my lovely readers,
here is the latest chapter of unexpected love. I hope that you enjoy this chapter and comment/vote on it. Thank you so much for your amazing support, I am so thankful to you. I never expected to write so much, and now I already have 136 pages, this is all thanks to you. Without you it would have never been possible, so I thank each one of you. the picture shows the bank where they sat on and the Sikh temple, with the project they talked about. Enjoy!
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It's the unexpected that changes our lives. - unknown
Jasmeet's POV:
He came nearer and nearer, and I could also feel Enzo tensing up as his body straightened up, when he realized that, his best friend was coming closer, in an attempt to object to our closeness and proximity. It was clear to both of us that he would cause a scene and would explode like a volcano. I sensed that his promise to Enzo was not valid and could not be seen as real. He was just playing with the two of us, making us believe that he would actually allow a relationship to form between us. Enzo no longer held my hand in his, he let go of it but he still stared into my eyes, trying to calm me down. He whispered into my ear leaning towards me, sounding worried and tensed: "Now it will get messy. Go, I understand if you do not want to witness this!"
With his stare, he urged me to leave and I felt it hard to move, no matter, how inconvient this situation seemed for the two of us. It seemed to me not fair to leave him behind to face the wrath of his best friend as it was not only his fault that they were fighting. I looked into his eyes, trying to convince him that I wanted to stay. His caring tone melted something in me and I could not believe that I found someone like him, who was so considerate and concerned. It seemed like all my dreams came true, making me question if this really happened or if I was dreaming.
My heart started to beat faster and it became hard for me to breath, as I was very anxious and worried that Shawn would cause a scene embarrassing all of us, as he was only a few feet away from us. Despite it being still early, some students shot us curious looks, as it seemed very odd that the school's most liked boy was with the girl who was despised by everyone. Moreover, our intimacy also confused them, however, no one dared to speak up.
Step by step Shawn came closer and closer, and I braced myself for an outburst of his, and tried to walk away, making one small step after the other. I did not want to come between them and I knew that Enzo would not be angry with me for leaving, as he was well aware that our connection would cause problems. Shawn was now nearly in front of us, his eyes portraying the anger and rage he felt. Enzo had been right about him, him not wanting to let something prosper between us. Shawn wanted to say something but then, I felt his gaze on me, a worried look spreading all over his face. I just shrugged it off, and tried to ignore this feeling of sickness, swallowing it down.
However, fate decided to hinder me by making my condition worse and I could feel my head spinning, making it hard for me to stand straight. Few steps I was able to make, then I felt my consciousness slip and I just fell; making everything dark. The only thing I could make out was the worried voice of both of the boys, calling out for me.
Shawn's POV:
I could feel anger boiling up when I saw them together, and I come closer and closer. My determination of letting them be together dissolved, when I saw the affectionate gesture and the intimacy between them, as my heart felt being torn apart and broken into two. The words I heard also made me feel sad and full of pain. She accepted his proposal and I felt my throat tighten, and I could not recognize myself as I was being so emotional. What was wrong with me? I had to snap out of it, now rather than later. My promise was not something I wanted to break, so I had to convince myself that I was and would never be in love with Jasmeet Hailee Kaur. She was not the one for me. A voice in me told me: Yeah try to do this. It will come for sure back to bite you. I just ignored this voice, attempting to calm down, by breathing in and out deeply. Promises were not meant to be broken so I had to make sure to keep this one.
However, my anger got the better of me and I could see myself walking closer and closer to them, preparing an angry speech in my head, ready to jump at Enzo's throat who seemed very worried and alarmed. I wanted to scream and shout, but, something caught my attention, diverting it from my anger. Jasmeet seemed so look very pale, her cheeks very white and I knew immediately that something was wrong, making me reconsider my actions. Her breathing also appeared not as it should be, very fast and hastily. I shot Enzo a worried look and he noticed that something was not right.
Suddenly, Jasmeet then collapsed onto the floor, however, before hitting the ground, I was able to jump forward and catch her, in the right moment I reacted instinctively. The moment she fell into my arms, I felt an electric spark going through me, which startled me and made me realize something. I could no longer hide that I liked her more than I should. "Shawn, let us carry her to the nurse!" Enzo told me, pulling me out of my deep thoughts. I nodded in agreement, making Enzo smile, and cradled her in my arms properly, walking towards the nurse room. Instantly I was hit by her scent which was enticing like always and I felt myself calming down. I could feel Enzo walking next to me and I wanted to say that I was sorry or that I really meant it.
Nevertheless, I could not bring myself to utter a word; I was still in kind of a daze, as I carried the girl who messed with my head in arms, attracting the curious glances of our classmates. Many questions were on their minds, visible by the interested glint in their eyes. However, Enzo's strict stare made them look on the floor, not daring to ask any questions. I mumbled a soft thank you in his direction, which he just shrugged off. It appeared to me, that he was still angry with me. This made thinking of ways how I could reconcile with him, althought it was going to be very complicated for sure.
Once we arrived at the nurse room, I placed the still unconscious girl on one of the beds, while Enzo talked to the nurse, telling her about the incident, and what happened exactly. "Well, thank you boys. Shawn, you should stay here, Enzo you can go as it is already time for your class!" she responded to us gratitude in her voice, giving us a strict glance out of her glasses, as she measured the heart rate and the pulse of the girl. I should not stay, I wanted to argument, but Enzo replied to her, making me silent and quiet: "Thank you, Mrs. Nurse. I will go to class and I will tell the teacher that Shawn will come soon!" She gave my best friend an approving look, and he then left after having said good-bye to us both.
It seemed to me strange that I should stay here, when it was Enzo, who pursued a relationship with her, or was forming one with her. A relationship? This thought never came to my mind and it caused me to feel distress and uneasiness. My heart felt heavy at this realization. I had to accept the fact that there was a connection between them pulling them to each other. It was inevidable, and was going to happen eventually. The play was a further factor, which would create closeness between them.
"What happened?" a soft voice mumbled barely audible, making me realize that I was still in the nursery and I sat beside Jasmeet, who started to regain consciousness. Ten minutes already passed since I sat here, the nurse left me alone, to help other students. Her eyes fluttered open, and widened when she recognized me sitting beside her, and not Enzo. I could see her mind thinking and contemplating, and I tried to soothe her: "Everything is okay, you fainted before. Did you eat enough?" The glass, which stood on a table, I grasped and put it on her lips, as I knew that she must feel thirsty. It was in a way intimate, when I gave her water to drink. She sipped carefully the substance, trying her best not to gulp everything down in a moment. The colour on her face returned to the normal one, her cheeks becoming rosy again. She did not answer my questions, as she was still trying to regain control over her body.
"Jasmeet, you fainted in the hallway!" I began to tell her, suddenly the voice of the nurse interrupted me: "You are lucky, if it were not for this fine young man you would have had a concussion; he caught you before you hit the floor!" Jasmeet inhaled sharply, not quite believing the words she heard, as her face mirrored the emotions she felt at this instant. She gave me an incredulous look and laid back on the bed, relaxing and trying to regain composure. I did not utter a word; I just observed her silently. From time to time, she gave me a side-glance.
Twenty minutes later, Jasmeet looked like her usual self and we were allowed to leave after Mrs Nurse signed the sheet of excuse to be late, it still seemed unreal to me that I was the one who stayed with her and not my best friend who was closer to her. However, it was clear that it was a bad idea to argue with Mrs. Nurse as she was known to be very strict and did not like when students disagreed with her. Jasmeet was still shaky, so I supported her to walk. We walked in silence through the empty hallways, I stole some hidden glances from her, and I noticed for the first time her appearance and outfit that consisted of a white shirt and a leggings, covered by a brownish cardigan. She looked very pretty, her hair braided into a side tail and her face seemed so soft, without any trace of make-up, giving her a very natural look. This was one of the things I admired, that she did not try to pretend to be someone else, by caking her face in make-up.
Wait, did I say admired? I really needed to control my emotions and myself and could not indulge in these kind of sentiments. Luckily, we already came near to the Jasmeets class and I bid her goodbye, walking to mine. Hesitantly I knocked on the door, and opened it carefully, making everyone look at me. The teacher stared at me expectingly; asking annoyed and angrily: "What is your excuse for being late, Mr. Bradley?" I handed him the tardy slip and he examined it carefully, after having checked that it was not forged, he motioned me to take a seat. I strolled to the seat available next to Enzo and muttered into his ear: "She is fine, I brought her to her class!" He nodded at me thanking and I pulled out the book for this period, focusing on the stuff being taught.Somehow it was easy for me to concentrate, as I felt calm and relaxed, which was odd and unusual.
The four periods passed quickly and soon it was time to present the group project with Jasmeet. I texted her before to tell her to come and meet me before class as it was necessary that we discussed it for one last time before giving this short speech. I stood at the place in the school's garden where we were supposed to meet and I started to read my notes, pretty soon totally engrossed into it. I took a seat on the bench and let the sun shine on my face. A soft tap on my shoulder startled me and I looked into Jasmeet's eyes which had an amused glint in them, clearly liking that she was able to frighten me. She mocked me in a teasing tone: "Well, are you not so brave and courageous as you pretend to be!" I chuckled softly and retorted: "Jasmeet, did you parents not teach you not to sneak up on someone?" She pretended to be offended by my response, and I just laughed at her reaction, she looked like she ate something very sour.
Soon she joined me in the laughing and it was a sound, which was like music in my ear. Once we calmed down, she sat beside me and we started to rehearse the presentation. It went well, without any troubles, and we were soon done. A look at the clock signalled us that there was still some time left before we had to go to class. I leaned back and enjoyed the sun, basking in the warmth of it. It was not yet winter, so there was not yet the daily rain, there were still some sunny days. "Hey, Bradley, would you have caused a scene if I had not fainted?" a voice interrupted my thoughts, and I opened my eyes to fixate Jasmeet who had a curious look on her face. Her words astounded me, she always could ask the things which were on my mind as well. The half day I spent on reflecting how I would have reacted otherwise. I could also sense her real curiosity and I had to think myself how I would have reacted if Jasmeet had not hindered me from blowing up. Few minutes passed, as I was deep in thought contemplating how I would have reacted.
"Jasmeet, I don't know. I had so many feelings going on and I feel so confused!" the words left my mouth before I could stop myself. I slapped myself internally for giving her a glimpse of my honest feelings. She stared at me, not quite understanding what I uttered and she asked me, a puzzled glint on her face: "What do you mean? You are confused? I do not understand this. Please elaborate!" What should I answer her? I had no idea what I should say as I did not want to give away too much. "Jasmeet, there is something happening to me and I cannot understand what is wrong with me the last few days!"
Jasmeet appeared to be even more astounded by my words and wanted to dig deeper to understand what I was saying. To my relief the bell rang and we had to hurry to our class in order not be late. Thank God, I thought to myself because it was clear to me that I had no interest in letting her get closer to me. It was evident that I had to create some distance between us as she was getting dangerously closer to me, making it harder for me to remain closed as an oyster. Nevertheless, I should attempt to close myself again in order to avoid some drama, which was an evident result of my openness and frankness with Jasmeet. I witnessed that Enzo asked her out and she accepted his proposal so my feelings could not come out.
In the classroom, we sat down and waited for the other students to come in. Mrs. Stevenson already sat on the teacher's desk and gave us a curious look out of her glasses. She really anticipated our project, as now she would see if we were able to work as a team, and was awaiting our presentation. As soon as everyone had taken a seat, she said: "Well, as you are all well aware today is the time of your presentation. The first one to start are Shawn and Jasmeet. Let us see if they are able to put behind their differences and deliver an excellent team work!" Hesitantly, the two of us stood up and made our way to the front of the class. Jasmeet immediately opened our presentation file on the lap top and started the presentation.
Everyone stared at us, their glances full of expectation. Now they would witness if the unlikeliness occurred or not. I exchanged a short look with her and she motioned me to start. In the beginning, I was uncertain if I did a good job, but Jasmeet's gaze gave me the needed strength and I regained composure and self-confidence, making me continue my presentation. Once my part was done, Jasmeet took over, explaining with much conviction and poise the issues relevant to our topic. I never saw her like this. She seemed very emotional, her eyes were glassy, I knew that 1984 was a touchy topic for Sikhs but I never imagined that even while talking she could portray the wide range of feelings she was experiencing. I then realized how important this event for her was and what the meaning it held for her. All the students listened attentively, absorbing each word, we said and even our teacher looked impressed by the quality of our presentation. Despite our differences in the beginning it was clear that we were good partners and were able to put our issues behind us to deliver a good end project. Jasmeet then completed the project by saying: "Thank you for your attention!" Everyone started to clap and looked in anticipation at Mrs. Stevenson, waiting for her comment on this performance. She gave us a side glance and started to speak: "Miss Kaur and Mr. Bradley....!"
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For all of you who are confused, in 1984 there was a sikh genocide, following the assassination of Indira Gandhi by her Sikh Bodyguard. For those of you who want to find out more, watch this movie about the Blue Star Operation and their following events.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTol8j0piQQ
It is truly touching and even I cried while watching this short film. So in case you are interested, come and check it out.
So what do you think will happen next? I am curious to find out what you think so comment and vote for my story. By the way I have a small teaser for you for the next chapter:
I was so excited . Finally it was the time for us to meet. I waited impatiently in front of my house, waiting to be picked up by this boy who managed to catch my breath. Then his car pulled up and I walked slowly towards him. Gentleman like he opened the door for me, after greeting me with a smile and a simple pink lilac. . I could not contain the smile which was forming on my lips, truly touched by this simple yet powerful gesture. "So where are we going?" I asked him once I sat down in his car. He just started it and reversed out of the driveway. Once he was on the street, he answered me: "It is a surprise! Be patient!"
So what do you think will happen now? I am so curious to hear all your thoughts!
Love
Sarah He.