Chapter 15: The Past

KIX:

“So Edril, once you get back to your office, send me the files of that person I asked you to look at, okay?”

“Got it, sir,” my young and energetic assistant said.

I needed to learn all that I could about the people surrounding Jade. I know Dianna was also at this school, and I’m sure they’re still close, but apart from that, I have no clue what other kinds of people were lurking next to my mate… I needed to be sure they’re all trustworthy people… Especially that Liam guy, whom I find dubious since Jade readily mentioned his name…

Who was he? Was he close to her, and if so, how close were they?

Edril’s voice broke my trail of thoughts. “Are you really going, sir? Don’t you want to send anyone else undercover?”

“I’ll be fine, don’t worry… Besides, I need to get a diploma too, so I could at least hang something at the wall of my office. This is a good course to graduate from, don’t you think?”

Edril bit his lips. He knew I liked this pretend-to-be a student stint. What he didn’t like was the idea of me investigating Misha’s death and disappearance.

Since I had just been appointed as alpha of the Luna Alba Pack, it couldn’t be helped though. Misha was part of my pack and was also my friend. She was one of the few people who helped me regain pieces of my life after my parents forced me to abandon Jade.

Now that she’s gone and her death was still a mystery, the least I could do was to oversee the investigation on her case.

I initially thought it would be an easy feat to identify who had kidnapped and killed Misha. Her parents were both working under my family’s company, and although we have a legitimate restaurant business, we also run several illegal businesses on the side lines to grow the pack’s influence. As such, my family made a lot of enemies along the way, and Misha’s parents were in the forefront of such hate.

However, as the number of missing female college students like Misha grew, the pack became aware that this isn’t just a simple case of enemy retaliation.

The second college student who was abducted and killed lived somewhere near Misha’s school. Unlike Misha, she’s not a werewolf, and the third – also an ordinary human girl - was living close by too.

Fortunately, that last victim led me to find Jade again… Although I was happy to see her once more, I also felt extremely horrified at the thought that someone dangerous might be lurking beside Jade.

The police files that Edril had earlier sent me identified Jade as a witness to the latest abduction and killing case.

Although it may look bad initially, this can be a good thing for me too. I can look out for Jade, and at the same time, I have a reason to be closer to her again, and this time, I surely won’t fail to protect her...

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JADE:

Going to the library proved to be a good thing. For an hour, I was able to distract myself from what had happened earlier by immersing myself into the paper works I needed for school.

After a few minutes of browsing through several medical and nursing books, someone nudged me by the shoulders. I looked up from the page I was reading, and sure enough, I saw Liam smiling down at me.

“Jade, why did you go here alone? Didn’t we just agree not to be strangers to each other yesterday?”

I sighed in a reassuring manner internally. For a second, I was deathly afraid that the person who stood next to me was that person from earlier…

“Sorry… I felt bad for not doing my part of the school work yesterday, so I went here first to browse for some ideas for our research work.”

Liam’s comforting hand descended at the top of my head. He patted me like a child. “Don’t do that again, okay?”

“Do what?”

“Don’t slip out of the dorm without saying good bye… Don’t make me feel more worried than I should…”

My heart raced… Why? Why am I leaning for comfort towards Liam? Was it because I craved that feeling of affection I had before with Kix? Was I falling for him because he was nice, like how Kix was when we initially fell in love with each other?

I pondered at my past, just like I did so many times before when I was alone and during my private sessions with the psychiatrist. I wondered what I had done wrong… why I suddenly found myself abandoned by someone who said he’d love me until the end...

Kix was my everything back then... He was my first male friend… He was the first person of the opposite sex who had become interested in getting to know me… He was the first person to make me laugh and enjoy life…

At that time, I was more than content with becoming just his friend. The closeness we shared was very nice and comforting.

I was someone who struggled with my confidence, but he was always the one who believed in me and my talent. He cheered me on when no one else did. Even when my own parents were against the idea of me taking an art-related course in college, he was the one who said that their wants didn’t matter… I just had to follow my heart.

But where did that heart lead me to? I should have known that the path I took with him was a path to my destruction. I was never meant to be happy with someone grand like Kix Sarmiento, just like I had never been able to go to art school, like I originally wanted...

“Jade, is something the matter?... Are you okay?”

Before I even realized it, two fat drops of tears had already fallen on the page of the medical book I was reading.

“Uh, yeah, yeah, I’m alright… No need to worry, ha ha,” I said back to Liam, trying to fake a laugh.

“Are you sure? Is there something wrong,” he asked again.

Liam’s eyes were very expressive. I always felt like he could read behind the secrets of my soul whenever I gaze in his eyes.

But this was no time to dwell on past hurts. I must stay focused on the now… I must move forward.

“Everything wasn’t your fault, Jade,” I remember the psychiatrist saying. “You weren’t at fault. You were just a girl who fell in love and got heartbroken. It was a normal response to such raging and conflicting emotions…”

The psychiatrist said it was ‘normal,’ but I knew she was wrong…

Stabbing Kix back at that time and hating his very existence while still keeping his memories close to my heart did not feel normal at all…

“It’s almost time for class. Shall we go back together now,” Liam asked.

I smiled at him as best as I could. Now that I was older, I became better at hiding my emotions… I could survive better now than before…

It took us exactly fifteen minutes to go from the library into our class room on the third floor.

I was about to sit by my usual seat, which was arranged by the teacher in an alphabetical order when I saw it…

That dark, brown hair that turns golden when the sun shines at it – I knew that color well…

There was a boy sitting at my chair, and he was none other than Kix.