---

  Vins, who was casually drinking his soda, completely choked upon hearing the shocking confession from the 21-year-old woman sitting next to him on the sidewalk.

  Without a single ounce of hesitation, the woman with the melodic Sundanese accent revealed her true reason for running away from her hometown. The woman bluntly stated that she had recently become a widow, causing Vins to splutter and cough uncontrollably. This abrupt chaos made them both stop walking immediately.

  Feeling incredibly guilty for making Vins choke, Rista quickly took the initiative to sprint to a nearby stall to buy a fresh bottle of mineral water and a packet of soft tissues. Acting purely on spontaneous instinct, Rista bent down on her knees and began gently wiping Vins's mouth with a tissue. This sudden, intimate action brought their faces dangerously close to each other.

  Vins could clearly see every beautiful, delicate feature on the sweet face of the 21-year-old woman.

  Rista, too, completely froze as she was wiping the lips of the middle school boy in front of her, which currently looked vibrantly red from the sticky, strawberry-flavored soda.

  Both of them instantly became heavily awkward and violently flustered by the accidental intimacy of the incident.

  But what Vins hadn't realized was that his two idiot friends had been silently watching him share such an intimate, romantic moment with the older girl.

  "Wow! The Perverted King is truly moving up in the world!" Doval announced loudly, ruthlessly insulting his friend.

  "Vins is Vins... Vins is stupid bastard!" Edrik chimed in, his distinct voice sounding exactly like a grown 20-year-old man.

  The incredibly familiar voices made Vins snap his head toward the source. Vins's eyes widened in absolute horror, followed by a highly confused look from Clarista.

  "Please, Madam President... Our surveillance job here is officially done! The rest is entirely in your hands!" Doval announced loudly, saluting dramatically.

  "I'm absolutely not getting involved in this bloodbath!" Edrik chimed in, whistling innocently and turning his back to the incoming carnage.

  A girl wearing her signature glasses and a strict ponytail finally stepped into view.

  "Eh? Y-You guys???" Vins exclaimed in pure shock, his panicked gaze shifting directly to Freya.

  The moment completely froze in time for a terrifying second.

  "S-Since when? S-S-Sis Freya?" Vins stammered in shock, his voice trembling intensely.

  Vins honestly didn't expect that God would be so incredibly kind to him. Just this morning, he had desperately hoped for Freya to come see him, and now the girl was actually here, standing right in front of him.

  "Who exactly are you asking? Me? Edrik? Or our furious Student Council President?" Doval mocked his still-shocked friend, who was completely stunned to see them standing there with the exact girl who had shattered his heart just last night.

  In his heart, Vins wasn't too bothered by Doval's annoying words. His real, absolute panic was entirely focused on the girl in glasses, who was currently giving him a narrow-eyed, deeply cynical glare.

  Freya remained dead silent, coldly taking in the scene. Her hand was tightly gripping a plastic goodie bag with the logo of a famous convenience store in Indonesia.

  Fortunately for Vins, Rista was a mature adult woman. Seeing the situation rapidly heating up, she immediately took the initiative to explain things to Vins's two friends and his terrifying Student Council President.

  "Oh... Are you guys Vins's friends? Please don't get the wrong idea... I'm just his new neighbor! I literally just moved here... We just happened to run into each other in front of his house! Since we were both heading in the exact same direction, I asked Vins to come with me to show me the way around here!" Rista explained smoothly, expertly trying to diffuse the tense, suffocating situation with the Student Council President.

  Upon hearing this logical explanation, Freya's dark, murderous face slowly returned to normal.

  Vins looked at Freya's face, and his own expression instantly turned gloomy. He seemed to still feel a sharp, agonizing pain in his chest just looking at Freya, which made him hang his head and stare at his shoes.

  Doval, immediately noticing Vins's dark, gloomy expression, quickly tried to find a new, lighter topic of conversation.

  A pretty and incredibly sweet older woman was standing right in front of him, and without a second of hesitation, Doval smoothly moved in to get to know her.

  "Oh... Vins's neighbor... What's your name, gorgeous? My name's Doval! Vins's classmate!" Doval grinned, confidently extending his hand.

  "Oh, right! Hello, Doval! My name is Clarista! Just call me Rista!" Rista smiled warmly, shaking Doval's hand.

  "I'm Edrik! Vins's classmate aswe—"

  Slap!

  Edrik enthusiastically reached out to shake Rista's hand as well, but Doval ruthlessly stopped him by slapping his hand away.

  "Literally nobody asked! You just be quiet, asshole!" Doval hissed.

  "Hey... You, and your massive mouth! Get a grip, man! Look at your swollen lips! No wonder nobody ever wants to invite you to play soccer at school! If you played, the referee would just keep flagging your team for being offside!" Edrik fired back, highly annoyed.

  Doval aggressively grabbed Edrik's ear and yanked him close.

  "Hey, you jerk! Don't try to show off to Sis Rista! You already have Dina... Just give me a damn chance for once, okay? If you don't cooperate with me right now, I swear I'll tell Dina about your dirty little secret!" Doval whispered venomously, threatening his best friend.

  "Fine! Fine! Don't do that, my incredibly handsome friend Dovalino Rikardooo..." Edrik surrendered immediately, begging Doval for mercy.

  Seeing his two idiot friends' ridiculous behavior, Clarista let out a genuine, melodic laugh.

  "That's much better! Oh! By the way... So you just moved here, pretty Sis Clarista? If it's just about showing you around town! Doval knows this area way better than Vins does! You can totally ask me for a private tour! Okay, cutie?" Doval flirted shamelessly, raising both his eyebrows and winking.

  "Hahaha... Okay, Doval! Maybe sometime! Hahaha... Oh, right! What's the name of the pretty and cute girl standing over there?" Clarista asked, looking warmly at Freya.

  "Eh? Me? Oh! Hi, Sis... M-My name is Freya! I'm Vins's upperclassman! Nice to meet you..." Freya replied, slightly shocked by the sudden compliment.

  "She's actually Vins's almost-girlfriend, Sis! Oh my goodness..." Doval added quickly, teasing them both spontaneously.

  "Hahaha... No! I'm not, Sis! Don't listen to a word they say... They're just my incredibly naughty underclassmen! I'm basically only Vins's upperclassman..." Freya explained frantically, viciously pinching Doval's waist to shut him up.

  "Hi, Freya! You're so incredibly beautiful! You'll definitely be even more gorgeous when you grow up!" Rista praised the younger girl sincerely.

  "Sigh... I'm just going to go home now..." Vins muttered, getting up from his seat on the sidewalk.

  Vins was still incredibly firm in his bitter stance; he honestly didn't want to see Freya at all right now.

  "Vins... Wait!" Freya pleaded, desperately grabbing his hand.

  Vins slowly turned to look at Freya with dead eyes.

  "Can... Can I come to your house for a bit?" Freya asked, her voice pleading softly.

  Vins looked genuinely confused by her sudden request. Doval, highly annoyed by his friend's hypocritical, stubborn behavior, immediately tried to find a manipulative way to force him to accept Freya's request. As if they were telepathically connected, Doval winked sharply at Edrik. Edrik, fully understanding the assignment, immediately nodded.

  "Drik... Aren't you super tired? Seriously! Your house is so far from mine... My house is also super far from here... We walked all this way just to be told to go home by our own best friend? Wow, what an amazing friend!" Doval complained loudly, raising his voice with heavy sarcasm.

  "Yeah, Val! And we walked all the way here, too... Ugh! I'm so exhausted! What's my mom going to say if I come back home all skinny, Val?" Edrik whined, perfectly matching Doval's dramatic sarcasm.

  "Exactly, Drik! How can our best friend be so damn mean to us? Right?" Doval added, crossing his arms.

  Vins, hearing his idiot friends' loud, manipulative conversation, could only let out a heavy sigh of defeat.

  "These shitty guys! Alright! Alright! Fine! Let's all just go to my house!" Vins offered reluctantly.

  Hearing this, Freya's face instantly lit up with happiness.

  Finally, the entire chaotic group walked together to Vins's house.

  There seemed to be absolutely no one home at Vins's house, so he invited them all inside.

  Clarista politely asked for their permission to make some fresh strawberry jam sandwiches at her place next door. She had just bought the fresh bread on her way home.

  Freya, seeing the inside of Vins's house for the very first time, murmured that it looked so incredibly simple and peaceful. It was as if the house itself exuded a deep sense of calm and tranquility.

  Doval and Edrik immediately flopped down on the living room chairs without a single ounce of shame, acting exactly as if they were the actual owners of the house.

  As Vins was about to head to the kitchen to get them drinks, Freya gently pulled on the hem of his shirt.

  "I'll help you, Vins..." Freya offered softly.

  Vins didn't answer her. He just looked at her blankly and continued walking toward his kitchen. Freya, however, stubbornly followed him from behind.

  Doval, who was a heavy smoker, realized he had completely forgotten to buy cigarettes earlier. He and Edrik quietly slipped out the front door to find a nearby stall without Vins's knowledge.

  Once inside the kitchen, Vins began boiling water to make some warm tea for his friends, while Freya kept herself busy wiping down the ceramic plates that would be used to hold the snacks she had bought.

  The atmosphere in the small kitchen was incredibly thick and awkward, as both of them remained entirely silent.

  Freya, who was way too focused on wiping the plates, suddenly caught movement out of the corner of her eye. She saw a massive, disgusting black rat scurrying across the floor. This was the exact same notorious rat that had been constantly disturbing Vins's peace in his bedroom, which was located right next to the kitchen.

  In a blind reflex of pure terror, Freya shrieked, jumped directly toward Vins, and hugged him incredibly tightly out of sheer fear and disgust.

  "AAAAH... A RAT!!! VINS!!! A RAT... THERE'S A HUGE RAT OVER THERE!!!" Freya screamed, burying her face into his chest.

  Vins, completely shocked by Freya's sudden, violent hug, accidentally spilled the warm tea he was holding, soaking the front of his shirt. His face looked incredibly annoyed. He just stood there silently, staring down at Freya with a deeply irritated expression.

  Freya instantly felt extremely guilty. In her mind, she was aggressively calling herself an absolute idiot for her clumsy mistake.

  Vins calmly placed the glass down on the kitchen table. He remained entirely silent and quickly moved to pull off his ruined shirt to change his clothes.

  Still feeling terrible, Freya desperately grabbed onto Vins's hand to stop him.

  Suddenly...

  Kiss!

  Vins's pupils dilated massively again from Freya's sudden kiss, and the entire world around him seemed to freeze completely. This time, her bold target wasn't Vins's cheek, but his soft, red lips, which she had secretly longed for all night.

  Vins's heart began beating so erratically it felt as if it would literally explode out of his chest. Vins was completely paralyzed by surprise; he had never, in his wildest dreams, imagined he would actually feel a girl's soft lips against his own. Thanks to Freya's incredibly aggressive move, Vins's stubborn ego finally waved its white flag, fully acknowledging its absolute defeat.

  On Freya's side, she no longer cared about Vins's reaction or his anger. All she knew at that exact moment was how incredibly much she loved the underclassman standing in front of her. She simply couldn't hold back the burning love she had felt for Vins, which had been painfully ignored since last night.

  In Vins's mind, he never thought his very first kiss would be forcefully taken by the exact girl who had brutally broken his heart just last night. In front of him, a cute and incredibly beautiful girl was now passionately kissing his lips with her eyes tightly closed. His own eyes, which had stubbornly refused to even look at her all day, now slowly fluttered closed as well, fully surrendering to and enjoying this magical first moment.

  Vins savored the intoxicating softness of Freya's lips, clearly smelling the sweet strawberry aroma radiating from her lip-gloss. Unconsciously, Vins's hands moved, pulling Freya's body flush against his own, his hands resting firmly on her slender waist. Without a second of hesitation, Freya responded by wrapping her arms tightly around Vins's neck, deepening the kiss.

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  Inside Vins's head, there was only one dominating sentence echoing loudly: "This girl is mine!"

  The senior and junior pair were truly, completely lost in their own private world. A world as peaceful and tranquil as the quiet home they stood in.

  Meanwhile, Rista, the woman who was busy making strawberry jam sandwiches at her house next door, was putting the finishing touches on each sandwich with a fresh slice of strawberry.

  "Okay, all done!" she smiled, highly satisfied with her culinary handiwork.

  She then hurried back over to Vins's house, which now seemed to be completely empty in the living room.

  "Vins? Hello? Vins? Are you guys in here?" Rista called out as she stepped inside the house.

  She walked toward the kitchen, logically thinking Vins might still be in there preparing drinks with Freya. She peeked around the kitchen doorframe, and a truly shocking sight appeared right before her eyes.

  A scene of intense passion and deep intimacy was clearly visible to the 21-year-old woman. The beautiful woman's eyes seemed to want to literally pop out of her skull from the scandalous sight before her. She couldn't believe what she was actually seeing and instinctively ducked back, hiding behind the kitchen door.

  "Vins..." Rista whispered to herself in shock, clutching her hands tightly to her chest.

  Inside, Freya finally pulled away from Vins's deep kiss, her beautiful face flushed a deep, violent shade of red.

  "Umm... Vins, I'm so sorry..." Freya whispered breathlessly, looking down while still holding onto Vins's broad shoulders.

  Vins gently held Freya's chin and tilted her face back up to look at him. He replied with a soft, quick peck on her lips, and Freya didn't hesitate to lean in and welcome Vins's kiss again.

  "I already forgive you, Sis Freya! But... I definitely still need a full explanation from you!" Vins said softly, his forehead resting against hers.

  As he was talking intimately to Freya, reality suddenly crashed back down on him; he realized they had been alone in the kitchen for way too long.

  "Idiot! Doval and Edrik are literally sitting right out in the living room! If they saw what I just did, where the hell would I hide my face!" Vins panicked internally.

  "Let's talk about it later! Doval and Edrik are waiting for us out front!" Vins said in a sudden panic, pulling away.

  Freya nodded quickly, fixing her clothes.

  They had to get out of there quickly, remembering Vins's two highly annoying friends who were supposedly waiting for them. Vins quickly dashed to his room to change out of his wet shirt. Meanwhile, Freya grabbed the tray of drinks he had made and carried them back to the front room.

  In the living room, only Rista was visible, looking highly flustered and busy pretending to text on her Esia phone.

  "Huh? Where did Doval and Edrik go, Sis?" Freya asked, looking around the empty living room.

  "When I got back here, it was already empty... There was absolutely nobody else here..." the older woman replied with her Sundanese accent, shaking her head innocently.

  "Oh... Please have some warm tea, Sis..." Freya offered with a polite smile, placing the glasses down on the table.

  Vins finally came out of his room, pulling a fresh t-shirt over his head. For a brief second, his highly athletic stomach was clearly visible—the impressive result of the intense workouts and physical exercises he did every single weekend.

  "GEEZ!!! This middle school kid is seriously making things hot in here!" Rista thought to herself, her eyes shamelessly glued to Vins's abs before he pulled his shirt down.

  Freya, immediately noticing Rista's hungry gaze locked onto Vins's stomach, aggressively rolled her eyes in annoyance.

  "Hey, where did Doval and Edrik run off to?" Vins asked the two girls sitting awkwardly in his living room, while adjusting the hem of his shirt.

  "I don't know, Vins... When I came back inside, there was no one here!" Rista replied smoothly.

  "I literally just asked her that!" Freya snapped curtly, glaring at him.

  "W-W-WAIT UP!!! OH MY GOODNESS!!! SINCE WHEN HAS SIS RISTA BEEN SITTING OUT HERE??? DON'T TELL ME SHE ACTUALLY SAW WHAT JUST HAPPENED IN THE KITCHEN??? I'M SO DEAD!!!" Vins panicked internally, completely lost in a terrified daze.

  His sudden, paranoid suspicion made him extremely worried. He would be so unbelievably embarrassed if what he suspected was actually true.

  "Vins!" Freya called out.

  "Vins!!" Freya called again, louder.

  "VINS!!!" Freya finally screamed.

  "Huh? Yeah, Sis Frey? What's wrong?" Vins jumped, snapping violently out of his terrified daze.

  Freya immediately pouted, angrily pursed her lips, and looked away with a huff.

  "Oh dear... What the hell is wrong with this girl now?" thought Vins to himself, completely baffled by Freya's strange, sudden mood swing.

  "What's wrong, Sis Frey?" Vins asked again gently.

  "Nothing!" Freya replied curtly, crossing her arms.

  Freya's highly territorial behavior toward Vins made Rista incredibly confused as she watched them interact. Vins sat down next to Freya on the sofa, and Freya immediately scooted her chair aggressively closer to Vins. She acted exactly as if Vins wasn't allowed to get within a ten-foot radius of Rista.

  Soon after, the two idiot mood-breakers finally returned from their little excursion.

  "Hello... Did you guys miss Doval's incredible handsomeness?" Doval announced confidently as he kicked open the front door.

  "Nye-nye-nye... You're so damn loud, Goldfish! Give me my money back... Right now!" Edrik complained, highly annoyed with Doval as they walked in.

  "Oh, come on, Drik... I swear I'll pay you back tomorrow! I honestly didn't know the cigarettes at that random stall were 2000 rupiah more expensive than where I usually buy them!" Doval defended himself.

  "You better pay me back tomorrow! Don't you dare try to scam me!" Edrik threatened angrily.

  "Hahhh... Stop acting like you literally just met me yesterday! I'm not going anywhere, Edrik... Doval, your loyal best friend, will always be right by your side!" Doval replied dramatically, placing a hand over his heart.

  Freya and Rista burst out laughing at the unique, chaotic antics of the two young men. Vins, however, was still heavily haunted by the sheer terror that Rista might have seen him and Freya making out, remaining lost in anxious thought from time to time.

  "Wow! Sis Rista! What's this? Looks like something straight out of an expensive restaurant! What's this cheap stuff over here? Ewh! What the hell is this? Just some cheap corner-store chips... like a little kid! Move this garbage over!" Doval criticized loudly, greedily grabbing a fresh strawberry jam sandwich Rista made and rudely pushing Freya's store-bought snacks aside.

  "HEY, DOVAL!!! WATCH YOUR DAMN MOUTH!!! If the Student Council is ever ordered to raid students' phones this semester, I'll personally confiscate yours! I'll make absolutely sure you regret saying that!" Freya threatened viciously, pointing a lethal finger directly at Doval.

  "Hehehe... Please don't do that, oh our beautiful Madam President... I'm just kidding around! The chips are actually super good! Want some, Drik? Vins? Hmm... Mmm... These chips must be super expensive! You can tell just from the fancy gold-colored bag! Drik! Hold this! Open it fast before she kills me!" Doval backpedaled fearfully, quickly shoving the snack bag into Edrik's hands.

  Doval's terrified, funny behavior made Clarista laugh out loud again.

  "Oh man... I really, really miss being in school!" Rista sighed nostalgically.

  "Huh? You're not in school anymore, Sis?" Doval asked, happily munching on the snack from Edrik's hand.

  "I actually graduated three years ago..." Rista replied with a smile.

  "WHAT THE—??? REALLY??? How come you still look exactly like a high school kid, Sis?" Doval asked, genuinely surprised.

  "Hahaha... Thanks, Doval! Vins literally said the exact same thing earlier! Do I really look that young? Maybe it's just because I'm super short, right?" Rista giggled.

  Freya's eyes instantly shot a sharp, murderous look directly at Vins.

  Vins, who was casually reaching for his glass of tea, immediately noticed Freya's intense, burning stare. He quickly looked away and desperately pretended not to notice. Vins's act of playing dumb only made the girl infinitely more annoyed.

  "From your accent, you sound like you're straight from Sunda, right? Where exactly in Sunda, Sis? My parents are also originally from Sunda, Bandung City to be exact! And when did you officially move to Jakarta?" Doval interrogated her, firing off questions exactly like a veteran reporter.

  "I'm from Sukabumi, Doval! I literally just met Vins today! I only arrived in Jakarta yesterday..." Rista explained patiently, answering Doval's long-winded interrogation.

  Vins was highly tempted by the delicious appearance of the sandwiches Rista had made. He reached out and took one. Freya's eyes immediately shot another lethal glare at Vins.

  "Mmm... This sandwich is so damn good! Sis Rista must seriously be a dream wife!" thought Vins to himself, thoroughly enjoying the older woman's cooking.

  Vins clearly showed his immense enjoyment through the eager way he ate the sandwich. Freya, who had been watching him like a hawk the entire time, became even more furious as she saw Vins's blissful expression, which clearly showed exactly how much he loved the sandwich Rista had made.

  Freya ruthlessly reached over and pinched Vins's waist hard.

  "Ouch... What's wrong, Sis?" Vins yelped in pain, rubbing his side.

  Freya just gave Vins a terrifying, threatening fake smile.

  "Is it good, Vins?" Rista asked sweetly.

  "It's really good, Sis! I actually really love strawberry flavor! You know?" Vins confessed honestly to Rista, completely oblivious to the danger he was in.

  Rista simply replied to Vins with another sweet, warm smile.

  Freya grew even more intensely annoyed by what she heard; she was now barely able to control her boiling jealousy. In the end, she spoke up loudly, acting as if she could easily make a sandwich just as good as Rista's.

  "I can make a strawberry jam sandwich too! I'll make a special one just for you later, okay?" Freya declared competitively to Vins.

  Vins just nodded absentmindedly while looking hungrily at the rest of the sandwiches on the plate. Freya became more and more frustrated with Vins's clueless behavior.

  She abruptly stood up from her chair without a single word.

  Creeeak...

  "W-Where are y-you going, Sis?" Vins asked, his mouth completely full of sandwich.

  "THE TOILET!!!" Freya snapped curtly, storming off.

  Vins just shrugged and went right back to enjoying the delicious sandwich in his hand.

  Freya wasn't actually going to the toilet at all. She deliberately walked away and hid just out of sight to secretly spy on how Vins would behave when she wasn't sitting right next to him protecting her territory.

  "Crunch! Crunch! It's super cold up in Sukabumi... Isn't it, Sis? Why did you move to a boiling hot city like Jakarta?" Edrik asked, loudly munching on a snack.

  "Yeah, Sis... Even me, if my dad didn't have to work here... I'd way rather live up in the West Java area! The air is so cool and fresh up there!" Doval added.

  Vins, who already knew the dark truth about Rista's problem, shot a sharp, warning look at his two idiot friends, trying to give them a silent signal to stop asking intrusive questions.

  "I... I'm having some really heavy personal problems... I just became a wife without a husband, now! Not because my husband passed away... More accurately, he just packed up and left me for absolutely no reason!" the woman revealed sadly.

  "HUH??? Y-Y-YOU MEAN YOU JUST GOT A DIVORCE???" Doval shouted in absolute surprise, dropping his chip.

  "Oh my... Hang in there, Sis..." Edrik added sympathetically, his eyes wide.

  The woman responded with a sad nod and a forced smile. Vins, who already knew all about this tragedy, just remained completely silent, respectfully eating the snack his upperclassman brought.

  But it was an entirely different story for Freya, who was secretly eavesdropping from the hallway. She was currently thinking harder than she ever had in her life about how to get her favorite guy as far away from the young widow as possible. Freya understood the dangerous, seductive nature of a young widow very well from her own aunt's scandalous case. This made her paranoid mind wander with wild, highly inappropriate thoughts about widows.

  "No fcking way! This absolutely cannot happen! I am the ONLY one who is allowed to mess with Vins!" she swore to herself, aggressively biting her thumbnail in a panic.

  As they were all deeply engrossed in conversation, Rista mistakenly reached out and picked up the wrong glass of tea—the one sitting directly in front of Vins, which belonged to him. Vins didn't even notice and just remained silent, completely absorbed in their deep chat.

  Freya, who noticed this indirect kiss about to happen from her hiding spot, immediately rushed out into the living room like a bat out of hell.

  "Sis... Sorry... That's actually my glass!" Freya lied smoothly, snatching it away.

  "Huh? Really? Oh yeah! My bad, pretty girl! I sometimes just don't realize what I'm doing when I'm super lost in conversation! Hahaha..." Rista apologized, laughing at her own clumsiness.

  Freya just stayed completely silent, glaring at Rista, before aggressively pulling on Vins's shirt.

  "Vins, walk me home... Right now... Please... Let Doval and Edrik stay here and watch your place while keeping Sis Rista company!" the Student Council President demanded, her tone leaving no room for argument.

  "Oh? Why in such a rush, Sis Freya? Right this second?" Vins asked, completely bewildered.

  "Yes! Right this second! It's almost time for the evening prayer, anyway..." Freya replied firmly, glaring holes into his skull.

  "Alright, alright... Doval, Edrik, Sis Rista, watch the house for a bit, please... Okay?" Vins sighed, finally getting up from his comfortable chair.

  "Okay, buddy! Just leave it to us! Be careful out there!" Doval saluted.

  "Relax, Vins! Macho Edrik is on guard duty... Be careful, bro!" Edrik chimed in confidently.

  Vins gave his two friends a tired thumbs-up.

  "Oh... It's no problem at all, Vins! Be careful, you two!" Rista smiled, waving at them.

  "Okay, Sis! Hehehe..." Vins replied warmly to Rista.

  Freya instantly got furiously annoyed seeing Vins respond to Rista with such a warm, different tone. Freya then coldly said her goodbyes to the group and dragged Vins out the door.

  ---

  On the walk home...

  Freya, being a jealous girl like any other, immediately brought up her annoyance by ruthlessly mocking Vins.

  "'Okay, Sis! Hehehe...' Ugh! So incredibly fake! Gross! Ewh!" Freya mocked irritably, rolling her eyes.

  "Huh? What's wrong, Sis? Why the hell are you so mad all of a sudden?" Vins asked, completely confused, scratching the back of his head.

  "Do you like Sis Rista? You totally do! Don't you? Huh? Be completely honest! Just admit it right now!" Freya accused, stopping in the middle of the street.

  "What? I'm literally just being respectful because she's older than me... Is that a crime now? I'm just acting totally normal with her! Just like how I act with you since you're also older than me... That's literally it and nothing more!" Vins defended himself, completely baffled.

  "Oh, please! YOU'RE LYING!!! I literally saw her wiping your mouth earlier on the street!" Freya exploded, bringing up her ultimate evidence.

  "I was literally choking to death! I didn't even notice she suddenly wiped my mouth until she did it! It just happened naturally out of panic..." Vins explained desperately to his highly unofficial, highly jealous girlfriend.

  "Nye-nye-nye... REALLY??? You definitely must have seen her cleavage then, RIGHT??? She was only wearing a loose t-shirt! Her chest must have been totally visible when she bent over you! Well? Was her chest good? Huh? What an absolute bastard boy!" Freya shrieked irritably, her jealousy completely blinding her logic.

  "Good heavens... My mind didn't even go anywhere near there, Sis-Fre-ya!" Vins groaned, aggressively rubbing his face and stepping closer to Freya to calm her down.

  "I don't care!" Freya pouted, highly annoyed, stubbornly turning her face away from him.

  "You were literally still in a relationship with another guy yesterday... I'm the one who should be furious at you! Why the hell are you the one getting mad at me, huh? I didn't do anything remotely as bad as what you did to me last night! And then, you said you were going to explain it all to me today? Can you please just tell me the truth, NOW???" Vins finally snapped, firing back and bringing up the painful events of the past.

  "Oh... So you're just getting petty revenge now? I see... Fine!" Freya replied coldly, her eyes flashing with hurt.

  "Dad was totally right! Love isn't always as beautiful and easy as a romantic movie on a screen..." thought Vins to himself, bitterly remembering his father's wise words.

  Vins just stood there in the street, completely confused about how to handle his highly emotional girl. He honestly didn't know what to do to fix this.

  Freya stayed furiously annoyed, and Vins remained in his paralyzed state of confusion until they finally arrived in front of Freya's house.

  "Alright... I'm really sorry... It's my fault! Please forgive me..." Vins sighed, swallowing his pride and apologizing just to end the fight.

  "NO NEED!!! JUST GO BACK AND HAVE FUN WITH THAT SWEET AND CUTE WIDOW!!!" Freya yelled from her porch, crossing her arms.

  "Oh, come on... It's really not like that, Sis Freya..." Vins pleaded tiredly.

  "WHATEVER!!! I'M GOING INSIDE!!!" The furious girl stormed into her house.

  SLAM!!!

  Vins was left standing alone on the dark porch, feeling a highly confusing, heavy sense of guilt. He still honestly didn't understand why Freya was so incredibly mad at him.

  ---

  Upon arriving back home, Vins let out a massive, exhausted sigh...

  "It fcking hurts trying to figure out Sis Freya when she acts like that!" he complained to himself as he opened his front door.

  Doval and Edrik were still deeply engrossed in a lively conversation with Rista in the living room. Vins tiredly joined in the chat with the three people who had been watching his house. Soon after, Doval and Edrik finally excused themselves to head home. Vins was incredibly grateful to his two loyal friends; despite their idiocy, he felt so lucky to have friends as solid as them. They performed their signature, complex gangster fist bump before the duo left.

  Vins's mom and dad still hadn't returned from work. He was genuinely confused as to why the young widow didn't seem to be getting ready to go home to her own house next door. Feeling way too awkward about politely asking her to leave, Vins decided to just sit down and keep talking to her.

  "What did you guys talk about earlier, Sis?" Vins asked casually, about to rip open a bag of snacks on the living room table.

  Creeeak...

  Rista suddenly moved her chair incredibly close to Vins. Vins was highly startled by this sudden invasion of personal space. Boldly, looking deeply into his eyes, she said something that completely paralyzed Vins in shock.

  "Vins... Hmmm... Can I... Can I feel what Freya felt in the kitchen earlier?" the older woman whispered seductively, gently tracing her own bottom lip with her index finger.

  "HUH???"

  ---

  -To be Continued