Past - 9
Elysia's POV:
RING!! RING!!
I jolted awake from a deep slumber at the sudden intrusion of the ringtone. My heart raced inside my chest due to the abrupt awakening.
Furrowing my eyebrows and barely opening eyes, I snatched the phone from the bedside table and sleepily answered it.
"Hello?" My voice emerged groggy, my mind still in the process of waking up.
"Oh, did I wake the good girl up?" A familiar sarcastic voice echoed from the other end, instantly widening my eyes.
I know this voice!
In an instant, I sat up on the bed, fully awake now. Pulling the phone away from my ear for a moment, I glanced at the screen. It displayed an unknown number.
"Who's this?" I pressed the phone against my ear and asked, hoping it was just my imagination.
"There's only one guy with this sexy voice, can't you tell?" came his smug reply. I closed my eyes briefly, confirming my suspicion.
It was definitely him, Sven Neve Damaris!
I hadn't encountered a man so full of himself other than him. I rolled my eyes, made a face, and silently scoffed at his words.
And just what did he say? Sexy voice?
"Well, someone's definitely living in their own fantasy world," my retort came out sarcastically. I froze suddenly, placing a hand over my mouth, realizing that I said it out loud. Did I just say that? I had never talked back to anyone before...
There was a brief silence on the other end before a deep chuckle resonated through the earpiece.
"Oh, so you also know how to bite back, huh?" He responded while chuckling, surprise and amusement laced his words.
I opened and closed my mouth, unsure of what to say.
"...sorry! I didn't mean to say it out loud," I answered, still confused about my own words.
"You don't need to apologize for voicing out your opinion, it's your right," he replied, his tone serious this time, surprising me. "What were you doing, clumsy head?" He asked, changing the topic.
"Sleeping," I answered. "How did you get my number, and why did you call me?" I asked. I was quite curious about his reason to call me so late at night.
"I have my ways," he replied, his cocky tone returning. "I was bored, then I remembered I needed to collect a debt from someone." His tone suddenly turned sinister.
"What debt?" I asked, furrowing my eyebrows in confusion.
"For injuring my foot. It still aches, you know," he explained.
"I'm sorry, but it wasn't intentional, you know that," I quickly defended myself.
"But you still punctured my little finger, and sorry isn't going to resolve it this time," he retorted.
"Okay, what do you want me to do then?" I asked.
"...three wishes," he answered.
"Huh?" I questioned, not grasping his point.
"Grant me three wishes," he repeated.
Three wishes? I squinted my eyes, feeling suspicious. "It's a trap, isn't it?" I asked skeptically.
His laughter resonated through the earpiece. "You aren't completely dumb, you know," he replied, making me roll my eyes.
"I'm not dumb," I retorted, a little annoyed.
"Oh, right. Your silliness only comes out in front of certain someone," he said sarcastically, clearly referring to Ares.
At the mention of Ares, a smile appeared on my face, my gaze drifting to the walls around the room, and my cheeks feeling a little warm as I thought about him.
"...see, that's what I said," he interrupted my thoughts.
I clicked my tongue, realizing I was still on the call. Facepalming myself, I quickly cleared my throat. "It's not that, I was... doing something," I made an excuse and changed the topic. "What are your wishes?"
His thoughtful voice came through the earpiece after a brief silence, "Not now, you've got to give me three wishes, and I would use them whenever I want."
"Without knowing the wishes?" I asked, finding it absurd, given his reputation as the school troublemaker.
"Without knowing the wishes," he confirmed.
"No way, that's not—" I began to argue, but he interrupted.
"Then we can just discuss our previous topic. Where were we?" He replied casually. "Oh right, we were talking about how you became silly in front of that year 12 guy, what was his name again? Ah, right, Ares—" my eyes widened at his words.
"Fine, fine, you got your wishes, now stop talking," I quickly interrupted before he could say more.
"Hm, you're a fast learner," he replied triumphantly.
"And, you're a bully," I complained.
"I can't deny the fact," he instantly replied proudly.
"I have to sleep now, I have school tomorrow," I said.
"Wait!"
"What?" I questioned.
"I'll give you a rare opportunity," he said dramatically. "It's very, very rare, and this is your only chance," he emphasized.
"...okay, what's that?" I asked, curious.
"I, Sven Neve Damaris, am giving you a chance, Elysia Dean Lawson," he paused, and I quickly straightened up, listening attentively. "A rare chance... to be my friend," he exclaimed.
I sat back, disappointed. And I thought it was really something interesting.
"Hmph! No, thank you, bye now!" I replied and hung up when he started laughing.
A Few Weeks Later...
I peeked out from behind the pillar and observed him, laughing at something Maron said.
A smile graced my lips as I watched him, momentarily forgetting my reason for hiding behind the pillar. Ares rarely laughed, but when he did, it was the most beautiful sight.
I could watch him all day. Noticing a few students giving me strange glances as they passed by, I tried to suppress my smile and cleared my throat, glancing around.
When Ares and Maron eventually walked back to their building, it suddenly occurred to me why I had been hiding there.
"Oh, right!" I whispered to myself, quickly scanning the area to spot the man I'd been trying hard to avoid.
I spotted his friends, along with their girl group, in the other corner of the courtyard, but I couldn't find Sven among them.
That guy had been my nemesis ever since that phone call where he asked to be my friend, always making suggestive remarks whenever he saw Ares nearby in the courtyard or doing his signature "I'll be watching you" gesture whenever he passed me. Even other students had started noticing his attention toward me, and many girls had given me judgmental and perplexed looks. I was surprised Ophelia hadn't caused any trouble yet. Even Aubrey had noticed the change in his behavior towards me and seemed concerned because of Ophelia.
As much as I wanted to graduate high school without drawing too much attention, my plan was failing day by day. A few days ago, I overheard some girls talking about me and Sven, but fortunately, they thought he was bullying me and making me do chores for him. However, if things continued this way and he didn't stop tailing me, trouble would inevitably find me.
I squinted my eyes and scanned the courtyard to check if he was lurking somewhere, but I couldn't spot him anywhere.
Where was he?
"...Who are we hiding from?" I jumped suddenly, startled by his voice right beside my ear.
I turned around instantly, clutching my pounding heart in my chest, and found him standing right behind me with a wide smirk.
Before I could respond, he pointed his index finger at my face, puzzling me.
Then, he quickly peeked out from the same spot where I had been observing Ares just moments ago and looked back at me.
"You..." he traced his finger back and forth, pointing to my cheeks. "Stop blushing," he said, narrowing his eyes at me.
I instinctively covered my cheeks with both hands. "I'm not blushing," I protested, embarrassed that he had caught me again.
"As if I would believe that. Come with me," he scoffed and grabbed my bag straps, pulling me along. He retrieved a chilled can of cola from his bag and placed it against my cheek, giving me a knowing look.
I couldn't help but feel that my plan to secretly watch Ares in school was continuously thwarted by this bully. Every time I spotted Ares in the courtyard, Sven would miraculously appear from nowhere and drag me away.
"Stop your stalking, would you?" He guided me toward the school's rooftop. There were mostly school's damaged or broken furniture and supplies there. Students didn't come out there often.
"I wasn't stalking," I immediately retorted, freeing my bag straps from his grip and taking the can.
"What's so great about him anyway? He didn't seem that special to me," he questioned, glancing at me. "Is it because he's handsome? But then again, he can't compare to me," he declared arrogantly, running his hand through his hair.
I inwardly scoffed. Why would he even compare himself to Ares? No one could compare to Ares in my eyes.
"Don't smile like that," Sven suddenly remarked. It was then that I realized I was smiling again, thinking of Ares. I pressed my lips together and leaned against the rooftop railing, gazing into the distance.
"You're a hopeless case," he muttered to himself, standing beside me and looking out while grabbing another can. I heard him but decided to ignore it, focusing on enjoying my cola.
"Thanks for this," I waved the can in front of him and attempted to open it, but my finger slipped.
"Ow," I winced slightly, retreating my finger and checking if it had cut my skin.
"What the..." Sven immediately placed his can down and grabbed my hand, scrutinizing it with narrowed eyes. "What on earth were you thinking, opening it like that?" he exclaimed, clenching his jaw.
What was he doing? It didn't even hurt much; it was just a small cut.
"I'm—"
"Is it hurting a lot?" he asked, staring into my eyes. Concern was evident in his voice and all over his face, surprising me.
"I'm fine; it's not hurting at all," I assured him. I wanted to say I was okay and it wasn't a big deal, but seeing how genuinely worried he looked, I decided not to downplay it.
"Not hurting? It's even bleeding," he said incredulously. My eyes widened at his words.
Was it bleeding significantly?
Seeing his reaction, I began to think that I might be hurt more than I initially thought. To check if it was really serious, I tilted my head to look through his hands and glanced at my hand.
What?
There wasn't even a full drop of blood; it was just a tiny smudge.
My mouth fell open, and I was rendered utterly speechless.
So this tall, burly guy, who stood at 6'3", was panicking over a minor smudge on my finger?
I stared at his face for a moment and involuntarily, a chuckle escaped my lips. He looked like a little boy at that moment, and he seemed oblivious to it.
I didn't know why, but realizing that he was such a soft person beneath his troublemaker and a bad boy of the academy persona felt like discovering a new facet of his personality, much like that day we had shared ice cream.
He stared at me with puzzled, narrowed eyes, still appearing concerned. I grabbed a tissue from my uniform pocket and waved it in front of him.
"Look," I said, gently withdrawing my hand from his grasp. Using the tissue, I wiped away the smudge and showed him the small visible cut. "See, I'm perfectly fine. It was just a minor scratch. You don't need to worry so much," I reassured him with a smile.
Sven's eyebrows shot up as he inspected my finger and then glanced at me, realization dawning on him. He quickly straightened up and cleared his throat.
"W-who said I was worried?" he exclaimed, gazing at the school building while running his hand through his dark brown hair. "I was just making sure you wouldn't die on me," he said, making me chuckle again, his ears turning slightly red with embarrassment.
I smiled and nodded, deciding to let him off the hook this time. It felt nice to discover this softer side of him.
I picked up my can again, intending to open it carefully this time. But before I could do so, the can was snatched from my hand.
I turned to Sven, surprised. He quietly opened the can and handed it back to me without meeting my gaze.
My smile broadened at his considerate gesture, and I accepted the cola from him.
***************
The next few weeks passed by swiftly as everyone grew increasingly busy preparing for the upcoming quarterly assessments.
Aubrey and I had decided to study together, assisting each other in our preparations. Sven, on the other hand, continued to annoy me daily, but I made a conscious effort to avoid engaging in conversation with him when there were many students around. I wanted to communicate directly with Sven and express my concerns, but I feared that he might misinterpret my words, so I kept my feelings to myself.
Upon entering the classroom, I greeted Esme with a warm smile, even though she never replied. Since the day she had helped us, I made it a point to greet her every morning, even if her response was a silent one but I did notice her eyes sometimes looking back at me as if searching for something.
I took my seat and reached into my bag to retrieve my textbooks when I suddenly froze, shocked. Inside my bag, I spotted a familiar notebook.
What?
It was my secret diary!!!
How had it ended up in my bag? Did I accidentally place it there alongside my course books?
My heart raced, and I felt a wave of paranoia sweep over me. In my nervousness, I quickly concealed the diary under my other books while discreetly scanning the classroom to ensure no one had noticed. Feeling anxious, I tried to refocus on my studies as Mrs. Clarke entered the classroom.
The door swung open with a thud, and Sven strolled in, as casually dressed as ever. He offered a brief greeting to Mrs. Clarke before settling into his seat and directing his gaze toward me.
He flashed his customary wink, then casually stretched his legs and closed his eyes, clearly prepared to doze off.
Why did he even bother attending class if he had no intention of participating?
Mrs. Clarke shook her head in disappointment and proceeded with the lesson, opting to disregard Sven for the remainder of the class. It was a common approach among teachers. They tended to ignore his behavior, as he appeared to be a lost case in their eyes, displaying no interest in studying.
When the class finally concluded, Mr. Mitchell unexpectedly entered the room, leaving me puzzled.
It wasn't a mathematics class, so why was he here?
"Elysia Lawson," Mr. Mitchell called out. I immediately stood up in response.
"Yes, sir," I replied, curious about why he had summoned me.
"Elysia, please come to my office after this class," Mr. Mitchell directly addressed me.
"Y-yes, sir," I answered quickly, my mind racing with questions. What could he possibly want to discuss with me?
Mr. Mitchell left after giving me the instruction, but I couldn't help but overthink it until the class ended. I hurriedly gathered my mathematics notebook, my nerves building with each passing minute, and made my way to Mr. Mitchell's office.
I stopped right in front of his office door, taking deep breaths and biting the insides of my cheeks in nervous anticipation. After exhaling a long breath, I knocked on the door and cautiously entered.
"May I come in, sir?" I asked, trying to keep my voice steady despite the anxiety bubbling within me.
"Oh, here she is. Come in, come in!" Mr. Mitchell gestured with his hand, inviting me into the room. I stepped inside, closing the door behind me.
"This is Elysia Lawson, Year 11's top student. The one I was just discussing," I heard Mr. Mitchell say to someone.
Could there be more people inside the office? I wondered.
I turned around to face the room and walked toward Mr. Mitchell's desk. As I did, I noticed that someone was already seated in one of the chairs opposite his desk.
Before I could take another step and see who it was, the person turned around and looked at me.
Our eyes met, gazes locking onto each other, his light brown eyes bore into my amber ones, freezing me in my place. My heart pounded fiercely, threatening to burst from my chest due to how rapidly it was beating.
Ares...!
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Hey, my beautiful lovelies! So, I'm back with an update. Thank you so much everyone, for your get-well wishes. I'm all good now and feeling better than ever, so I will start writing again. 🤗
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