*Author's Note: This is a one-shot entry for the February story-writing contest of Project OurSingaporeStory! :)  The characters will be speaking in Singlish so...do prepare for a broken English conversation xD But dialogue-wise the story is in perfect English (I hope). 

[Context] PLEASE READ. (The terms below will be used in the book) 

Char Kway Teow: literally "stir-fried ricecake strips", is a popular noodle dish in Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei and Indonesia. The dish is considered a national favourite in Malaysia and Singapore. (creds: wiki)

GP: General Paper. A Junior college compulsory academic subject which focuses on current affairs.

CCA: After school Co-curricular activities, just like clubs that American high schools have. However CCA is compulsory for all students from age 10 to 16 and also age 17 to 18 (if they're in junior college).

PDA: Public display of affection

"la": a slang used mainly by people of South-East Asia (Malaysia and Singapore mainly) to complement almost any sentence available in a social conversation

"ah": also to complement a sentence, or at the end of a question raised

"hor": An expression used in the middle or end of a sentence to emphasize a point.

"leh": an informal way of saying 'please' or complaining

"wahlao": A phrase used to express surprise or disappointment. In the same vein as "Oh my goodness" * 

++++++++++++++++++

Ryan lifted a red plastic bag containing something inside it. "I bought your favorite Char Kway Teow," he grinned, his dimples sinking deep into his cheeks.

My heart raced. It always did whenever I saw his gorgeous smile - especially when he was smiling to me. It was so sweet that he'd always wait for me until my CCA (co-curricular activities) ended and walk me home, since we lived nearby. Sometimes, like today, he'd buy me dinner. Looking at the tall, gorgeous guy before me with that even more beautiful grin plastered on his face, I wanted to pull him into a hug and kiss him and thank him, although that wasn't possible given that 1) we were still within school grounds and PDA wasn't allowed, and 2) ...

"Ryan!" a high-pitched voice sang, piercing the air. I grimaced at the sound of that voice. I didn't have to turn around to know who it was. And I didn't like the source of that voice one bit.

"Ryan, you're here," Jeane called out, running over to our side, before stopping a few steps before us to catch her breath.

Yep. Saw that coming. Reason No. 2) is that annoying third-wheeler who always seems to be appear at the "right time". Ever since she became project partners with Ryan, Jeane's been taking him away from me most of the time. I mean, I know the project's important and takes up a huge percentage of our overall grades, but couldn't she at least allow my boyfriend and I to have some lone time together? After all, who does a project 24/7? These days, I don't get to see Ryan very often - only during the classes we have together, and certain recesses - even then, Jeane would hog him to herself. It was so infuriating.

She then glanced up at Ryan with a wide grin on her face, her eyes twinkling. "Let's go."

"Huh? Go where?" he asked, confused.

"To my house to do the project la, duh!" She cocked her head to one side. "You forgot?"

Ryan frowned as he tried to remember. "Oh ya hor, shit," he muttered under his breath once he did, then turned to look at me apologetically. "Sorry ah, Rachel, I forgot that I've promised to do the project with Jeane today..."

"Never mind la," I assured him, hoping he wouldn't notice the hurt I felt on the inside. "Just go."

He nodded and ruffled my head. "Call you tonight. Bye." He lightly kissed my forehead, then turned and left with Jeane. As they slowly vanished into the distance, I even spotted the two of them exchanging sweet smiles.

I stared after them for a long while and felt my hands tighten their grip on the plastic bag I was holding.

I hate that woman.

*********************************

When I saw Jeane walking in the hallway, totally engrossed in a book she was holding in her hands, I deliberately bumped into her, causing her to gasp and drop the book in her hands, and mentally smirked. Served her right.

I know, I know, I was so childish. But still, jealous girlfriends tend to do childish stuff, right?

"I'm so sorry," I exclaimed, acting guilty and bending down with her to help her pick  up the book that had landed on the floor.

"It's okay," she said almost automatically with a small smile and beat me to picking up the book. "I didn't watch where I was going."

She was really nice. Which made me hate her even more.

Once we'd gotten back up on our feet, she smiled at me again. "Thanks for the help."

"No problem." I glanced at the book she was clutching tightly in her hands. "What're you reading?" It looked oddly familiar.

"This?" She raised it up, and grinned again. "It's Ryan's GP notes."

"Ryan's...GP notes?" I asked in disbelief. Was I hearing correctly?

"Yup, Ryan's GP notes." She chuckled lightly to herself. "I suck at GP so he lent me notes. He's so good at GP leh!" Of course. He scored the top score in the school for the subject last year.

What on earth? He's never offered to lend me his notes.

My heart sank and all I felt was this sudden sadness enveloping me, as did this sudden fury boiling inside of me. I balled my fists at my side. "Stay away from my boyfriend," I demanded in a low voice, the words leaving my mouth even before I'd registered them in my head.

Jeane was caught off-guard. "Huh?"

"I said, Stay away from my boyfriend," I drawled through gritted teeth. I had no idea. what overcame me. I was just so mad, so upset, so disappointed. "Stop hogging him to yourself. Because of you right, I don't get to see him much these days. He's my boyfriend leh! Not. Yours. I'm closer to him than you are, I know him better than you do!"

I know I sounded childish, but who cares? I just needed to let those words sink into that small head of hers.

She blinked at me, clearly taken aback. After a minute of silence passed between us, she let out a light chuckle. "Well, you obviously don't know Ryan as much as you think you do," she muttered, shaking her head. Her eyes bore into mine, and she broke into another sweet smile. "If you did, you won't even be saying these things to me already."

"What?" I spat. What the hell did she just say?

She shrugged and threw me another grin. "See you in Maths." Then she turned on her heels and left.

What on earth did she mean by "you obviously don't know Ryan as much as you think you do"? Did she actually think she knew him better than I did? Did she kno who she was speaking to? Did it cross her mind that she was speaking to a girl who has been by Ryan's side for ten full years?

*****************************

When I saw him standing at the school gates, waiting for me as usual, I didn't run up to him like I normally would. I simply walked past him and ignored his wave.

"Eh, wait," he called out and hastened his pace to catch up with me. He stared at me intently. "You rushing ah?"

"No," I said monotonously, eyes trained on the path before me.

"Orh, okay." We walked side by side in silence for a moment. Then he spoke up, "Did I do something wrong?"

When I didn't say anything, he let out a soft sigh. "I did, right?"

I shot him a deadly glare. "You think leh?"

He scrunched up his face in confusion and pondered over my words for a moment. He looked so cute when he did that. I had to fight to resist the urge to squeeze his cheeks.

"Is it 'cuz I didn't go home with you yesterday?"

"That's one of the reasons," I snapped.

"Sorry," he muttered and stared at me expectantly. When I didn't say anything, he paused to think again. "Can you tell me what I did wrong, please?" He looked so lost, so confused, so innocent and at the same time, so hurt.

I felt guilt bite into my heart. I knew Ryan didn't like it when I was angry with him, and he gets hurt whenever I do. So I decided to not beat around the bush any further.

"You lent Jeane your GP notes," I lashed out at him angrily, "you've never lent me yours once! And, these days you're always with her and I don't get to hang out with you as much anymore!" I paused, and reluctantly let the words out of my mouth, "Are you...are you cheating on me with her?"

Please say no. Please say no. I couldn't believe I'd asked that. The Ryan I knew wouldn't do that....would he?

He stared at me for a long while, shock written all over his face, then burst out laughing.

What the hell? "What the hell is so funny?"

"You," he said in between laughs. "You're so funny."

"This isn't something to laugh about okay," I hissed. Why the heck was he laughing at a time like this?

Could he really have been cheating on me all along, with that ugly Jeane girl? Did he not like me anymore? Did he-

I suddenly felt his two strong arms pull me closer to him and he wrapped his arms around me in a tight, but warm embrace, interruption my thoughts.

"Stupid Rachel," he muttered into my hair, letting out a sigh, "you're so funny because you're so cute, Rachel. So cute when you're jealous."

All I felt on the inside was my heart rate increasing rapidly like a racing car on a runway track, and my face heating up. This was the first time he was hugging me this tightly, and the words that had left his mouth were tickling my ear. "I-I'm not jea..." I protested, but got cut off when he released me from the embrace and leaned in to kiss me instead.

It was a soft, sweet and long kiss that sent tingling sensations down my spine. We've already been going out for three months now but I still couldn't hold down the butterflies in my stomach I always got each time he kissed me. However, I was too shocked to return the kiss, so I dumbly froze on the spot, staring at him wide-eyed once he'd pulled away.

"Was that convincing enough?" he asked, his eyes soft, and his cheeks tinging red.

"What...what thing?" I managed, gulping hard, mentally trying to calm myself down.

"Convincing enough to let you know that I. Love. You," he said slowly with a smile, "and that I'd never, ever cheat on you."

"I love you". He was one shy guy that wouldn't say these three words. It was the first time he'd said that to me. It was always only "I like you" and the like.

I felt my face heating up again. "I...I don't know," I fumbled, my heart palpitating wildly against my chest.

He bent down so that we were on eye level and leaned in close to me again. I'd almost expected him to kiss me again but he didn't. Which made me even more anxious than I already was. "I promise you," he whispered, his words tickling my lips, "I won't ever do that, okay? It'd be hard for me to do that, anyway. I can't find any girl that's better than you."

Those last few words echoed in my head. Really? Did he really think so?

He straightened and cleared his throat awkwardly, his face getting even redder then it already was. "The project is ending soon soon, afterwards I'll hang out with you every single minute of every single day, okay?"

I nodded stupidly.

"Besides, Jeane already got a boyfriend," he stated, "She's just super "on" about projects la, but she only likes me as a younger brother."

She already had a boyfriend? I felt relief overcome me. Of course Ryan wouldn't cheat on me. I, of all people, should know that, since I've been around his side for the longest period of time.

Why did I even doubt him in the first place?

"Actually, Rachel," he admitted, with a small smile, "I know it's not very nice of me to say this la...but I'm actually super happy to see that you're jealous."

"Huh?"

"Glad to see I'm not the only one feeling jealous when I see people of the opposite sex hanging around you."

"You...you felt jealous before?" I questioned. When did that happen?

He shrugged and blushed again. "I don't know, just, sometimes lor, when there are so many guys hanging around you and stuff. And that Marcus guy that you're super close to...he hugs you more than I do. Makes me feel like punching him every time I see him."

I couldn't help but laugh. He was so cute when he admitted stuff like that, and even cuter when his cheeks were this red.

He laughed along. "Eh, by the way," he dug into his black school bag and pulled out a notebook, before shoving it to me. "Nah, for you."

It was a beautiful coral pink notebook that was decorated with pretty glittery stickers, along with my name in black foam sticker letters.

"What's this?" I asked, browsing through the pages. In it were rows after rows of words in perfectly neat handwriting.

He scratched his head awkwardly and his face reddened again. "I made GP notes specially for you," he said slowly, "my original notes - the one I lent Jeane - were too messy and also not very good. Anyway, I also did extra research for you to make revision easier for you. Also, this one's easier for you to understand - I added some tips and stuff to help you. I spent hours writing out everything for you, but I think my handwriting still quite bad la-"

I cut him off by giving him a soft playful peck on the lips and when I pulled away, I realised his face was now the color of a tomato.

"Wahlao, Rachel," he muttered under his breath nervously, swallowing hard, "don't surprise me like that leh. I need to prepare myself, you know."

I laughed again. "Then prepare yourself," I instructed.

"Huh?" His face was so cute.

"Five seconds." I counted slowly. "Five, four, three, two-"

He didn't let me finish. Because he beat me to it and kissed me instead. And I gladly returned it.

"It feels good kissing the lips of a jealous girlfriend," he said when we pulled apart.

"What?" I felt my face warming up again.

"You're cute when you're jealous. I like it."

"Well, now that I know you love me so much and that there are no girls better than me, I don't have to be jealous anymore," I said cheerily.

He frowned. "So now I become the overly-attached party?"

I shrugged and smiled devilishly. "Maybe," I sang, "got a lot of other guys better than you out there, anyway."

"Wahlao..."

I laughed and turned on my heels.

Jealous? Why was I even jealous in the first place? Why did I even need to be? I've got this guy who loved me more than anything in the world, and there was no need for me to worry.

"Ryan!" a sweet voice called out. "Bye! Thanks for tutoring me for Maths!" I turned and saw a petite girl whom I recognised as Kelly from my class, waving frantically at Ryan, who returned a hesitant wave, before turning to look at me apologetically.

So maybe jealousy wasn't as easy to overcome as I'd thought it would be.