Jessica's change of mood. "Tiffany, can you get a painkiller for Erik, please?"
"Yes, of course. Hold up."
Maddox then took the frozen peas and soothing cream to Erik. "Are you feeling okay, bud?" he asked. Erik looked up at him and grin. "Don't give me that look. I'll kick your other ribs if you say another 'I'm alright'. I'm not even joking."
"Fine…" Erik rolled his eyes, "There's a bit of dull throbbing but really, other than that, I'm perfectly fine."
Maddox and Jessica nodded. Tiffany then came out holding a packet of painkiller and a bottle of plain water. "I don't think he'd die from a small damage right?" Tiffany suddenly said, feigning innocence.
Erik and Jessica caught on but there was Maddox, who knew nothing of Tiffany and his friend's situation. "No he won't." he chuckled, oblivious to the ominous air created by the two nemesis, Erik and Tiffany.
"Erik, let me see your ribs." Maddox said, lifting the boy's shirt slightly to get a good look at the bruise and pressed on it, ignoring Erik's groan of pain. "Luckily there's no broken rib or ribs. It's just a bruising. I'll just apply this cream on you, a'ight? And if you feel that it gets worst…"
"I'll go to the clinic. I get it, mother." Erik said, rolling his eyes although deep inside him, he appreciated his friend's care. Then, with Maddox insistency, Erik took off his shirt.
Now, if one thing that could melt both Jessica and Tiffany, it was man's great body proportion and lean figure. Not too muscular and meaty, and not too skinny. Just the right figure. Just like the one they were gawking at, at that moment.
Erik's body was the kind that both of them always ogle at. 'Yummy', they both would say.
While they unsubtly ogled over him, Maddox was inspecting the bruise on Erik's body. As he applied the cream onto the sore spot, Erik hissed in pain. "It's painful yet soothing at the same time." He chuckled, whilst still hissing as Maddox tended to him.
"It's supposed to be like that anyway." Maddox then looked at his work and smiled proudly. "I should've gone to Medical school." He exclaimed, wide grin on his face as he placed his hand on Erik's nape.
Right before Erik retaliate, Jessica let out a tiny 'oh', and turned to Tiffany. Both Erik and Maddox looked at them curiously before the girls burst into giggles. "What's so funny?" Maddox asked.
Tiffany shook her head, grinning before looking at her friend beside her. "Nothing…nothing. Can Jessi and I go to my room, now that Erik have you by his side?" she said, to which made Jessica burst in laughter. "Stop it Jess!"
Both boys cocked their brows, confused as to why the girls were laughing. "Oh well, yes you may. Go ahead." Maddox replied, still with the frown although his lips formed a small smile.
Before the girls disappear behind the corner to the hallway, Jessica's head popped out from behind the wall, smiling. "And thank you for saving me and Tiffany today." Then she went as quickly as she appeared.
Maddox shrugged, thinking Jessica was only thanking them but Erik could clearly hear her excited steps and almost silent squeals. Been surrounded by female cousins all his life, it did not take much thinking to know that Jessica was feeling giddy.
The question is who was the one that she felt giddy about?
"I can't believe that he got such godlike body sculpture!" Tiffany exclaimed as quiet as possible right after she closed the door to her room. "But I swear to God that was like an opening scene straight out of a corny porn!"
Jessica, who was lying on the bed on her front, laughed aloud. "And both of them are quite hot too, so we're not to be blamed when we thought of that when Erik took off his shirt and Maddox's hand on the back of his neck." Jessica slowed down and grinned widely, "I told you he's not that bad, although I've never seen him half naked before. A cute face with that body. Total burn!" she said, giggling dreamily.
"Yeah, yeah." Tiffany rolled her eyes, and then sighed. "But on a serious note, he's got quite an impressive body for someone that is as annoying as a tiny mosquito." She said, fluffing her pillow before resting her back on it.
Hearing that, Jessica scoffed. "As if you aren't."
"I am completely not."
Jessica smirked knowingly, "yeah, yeah. You're not and I'm crossing my fingers. Really."
Tiffany glared at her friend and snorted. "And up until today, I'm still wondering why did I befriended you in the first place."
The other girl laughed and shook her head. "I think you've forgotten the fact that I was the one that tried to befriend you. If it wasn't for my persistence, I think I'm not here today." She said, turning her body sideways as she rested her head on her hand that was supported by her elbow. "It's quite a surprise actually, to have you as my friend, considering how rude you were to everyone that tried to befriend you."
Tiffany laughed at that and nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I remembered that! Total bitch, I admit."
"Good that you know." Jessica replied wittily, which resulted a whack in the head with a pillow. "You bitch!" she shrieked in surprise before counter-attacked Tiffany with the same hit, laughing.
The room then filled with the sound of girls giggle and pillow fight.
And Tiffany prayed that her budget for the week have lots of remainder for her to buy a new set of fluffy pillow…
Oh well, she mooched off enough from Erik that her savings are enough for her to buy nice expensive foods for dinner.