His ExWife (edited version)

Chapter 9

Flashback

You hardly ever find a girl -not to mention, alone- on the third abandoned floor of a high school on a dramatic Monday morning when she should have been in classes.

More to say, she was crying.

It was the weirdest thing that had happened in a while; not that the girl was crying but that there was a girl here, hardly anyone came around here.

The floor was made up different classroom sections that were now too old to use and were to be renovated, but renovations were not occurring anytime soon. Some classes remained locked and a series of divided classes were open to walk in though they laid dusty and abandoned.

Most kids of the school did not even know this part of school existed but it remained to the advantage of Iyan. He could stay away- clearly no one would be bothered by his absence- and stay alone.

The sobbing grew quieter but continued nevertheless, Iyan waited for it to pass by and expected the visitor to leave as soon as they finished their business of "sobbing" here.

Some few minutes passed, he heard no sobs now but the girl hadn't left, intrigued, he got up and went outside. In one end of a corner of the classroom she lied, curled up like a ball, face dug inside her hands that crossed across her feet against her chest in a protective way.

"Need some help?" he asked in a sarcastic tone.

She jumped up at the mere sound of his voice, she must have been expecting this place to be a ghost building. Iyan didn't blame her.

Wide open, engulfing and absorbing the stranger's presence, her ocean blue eyes were puffy and swollen, enclosed with a shot of red- probably from the lengthy sobbing. Stark and shocked, she looked right into his eyes, the pain in her heart still flowing like a river from her eyes.

Iyan was instantly drawn to her at first sight, like a moth to a flame. Her blonde locks were all over her teary face and dried tears laid stained on her pinkish hot cheeks.

"Are you okay?" he asked again, this time genuinely concerned.

"Yeah, I'm fine thank you," she said trying be as cold as possible, but in reality she was feeling so weak that she was barely able to speak out loud.

She spontaneously got up, not meeting his intense gaze as he watched her gather her wits and her open bag along with her scholarly materials lying all around her.

He stood still, watching her move weakly, her hands barely steady as she picked up everything. Fidgeting, she wore her bag at the back of her shoulder and turned to leave.

He noticed what she was wearing, a polka dot red dot dress that hung too well on her figure. He immediately wondered how a basic dress as that could look still make her stand out in the crowd of thousands, at least according to him.

Coming forward, he offered right when she was about to leave, "You can stay if you don't feel okay, don't worry, I'll remain in my corner and you can be in yours."

Without any reaction to him or his words, she hurriedly moved out of that classroom and descended the stairs.

He barely had any time to get a second glance of hers as he stepped out of the class and on the threshold of the abandoned floor.

It was hard to forget her face though, he wished he could see her again.

Over the next few days, he made sure to keep an eye open to all the classes that he followed, maybe he could come across that new student that way.

That did not go as planned, but he did sure come across his half brother Scott. To his own surprise, he had seen Scott present in most classes for the first time. But he also noticed that even Scott had been on the look out for someone with his absent minded and inattentive behavior.

Iyan shrugged it off immediately thinking that must be some other ruse of his- getting better attendance to make up for his usually bad grades, at least mom would understand his effort. Of course, she new saw him even reaching there in comparison to Scott, Scott was already the apple of her eyes and her eyes remained closed to Iyan, her own son...it had even stopped bothering him by now. 

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A week passed, the next Monday Iyan was in the library in the far off corner, barely visible from the entrance- he stayed quite the loner kid. All by himself, he sat down to finish the book he had started- The 100 poems of Rain. He gave poetry time only when he had finished studies and the weekend had been just enough to do that. For some reason, he thought of that girl again when he got interrupted by a voice.

"Hi..."

He looked up to see Mariella, unexpected as it was. Her blonde hair was neatly tied in a pony tail this time, her long hair flowing to the back of her hips. She looked different this time; the last time he had seen her, she was an absolute mess. She sat down and took out her wooden notebook. Or it looked like a diary.

"I had to apologize to you about how I left abruptly the last time. It was my first day here and all I can say is it wasn't a good day," she spoke quietly, embarrassed, refusing to meet his eye.

This part of the library had only two tables; on one they sat, and the other had remained empty, the rest of the library couldn't even be seen from here. But it was clear to Iyan seeing her relaxed shoulders and non-fidgeting hands that she was probably more comfortable here than that ghastly abandoned building where they had been only the two of them.

"It's alright," Iyan continued almost immediately, "Are you doing okay now? I don't see the pretty girls crying a lot you know," he smiled teasingly.

She looked up and saw his face, she instantly categorized him as appealing in the first look, this was practically the first time she was seeing his face. His dark brown eyes were covered and hidden with the thin rimmed glasses he wore all the time, his nose fit perfectly on his oval face with fringes of his brown hair covering the start of his forehead. She took a good look at him and he smiled in response, he was not scared of the attention. She liked his friendly smile.

"First days can be hard you know, specially when you have moved for the first time in your life," she said sadly.

"Crying does not mean that you're weak, it means you have a heart," he said casually flipping through his poems book, he was looking for one that he had not read before.

She looked at him again, her eyes shone with a small spark of shock. Heart. She didn't even feel she had a heart, her heart had stayed frozen and detached for far too long. He looked up and met her gaze. Her big blue eyes were so deep and intriguing.

"Are you always this serious?" Iyan asked mockingly.

No...no it's just the studies I think...I don't think I'll do too well, moving here in the mid of the semester and the exams coming in two months..." she lied.

She wished she could show a less serious face, she really didn't want to ruin the chances of having a friend for the first time in her life, after what had happened with her only friend Katherine, she had not even dared befriend any other, the risk was too much. But this was a new place, far away from Italy, she hoped things would change.

"Oh that's not a lot you're worrying about, I can help you out if you need the help in studies...I mean if you wouldn't feel comfortable, that's completely alright too, I know I'm just a stranger," he blabbered nervously, well what do you say to impress a girl whom you met crying in the first place.

She smiled in response, "That will be too nice of you honestly, I am Mariella Lewis by the way."

"I am Iyan," he said smilingly, "your name is beautiful, what does it mean?"

"Who knows?" she shrugged and asked, "So let's start tomorrow? After class, here itself?"

"Sure," he said at the drop of the hat, he couldn't wait to see more of her.

She got up to leave and took her wooden notebook in her hands. She liked him. He was kind and he seemed a lot like herself, lonely in the crowd, willing to tear away from the crowd.

As she walked past everyone in the library, all eyes had been on her, some stared in admiration and some in lust but one thing was certain, she had gathered too much attention for a new girl.