CHAPTER 7 “THIEF OF MY HEART 1”

AS a few days passed, Ara notices the obvious closeness between Jason and Daniel. That was not a problem for her since the first did not change on being so nice to her. But because of the constant annoyance that she feels for the latter, she herself avoids them.

She does not want to feel annoyed when Daniel started teasing her again. Although after their last conversation at the library's baggage counter that did not happen again for more than a month now.

"Ah, Ara, I can't have lunch with you okay? Daniel and I will talk about our project," Jason said a few minutes before lunch and they were both on duty at the library.

From Ara's encoding in front of the computer, the young lady laughed softly.

"Okay," she said with a tone of amusement.

She saw her best friend's beautiful eyebrows meet so Ara spoke again. “Hey, what? Why are you looking at me like that?” she asked.

"Are you jealous of Daniel?" Jason asked her then laughed.

Enough of that question Jason asked her, Ara couldn't stop laughing out loud. "Are you crazy? Why should I be jealous?” she was telling the truth.

Then the young man's eyebrows rose. "Come with us once, so you can get to know him better," he invited her.

Ara shook her head consecutively and then turned her attention back to the titles of the book she was encoding. "No thanks but I'd rather have my lunch all by myself," she only said so that the conversation would not go further.

Ara heard the faint laugh traversing Jason's throat. “It is obvious that you do not like Daniel. You know that is dangerous,” Jason joked.

Ara stared at Jason with questions in her eyes who at that moment was sitting in the chair in front of the librarian desk where she was working.

“The more you hate the more you love,” Jason laughed softly again afterward.

Ara's rolled her eyes at what she heard. “I do not believe in such things, sorry. Then again, I do not hate him, I am happy that aside from me he is there to accompany you.”

That is really the truth. She was happy that aside from her Daniel was there for Jason as his friend. Although she is also open to the possibilities of friendship with Daniel. The only problem is she doesn't know when that will happen.

“That's it, why don't you try to get to know him? And at least just in case you don't need to avoid him anymore,” her friend continues to tease her.

Ara shook her head in denial of what Jason wanted to happen. "All right, leave me so I can finish what I'm doing here," she pushed the young man away.

Ara heard Jason clicks his tongue as he smiled. The amusement for her was in his eyes. "Okay, just don't starve yourself," he said before leaving her.

Alone, Ara was momentarily stunned.

Why did she always avoid Daniel? To the point that she cannot even have lunch with her best friend because of him?

She then let out a sigh then looked at the clock hanging on the wall of the vast library. After that, she felt her stomach churn along with her sudden wanting to eat a nice meal.

Why did she avoid Daniel?

That is what she asked herself again.

Because even if she doesn’t admit it, she knows she has a crush on Daniel. And she could not accept that despite Daniel's pride and arrogance, and even her strong self-denial to admire the young man, she still fell for his charm.

Ara could not admit it to herself and she would never admit it so it would not grow.

There, Ara secretly laughed to herself.

She is really crazy

Maybe that's how strong the attraction she feels for Daniel and she even manages to resist Jason just to avoid seeing the first. But she is really hungry and she has no plans to starve herself so Ara decided to move to eat.

In the canteen of the university, Ara thought of eating her lunch. Okay, she admitted that she was annoyed with Daniel but she also could not deny that for how many times she also is longing to see the young man, at least from a distance where he could not see her.

But that was the frustration she felt when after gazing inside the canteen and find out that what she was looking for was not there. Not until from behind her came a familiar voice that almost made her jumped because of shock

"Is it me you are looking for?" the voice from behind her.

That was when Ara quickly grabbed her chest with her hand along with a sharp and yet controlled scream. 

“Are you out of your mind?” her angry question to Daniel who is at that very moment seems to be having a great time because of the intense amusement on his face. The reason why she felt even more irritated with the young man.

"Hey, calm down, I'll just give you something," he said softly.

Ara ignored what Daniel said and instead walked out of the canteen. How did this man happen to be here today when she knew he was having lunch with Jason?

Ara secretly laughed to herself, earlier she was looking for Daniel but now, she wants him to disappear from her sight.

"Wait! Hey, Ara," Daniel still had the amusement in his tone even though he was begging and following her.

But she ignored him and instead walked even faster even though deep inside her, she knew she was happy because she saw Daniel

How can you hate and like someone at the same time?

Then Ara simply shook her head only to get stunned when she felt the intense voltage of electricity that quickly went through every fiber of her body. It was because of Daniel's hand that was holding her arm tightly.

"Just a moment," he told her then stared at her intently

Ara seemed to be hypnotized for a moment as she stared at Daniel's dark and beautiful eyes. She also did not notice that she was gaping as she looked up at the man.

"Ara, bugs might get inside your mouth, close it," he laughed softly then touched her chin to close her mouth.

It was as if cold water had been poured on Ara because of the intensity of the embarrassment she felt as a result of what Daniel said and did.

"You really are a demon!" she said sharply then angrily withdrew her own arm from the man.

"What the hell? I'm just concerned about you," Daniel replied in a tone that she knew was holding back his laughter. "I know I'm handsome, but because of what I saw in your reaction, I feel like I'm the most handsome man in the whole universe,” he continued, causing Ara's eyes to narrow constantly due to extreme annoyance.

“You are really very proud and extremely arrogant beyond words! And what is your problem? Why are you following me, are we close?” she said and turned her back then walked but Daniel was once again able to restrain her arm.

Again, for the second time, Ara felt the strong voltage of electricity due to the simple touch of the young man on her arm. That is why when she was unable to control her annoyance anymore, it seems as if her hand has its own mind to move and landed on Daniel's left cheek.