"You couldn't be more obvious, Lucy," Suzan uttered as she suppressed her laughter.
Lucy's face flushed a little, but she managed to hide her flustration.
"You are misunderstanding," she responded quietly.
"I am not. You are blatantly lying about him not having a phone, which is— I don't know— unbelievable. There is no way a high school student in his prime teenage age doesn't have a phone.
Mind you, I am talking about a phone, not a smartphone or any expensive phone. Just a normal feature phone that can make calls and receive texts. Anyone can afford that. And you're saying that he doesn't have one…"
Lucy bit her lips and glared at Suzan. She wanted to speak, but the words wouldn't come out, though her eyes glistened with what she was trying to convey.
Rosse, on the other hand, had no idea what Lucy and Suzan were talking about. She puffed her cheeks a little and asked, "Hey, hey, don't leave me out of this. What are you talking about?!"
"She has a crush on her brother."
"Step. Step-brother," Lucy corrected Suzan.
"Yes, step-brother. And it seems that she wants to make him her step-boyfriend."
"What's… step-boyfriend?"
Suzan shrugged her shoulders and said, "She wants to keep it in the family."
Lucy gritted her teeth and punched Suzan on her thighs.
"I am not lying, am I?"
"You are!"
"I don't understand. Why would you lie about your love? It's fine, really. We won't judge."
Suzan chuckled softly and calmly continued, "We are best friends. We will be together, even after we all get married and have kids. Even after ten years."
"Don't you think it's too early to think about having kids?" Rosse wondered. "We don't even have a boyfriend yet."
"Did you forget your online boyfriend already?"
"Well, I am 50-50 on him. And even if he is not a catfisher and is a genuine person, no one can guarantee that I will stay together with him and get married and have kids. We might break up or divorce."
"No one knows," she added with a shoulder shrug.
Suzan raised her brow and commented, "So it's too early to think about kids, but it's okay to think about break up and divorce?"
"That shit happens all the time. Even idols and celebrities that fans consider a perfect couple breaks up. So what are we?"
"Their whole life is built on a lie. Most of the celebrities don't even use their real name they are given at birth."
Lucy moved her gaze to the window and thought, 'And we are on another topic now. Well, I am glad. Suzan was pretty hell-bent to know about my relationship with Rudy.'
"Even I don't know what will happen between us. If things go the same as they were supposed to, we will have a physical relationship. But that would be no different from the future timeline. I want to… have an actual relationship with him," she muttered under her breath.
Lucy observed a couple on a motorbike driving past the bus.
She shook her head and mumbled, "Lucy, don't forget your main task. You are here to save Rudy from the tragedy. You have to prevent him from meeting Elise. Everything comes after that."
"Isn't it illegal for a brother and sister to… you know… get married?" Rosse asked curiously.
"Duh! But I am sure it's okay if they are not blood-related. And who is talking about marriage here? You would be surprised to know how many people are in a sexual relationship with their blood-related family members. This world is a disgusting place if you think about it."
"Why do you know about something like that? I have never heard a case that—"
"Just think about it. Anything I can think of and you can think of is possible. If someone can think of something, someone else in the world has obviously thought about it too. It's the act of action that differentiates us from them.
We are given a brain that has the knowledge and intellect to make decisions and think about what is right and wrong, and that makes us different from other living beings, mainly animals who haven't got rules. But some people don't understand that which is why evil exists in this world.
If humans started acting like animals, then they might as well start living in the wild forest among them. They are not needed in the society."
Rosse squinted her eyes at Suzan and asked, "Are you quoting a philosophy from your upcoming book that you are writing?"
Suzan had a proud look on her face as she smiled widely and puffed out her chest.
"I hate you both!" Rosse hissed. "I was seeking help from my best friends, but they are selfish and thinking about their own advantages. If I end up being murdered by my online boyfriend, remember, I will become a ghost and haunt you two!"
"I don't think you as a ghost would be scary. And how would you haunt us, exactly? We wouldn't be afraid of you."
Rosse pondered for a while and said, "I will wait until you find lovers. Then, I will steal them away from you, forcing you to stay single forever."
"That's actually scary, not going to lie."
"So you will help me?" she asked with a puppy face.
"Just tell us when you are planning to meet. Lucy, Melinda, Leah, Rina, and I will watch over you from a distance. You haven't told him about us, have you?" Suzan asked with a serious, yet curious, look on her face.
"I… have…"
"..."
"But he only knows your name! I didn't send him pictures. He was asking for them, but I refused."
"Good."
"Thank you!" Rosse hugged Suzan and rubbed her cheek on her cheek. "You are the best of all."
"You said the same thing to Lucy the other day."
"You all are the best of all."
"Don't make stupid promises without asking us, especially when it includes us," Lucy remarked.
"I have no problem with it, but Melinda, Rina, and Leah might not be on board."
"We will ask them when we meet them."
