Chapter 2 Fated or Planned

Kale hugged her before climbing down the stairs of the plane. “Girl, this is it!” he exclaimed. “I feel like I’ll finally find a boyfriend here!”

“Gosh! Why are you such a flirt?” Lemon called him off and laughed when Kale stuck his tongue out at her.

“You’re just envious because I’m prettier than you, and for sure, they’ll all come after me,” he added.

Lemon could only shake her head at his antics. He was not wrong anyway. If he weren’t gay, girls would chase after him.

He was good-looking if he was a guy, but that was not the case. He was flirtier than her. He even got a complete makeup set when Lemon didn’t have one.

“Lemon, let's go?” Letty called when she noticed her daughter stopped on her track when they were about to ride the car that picked them up.

She nodded and followed. They headed to the hotel where they would stay overnight while the preparations for their new house weren’t over.

Letty bought a house near their school. It was also near her prospective location for Fashion Street, too.

Dahlia and Kale will stay with them. So Lemon won’t be spared from his craziness. But that was a good thing for Lemon. At least she has someone next to her.

When they reached the hotel owned by Letty’s brother, his family immediately welcomed them. Rigo was there with his wife and his twins, Kipper and Kellen. They’re both my age.

Rigo was the eldest among the siblings, but he was just two years older than Letty, so they were more like friends. Ena was there too. She, on the other hand, was the youngest in their family.

They went straight to the hotel’s restaurant for brunch. Everyone happily shared stories. They couldn’t help but laugh at Kale when he shared his stories with them.

“Are you going to SMU too?” Kellen asked, and Lemon nodded. “OMG! I'm excited! I hope we’re in the same class. Have you guys enrolled already?”

“Yeah, we’re in Hope,” she informed her cousin and Kellen’s eyes widened in excitement.

“Lucky us! We're classmates!” she squealed.

Kale and Lemon looked at each other, smiling. Kippler and Kellen had been at SMU since prep, and they are popular on campus. That could be an advantage to them as newcomers.

“My G! I suddenly felt excited. I can’t wait till Monday!” Kale shrieked and raised a hand to Kellen for a high five.

Lemon could see fondness in Kellen’s eyes while talking to Kale. However, Kippler was a bit wary of him, and she understood why.

After having brunch, they excused themselves from the welcoming committee. Kale and Lemon went to their suite while Letty stayed for coffee.

They thought they were heading home, too. So they were surprised when the twins followed them. “Give me your number, cuz,” Kip handed his phone and placed an arm over her shoulders. “I don't like your friend,” he whispered, and Lemon chuckled.

They don’t see each other often but are close to each other, although she sometimes feels shy toward them. But between the twins, she was closer to Kip than Kellen.

Lemon typed in her number and returned the phone when he suddenly exclaimed, “Shoot!”

“What's wrong?”

“I forgot we have a practice today,” he said, cupping his forehead.

“Oh, you’re still in a band?”

“Yeah, of course! I can’t stop now that we’re popular on campus!” he said smugly.

“Yeah, right! You’re popular among high school students,” Lemon teased, and Kip reached out for her hair to mess it up.

“Kellen, I'll go ahead. Are you staying?” he called to his twin.

“Where are you going, Kippler?” Kale asked in a flirtatious tone that soured Kip’s face.

“Band practice,” he answered timidly.

“You’re part of a band? Are you all good-looking?” Kale asked again, and Lemon couldn’t help but shake her head. Kale really can’t stop himself from asking about handsome guys.

“They all are!” Kellen butted in. “They’re all in our basketball team, too,” she squealed.

Kale’s eyes immediately widened after hearing what Kellen said. “Oh my G, I wish it was already Monday! As in!” and they laughed in unison.

When Lemon looked at Kippler, he shook his head at the two before turning to her. “I’ll go ahead,” he leaned forward to kiss his twin’s cheek and did the same to Lemon. “See you Monday, cuz!” he added before exiting the suite.

Kellen stayed a bit longer, exchanging stories with Kale. She only bade them goodbye when Rigo called and told her they were leaving.

Letty and Dahlia came not long after Kellen left. It was only past one in the afternoon, but they all looked like zombies, tired from the trip.

Lemon didn’t even notice when she fell asleep. She only woke up after someone harshly tapped her shoulder and shook her incessantly.

“Girl, wake up!” Kale was starting to sound irritated. When Lemon opened her eyes, she realized he was already wearing a two-piece bikini, and it was red. “Let's go swimming!”

“Where’s mom?”

“She left with mom. They’re checking out the shop,” he replied. “Hurry up and get changed. I need to swim. It’s hot!”

Lemon nodded and reached for her bag. She was unsure if she had swimwear there, but she checked anyway. Fortunately, there was one, but unfortunately, it was a two-piece too.

As much as possible, Lemon doesn’t like wearing skimpy or revealing outfits. According to Dahlia, her body doesn’t look like she was fifteen. It was more like the body of someone at the age of eighteen.

She was a bit curvy with long arms and legs. Although they would tell her she should be proud of her proportions, she would still feel shy.

Lemon quickly changed so they could go down before Kale whined again. She donned a striped black and white two-piece and wore a kaftan over it for the cover-up.

It was scorching hot at noon, so she wasn’t even surprised that Kale was excited to jump into the water. She felt the same, to be honest.

They went to the hotel’s pool area, and it was a shame when people started looking at them. That was all thanks to her company, as he didn’t bother covering up.

When they exited the elevator, he threw the towel over his shoulder and wore his rainbow glasses and floppy hat. He wore slippers but walked on tiptoe as if he was ramp modeling.

Lemon sat on the nearest lounge chair as she couldn’t bear the intense stares of people anymore. They even heard a group of girls laughing at Kale, but he just raised an eyebrow at them.

“I’m going in, girl,” he announced, tossing his towel toward Lemon. She doesn’t even know if he applied sunblock.

Lemon nodded and checked her phone. There were messages from the twins, and both asked her to save their numbers.

She did just that and placed the phone underneath the towels. She took off her kaftan, put it on the lounge chair, and walked toward the pool.

Sitting on its edge, Lemon dipped her feet as she watched Kale doing laps. “Aren’t you going in?” he asked.

“I will, in a while.”

“Hi!” someone greeted. A guy who looked close to their age sat beside Lemon. “I'm Yel, by the way,” he said, offering his hand.

And because Kale’s sense of smell automatically gets activated when a guy is near, he magically shows up in front of them. He took the guy's hand and shook it. “I’m Mikale,” he said.

He was on the other end of the pool but swam back as if he were in the Olympics when he saw the guy named Yel. Lemon couldn’t blame him, though. The guy was indeed good-looking.

He got thick brows, but that didn’t overshadow his beautiful, round eyes. He got a good build, and it complimented his natural brown skin. His haircut emphasized his oval face.

“Lemon,” she replied and returned the handshake.

“Nice name,” he muttered. “Aren't you gonna swim?” he asked again.

“Maybe later. I'm too lazy right now,” Lemon grinned, and Yel nodded.

“How young are you?”

“Fifteen,” Kale butted in.

“Oh, I'm two years older. I’ll be your older brother then,” he chuckled.

After that, he didn’t say another word. Yes was just sitting there, looking somewhere far. Even Kale kept glancing at him as he suddenly fell quiet.

Lemon felt weird being around the guy. She didn’t know if it was because he looked mysterious or because he was too handsome that it was starting to feel intimidating.

“Lem, come on! I’m about to go out,” Kale said, so she turned to Yel and excused herself.

She swam the distance to the other end of the pool and back to her original spot. When she looked around, Yel was nowhere to find.

Lemon shrugged it off and did a few laps again. She and Kale stayed for thirty more minutes before they stopped swimming.

“That Yel’s really handsome,” Kale commented while drying his hair.

“Yeah, but he looks so serious in life,” she answered.

“That’s what most girls like, you know? Someone who looks like he can secure your lifetime,” he stated with twinkling eyes.

Lemon couldn’t help but shake her head. He really had a weird way of putting things, but she didn’t comment further on it. Otherwise, they will end up arguing over a stranger.