Chapter 16: Unexpected

JADE:

I wasn’t imagining it. Kix’s face lit up in joy as soon as he saw me walk over to my seat, which he was presently occupying.

“Uh, hi,” he said, grinning from ear to ear like he used to in high school. At one point, I wondered how such a godly smile could turn into a ferocious wolf in an instant, but after seeing him actually transform into a beast, I knew that smile wasn’t at all reflective of his true, monstrous nature.

“S-sorry… That’s my seat,” I stammered.

“Sorry, I didn’t know this was occupied. The teacher said I could sit here.”

I looked at him in awe. In truth, I was shaking internally, searching my head for a sane answer for what was going on. We had a ‘chance encounter’ this morning, and now, this? What was he doing here? How did he find me? Was he stalking me?...

“It’s this next seat. This is the empty one,” Liam said from behind. I looked at Liam’s face. I wanted to cry and ask for his help. I began to open my mouth, but Kix’s annoyingly masculine voice spoke again.

“My bad. I’ll move there then,” he grinned very nicely. He picked his bag pack from the seat and stood away from it.

Kix walked right next to me, his arm grazing at my shoulder a bit. I shuddered as our skin collided for a few seconds.

Gosh, was I that scared of him?...

“You look really nice,” he said quietly. I felt my skin crawl in repulsion even more.

“Excuse me, do you know Jade?” I heard Liam say.

Before Kix could spill out any nonsense, I turned around towards Liam hurriedly. “No. It’s just that I saw him this morning… He mistook me for someone he knew,” I lied.

I would absolutely never reveal to Liam or to anyone the secret that I knew this punk and that he ruined my whole life during high school!

“Yeah, that’s right,” Kix said next to me. I looked up at his face, half-afraid that he will deny what I said and half-surprised that he agreed to go on with my lie.

“I had super bad eyesight, so I mistook her for someone else. I didn’t say this earlier, but I do apologize for the inconvenience I had caused you,” he said, now turning his face towards me.

I didn’t know what to say. I tried to force myself to smile, but I didn’t think I convinced Liam based on the expression of his face.

“Well, that’s the last time I’ll let you go to school alone, Jade… Who knows who else you might encounter on the way,” Liam said in a cold voice.

“I agree… Someone as beautiful as her should never go outside alone, especially since the times had gotten more dangerous than ever,” Kix said with a hint of disdain in his voice.

I looked back and forth at these two boys before me. It was the first time they were seeing each other, but why can I feel a strong animosity coming from both of them?

“By the way, are you perhaps the one they call Liam,” Kix asked in a rather sarcastic tone.

I flinched. Rats, he really did remember his name! I wanted to pinch Kix’s arms as hard as I could right then and there.

“Yes, but who told you about me,” Liam answered curtly, his eyes slits thinning in suspicion.

“Our classmates mentioned your name. They said the class president will certainly be of help to someone like me.”

“And you are?”

“Francis Sarmiento; Kix for short. I’m the transferee student.”

My eyebrows shot in the air. “Transferee student,” I said incredulously.

“Yeah. I just came back from the States recently, so I don’t know a lot of people yet. I hope you could help me get settled,” Kix said.

At that exact moment, my heart fell. The hell about coming from the States! I chanced upon an article about him inheriting the Sarmiento-Movido Group of Companies a few months ago. Why was he telling Liam an outward lie? Why was he really here?

Thankfully, the teacher entered just in time, breaking the tense atmosphere between Liam and Kix completely.

“Everybody, please go to your seats. We’ll start today’s lesson,” Professor Armond said.

Liam had to no choice but to reluctantly go in front since his last name starts with a ‘C’ while I had no choice but to take a seat and be stuck with Kix beside me since our last names both started with ‘S.’

Soon, Professor Armond confirmed my worst fear. Kix really did enroll officially as a transferee student. He will be joining our class and section from this day onward.

Talk about a hellish few years in college… Why was this happening? Why is God punishing me like this?

It had taken me four year to bury what had happened before in my memory and live an almost normal life. Why did he have to return back and ruin it?

All throughout the class, I couldn’t concentrate. It didn’t help that Kix kept on staring at me half the time too, making the teacher call his name sharply twice within the first hour of class.

“Eyes in front, Mr. Sarmiento. I’m sure that the points of discussions aren’t written on Ms. Sy’s face, so quit starring at her.”

“I’m sorry, sir. I just can’t help it. She’s so beautiful,” Kix replied. I wanted to bury my face in a book as all eyes stared back at us.

“I’m sure she is, but this isn’t the time to be gawking at her.”

Now, my idea of a quiet college life had just dissipated completely…

*************************

KIX:

I really wasn’t kidding when I said that she was beautiful.

As I looked at Jade’s face illuminated by the sunlight from the nearby window, I could remember how breathtaking she was, especially whenever she attempts to concentrate on something…

How was I able to stand not seeing her and not being with her for four, long and dreadful years? I remembered the first few days after that incident in the girl’s washroom. I was sent into the emergency room of a nearby hospital, but my parents insisted on transferring me to a private hospital that we unofficially owned not because our secret of being werewolves might be revealed, but mostly because they wanted to monitor my every move and keep me from seeing Jade.

They were right. There wasn’t a day when I didn’t try to run away just so I could be with Jade. I sobbed every night in front of my guards, who didn’t even budge in front of the door. I tried breaking the windows, but they were all made of really though tempered glass, which only left me scarred and dizzy as I tried to break through them without success.

It didn’t matter though. I was ready to face all the physical pain because my heart felt wretched seeing the look on Jade’s face as she stabbed me. I could only imagine the anguish she felt when it happened. She must have been very scared. She must have felt guilty even though she cannot really hurt me with that mere blade…

Most importantly though, I wanted to tell her it was not your fault… It wasn’t her damn fault that our relationship broke apart at that time…

The gaping hole in my heart felt even more lacking as I peeked at the gorgeous girl in my presence now… I looked at how lovely she had grown now away from me, and I thought bitterly at how foolish I was to have to be the only one suffering from our break up after all these years…

I guess I deserved it. I deserved to be the one who suffered the most.

I was roused back into the present when she nudged me by the elbow. I looked at her face and she pointed with your mouth to her hand that was extended towards me.

I looked at my mate’s slender fingers, and I felt ecstatic at what I saw.

I can’t believe it! Did she really write me a letter?

I took it excitedly from Jade’s hands while her concentration went back to the teacher in front. I unfolded the tiny note, excited to see what her message was.

‘PLEASE DON’T TELL THEM YOU KNOW ME. ACT LIKE YOU DON’T CARE, AND I’LL DO THE SAME.’

I was a fool… Of course that’s what she’ll say… Who was I kidding in thinking that this piece of paper would contain words of endearment I haven’t heard from her in a long time.

It doesn’t matter anyway. I will protect her from now on. I will stand by Jade’s side even if she grew sick of me or even if she ended up hating me more and more.

After all, hate isn’t the opposite of love, right? It’s animosity… The fact that Jade still cared enough to detest me means that I still have some space in that heart of hers, and for me that’s more than enough…