My heart kept on drumming loud as I was held by Ervic’s both arms. He didn’t speak a word while he carried me towards the direction of the nipa hut.

When we reached the front door, he put me down eventually and turned the doorknob. I moved my gaze to the hut structure.

It was not that huge but it seemed sturdy. The roof was made of good quality of coconut leaves weaved skillfully while the wall was made of pure nipa. Bamboos served as the pillars of the whole hut.

Ervic opened the wooden door widely. My eyes widened when I was welcomed by the dark interior of the hut.

“What are you doing?” I asked him immediately. I was seemed alarmed.

He looked at me blankly. He entered quickly inside.

I remained standing outside the hut. I guessed, it was just normal for me to feel uneasy. Imagining Ervic and I inside a dark hut was totally disturbing!

Thoughts of him making out with Farah inside a car in the parking lot just few days ago added up on my rising anxiousness. I hope he wasn’t planning anything malicious between the two of us.

He pressed a light switch near the entrance; white light scattered on the whole room. Afterwards he directed his full attention towards me. The intensity of his stare gave me shiver. He tilted his head and eyed me from head to toe.

“You slipped at the pool of mud; you have to change your clothes. Look at your dress it was a total mess!”

My lips parted upon hearing his utterances. I thought my face turned red. How could I manage to have dirty thoughts when he was just being a gentleman?

He turned his back at me afterwards he sat on a stool chair inside the nipa hut.

“I don’t have any spare clothes,” I explained as I follow him inside the nipa hut.

He placed his backpack at the top of the wooden table. He opened it quickly and got a gray t-shirt and a black short.

“You can lend mine,” he said while handing me his clothes.

I was stiffened and it took few seconds before I accepted his offer.

I was staring on his clothes in my hands as he removed some mud stains that remained on his t-shirt. Somehow I felt guilty for that dirt.

Ervic closed the door as he went outside. I changed my clothes right away.

The hem of his t-shirt fell up to my legs. I just tucked it inside the short. It’s a good thing that the short waistline was adjustable; it fitted my size.

When I got outside Ervic was already wearing a black t-shirt. I thought he changed while he waited for me to finish. To my surprise, he was puffing a stick of cigarette. He blew some smoke as he was staring into space.

I blinked twice. I didn’t like people who have vices especially cigarette smoking but seeing Ervic puffing a stick wake up a buried and ardent sensation that I never knew existed.Is this what they called as the rock star aura-his suave, hot and panty-dropping effect on women?

I bit my lower lip as I tried to calm myself. I would never become one of his fan girls; I chanted to myself.

“Hmm. Thank you!” I mumbled timidly to catch his attention. He put down the cigarette after he saw me. I heard him gasping a deep sigh as he darted his full attention on me.

Blood rose up on my cheek when his eyes landed on my legs.

“I-it is a good thing that your short fitted.” I tried to distract him. I smiled heartily.

“Where are the others?” I struggled to build a topic to lessen my uneasiness. He creased his forehead as he took the cigarette to his mouth.

He puffed it again. It emitted white smokes. The smell of the cigarette made me cough. I used my right hand to fan out some smoke that moved towards my direction.

Ervic noticed my reaction thus he threw the cigarette on the ground and stamped his slippers on it.

“I’m sorry,” he uttered sincerely. I was left tongue tied.

“They were waiting for us from that acacia tree!” he replied as he pointed his index finger towards the direction of a tall tree nearby. He took the dirty dress from my hand and put it inside his bag.

I bowed my head to bury my discomfort. I was caught off-guard when Ervic enveloped my back with his arm.

“You can’t walk barefoot. I think I need to carry you until we reached the pineapple farm.”

My heartbeat went wild once again. I could thoroughly smell his manly cologne as my head rested on his chest. My body weaken as the skin of his right arm touched the back of my both knees.

True to his words Ervic carried me until we reached the pineapple farm. I was greeted by the mocking gaze of our group mates as Ervic seated me on the wooden bench.

“Ervic, what took you so long? We saw you and Kat entered the nipa hut?” Jim asked maliciously. He even wiggled his eyebrows.

Our group mates started to cheer. Some of them giggled too.

Ervic’s face turned red. He wasn’t able to reply to Jim. Heat flushed on my cheek as I composed myself before I made a statement.

“Ervic lended me his clothes. If you could still remember, I slipped on the pond earlier,” my clear-cut reply.

“We have to stop-over on the nipa hut so that we can change our clothes,” I continued.

My group mates seemed convinced with my explanation. Besides it was the whole truth! Ervic and I have nothing to hide from them.

I wandered my eyes around the plantation. Hectares of verdant pineapple plants were planted and properly arranged on the healthy soil.

“These are our main business,” Anna explained to us, her eyes were happy.

“Our business supplied pineapple to the whole province of Zarraga and other nearby provinces. My father is planning of penetrating the NCR and nearby cities in the near future. It’s one of his major plans this year.”

All of us nodded and seemed please with her statement. We also planted pineapple in our hacienda but it wasn’t this big compare to Anna’s family.

The boys started to pick some ripe pineapple. There were some farmers who were working currently in the area. Marcus borrowed a big knife then started peeling the pineapple fruit.

The girls just remained on their seats and watched while the boys were busied peeling the pineapples.

Minutes passed, Ervic handed us a pineapple with its fruit already cut in squares inside. I was totally amazed with his knife skills. I kept on wondering on how he did that.

“Thank you,” we said in unison.

I picked a piece of the yellow pineapple tidbits and tasted it immediately. It was delicious. It tasted sweet and juicy. I took another piece.

My other group mates also took pleasure in eating the pineapple fruit. Anna took some home so we could eat them for our dinner.

We washed our hand on the nearby faucet. I took off my sandals and cleaned it too. It accumulated too much mud. Afterwards Anna gave me a rag to dry it.

Just like what he did earlier, Ervic carried me on our way back. I kept on rolling my eyes as Jim and Marcus started to tease us. They were walking behind us.

“Ervic are you still working for Lyn’s father? Your father works on their farm, right?” Marcus asked him out of the blue.

I focused my gaze to Lyn who was walking in front together with Zandra. She looked at our direction. Ervic’s Adam’s apple protruded before he spoke.

“Yes, I came from their farm before I went here,” his sincere reply.

“We heard that Kat’s family took over your land,” Marcus asked seriously. Jim tapped his shoulder aggressively.

Ervic creased his forehead upon hearing Marcus statement. I was looking intently at him but it seemed that he was escaping from my gaze.

Everyone remained silent for a while.

“Hey Kat, are you going to eat dinner with us? When will your driver fetch you?”

My flow of thoughts was distracted with Anna’s statement. It was obvious that she deliberately wanted to change our topic.

“My driver will be here by eight,” my casual reply. My group mates started to chat with each other while my mind was still clouded by Marcus pronouncement earlier.

My family took over Ervic family’s land! Was that the reason why his father worked on the farm of Lyn’s family?

The sun was starting to set below the horizon when we reached the flat part of the rice field. It was starting to get dark. Ervic put me down cautiously on the ground. He handed me my dress that he took from his backpack.

“Thank you for lending me your clothes. I’ll return them on Monday.”

Ervic nodded after hearing my sentence. He beamed afterwards. I might hate him before but I couldn’t deny it I admired him from what he did for me earlier.

As we headed back to Anna’s house Ervic bidded his farewell.

“Aren’t you gonna eat dinner with us?” Anna asked him. He shook his head lightly.

“I have to prepare dinner in our house. Thanks anyway. See you on Monday guys!” He waved his both hands towards us. Jim and Marcus made a high five with him before he walked towards the other direction.

I felt like I was still floating as we walked towards Anna’s house. I doubled my footsteps to catch up with Lyn. She flaunted her serene smile.

It was the first time that she didn’t snob me. I could still remember our first meeting in our classroom when she didn’t reply on my inquiry thus I ended up talking to myself.

“It’s a good thing that you are now smiling at me,” I uttered. She beamed at me again.

“I thought you didn’t want to be friends with me,” I continued.

“I’m sorry Kat; my first week in class was horrible. My mother had passed away weeks before our first day in school,” she said in a sincere and gentle voice. His eyes looked sorrowful.

My heart sank with that statement. I quickly tapped her shoulder. I turned to her with my concern stare.

“I’m sorry I didn’t know,” I explained sincerely.

I kept on calming and cheering up Lyn as we continued talking before we enter Anna’s residence.

“I don’t like talking to anyone. It’s like I built a big wall between me and the world.” Her eyes became gloomier.

I was moved with Lyn’s account of her depression. It must be that hard. Now I realized that it wasn’t right to judge a person based on our initial impression on them. We should really dig deep.

I sat beside Lyn on the dining table. In that small period of time, I felt that we’re getting closer.

There were different food variants on the table; breaded pork chop, grilled fish, chicken in pineapple sauce and Caesar’s salad. I put some rice on my plate.

“Where’s Ervic? He didn’t join our dinner,” Anna’s father asked.

Anna lifted her head and replied, “he said he’ll prepare their dinner at home Dad.”

“Ervic was such a hardworking boy. Just like his father,” said by Anna’s dad.

The topic on the dining table varies as everyone talked with each other. This gave me a chance to talk to Lyn about Ervic’s family.

“Ervic said earlier that he worked part time at your farm during weekends,” I started our topic. Lyn nodded.

“Ervic’s father works on our rice field. He needed to earn extra money because he wanted to help on their expenses at home. In addition to that his grandfather has severe lung illness. He needed extra earnings for the medical maintenance of his grandpa.” I was completely tongue-tied. Suddenly, I felt compassion for Ervic’s family.

“He asked my father if he can also work on our farm during weekend.” Lyn continued.

“Your grandfather took their land!” I stiffened with her last statement.

I thought I froze. Her pronouncement made me extremely astonished.

“What?” my shocked response. My eyes widened.

“My father told me that Ervic’s grandfather owed your Grandpa ample amount of money. Ervic’s grandmother had cancer; her medication was costly. Unfortunately his grandmother died.” I thought may jaw dropped because of Lyn’s revelation.

“One of your dad’s business partners wanted to buy a farm land that’s why they took Ervic family’s land as collateral for their loan.”

I remained speechless. I couldn’t finish eating the food on my plate.

“Ervic’s father asked for some extension with their loan but your grandfather declined his offer thus they lost their farm where they got their only source of income.”

My breathing became slower as my body felt numb. I didn’t know everything about it.

I casted a deep sigh. Now I realized why Ervic was distant towards me. He seemed to carry heavy grudge on me on the first day of class. I couldn’t blame him. My family took their only source of income.

I knew how serious Dad on his construction firm business but I didn’t know that he will come to this extent.