~~Just one of those problems~~

"Pass it!" Shouted the coach as a guy blocked Jay from tossing the ball. The guy matched every single one of Jay's moves but it didn't bother her one bit. What bothered her was her coach yelling at her from the top of his lungs. "Pass it! I said--!" The impact of the ball crashing into his face made the coach stop mid sentence before he fell back with a loud thud.

"Oops." Jay shrugged half heartedly when one of her teammates looked towards her, astonished. "What? He kept saying pass it so i passed it."

Twenty-Eight boring minutes of Jay getting scolded by the coach later....

\~\~\~\~Jay's POV\~\~\~\~

I sigh as I slump down on the stool beside the store room, both mentally and physically drained after finally putting my overconfidence— as the coach would have called it — some to use.

What have I leaned today?

My inner voice asked me.

To always respect our janitor and give him praises for doing such exhausting jobs everyday all by himself.

And?

To beat up everyone who dares to dirty the gym on purpose.

I smiled as my inner voice praised me for being so intelligent but it was soon wiped off when I felt my hands regaining their feeling. They still hadn't regained their original colour and remained a mid-red shade, thanks to the amount of pressure I was forced to put while using the broom.

After clenching and unclenching them for like a ten seconds, I dropped my head back against the wall and turned my gaze to the ceiling.Taking a deep breath, I slowly closed my eyes while marking another bad luck knowing well that coach would fail me in gym again.

Losing the sense of time, I stayed like that for what felt like eternity until I suddenly felt something cold press against my cheek making me jump and shoot my eyes wide open. My gaze immediately fell upon the tall figure that towered over me — to meet pine coloured eyes staring back. With an amused grin, the boy with honey blond hair stood before me with two soda cans held in his hands. I raised an eyebrow, pissed off as my peace was interrupted by none other than an idiot. "Tired?" He asks, grinning while holding up a soda can.

"You sound more happy than worried." I snatched the soda can from his hand and opened it. I stare at it for a few seconds before taking a sip from it. "Don't worry, i didn't put poison in it... yet." He says in a reassuring tone that sounded more like a sigh to me.

"I know, that's why I took a sip from it." I said as i held it between my two hands. The cold soda felt good between my inner palms. "So? Why are you here, Jackson?"

For me, Jackson is what you people call.... 'A rival'. A single day can't go by without us making each other's lives hell. It's been our duty to make sure that the other party doesn't live a peaceful life nor remain in their graves peacefully — since the day we became neighbours.

In 4th grade, I had shaved his hair off while he was sleeping and he had taken all my pocket money and gave it to a random dog for no reason whatsoever. In 5th grade, he had burned my books while I told his crush that he had diabetes and that he always dances around his house *****. In the 6th, 7th and 8th grade we both had become dangerously violent with one another to the point where we had to pay daily visits to the hospital and I would be lying if I said that we didn't try to mess with each other's medicines.

It's still a miracle how both of us had survived all that.

In the 9th grade, the threats had died down quite a bit due to some unwanted situations that had occurred.

"Just came here to thank you for ruining my life, again." Sighed Jackson as he slid down the wall, beside me. He rested his gaze at the cola can in his hands for about ten seconds before raising it to his mouth and then taking a gulp from it. "Because of you, I still can't get a girlfriend. For heaven's sake, I am turning nineteen this year."

"So what do you want me to do about it? Burn your apartment down so that a girl could take pity on you and end up dating you, just because you're turning nineteen?" I asked, taking another sip. "And if you haven't noticed, I've got my own problems."

"Problems?" He took a few more impatient gulps as if he had ran a marathon and had been starved all his life. It took him about a minute to finish the cola and when did, he got up to his feet and then dropped the cola can but before it could reach the floor, Jackson kicked it will all its might sending it flying into the air before gravity took a hold of it.

He whistled when the cola can flew directly into the trash can, in the middle of the gym which was, I don't know maybe seventy or more feet away from us. "Still not surprised?" He sighed, looking at my expression that clearly said 'so cliché and I don't care'.

Doing something like that, was impossible for me but that doesn't mean that I should be surprised when someone else does it.

"So, by problems, are you referring to the time when Mrs. Hughes scolded you today, about your essay?" He continued, now walking towards the trash can.

"First of all, it wasn't my fault, it was Mrs. Hughes fault. She knows that I am weak in latin. I mean, how would i have known that Mrs. Hughes told me to write an essay with a  happy ending and not an essay with a sad one?" I sighed, "And now, thanks to her, I feel bad for killing the lady's cat in the essay."

"Well, you did end the essay with 'et ipse mortuus est'." Jackson chuckled as he came to a stop a few feet away from the trash can. He stared at it for a few seconds before looking over his shoulder, back towards me.

"If you're wondering why the trash can is in the middle of the gym. Then the answer to that is that I still have to clean that trash there." I said pointing towards him.

/The following day/

\~\~ Customer's POV \~\~

"Jay, can you take the empty dishes back to the kitchen?" The sound of Miss Mary ordering her staff around could be heard from a mile away, leaving a grin on my face at the casual routine.

The moment I entered the cafe, I was welcomed by all the workers with a smile, giving off a welcoming vibe, allowing me to return one back. Making sure to greet them genuinely, I then followed as one of the workers, Sky, guided me towards my usual seat.

She patiently waited beside the table as I got comfortable in my seat before asking if I wanted to order the usual. A nod from me was good enough for her to get back to her job after promising that my order would be served right away. "Three cups of black coffee and one dark chocolate cake." I heard her announced as I grabbed my laptop from my bag before placing it on the table and opening it. Without wasting another second, I tapped down the keys, continuing my work.

The current cafe was the only place where I could get my work done comfortably without any worries as they allow customers to say here as long as they want to. Three cups of black coffee and one dark chocolate cake was always good enough to help me to finish all of my piled up work within a day or two unlike working at home.

Despite six of my kids are already wedded, they still come home just to complain 24/7 which I wouldn't mind of course unless and until they make this a routine rather than sitting down and acting like adults. And if were to deal their problems before work then consider me fired.

My thoughts were spared a few more minutes before they got cut off when I heard someone call me. I looked up to see that it was one of the workers. "Ah, Jay. How are you today?" I inquired, stopping my work for a minute to see her place a tray of my desired dishes on the table while making sure to not touch my documents. "Good." She said, curtly, without making any eye contact. "Enjoy." Nodding as a thank you, I watch as she walked away with a smile tugging on the corner of my lips.

I was seriously grateful that her attitude towards me has changed as compared to our first meeting. The girl always put a hostile feeling when around me, which I was quick to noticed and before the end of the third week, I found myself asking her what I did wrong. Of course, the issue hasn't been settled within a day. In fact it took us a few months to come to how we are currently — still working on it.

Picking up the cup from the tray, I carefully moved it towards my mouth and then blew it a few times before taking a sip.

Delicious.

"Do call if you need anything else, Mr. President." Smiled Miss Mary as she came over to check if I needed anything. After putting the cup back down, I wiped my mouth with the handkerchief before returning her the smile. "Will do."

/Later that day/

"Hey, I'm telling you. That girl has fallen for me." Declared Jackson, as he used the towel, that hung around his neck, to wipe off the sweat from his face. He had just finished working out at the gym and was ready to return to his apartment with his best buddy, Rider.

"Yeah, right. Do call me when she rejects you afterwards." Scoffed Rider, as he noticed two girls checking him out. He amusedly watched as their eyes traveled from his face to his abs and then back to his face before their face turned bright red upon realising that they had been catch red handed by non other than the said man.

Just as Rider gave them a wink, Jackson rolled his eyes knowing who his friend's next targets were. "If you keep that up, you'll never get get married." He said as he dragged his friend by the elbow, into the changing room.

"The same goes for you. If you don't hurry up and get a plastic surgery along with a brain, then you will stay single for the rest of your life."

After washing up and changing into different clothes, Jackson and Rider grabbed their bags and then headed towards the exit when they noticed a figure leaning against the wall beside them as they passed by. They came to a stop when the guy suddenly called out making them turn around as the guy approached them. "I would like to have a word with Mr. Jackson." He spoke while shoving shoving his hands in his pockets.

The two friends exchanged looks before turning their gaze towards the guy who stood there, smiling patiently. "About?" Jackson asked, raising an eyebrow.

"About your girlfriend, Jay."

/A few hours later/

\~\~ Jay's POV \~\~

"Jay, you're back?" I hear the old hag shout from afar just as I stepped into our apartment. "Yeah." I answered back as I closed the door behind me but didn't lock it.

"How was your day?" She asked as I followed her voice, which lead me to my bedroom. I wasn't surprised at all when I saw her going through my closet..... again. "Good and I already did the laundry yesterday." I placed my bag down on the floor, as my eyes scanned around my neat room. Thankfully, everything was in the exact same place as I had left it in the morning.

"That's great." I noticed a little worry in her voice as she closed the closet. Without making any eye contact, Ajumma turned away and then hurried out of my room and into the store room, leaving me confused until it suddenly clicked me. 

Calmly turning around, I left the house and walked towards our neighbor's backyard, feeling my heart flutter at the sound of leaves rustling as a cool breeze dances around them. Feeling my stiff muscles relax, I stop to close my eyes and inhale the fresh air when suddenly, the sound of someone sneezing reached my ears, making me exhale not a second later. "You can come out now Jimmy." I said with my eyes still closed. "Ajumma is worried about you."

"She hates me." A low voice, almost above a whisper, spoke out from my left — just as I had expected. The place has always been Jimmy's hideout whenever he and Ajumma had a fight or when she would scold him, leaving him to retreat here and sob out his emotions.

Hearing the the sound of bushes rustling, I opened my eyes and over looked my shoulder just in town to see Jimmy walking towards me with his whole body covered in not only mud and leaves but also small cuts. A sigh escaped my lips when I noticed his red nose and bloodshot eyes as evidence of dry tears covered his cheeks. Jimmy hesitantly looked up at me, shivering in cold.

"If she hated you then would she be worried about you?" I asked, slowly crouching down to his eye level while taking off my school jacket before hovering it over him as he sniffed.

"No." He mumbled under his breath while slipping his hands through the jacket's sleeve before letting me button it up for him. "But, I ate the guest's cookies."

"What guest?" I asked frowning while searching through my memory, trying to remember if the old hag had ever mentioned that we expecting someone today. When I couldn't remember any, I asked Jimmy again.

"I don't know. She wouldn't tell me." He answered, sniffing again as I stood back up straight. Gently lifting him into my arms, I then turned on my heel and started to head back home.

"Ya Ajumma, were we expecting someone today?" I asked her as we bandaged Jimmy's tiny cuts.

"Yeah. In a few hours."

"Oh, who is it?"

"On it's just one of my old friends." She said, shrugging while pasting the bandage on Jimmy's last cut. "Where are you going?" The old hag asked when I got up to my feet.

"Going to return Mr. Albert's shirt that I borrowed yesterday."

/A few minutes later/

\~\~ Mr. Albert's POV \~\~

Here I am sitting on a chair with my arms crossed over my chest and my gaze fixed on both Jay and Ryan who were now standing face to face with about a distance of seven five feet in between while Mark, Leo and Henry stood in a corner, beside me, leaning against the wall. Their eyes sparked with anticipation.

Anyone could see that Jay was looking at him with a 'don't you have something better to do?' expression while Ryan had a 'this is fun' expression.

He is enjoying this huh? You Baka.

"I heard you have a boyfriend." Upon Ryan's words, I couldn't help but mentally punch myself for using such as an excuse to make Ryan and the boys leave the poor girl alone but I there was nothing else I could think of. "His name Jackson, isn't it?" He asked, carefully studying Jay's expression who now stood there with an expressionless face.

What I expected was a silence from Jay for at least a minute or for a few seconds but what I got was a simple raise of an eyebrow.

"So what if it is?"

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