My Crazy Housemate: What Makes You Happy

Everything had happened so fast that Mia hadn't had the chance to react before the door was pushed open. When she returned to her senses and fiercely pushed Benjamin away, she heard Jeremy's angry voice as he charged at Benjamin and punched him hard on his jaw.

"You dirty son of a bitch!" Jeremy said as he grasped Benjamin by the collar and pulled him up to deliver another punch. 

Benjamin didn't fight back, or maybe there was no time for him to fight back because Jeremy didn't leave any chance for him. 

"Stop!" Mia said in a shaky voice. 

It was very difficult to make sense of what had just happened and the fact that he had harrassed her like that— and in the school premises! 

Jeremy's fist which was about delivering a solid blow to Benjamin's jaw hung midair as Mia approached them. 

Jeremy angrily released his collar while Mia appeared in front of Benjamin with a very cold look, one Benjamin had never seen.

It was Mia's turn to react and she slapped him really hard on his face which surprised Benjamin who looked at her with wide, shocked eyes.

"How dare you?" She asked while trying her best not to hit him again but she couldn't hold it back and slapped him hard again on the same cheek.

She felt really disgusted. She couldn't believe she had spent years crushing on someone like him. If she hadn't already told him that she liked someone else, that was slightly different. But to think she had told him she liked someone and he still went on to harass her like that, she felt very angry but reminded herself that she had to keep her emotion under control because she would get in trouble with the school since she was there on a scholarship. She didn't need anyone to tell her that Benjamin would get away with it while she would be blamed for it.

Benjamin touched his cheek which was now flaming red as he straightened his back. There was a little blood at the corner of his lips which he licked out.

He looked at Mia and also at Jeremy. They both seemed to have the same expression on their faces as if they were trying to control their tempers. 

"I like you Mia." He said in a soft voice. "I meant it when I said it that night."

"You have a girlfriend dude! What the hell is wrong with you!?" Jeremy barked and began to move towards him again but Mia raised a hand to stop him.

They were both in the same position. He was also on a scholarship and she didn't want anything that would give them trouble just a month before their graduation. 

Benjamin looked at Jeremy in surprise but his expression quickly went back to normal. 

"I do not have a girlfriend." He said while looking at Mia.

*******

"What were you thinking agreeing to meet him in that kind of place?" Jeremy scolded Mia on their way back to their classroom. 

Things would have probably worsened had a lecturer not come in there after hearing their voices.

He had looked at the three of them suspiciously and noticed how strained the atmosphere was, and the little cut on Benjamin's lip.

"What is going on here?" He had asked while looking at Benjamin. 

Benjamin's family was well known. His parents also knew a lot of notable families like the Kings, Bills, Blacks, Hank, Stuart and a lot more. While Benjamin was also friends with Kelvin whose aunt owned the school, so naturally, the lecturer would believe him more than the other two unknown students inside the room with him. 

Benjamin gave Mia a crestfallen look before turning to look at the lecturer. 

"We.. were just talking." He said before walking past the man and out of the classroom. 

The man looked at Benjamin who was leaving and the other two inside the class before walking away.

"I also wanted to talk to him. But I guess I made a mistake." She said with a deflated sigh as she used her hand to clean her lips for the hundredth time.

Jeremy had offered her his handkie to wipe her lips clean and even though she had done that, she still felt very disgusted and irritated and she felt like throwing up. Everything she was feeling at the same time made her so angry that she wanted to cry.

"How did you know I was there?" She stopped walking to ask him. Maybe talking about something was going to distract her. 

"Or rather..  how did you know he has a girlfriend?" 

Mia shook her head again. She had a lot of questions to ask him but didn't know the one she was more interested in knowing. 

"Why did you believe he was forced me, and hit him?" Mia asked curiously. 

There was a possiblity that she had been making out with Benjamin willingly right? But Jeremy hadn't seemed to think about that possibility. He had simply concluded that he had forced her. 

"Wow! Which question am I supposed to answer first?" 

"Just answer all." She said impatiently. 

"Well, I heard from someone that Benjamin was in this complex and seeing how you were in a hurry after a phone call, something told me he was the one you were speaking with on the phone and I decided to look around. Thankfully, I found you." He said before cringing at the memory. 

Mia sighed deflatedly. "I really should have stayed away from him from the first time."

"It's not your fault. Do not blame yourself." He comforted her with a hand on her shoulder. 

Mia smiled a bit at him.

"You are a good friend Jeremy. I am glad you didn't assume there was truly something going on between us in there." 

"Of course!" He chuckled. 

"Besides, why would I think there's something going on between you two when it's obvious you are in love with the guy from the King family who has a messy hair." 

"His name is Leo." She said with a displeased frown. 

"I know,  but I prefer calling him that. And can't you see now that you aren't even bothering to deny the fact that you are in love with him?" He asked her with a cheeky grin that made her slap his arm. 

"Stop trying to tease me. I'm not in the mood for it." She began to stomp towards her classroom while he hurried to stand in front of her.

"Thought you were curious about how I knew he had a girlfriend?"

Mia suddenly remembered that and looked at him curiously. 

"How did you know that?" She asked. 

She had been a bit surprised when Jeremy said that in there but that hadn't been her priority which was the reason she hadn't dwelled on it. But she was curious now. 

"You know Benjamin's sister is Chloe's friend right?" 

"I think you mentioned it before." Mia answered with a nod. 

"I met her yesterday with Chloe. I think Chloe wanted me to know about it and warn you." 

"What do you mean?" Mia asked in confusion. 

Jeremy recalled the drive to Amara's family house. 

Both girls had been whispering behind until one time when he looked at the rearview mirror and locked eyes with Chloe. 

She gave him her usual nasty look especially since they had both had a little quarrel, before she looked away and asked Amara in a more audible voice this time. 

"What about Benjamin? He must be really stressed out from running around." 

"The guy is tough. I don't know what the hell he is thinking going into school politics. Anyways, that's his business." Amara answered with an indifferent shrug. 

"What about his girlfriend? The one I saw the last time I paid you a visit?" 

Amara looked at her in amus.e.m.e.nt before bursting into laughter while Chloe wondered what was funny about her question. 

"Honey, he's been done with that girl a really long time ago. I'm sure he's had a dozen more girls after her." 

Jeremy's eyes went dark while his fingers around the steering wheel tightened. 

"Really? But that was like two months ago..." Chloe said in astonishment. 

"You know how boys are these days. Girls are all over him. I don't even know what is wrong with him that he keeps moving between ladies."

"Then you should speak with him as his big sister, no?" Chloe asked.

"Big sister? You think he is going to listen to me? I've tried, but there is nothing I can do. He is rich, handsome, young and running for the school's council president, he feels he was born to have everything,  including the ladies. There's nothing I can do about it."

"And yet he looks so innocent..." Chloe hissed. 

"That's how he deceives the ladies— oh my!" Amara suddenly stopped talking and looked at the front. 

"I'm sorry you had to hear all that. I don't usually bad talk my younger brother." She said with a sheepish smile to Jeremy. 

Jeremy looked at the rearview mirror and locked eyes with Chloe again. It was as if she was silently communicating with him to warn Mia about him.

Maybe she had done so because she cared about Mia or because her brother liked Mia or because he was friends with Mia, he didn't know which it was but he was grateful to her. 

"I wasn't paying attention." He lied to Amara before facing the road.