Author's Note: Hello reader's, this note is just to give a head up, there will be some minor adult themes in this chapter, so reader's discretion is advised.
Third Person P.O.V.
It is now late February in Chicago, average winter temperatures between in the twenty-to-thirty-degree Fahrenheit range.
During the previous week, Edwin officially moved in with Jasiri, and is starting to get more settled and adjusted as more time passes by.
It was a cold weekend night, and Edwin and Jasiri, in her anthropomorphic hyena form, were in their bed lying next to each other while the lights were turned off. They each had the blanket over their lower halves of their bodies.
"Hey Edwin, I initially promised Makini not to tell this to anyone a few weeks ago, but I've just been so dying to tell you this, as long as you promise not to tell anybody." Jasiri said.
"No problem, I promise that I won't tell anyone." Edwin replied.
"Well….Makini told me that she has feelings for Beshte." Jasiri said, after which Edwin started to have an intrigued expression on her face.
"Really?...This is good, because we know Beshte has feelings for her and if he asks her out, she will most likely say yes. Perhaps we should encourage Beshte to finally ask her out." Edwin said.
"Maybe, but again we should never tell Beshte about what Makini told me because as you know, I promised her not to tell." Jasiri replied.
"Okay no problem, I will just probably encourage him to take the direct approach with Makini if the subject comes up, but I promise that I will not tell him what Makini told you. And if that doesn't end up going as planned, you could potentially encourage Makini to ask Beshte out." Edwin said.
A few days later at the museum, Edwin was working in his office in reorganizing some data he had on an Excel file.
He then heard his office store start to open a little bit, which got him to look towards that direction and saw that it was Beshte in his human form.
"Hey Edwin, do you by any chance have a minute to talk?" Beshte asked.
"Sure, come on in, I'm just organizing some data on Excel." Edwin replied.
Beshte then proceeded to enter Edwin's office and took a seat at a nearby chair.
"So Beshte, what do you want to talk about?" Edwin said.
"Well, I tried to ask Makini out." Beshte said in a nervous tone.
"Ooohhh….and how did that turn out?" Edwin said in an intrigued tone with a curious smile on his face.
"Well…." Beshte said nervously.
Flashback: The Previous Day
Makini, in her hybrid mandril form, was leaving the genetics lab at the end of an average work day. She started heading down the stairs towards the lower floor to head to the next closest to the parking lot.
On the way, she was about to go past the security desk until she heard a voice called to her.
"Hey Makini, how's it going?" The voice called.
She turned towards it and found it was Beshte, in his anthro hippo form, working from behind a security desk.
"Hey Beshte! I'm good, just finished working in the lab for the day. How about you?" Makini cheerfully asked.
"Oh, nothing much, just a routine day. I'm here for another hour until the night guy comes over." Beshte said.
"Well, I hope you have a good day." Makini said.
"You-...Makini wait!" Beshte said, causing Makini to stop in her path and turn towards him.
"I actually wanted to ask you something." Beshte said.
"Okay, what is it?" Makini asked.
"Well I just want to know if maybe…..uh…maybe…..uh…maybe we can…..uh…..maybe we can…believe that it has been twenty-one or twenty-two years since we last were in the Pride Lands, Tree of Life and all that?" Beshte said with a nervous chuckle.
"Yeah, I know, I can't believe that it's been that long since all that has happened. Well I have to go now, have a good day." Makini said as she left.
"You too, Makini!" Beshte said enthusiastically, but then realized what he really wanted to ask and saw that it was too late for that day.
"Damn it! I had a chance, and I blew it." Beshte said in frustration.
Present Day
"I'm sorry to hear that Beshte." Edwin replied.
"Yeah, I can't believe that I had a chance to ask Makini out and my nerves got in the way of me getting the actual words out." Beshte said.
"Perhaps it might help to rehearse before attempting to ask her out next time." Edwin said.
"Okay, I'll take note of that. Thanks for letting me talk to you about this by the way" Beshte replied.
"No problem, you are welcome to talk to me anytime." Edwin said.
"I appreciate it. I have to get back to my shift. See you later." Beshte said as he got up and left the office.
"Cool, have a good day." Edwin replied.
Edwin got back to his work on the computer.
An hour later, he decides to shoot Jasiri a text:
Hey Jas, Beshte just talked to me about attempting to ask Makini out, but he became too nervous to ask her out. Maybe you can try to encourage Makini to also attempt to ask out Beshte?
Two days after Edwin's conversation with Beshte, Jasiri, in her anthro hyena form, was cleaning her work station before the end of the day when she heard a knock at a nearby door.
She saw that it was Makini, in her anthro mandril form, standing by the door frame with a nervous expression on her face.
"Hey Jasiri, is this a bad time to talk?" Makini asked.
"Oh no, come on in! I'm just cleaning my station. What do you want to talk about?" Jasiri said in a casual tone as she continued her task and Makini started to head into the lab.
"So…..I tried to ask Beshte out yesterday….." Makini said.
"Ooohhh….and how did he respond?" Jasiri said smiling, with an intrigued tone.
"Actually…. " Makini said with an awkward tone.
Flashback: The Previous Day
Makini went out to fill her water bottle in the hallway water fountain.
After she finished, she was heading back to the genetics lab when she saw Beshte heading down that same hallway.
"Okay, this is my chance." She thought to herself before approaching Beshte.
"Hi Beshte, how have you been?" Makini cheerfully asked.
"Hey Makini, I've been fine. I am just doing my security rounds on this floor, what about you?" Beshte said.
"Nothing much, just refilling this water bottle. And….Beshte, I would like to ask you something…." Makini asked.
"Sure Makini, what is it?..." Beshte said curiously.
"Well, I was wondering if you want to….uhhhh…..if you want to…..uhhh….hear an interesting fact I learned from the news?" Makini said nervously.
"Sure….what is it?" Beshte said.
"I heard that with the coronavirus that is spreading around, it is advised to wash your hands for a total of twenty seconds, or basically the amount of length it takes you to sing the Birthday song twice." Makini said.
"Oh yeah, I think I heard something about that recently. Anyway, I need to get back to my shift. Nice talking to you, have a good day." Beshte said before walking away.
"Okay, see you later.." Makini said before turning back towards the direction of her lab before realizing something.
"Oh wait….man I am such an idiot.." Makini said before face palming herself.
Present Day
"Want to hear something interesting I heard in the news?" Jasiri said.
"Don't judge me Jasiri, I couldn't get the actual words out. I was just nervous." Makini said.
"I'm sorry that your attempt didn't work out. But everyone gets nervous the first time trying to ask out someone. I think I initially thought about asking Edwin two or three times before he first asked me out. I am sure when you are ready to ask him out for real." Jasiri said.
"Okay, perhaps I can try rehearsing or relaxing myself before the next time I ask him out. I just hope that he says yes when I finally do ask him." Makini said.
"I'm sure he will." Jasiri said while smiling.
"Okay, thanks Jasiri." Makini cheerfully said before leaving.
Soon after that, Makuu peaked in the room.
"Hey Jasiri, I'm heading out now, see you on Monday!" Makuu said.
"Okay, see you later!" Jasiri said.
A text ringtone soon was heard from Makuu's phone, which provoked him to look at his phone and start to laugh all of the sudden.
"Man, you are too much." Makuu said while typing a reply and still noticeably chuckling.
"Hey Makuu, who are you texting?" Jasiri asked curiously.
"Oh nobody, just someone I know." Makuu said as he walked out the lab.
"But who? Makuu?" Jasiri said as she started to look around.
After finishing cleaning up her station, Jasiri grabbed her bag, coat and other items and headed out the exit of the lab. As she was heading towards the stairs, she bumped into Edwin, who was heading to the stairs to meet up with Jasiri when she got to the lower floor.
"Hey Jasiri, I was just heading down to wait for you? How was your day?" He asked.
"Well, it was fine, so when I first went to my lab station today…."Jasiri said, and the two continued their conversation until they reached the museum parking lot.
They soon got into Edwin's car and continued to talk as they started to drive out of the parking lot.
"So how did Makini's attempt at asking Beshte out go?" Edwin asked.
"It didn't, Makini became too nervous and discussed a different conversation topic, similar to what you said Beshte did when he tried to ask out Makini." Jasiri replied.
"Okay, perhaps they need some time to rehearse how to ask each other?" Edwin said.
"Maybe, perhaps we can also help the two break the ice with each other in regards to potential romantic feelings between them." Jasiri said.
The next week, Jasiri and Edwin decided on a potential way to help Beshte and Makini break the ice with each other…by inviting them to a casual social event at their apartment.
On a Friday night, the usual meeting for the Human-Hybrid Alliance was canceled that week due to Rafiki and the Human Resources department had a meeting that night, plus he was concerned about the spread of coronavirus recently and how that could affect a large meeting room of people.
With the meeting canceled, Edwin and Jasiri decided to invite some friends to their apartment. Along with Makini and Beshte, they also invited Jamal, Kendall, Kiara and Kovu to just hang out and socialize. In addition to that, Edwin and Jasiri thought it would be a good opportunity for Beshte and Makini to talk to each other in a relaxed environment.
Jasiri, Makini, Beshte, Kiara and Kovu were in their anthropomorphic animal forms. The eight of them were just gathered around the coffee table and were playing the game Telestrations. They were at the point of the game where they were going through the sketches and word guesses compared to what their chosen word was supposed to be at the beginning.
Jasiri picked up her notepad as she was the last person to do so, as she began to turn the pages of cet notepad.
"Okay, so the word I had was 'Mushrooms' so I drew these little mushrooms. Then I passed my notepad to Edwin who correctly guessed mushrooms, who passed it to Kiara who drew…..what the?! HaHaHaHa! Kiara, why do these mushrooms look so big?...And why are there lines on the stems?" Jasiri said before bursting out laughing along with the others when they saw Kiara's drawing.
"I wanted to add detail to the drawing." Kiara said while laughing.
"Honey, these look more like trees." Kovu said.
"Hey, art class years ago was a struggle for me, especially the drawing and sketching part." Kiara said defensively, but in a humorous tone.
"Yeah, hunting and drawing were always two things she struggled at." Kovu said jokingly before letting out a small laugh.
Kiara then approached him to playfully slap him on the head.
"Ow! What was that for?" Kovu said.
"Says the guy who constantly makes noises when he 'attempts' to sneak a snack out of the fridge late some nights. Not to mention that you also struggle at Jenga, Anga's crossfit class, and that pottery class we took one time. Yeah…I knew that wasn't supposed to be a plate….Plates don't have handles on it." Kiara playfully said before she and the others playfully laughed.
"Okay back to the game, so Kiara drew this, which she passed to Beshte, and he guessed 'forest'. When the notepad was passed to Kendall and drew what looked like a bunch of trees, she passed it to Jamal, and he guessed 'woods'. Then Jamal passed it to Makini and she drew what looked like some baobab trees, and then the pad was passed to Kovu in which he guessed 'Ndefu Grove'...Really Kovu? How would 'Ndefu Grove even be a guess in this game?" Jasiri said before everyone started laughing out loud.
"What? Makini's drawing kind of reminded me of the trees in Ndefu Grove. Plus, I thought that the dice landed on a number with a blank space on her card." Kovu said.
"But why would anyone guess that it was Ndefu Grove, considering that Edwin, Jamal and Kendall have never even seen or heard of Ndefu Grove. How would they guess Ndefu Grove if they don't know what it is?" Kiara said laughing.
"Actually, you got a good point there, so I admit, it was a bad guess." Kovu said.
"Okay, since Edwin guessed correctly, I got one point, so now let's add the total of our four rounds. So with my additional point, my score is raised to 17 points, Edwin at 13 points, Jamal at 25 points, Beshte at 26 points, Kovu at 11 points, Makini at 23 points, Kendall at 28 points, and Kiara at 7 points. So, it looks like Kendall wins." Jasiri said.
"Yes!" Kendall said.
"Congrats Honey!" Jamal said.
"Yeah, you are really good at this game." Kovu said.
"Yeah, I am surprised too, considering this is my first time playing this game." Kendall replied.
The group then decided to hang around the living room, talking to each other while drinking coffee and tea that was recently made.
"So, Kiara, I hear you work in the General Counsel at the Field Museum, how's that?" Kendall asked.
"Well, it's fine, I am mostly assisting with any legal affairs involved in the museum. Even when I am not a lawyer, I help with most of the communication involved between the museum and other pirates if legal measures are involved. Outside that, I am also part of a committee that helps come up with ways to improve both visitor numbers and the quality of visitor experience at the museum." Kiara said.
"That sounds cool." Kendall replied.
"Edwin has told us that you're a marketing coordinator at Whole Foods, that sounds interesting." Kiara replied.
"Well, it's fine, in some aspects it's kinda similar to what you do at the museum. I work with a team to try to expand marketing strategies for Whole Foods." Kendall said.
"I know one strategy that I promise you will guarantee more customers to shop there…..Lower your prices." Makini said.
"I've been trying that for years, but the CEO, executive and higher-ups aren't seeming to budge on product prices." Kendall replied.
"Not that surprising though." Jasiri said.
"True. I'm not sure why but recently I have not been feeling particularly satisfied with my job lately. I got excited at first when I got promoted to marketing coordinator, but as time passed by, I just felt that I am just going through the motions." Kendall said.
"I know how you feel Kendall, I 've been kinda feeling the same way about my job too. At first, it was a wonderful place to work, but lately the museum CEO, who is also my dad, has been acting more erratic and withdrawn lately. Working in the business sector of the museum has been basically feeling like walking on eggshells recently; one wrong move can enable my father's wrath. Though I stay at the museum because I love the other people I work with and I like helping the museum, it seems like my father is the only thing causing issues for me. That is also awkward because my father-daughter relationship between us outside of work is becoming much more strained, he prefers spending time with my brother and his friend over me and others. Plus, he has been having these sporadic budget meetings with multiple departments in the museum and being unnecessarily cruel with them." Kiara said.
"Yeah, all our departments have had those meetings, and we either have gotten very little more or even noticeable cuts in our budgets." Kovu said as the others began to nod along.
"It almost feels like he seems to be aliquoting money that originally belonged to some museum departments or facilities and using it for something else. I really hope it's not another dumb statue." Makini said.
Time passed by as the group continued to talk with one another. Edwin and Jasiri then started to whisper to each other, as well as look towards Beshte and Makini.
"Okay let's stick to the plan and try to get Beshte and Makini some time alone. You know the plan." Jasiri whispered to Edwin.
"Yep, got it. Let's do this." Edwin said, after which he changed the Spotify playlist so that it plays soft, romantic jazz to set the mood for Beshte and Makini.
This did not go unnoticed by the party guests.
"Hey Edwin, why did you change the music?" Beshte asked.
"Oh nothing much, just thought this playlist has a more appropriate calming vibe for tonight." Edwin replied.
"Also, we might need some help with putting away the tablecloth, board games and dishes. Would you guys like to help? If you don't want to or if you have to go, we totally understand." Jasiri said.
"Sure, we don't mind helping out. Right Kovu?" Kiara said.
"Yeah, we have no problem helping you guys." Kovu said.
And soon, Jamal, Kendall, Beshte and Makini all agreed to help Edwin and Jasiri with their 'tasks'.
"Okay, Edwin and I can handle the table cloth, Kiara and Kovu, you can bring some of the board games to our bedroom, Kendall and Jamal, you can bring some of the extra throw pillows and blankets to our bedroom as well, while Makini and Beshte, you guys can help placing glasses, mugs and dishes in the sink." Jasiri said.
As they began their tasks and grabbed items around the room. Edwin flashed a smiling gaze to Beshte, quickly giving him two thumbs up and lip-syncing the words 'Now's the time, before winking at him, gesturing his hand to Makini when she was not looking, and heading down the small hall to he and Jasiri's bedroom. This caused Beshte to raise his eyebrows.
Shortly after that, Jasiri also approaches Makini, also with a giddy smile on her face before leaning to Makini's ear.
"Okay, now's your chance. Good luck!" Jasiri whispered before giving her a wink and a thumbs up and heading to her and Edwin's bedroom with the others.
This caused Makini to raise her eyebrows and widen her face as she is left alone with Beshte in the kitchen and living room areas.
"Okay, so let's get started." Makini said.
They were picking up the dishes and mugs and placing them in the sink, and they started to chat with each other.
"Hey Makini, I actually saw Jasiri whisper in your ear and give you a wink for some reason. What were you guys talking about?" Beshte said as he placed dishes in the sink.
"Before I answer that, were you by any chance aware that Edwin has been looking at both of us for some…..oh Jasiri, you blabbermouth." Makini said as she whispered the last part to herself….unknowingly letting Beshte overhear it.
"Why would Jasiri be a blabbermouth? And plus I also noticed he and Jasiri were looking a lot at us and…oh my goodness, those two set this up from the beginning of tonight. I thought it was a random thing from Edwin, but Jasiri was probably involved too." Beshte replied with realization in the later half of the sentence.
"Well….I told her a secret of mine a while ago…..I guess she told Edwin. And what do you mean they set this up, and what do you mean Jasiri and Edwin were involved in something?" Makini said.
"Okay….to prevent any further complications…..let me get this straight…I did not know anything prior to what Jasiri and Edwin were trying to do tonight. But there is something that I have always wanted to tell you…" Beshte said nervously as music continued to play from the speaker in the room.
"Okay Beshte…..what do you want to tell me?" Makini asked.
"Okay here it goes…Makini, I've known you for such a long time, you could say twenty-three or twenty-four years…I've always loved how you are always so optimistic and caring…..you have always been a good friend to me…." Beshte said.
"Thanks, Beshte, I really appreciate-" Makini said before Beshte interrupted her.
"Wait, I'm not done…You have always been such a caring friend and confidant…that's one of the many reasons why…..why…..why I like you….and I don't mean just a friend…..I mean more than that…..like I've always had a special place in my heart for you for years, but I didn't have the guts to tell you until today…..I really like you….like romantically…" Beshte said before taking a deep breath.
Makini just widened her eyes; her heart was racing and so many thoughts and emotions were going through her mind.
Meanwhile, in Jasiri and Edwin's bedroom, putting board games, table cloth and throw pillows away eventually evolved into Jamal, Kendall, Kiara and Kovu helping Edwin and Jasiri organize their cabinets….This was actually part of Jasiri and Edwin's plan because Jasiri knows that Kiara is quite the organizing fanatic, so she and Edwin intentionally made their cabinets and closet disorganized so that Kiara and the other guests will be distracted so that Makini and Beshte have more time out in the living room.
"Hey guys, I really appreciate you pitching in to help organize our stuff, though we weren't initially planning on asking you guys for help but I appreciate that you guys wanted to pitch in." Jasiri said as she and Edwin looked at each other with expressions that they were almost pre-laugh with one another.
"No problem guys, it's a pleasure to help you out. I love to organize. I reorganize my closet at home about every two weeks, plus having specific organization systems for paper and online files, and I have a label maker for everything I need a possible label for." Kiara said.
"It's true. In our bathroom at home, she has our shampoo, hair products and even our toothpastes organized both alphabetically and by container size." Kovu replied with a slight chuckle after the last part.
As everyone in the room was organizing in different areas, Kiara was organizing a set of drawers across the bed and when she opened one drawer and came upon a pair of black faux leather thigh-high boots that had one-inch heels. She was intrigued because these kinds of boots were not something that she usually sees Jasiri wear, or anything remotely similar to them.
"Woah…..Thigh high boots, Jasiri…..I did not expect this. I've rarely seen you in heels, let alone thigh high boots such as this. These aren't usually part of the style you typically wear, why did you get them and where should I put them?" Kiara said in a curious and surprised tone….that was loud enough for EVERYONE in the room to hear. Prompting looks and Kendall appeared to be almost holding in a laugh.
Jasiri and Edwin's faces both began to immediately blush, shooting a nervous gaze at each other and both started to sweat a little. Jasiri then turned around to Kiara with a nervous smile on her face.
"Ohhhh….yeah…..I bought those boots because….I…I….I….was just experimenting with different styles of shoes, you know…..and try something different…but they just….weren't for me and the store I got them from didn't allow me to return the boots uhh….they had a no returns and no refunds policy…you can just…give those to me and I'll just…just put them in the closet….." Jasiri said nervously, laughing in between phrases, and she slowly approached Kiara to try to retrieve the boots until Kovu interrupted while he was grabbing something from the same cabinet the boots were found.
"Did they by any chance come from the same storm as these gloves?" Kovu asked while holding a pair of long black gloves made of a similar material as the boots.
Jasiri and Edwin begin to be visibly even more nervous. Sweat became more visible on both of their foreheads, and Edwin, with his palm in his face, was turning his head towards the two of them.
"Yeah….uh….there was a special at that store….uh….buy a pair of boots…..get a pair of gloves for free…..can you give me the boots and gloves please…." Jasiri said, looking even more apprehensive.
"Yeah and uh….I can handle those drawers while you guys can do the closet…" Edwin said quickly.
"Yeah, that's a great idea Edwin! You can just give the boots to me so that I can give them to Edwin." Jasiri quickly replied.
"Oh…uh okay." Kiara hesitantly replied.
She began to hold the boots in a slightly more inverted position when giving them back to Jasiri…and when she held the boots upside down there was then a noise of something sliding out and falling onto the floor.
Outside of Jasiri and Edwin, who were both mortified at this point, the others looked on the floor to find a black riding crop. The other four in the room had either expressions of delighted shock or were trying to hold back laughter.
'Wait….wha-...what?! Is this a riding crop?" Kovu said in a shocked tone as he picked the item up.
"Yeah, but Edwin, I don't think you have ever ridden any horses in your life, or at least none that I know of." Kendall said while trying to stifle a laugh.
'And neither with Jasiri." Kiara replied.
"Uh, I don't think there are any real horses involved…but there probably is whipping and riding involved…." Jamal said before he and others in the room started laughing., except for Jasiri and Edwin.
"Give me that!" Edwin said irritably before taking the riding crop out of Kovu's hand and putting it back in the drawer where it was.
Jasiri then grabbed the boots and gloves from Kiara and placed them in the same drawer.
"Come on, no need to laugh, we all have stuff in our private lives. You can say that we found a way to relieve some stress. I'm sure all of you have something either equally, almost or more private stuff in your lives." Jasiri said nervously and irritably..
"Guys, it's okay, we are not judging you two. It's just that we never really see the peaks of this side of you guys and it's kinda fun to learn more about you guys…..especially in ways we did not really expect to learn from." Kiara said.
"Yeah, it's really not a problem." Kendall said.
"Yeah, in fact, I remember this time back in the Pride Lands Kiara and I were feeling particularly…enthusiastic…..so we went to our special little spot with some upendi fruit, some leaves and some of these berries we found and we started to pretend that-" Kovu said before being interrupted by Kiara.
"Okay, Kovu, perhaps we can save that story for another time….that one's a long one." Kiara said.
After a few minutes the group finished their organization tasks.
"Okay, we're all done here, let's see what Beshte and Makini are up to out in the kitchen and living room." Jamal said.
As the six friends were leaving the room, Kendall tapped Jasiri on the shoulder.
"Hey Jasiri." Kendall said quietly.
"Yeah?" Jasiri said curiously before Kendall leaned closer to Jasiri's ear.
"I just want to let you know to not feel embarrassed about the whole boot incident, Jamal and I were not trying to make you uncomfortable nor try to make fun of you and Edwin…..Jamal and I occasionally do something similar during our 'intimate personal time' too. In fact, I actually own a similar pair of boots." Kendall whispered, which caused the two to share a quick laugh.
Jasiri and Kendall tried to catch up with the rest of the group, and like the rest of them, they became surprised when they saw Beshte and Makini passionately kissing on the couch as slow jazz music played from the speakers.
They continued for another thirty seconds to a minute until they noticed everyone else staring at them.
"Hey guys…I see you guys are finished putting away stuff…." Makini said in a nervous tone, letting out an awkward laugh afterwards.
"Yeah….though it kinda took you a while…." Beshte said, letting out a similar laugh.
"We were, though we got distracted through some conversations before we finished….what are you guys doing?" Jamal said.
"Well, we were putting away the dishes and glasses, and then we had a conversation about how Jasiri and Edwin were kinda acting a little weird recently, and then we revealed our feelings about one another, then the music was setting a certain move and all the sudden we're kissing each other and plan to see each other in a romantic nature in the future, but with an actual date next time." Makini said.
This caused Edwin and Jasiri to develop awkward smiles on their faces while Jamal, Kendall, Kiara and Kovu started to look towards both of them with inquisitive looks on their faces.
"Actually, yeah I have also noticed that Jasiri and Edwin were looking at both Makini and Beshte, and each other several times throughout tonight…" Kovu said.
"Yeah….and then there was Edwin changing the Spotify playlist to soft and slow jazz songs." Kiara said.
"And then sending all of us to organize stuff in their bedroom…." Kendall said.
"Yeah….all of us EXCEPT Beshte and Makini who were asked to help put away dishes alone….just the two of them.." Jamal replied.
"Edwin….Jasiri…what's going on?" Kiara asked inquisitively.
"Well….." The two of them said at the same time, until Edwin raised his hand.
"I'll go first….it all started when Beshte told me that he has feelings for Makini, and Jasiri, who coincidentally was in the same location as us at the time, accidentally overheard us and promised not to tell anyone about it…." Edwin said.
"And then sometime after that, Makini revealed to me that she has feelings for Beshte and promised not to tell anybody…..Though to be honest, I tried the best that I could, but I eventually told Edwin about it. By the way, I'm sorry Makini that I broke your promise, so anyway, each of us tried to encourage Makine and Beshte to ask each other out….." Jasiri said.
"But both ended up too nervous to do it, so I thought that we could invite them to our game night as a way to help break the ice with one another in a romantic sense. So, I thought I would change the music to help set a more appropriate mood for that, and then give them some time alone with one another." Edwin said.
"Also, we kinda made our bedroom slightly messier than we usually keep it because I know that Kiara really likes to organize and that she would be more than willing to 'help us out', which will also lead to the rest of you helping us….Sorry guys, we should have really let you in on our little plan. We just wanted Beshte and Makini to have a more organic and natural setting." Jasiri said.
"It's okay, we totally get it." Kiara said.
"Yeah, and on the bright side we got a kick out of that boot incident…..wait was that planned?!" Kendall said.
"Wait?...What's the 'boot incident'?" Makini asked.
"It's nothing, we'll discuss it at another time, and no that was not planned, I just forgot that they were there." Jasiri said as she started to blush once again.
The group remained to converse until it was time for Jasiri and Edwin's guests to leave. The two just decided to have a relaxing evening at home after everyone left the apartment.
But little do they know…there will be a new load of obstacles not only in their lives….but for the entire world.