Page 34 of The Friend Zone Experiment

“Ket Siong isn’t like that,” said Renee weakly.

“Only because you liked him! And you still have a big old crush on him. Admit it.”

“No, I don’t,” said Renee, but she didn’t sound convinced, even to herself.

Maybe she did have a tiny crush on Ket Siong. It would explain the way her heart skipped whenever she thought about their upcoming non-date.

But even if that was true, it was no big deal. It wasn’t like she was inlovewith Ket Siong. This was probably just her psyche’s way of distracting her while her ego recovered from the Jason breakup.

“Anyway,” said Renee, “so what if I do? I’m allowed crushes.”

Nathalie shook her head. “Your terrible taste in men…”

“YoulikedKet Siong. You kept telling me to go after him, back then!”

“He was so soft-spoken he fooled me,” said Nathalie. “Then he messed you around and I realised he was no different from all the other jerks.”

“We were just kids. We both made mistakes,” said Renee. She remembered what Ket Siong had said. “But we were good as friends. That part worked.”

Nathalie leaned back in her adorable but uncomfortable wooden chair, which looked like it had done duty in a primary school in a previous life. She crossed her arms, dissatisfied. “You will not listen to me.”

“It’s a morning at a museum. What’s the worst that could happen?”

“He could break your heart again. I deal with enough bodilyfluids from Thomas, I don’t need you sobbing all over my clothes, too.” Nathalie sighed. “Thomas wiped his nose on my red DVF dress the other day. You know the new one, with the flowers?”

“And the cute flared sleeves,” confirmed Renee, adding, with feeling, “That’s horrific. How much was the dress?”

“Too much,” said Nathalie darkly. “Thomas is lucky he’s so cute.”

Renee considered her options. She wasn’t about to persuade Nathalie that hanging out with Ket Siong was a good idea. But there must be some way to reassure her best friend that her decision-making skills could be trusted—more, at least, than those of a three-year-old with no respect for fashion.

Renee had fallen in love with Ket Siong once before and suffered the consequences. What better inoculation could there be against her developing feelings again? Looked at that way, Ket Siong was the safest guy she could be spending time with right now.

“You don’t need to worry,” she told Nathalie. “I’m not going to break my heart. I didn’t even cry on your shoulder when Jason broke up with me.”

Nathalie sat up. “Yes, why didn’t you? You should have told me. I could have taken you out to get smashed.”

“I was busy,” Renee reminded her. Despite herself, she felt a little smile curve her lips at the recollection of what she’d been busy with.

Her mind threw up an image of Ket Siong from that night: shirtless, looking up at her from between her knees with that breathtaking intensity peculiar to him. Her cheeks warmed.

Nathalie did not miss this. She looked forbidding. Then—even more alarmingly—she brightened.

“When is it you are seeing Ket again?” she said. “Saturday? Great. I’ll come.”

Renee stared. “What?”

“I like Rembrandt. All those cute little old men in hats.” Nathalie started tapping at her phone, pulling up the exhibition web page.

“But you hate museums,” said Renee. “You say it’s like going to an art zoo.”

“Let’s have lunch after,” said Nathalie. “What about Roka? I’ve been craving Japanese. I can book. Is Ket coming, or can we ditch him?”

“Who’s going to look after Thomas?” tried Renee, though she was conscious the note of desperation in her voice was far from dignified.

“He’s got two parents,” said Nathalie, mildly surprised. “Jeroen doesn’t have any plans this weekend.” She pinned Renee with a penetrating look. “There’s no reason I can’t come, is there? I was friends with Ket, too, before he turned out to be a cad. Of course, if it was a date, I would not dream of intruding.”

In spite of Renee’s exasperation, Nathalie’s dogged support warmed her. After all, Nathalie had been friends with Ket Siong, too, originally. Renee tended to forget.