Chapter Eight

Chapter 8:

Perfect Boyfriend Material

Jewel Reina's POV:

We're eating at a Korean Grill Restaurant. We've availed their unlimited beef, pork, seafoods, and drinks.

"These are my friends, Gwen, Chloe, and Francis." I introduced them to SG.

"We're called SG and as you already know I'm Oliver and this is my bestfriend Skye. These guys are Alvin, Max, North, Peter, and Kun."

Our friends mingled with each other quite nicely aside from Ashton of course. I mean until now he still doesn't get along with Gwen and Chloe well.

"Hey cook the seafood on a different grill. Nana is allergic." Oli reminded his friends.

Gwen was sitting across me and she gave me a strange surprised look. "You're allergic? You didn't protest when we're eating those..."

"You didn't tell them?" Oliver sighed. "She doesn't like people worrying about her. Were you suffering alone at the restroom when you eat with them? Nana, you can't always try to tolerate those." He scolded me.

"It actually tastes good. I always have my meds with me, don't worry." I assured him.

"Oliver seems to know everything about Jewel. I wish she's that open to us too." Chloe uttered.

"It's not easy. It took me 2 years for her to open up to me. I also need to learn to give her enough space for herself because she might push me away if I get too close but also not too much because she might slip away. She hates it when people learn about her vulnerability but Nana, they need to know things about your health. They're always with you." Oliver said as soft as he could.

"I can take care of myself." I whispered to him.

"It's better to let her tell us these things when she wants to." Ashton said and sips a glass of water.

"Why is it so serious and suffocating..." Gwen complained cutely.

"Ah! Did you know how the two ended up together?" Alvin opened up a new topic.

Gwen clapped excitedly. "Oh! That. I wanna know!"

Skye laughed. "It was love at first kick."

"Yeah! Queenie here kicked our handsome leader's face and that's when they first met!" Max chuckled.

"And the second time, she shoulder-thrown him!" Kun exclaimed and laughed too.

"That's when he fell in love~" North and Pete said in chorus.

Gwen giggled. "You're badass Jewel! I didn't know you could do that."

"I'm not very proud of that tho..." I said underneath my breath.

"But- uhm..." Chloe hesitated. "Why did you call her Queenie?"

"Reina is a Spanish word that means Queen plus she's our boss's girlfriend." Max explained.

"And just like in chess, this queen is a lot more powerful than the king himself." Skye teased.

Oliver laughed. "What are you talking about? Are you jerks not afraid of me anymore?"

"Afraid, of course. But have you experienced deforming a stainless tray by being hit? She's scarier." Skye chuckled.

"That's why no one should mess up with her strawberry milk! All of that just because we wasted the last strawberry milk." North faked a shiver.

Pete clapped as if remembering something. "Remember when we tried asking her for the last strawberry milk and she never gave us any? Not even to Oliver?"

Oliver gasped as he remembered. "Right. It feels like strawberry milk is more loved than I am." He laughed.

"Maybe it is?" Kun smirked.

Oli pouted at me trying to act cute.

"Of course not." I giggled. "You should eat."

I put some meat on his rice and he shoved it straight to his mouth. I put on a pair of plastic gloves and started peeling the shrimps and crabs. Oliver loves them. I keep putting it on his plate.

"Who would have thought our Jewel would be this attentive~ such a thoughtful girlfriend~!" Gwen said and squealed.

"But she's really observant and thoughtful to us too so, it's not that surprising." Chloe opposed.

Ashton scoffed and rolled his eyes. What's his problem?

"Baby, you should eat too." Oliver said while munching on the crabs.

Look at him eating so appetizingly like a kid. He looks so happy while eating. He's still as messy as ever. I took some tissue to wipe the corner of his lips but he froze.

He blushed and cover half of his face with his hand. That's how he act when he's embarrassed. Since he has a huge hand, when he cover his mouth, it's enough to cover even his cheeks and the tip of his nose.

"Boss! Are you shy?" Kun laughed.

"S-shut up." Oli whispered.

Skye laughed. "Queenie being touchy caught you off-guard, huh? It still send butterflies in your stomach."

I just kept staring at Oliver. How cute... I lean forward to his ear trying to whisper something. "I love you, baby..."

He then stood up quickly trying to move away from me with his cute blushing face. I didn't know it could be redder than it was before.

"Eh~ what did she say?" Max whined.

"I'll just take a breather." Oliver said and walked out.

"I'll go with you." Skye chuckled as he kept shaking his head not being used to how his best friend is acting right now.

Oli shaked his head no. "I want to go alone."

"As if." Skye smirked and pushed Oli out.

The two left to walk at the restaurant's garden for fresh air. I was about to continue eating when Max scooted to the seat next to me.

"Queenie~ what did you tell him? Huh? Huh? What did ya' tell our boss? He blushed so bad!" Max kept on bugging me about it.

Alvin suddenly smirked. "Is it something lewd~?"

"Eh! Queenie~ do you have those kinds of thoughts?" North teased too.

"Tell us~" Max said as he poked me on my arm.

I giggled. "To protect Oli's pride, I can't tell you."

"But I'm curious too~" Gwen whined.

"It's not something bad... right?" Chloe asked.

"Of course not. It's just something that Oliver shouldn't have react like that but since he did. it'll embarrass him more if I tell people about it." I smiled.

"But Queenie~!" Pete complained.

I glared at 5 SG boys. "Shut up."

"Yes, ma'am." They all replied in chorus and continue eating.

Who would have thought that these boys would be this nice and polite now? They used to disrespect girls all the time but look at them now. I hope they're not like this just because I'm here.

The boys are talking to Gwen and Chloe and they're so fun to watch. I just continued eating without talking and just listen to them getting to know each other. Gwen couldn't believe all the rumors about SG now that she's talking to them. The rumors weren't 100% fake but small details can change the whole story, right?

"Rei..." Ashton said. This is the first time he initiated to talk for the entire day. "Say.. How long have you been together?"

I looked at him and he's staring back at me. "About 1 year? I've known him for almost 3 years now."

"How far have the two of you went?" He asked, still staring intently straight into my eyes.

"Huh?" I asked. "What do you mean by how far..."

"Did you just held hands? Hug? Kiss? or-"

He was interrupted by Gwen. "Oi! Francis what's wrong with you? That's not for you to mind!"

"I'm just asking!" Ash replied almost yelling back at her.

"Stop being so rude!" Gwen yelled at him and she hit the table creating a loud bang sound.

I gasped.

I covered my ears and lowered my head. My heart was racing and I couldn't control my emotion. Tears started filling my eyes. I couldn't recover. I even put my legs closer to my body, hugging myself.

"Nana." I heard Oliver called. He starts scratching my head as he puts his arm around me, giving me a tight hug. "It's okay. Don't be scared."

"Oli." I cried and hug him back.

He kept stroking my back and my hair. "You're okay. Just breathe, baby. Everything's gonna be fine."

"Oli, I found it." Skye said.

"Baby, you need to take deep breaths or else it might trigger your asthma." Oliver reminded me.

"Jewel..." I heard Chloe said with a stuttering voice.

"She'll be fine, don't worry." Skye assured her.

I grab onto Oli's shirt tighter as it felt harder to breathe. "Can't... breathe." I panted.

"Shit." Oliver cursed. "Skye, give me that. Nana, I need you to inhale and hold, okay?"

Oliver helped me use my inhaler. He covered my mouth and nose so I would hold the medicine in for a few seconds before he let me exhale. It took another 10 minutes for me to calm down.

"Finally. Damn, Reina. You scared the shit out of me. I'll never get used to this." Oliver sighed.

"W-what happened?" Ashton asked, still baffled.

Oli stared at me. "Do you want to tell them yourself?"

"I think... Skye could explain it better." I huffed.

Skye gave me a confused look. "Huh? Oh... Just the medical condition."

"You don't want to tell them everything?" Oliver whispered to me.

I shake my head no.

Oliver smiled at me and petted my head. "Understood. Skye?"

"It was a panic attack. Maybe because of that sudden loud bang. She has a phobia of loud noises and explosions. But phobias could only lead to panic attacks, sometimes. It doesn't always happen, maybe she's... are you under a lot of stress lately?" Skye suddenly asked.

Everyone stared at me.

I grab onto Oli's hand. "Oli..." I whispered.

"Anyway, if something like this happened again, just calm her down and if that doesn't work, search for her inhaler in her bag. It would be a lot better if you wouldn't think of this as a big deal. Reina likes to be lowkey and if you start making her situation a big deal, she might get detached and pull away from you guys." Oliver explained.

"I'm sorry Jewel... I should watch my volume from now on." Gwen said with her eyes getting red and started to get filled with tears.

I shake my head. "I'm fine now Gwen, don't worry about it. I'm sorry for freaking you out. I must have scared you." I smiled at them.

"Good thing Oliver knows a lot about you. I have to admit that I wasn't so sure after hearing all the stories Gwen told me. About fighting, bullying, and everything else but SG doesn't look that bad at all. Oliver do make a great boyfriend for our Jewel." Chloe said and nodded slightly.

"She makes me a better person." Oliver smiled at her.

"I mean, for what it's worth, she makes every persons she meets, a better version of themselves. That's her charm." Skye said.

The other boys nodded. Ashton's eyes and mine, met.

"I hate to admit it. But... He's... kinda... your... uh. perf- perfect... match." Ash said while almost choking or something.

North, Pete, and Alvin laughed out loud. Max and Kun released a muffled laugh like a pfft. Oliver covered his mouth trying hard not to laugh.

"That's excruciating to watch." Skye smirked.

Ash frowned. "I really hate these guys."

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