The Truths That We Hide

𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐦𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐲

Chris came to the school an hour before the event started to speak with the principal and to look around the school. In fact, he was trying to find the auditorium when he met Bree. He was more than shocked to see her in the school because he had no idea that she was a teacher.

He hated it when people yelled at him and he excepted respect for everyone. Even in high school, he was known as the boy with a bad temper.

He had often wished that she would have been different. That she would have been just like everyone else, someone who wouldn't argue with him when he did something wrong. He had wished that she could ignore him the way he tried to ignore her.

But of course, none of that happened. She was one of the kind girls who was the first one who really got back to him for the way he treated others. It hadn't always been a bad thing because, for some reason, he often laughed at her and looked forward to what she had in mind.

Despite that, Chris was happy when Bree left in the senior year. There was no one who fought with him and made him annoyed for the little things. At least, that's he always thought until he saw her again earlier this week. If it wasn't a shock alone, the way she had changed blew his mind.

He wasn't sure if he liked it or not. Now, she seemed to be everything he had wished her to be in high school. Silent, miserable, everything Bree wasn't. Now she had actually listened to what said and didn't give one of her sassy comments. He should have been happy that she wasn't fighting with him anymore. Why wasn't he?

His answer had a deeper meaning when she asked what had inspired him to write books. He was even looking at her when he explained about personal things and mysteries. He wanted to yell at her that she was his mystery that had been troubling at the back of his head all these years without even realizing it.

But now he knew that he had a son who looked to be around five years old which seemed to explain why she left. Now Bree was nothing but a solved mystery so why was he still thinking about her? The funny thing was that he wished for her to be that teenager Bree again and stay like that forever. Now she had become a silent woman who looked like she hadn't smiled in years.

She had made him smile tonight. It was a quick moment that hardly lasted a minute but it still happened. For a while, he saw the old Bree yelling at him for being an asshole.

It happened when she asked what he was doing at the school and she looked so angry that he almost laughed. He hoped to see that side of her again because damn, he hadn't even realized how much he had missed it.

Chris knew now where she worked. He didn't know what he did with the information but he would use it sometimes in the future. Stalking her wasn't part of the plan but maybe they could talk and get to know what had been happening in each other's lives after high school.

He waited in the coffee shop near the school for her to leave school. It was 3pm which meant that he had been sitting there for over an hour now, looking outside like an idiot. He had almost lost hope when he saw her.

In less than a minute, he was running out of the shop towards the red-haired woman. He shouted her name but wasn't close enough.

"Ariel!" he tried again, this time with his favorite nickname and just like that, the red-haired beauty stopped walking. He stopped next to her and stopped to get his breathing normal.

"What do you want?" she didn't look exactly happy to see him but for once, she wasn't running away. He awkwardly mumbled something that made no sense. Unlike all the times they had argued, he was now shy. Why the fuck was he shy? Damn her and whatever she was doing to him.

"Just say it, Adams," Bree said, not even bothering to sound friendlier. "I have somewhere to be and I don't have much time."

He looked straight at her for a long time as if to memorize it. She was still smaller than him in both height and weight but taller than most women. She hadn't changed at all from their high school years but at the same time, now she looked like a woman instead of a teenage girl.

"Wanna go the coffee with me?" Didn't he just drink one while waiting for her? What was wrong with him?

"What?" Bree looked at him as if he was stupid. He almost felt offended because women usually didn't react that way when he asked them out. Then he remembered who he was talking with. Of course she had to be different from other women.

"Go to the coffee with me," he repeated, now sounding more confident and secure rather than shy.

She denied it immediately, saying a simple no without even telling why. Chris frowned from disappointment but didn't give up. Who knew when was he going to find her again and have a chance to talk with her?

Patiently he asked her to give a good reason why not which seemed to annoy her. There was a silence for a few seconds until she spoke again. "First of all, I have to get Quentin from kindergarten. Also, I don't want to."

Alright. Okay. Now what? Chris knew better than ask her to get her son later but an idea came to his mind. But did he really wanted to go with her to the place that was full of children?

"Let me come with you," the words left his mouth before he even realized it but he couldn't take them back, no matter how he wished. Apparently, he would go to kindergarten. How bad could it be?

"What about no?" Bree frowned as if trying to figure out what was his plan. When she knew that, she could tell him the answer because he had no idea.

"What about yes?" Chris mocked her, fighting back a grin. He could feel that this was going to get ugly and fun just like in high school. Just like that, he felt like eighteen years old again instead of twenty-four. It was crazy how much one woman could affect him and change his mood so quickly.

"I have a right to say who's going near my son and you're not one of them."

"C'mon Ariel, it's just me!" he could see that using the nickname was enough and that he was really on the thick ice but right now he didn't care.

"That's the problem! You are you!"

"Chris and Bree, Bree and Chris. Like the old days, Ariel. Besides, you don't know what kind of person I am now since we haven't seen each other in five years. I'm not a monster," Chris explained, no, almost pleaded for her to understand his point.

"Why do you want to come so much? We hate each other," she said with a tired sigh.

"No, you hate me. I hated you but not anymore." It was true. Now that he was talking, having an actual conversation with her, he tried to find reasons to hate her.

Bree was still a stubborn little thing but he could handle it. She had grown up just like he had and wasn't that annoying teenage girl anymore. They weren't the same people and there was no reason to fight over some little things that happened years ago. So maybe he could start to tolerate her.

"C'mon. One coffee. Let's talk a while and get to know each other better. After that, you don't have to see me ever again if that's what you want," he was almost on knees for her but she wasn't worth that much. Yet. "And who knows, maybe I end up hating you again."

"Alright, you can waste your money for my hot chocolate."