Chapter 22

The next day.

Gideon was not in his classroom when they walked in. They had been waiting for a while but no Professor came in. If she hadn't stopped John Drail from going to and fro the classroom, her blockmates would have really left.

She was reading erotica novel that Hazel recommended to her in an online reading app. A lot has happened these past few days and it was only now that she remembered the reading app in her phone due to boredom. Although she preferred physical books, but having portable novels seemed not too bad. In fact, she was smiling from time to time while facing her phone, making her seatmate wonder if she's gone crazy due workload.

Jewel rolled her eyes and looked over the class secretary when the girl suddenly yelled, "Omg! Sorry, guys. I forgot to remind you all that Prof Gideon won't be coming to class and he's given us three activities!"

There was silence and everyone looked at Madeline, the class secretary who's smiling wryly at them.

"Why you didn't say, Mad?"

"Well, I thought it's free time. Tss."

She sighed and hid the phone in the backpack. Jewel looked at Madeline, raising a brow. "He texted you? Did he told you why he was absent?" she asked, grumbling.

It should not be that her husband didn't tell her in advance? She's only one-text away yet she found out the news from other people's mouth? He's such a rascal!

Madeline raised both of her hands. "Err... yes. He told me that the faculty will be having one week seminar so those three activities are expected to be submitted by next week."

There's another round of grumble from the class, yet Jewel was frowning not because of the rush deadline but because Gideon preferred to tell Madeline than her.

She closed her fist and huffed. A sour feeling surge from her chest making her mood worse. Jewel shook her head and decided to ignore that bad feeling in her heart.

AS USUAL, she walked down the stairs alone after class. Jewel left the classroom early and no one stopped her. Simoen was not in class and even Joseph, that prankster who always call her precious jewel. Her lips twitched and she sighed. It was good that no one bothered her but the silence made her feel incomplete, like there's something missing.

Jewel silently walked inside the Treesury and into the gate inside the small woodland leading to the flower garden. The sun was glaring hot but the huge branches and leaves of the trees shaded her from the scorning weather.

Behind the four-storey Science and Technology building was the flower garden that her batchmate made last year. Opposite the building was the SHS building which has now been converted into a library, computer laboratory, and nursery of seedlings exclusive for Forestry and Agricuture students.

Not far from the flower garden is another gate separating the former SHS Department Area and Domesticated Forest that her block will visit on Thursday.

Jewel took a selfie with the full bloom honeysuckle and roses before she sat down on the bench and resumed her erotic romance novel. Earlier at class, she already decided to finish her current book so she could read another tomorrow. But seemed like it's impossible when the alarm she set for her afternoon class rang.

She didn't notice how fast time went by.

A cool breeze blew past her as she walked her way back to Engineering building, but she didn't notice the pair of eyes following her every step.

Her lips curved into a smile when she was walking towards the dormitory. She finished reading the current novel while waiting for her afternoon class professor, whom she didn't see even his shadow in the classroom. She's glad because she could read another book tonight.

She hummed a tune.

"You're quite happy."

Jewel stopped in her tracks and looked at Joseph who was sweating profusely. He stood beside her and dribbled the ball he's holding. "Any goodnews?" he asked, grinning from ear to ear.

She glared at him. "Don't startle me, can't you?"

Joseph just flashed his infamous smile. "Ah. You don't even notice the tail-like Saavedra. He's been following you even before I called you."

"Huh?" She looked back but she didn't see Simoen. Her eyebrows met. "Can you stop it? I hate liars." And looked at him from head to toe. "You're annoying."

He just shrugged his shoulders and chuckled. "I'm not. Look ahead and you'll see."

Jewel turned her head at the front and she met Simoen's deep gaze. Her eyes widened in suprise and she tried to take a step past him but he immediately caught her wrist. "Laine, let's talk."

She slapped his hand away. "We finished talking yesterday."

"Laine ---"

Simoen tried to grab her wrist again but Joseph blocked him. "Dude, have some respect for the girl."

Simoen gave Joseph a threatening glare. "I'm not talking to you. Move."

Chuckling, Joseph looked over his shoulder and glanced at her. "Your boyfriend sucks, huh?"

Jewel grimaced. Rolling her eyes, she glared at Simoen. "I told you, we're over, Saavedra. Don't come near me again. And you!" Her forefinger pointed to Joseph. "Get away! Both of you are annoying as flies!"

She walked past the two and quickened her steps. Suddenly, a hand grabbed her arm and turned her around. When she looked, it's Simoen. Not again. "What do you ---"

He cut her words. "I have something for you," he said.

Her eyebrows met when he pulled out a small, square object wrapped in a gift wrapper.

"I created it last summer and only now I dared to give it to you. In fact, it's just a replica of what I first made for our first monthsary, but it disappeared so I  failed to give it to you. I hope..." Simoen swallowed the lump in his throat. "Forgive me, Laine. And believe me that I still love you, Mi Amore."

Even though she didn't want to, but in order to make Simoen stop chasing her to the dorm, she reluctantly accepted the thing before she walked away. But shooing away one jerk didn't mean shooing the other annoying bug.

Joseph leaned over her and whistled. "Your boyfriend Saavedra suddenly disappeared earlier in practice. When he came back, he ran ten rounds in court as per coach's punishment."

She raised a brow. "Am I asking, Avila?"

Joseph whistled. "No."

Jewel shook his head and continued to step back into the dorm. She ignored the eyes that had been staring at her since the two boys blocked her path earlier. For all she knew, she and Simoen would be the content of the entertainment section in the next release of the school paper. And there's nothing new there.

Her feet stopped when she reached the gate one and looked at Joseph. The man smiled and said goodbye. He walked to gate two, just a few steps away from gate one,  and entered the boy's dormitory.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Sheena. Her grip on Simoen's gift tighten. She knew that girl saw the scene between her and Simoen earlier. Her steps quickened when she entered the gate one, secretly smirking at Sheena's sour expression.

Entering her room, she heaved a sigh of relief. It was clear that she didn't want to get entangle with Simoen again but Sheena was still blaming her. A sigh escaped from her lips again.

She looked down on the gift and opened it. She frowned and put the portrait on her bed, slowly tracing its edges with her finger.

It was her face when she was still seventeen. Looking down, she saw a signature below.

"Mi Amore..." she whispered.

Like a switch, her mind recalled the portrait of her face in Gideon's house. It was the exact replica of that huge portrait and there's no way that she'd got it wrong when the signature showed it all.

"Simoen, are you the one who drew that portrait?" she asked, pondering in wonder.