25

That night, after sending an SMS, Gibbs waited for Fara at the usual place: behind the Delta block. Why did that place become their meeting place? It’s because nobody goes there and there were rumours about a wrapped ghost haunting that place. Since Gibbs was lucky enough to have a girlfriend with a supernatural power, he confirmed that the rumours were just rumours, nothing more than that.

It’s that or Fara lied to him, and he was unable to see the wrapped ghost because of the talisman he wore. It’s not that he’s too believing of the talisman, but he’s been to the auditorium for a few times and hadn’t seen the ghost there. Even Ray was actually disturbed by it.

As expected, Fara arrived with a sour face. It’s understandable since Gibbs hadn’t been with her for days.

“Why did you suddenly want to see me?” asked Fara roughly.

“Dear, are you mad?” Gibbs asked an obvious question. The norm for a Malay person.

Fara didn’t answer. She pulled her face. Gibbs embraced her waist and closed his face to hers that was looking away from him.

“Look at me. If not, how can I coax you?” said Gibbs.

“Get creative,” replied Fara while trying to escape from Gibbs’ embrace.

“Challenge accepted,” replied Gibbs using Barney’s line from the series How I Met Your Mother that he knew was Fara’s favourite show.

Gibbs kissed Fara’s neck. He then kissed behind her ear and he heard Fara letting out a soft sigh.

This isn’t even a challenge. Too easy, thought Gibbs in his heart.

“Not fair,” said Fara with a small laughter. A bit ticklish perhaps. Ticklish yet liking it.

“It’s no fun being in the dark. I miss seeing your face. Let’s go out,” invited Gibbs. He wanted to prove that he didn’t simply want Fara just for her body.

“Alaaa…” whined Fara.

Aih, this makes me hard to control myself, Gibbs sighed internally. Wanting to be a gentleman but she’s like this. It’s your fault, though, Gibbs! You turned her on. You reap what you sow!

But if I postpone it until after confessing to her… I might never be able to get it anymore afterward. So… one last round wouldn’t hurt, right?

“Hold on a bit,” said Gibbs while messaging KJ.

Gibbs: You in the room?

KJ: Out. The hippy woman invited me to a hotel.

Gibbs: Nice. Once you leave, sound me.

KJ: Roger that.

“Let’s go,” invited Gibbs.

“Where to?”

“My place.”

“Wow.”

Said Fara who was lying down on Gibbs’ bed with only a layer of blanket covering her body.

“I mean… wow,” said Fara again.

Yes… I know I’m awesome, thought Gibbs.

But Gibbs himself had to admit that the night with Fara was the best one he had yet. Maybe because psychologically, he felt that this might be the last one with her – he had to make it count.

And if he counted it correctly, they did it 5 times.

While Fara was laying her head on Gibbs’ chest, and as Gibbs was stroking her hair – Gibbs felt that this was the most suitable moment for him to talk about what he called her for. He once read on a website that a discussion after an intimate moment would usually end positively.

“Dear… can I ask you something?” Gibbs started.

“Of course, dear…”

“If… spiritual things…do they know people’s secret?” asked Gibbs.

Fara raised her face a bit and looked at Gibbs. “What do you mean?”

“I mean… like… for example if…” it was hard for him to say it.

So to make things easier, Gibbs just told her about what happened to Ray that night.

Fara was silent while processing what she was told. “Hmm… it’s possible that they know certain things. Because sometimes, we don’t see it when it sees us,” said Fara.

Gibbs thought whether that ‘thing’ saw Deepa when she was going back wearing that Shirt of Shame. Or worse… if it was observing when KJ and Troll were harassing Deepa!

“But… if it’s like the ghost in the auditorium… it would be restricted to the auditorium area, right?” Gibbs asked again.

“Not really. That girl was killed in the auditorium, but she’s still attached to the school – so sometimes she wanders about,” replied Fara.

“She was killed in the auditorium?”

“Well… actually, she was gang banged in the auditorium. But the last person who banged her… entered through the ‘back door’. It’s too violent to the point that it ripped. She started bleeding… a lot. They panicked and left her there alone. She was in too much pain that she can’t even walk to ask for help. She died from severe blood loss,” narrated Fara.

Gibbs was shocked hearing that. It’s too horrible! All this while, they thought that the girl committed suicide, cutting her wrist in the auditorium because of exam stress. To think that it’s just a modified story from generation to generation.

“And she just… TOLD you all this?” asked Gibbs.

“Well, I asked,” replied Fara casually. “Do you remember that one time when the Wushu Club wanted to make a large-scale demo in the auditorium but wasn’t able to as the members were constantly disturbed? At that time… I had… a little crush on the club’s president…”

“Alan?” asked Gibbs.

The room was dark but Gibbs could tell that Fara was blushing. “Yeah.”

“That skinny guy?” Gibbs deliberately teased her.

“Hey, he’s cute!” defended Fara.

“Not in the slightest,” replied Gibbs.

“Jealous?” Fara teased while tickling Gibbs.

“A little bit,” Gibbs admitted n purpose, wanting to give out a cute aura.

“Alah, that was like… two years ago. I wanted to help them out, so I thought I could slow-talk her. She told me everything. Apparently, the guys who gang-banged her were all from the Wushu Club, but they were all sons of very influential people. So they got away with it. This made her furious. That’s why the Wushu Club had it bad that time,” continued Fara.

“Shit…” uttered Gibbs.

“Right? She’s so pitiful.”

Gibbs was silent. It looked like it became more obvious why that ‘thing’ started disturbing Ray, and it’s not impossible for it to disturb him, KJ and Troll next. Or maybe that ‘thing’ was merely sending out a warning – Gibbs though of Deepa’s image who was muttering something outside Bintang Coffee Shop. Maybe she’s involved in witchcraft? Black magic? And she’s trying to get them back?

“Something wrong, dear?” asked Fara.

Gibbs stared at Fara for a while. He can’t just tell her about what happened. She would never forgive him.

Thus, slowly, he forced himself to smile and shook his head.

Fara responded to Gibbs’ smile. She then returned to lying down on Gibbs’ chest. She sighed – a sigh of happiness, probably.

“Funny, right? I can get a ghost to tell me the truth… but not my own boyfriend.”

Gibbs was shocked hearing the sentence that came from Fara’s mouth. He suddenly stopped rubbing her hair, but quickly acted like usual and replied, “What do you mean, dear?”

Fara sat up and leaned back next to Gibbs while staring at him. “You honestly think that I don’t know what happened?”

“What are you talking about?” Gibbs returned a question.

“Gibran, I’m giving you one last chance to come clean with me,” Fara gave a warning.

Gibbs sighed. Well, we had a good run…

But what if she’s bluffing?

“Seriously, dear… I need to know what you’re talking about,” pleaded Gibbs.

“It’s about Deepa. About what happened before her parents brought her back. Were you involved n it?” questioned Fara.

“No,” that answer automatically came out from Gibbs’ mouth. Technically, I’m not lying. I wasn’t in the room with her when she was defamed.

“If she says that I’m involved, then she’s lying. And if you believe her, I’m hurt,” Gibbs added.

“Then why did you ask me about what happened to Raymond in the auditorium?”

Man, this girl is sharp.

“How can you relate that matter with Deepa?”

“You’re insulting my intelligence, Gibran,” said Fara.

“I’m not!”

“Look… I know those ‘things’ love to disturb people who sinned. So right now, do you want to admit it yourself, or you want me to find out from that ‘thing’?” asked Fara.

Damn you paranormal beings! Cursed Gibbs in his mind.

“Okay, okay. Fine.” Gibbs gave up.

And he told everything to Fara. While he was talking, Fara listened to it carefully. It was hard for Gibbs to tell whether she was mad or not – one, because the room was dark. Two, because… well, she’s weird and unpredictable.

“So you were not in the room when it happened?” Fara wanted a confirmation.

“Nope. I was outside. And I didn’t want to do it initially. But I did agree with KJ that she needed to be taught a lesson,” Gibbs added the last sentence because he didn’t want to be accused guilty because of KJ who wanted to run from his responsibility.

Fara was quiet. Probably analysing the situation.

“What do you want to do with the pictures?” asked Fara.

“Nothing. Really, nothing. It’s just… leverage,” Gibbs answered honestly. They really didn’t have any plans to spread the pictures.

Fara was quiet again. She the sounded…

“Let’s make a deal.”

Gibbs was a bit confused. What deal? I already said that this girl is weird!

“I won’t report this matter, but I want you to delete those pictures in front of me right now. I won’t tell Deepa that you’ve deleted those pictures, but I want you to delete them so that I’m sure that you won’t have any bad intention to spread them. So I can trust you. Deal?” Fara offered.

“How would I know that you won’t tell her?” Gibbs needed to make sure.

“You won’t know. You just have to trust me. Like how I will trust you won’t pull something like this again. And we get to keep this relationship,” said Fara.

Gibbs took some time to think. He knew that there was no other way except agreeing with her. In a way, everybody wins. And he’s kinda turned on by the way Fara’s handling this.

“Do we have a deal?” Fara asked with her hand stretched out.

Gibbs grabbed it. “Deal.”

He got up, reached for the camera on the table and returned to Fara. He deleted all pictures of Deepa in front of Fara. Fara watched on without any reaction, making Gibbs feel weird.

“Don’t you feel awkward… looking at these pictures?” asked Gibbs.

“We’re roommates. There’s nothing there that I haven’t seen before,” replied Fara.

“Owh…” that’s all he could say. It seemed like his assumption that girls weren’t embarrassed with each other was not a mistake. Or was it because both Fara and Deepa were of a weird species? Probably.

“Done,” said Gibbs.

“You sure there aren’t any backup elsewhere?” asked Fara.

Clever, Gibbs thought.

“Nope. You just have to trust me,” he used her words back at her with a naughty smile.

He kissed her lips. Fara initially didn’t want to respond to it as a sign of sulking, but then she started kissing him back.

“So, we’re good?” asked Gibbs.

“We’ll see,” replied Fara. This time, it was her who had on a naughty smile.

Damn, I love her! Gibbs’ heart cried.

“I gotta go,” said Fara while getting up from Gibbs’ bed.

“Alaaa…” Gibbs whined with his hand holding Fara’s.

Fara pulled her hand slowly and started dressing up. Gibbs lay lazily on his bed.

“Hey babe…?” said Gibbs.

“Hmm?”

“Have you actually known about this matter from that ‘thing’ before I told you?” Gibbs suddenly felt like asking.

Fara who had finished dressing up kissed Gibbs’ cheek.

“Of course, dear.”