Chapter 17

Hazel entered her apartment and found all of them already seated in the dining room.

'Come on honey, we were just waiting for you!' Charlotte called out from the table.

Hazel noticed that the kids were watching TV in the living room. She quietly made her way to the dining room. There were two seats left. One was next to Chris and other was next to Ryan. She went and sat next to Ryan because she felt it was really inappropriate to sit next to Chris. While the others kept chatting to one another Hazel and Chris were awfully quiet.

'Haze! I need to talk to you after lunch' Ryan slowly whispered to her. She nodded in acceptance.

'Chris, are you okay?' Ed asked observing the sullen look on his face.

Chris looked at him.

'We need to talk after lunch' he said to Ed.

'Ok' Ed answered him nodding slowly.

After lunch all of them went to the living room.

'I will be back' Hazel told them and left the apartment with Ryan.

'They are getting along well' Charlotte said happily.

'Yeah' Ava accepted.

They both were pretty glad that Hazel is doing fine and she is making an effort to get to know Ryan and give him a chance. To be honest, they were pretty worried that she won't be moving on because now that she has to see Chris every day, they knew it was going to be hard on Hazel.

'Hazel understood the situation and moved on; I guess' Ava said looking at Charlotte. They weren't sure themselves because Hazel has been isolating herself more after Chris' arrival.

'Yeah, maybe we were worried about nothing' Charlotte replied.

As they kept talking about Hazel, it took some time for them to realize that Chris and Ed weren't there too. Only they were in the living room along with the kids.

'Where did Ed go?' Ava asked looking around.

'Maybe they both went to get some fresh air'

'Charlotte, did you notice that Ed and Chris are always talking in secrecy?' Ava questioned with a suspicious look on her face.

'Yup, I noticed it too. It is obvious that they are trying to hide something from us' Charlotte replied thinking deeply.

'Well they will have to tell us soon. They can't keep us in the dark for too long' Ava said.

'True' Charlotte agreed.

At the same time, Ryan and Hazel went to the garden in the apartments.

'Tell me Ryan' Hazel asked as they sat in the bench nearby.

'You still like Chris?' he asked her trying to hide away his distress.

'Ryan…shut up! He's married!' She yelled quite annoyed by his question.

'…That's not an answer Ms. White' he told her with a pained smile.

'Ryan…What's up with you?' Hazel asked him. She didn't expect Ryan to talk like this all of a sudden. She couldn't presume what was going on in his mind.

'Tell me Hazel' he demanded in a stern tone. Hazel never saw Ryan talk rudely to her, this was the first time.

'I…Don't' know' she blurted out in a low voice.

'OK…what if Chris wasn't married and didn't have kids? Now answer my question' he asked her looking into her eyes.

'Well he is and nothing can be changed' she replied averting her gaze.

'Still, that didn't answer my question' Ryan told her. His face expressed pure agony.

'I am trying to move on Ryan' Hazel finally answered tightly closing her eyes. She didn't want to look at Ryan.

'Well that means you still like him, right?' Ryan asked laughing. Hazel knew that laughter was meant to hide away the sorrow expressed in his eyes but Ryan was a bad actor.

'Ryan, why are we having this conversation now?' she asked as it gave her great pain to watch Ryan going through something that she has been expressing for years.

'I saw it Haze! I saw you making a wish and I knew straight away it wasn't because you believed in it. It was because Chris wanted you to' Ryan told her which clearly explained why they were having this conversation now. Ryan witnessed Hazel while she made a wish and threw that coin into the fountain.

'Ryan…' she started hoping that she could make Ryan understand.

'Let me hear your explanation now' he told looking at her.

'...'

Hazel couldn't justify. She kept quiet; she didn't know how to defend her action because she knew what Ryan told was true. She did that only because Chris wanted her to. The irony here was, the one she expected would understand didn't and the one she didn't expect did.

'I know! You got nothing! Then why did you want to give me a chance?' Ryan questioned his voice growing weak with each word.

'Because I thought I could move on if I have someone else in my life. It's not easy as you think Ryan. I have loved that guy for more than Six years and when he was back I thought it was our destiny but he had a family of his own and it felt really wrong to think about him after that. Then you came into my life and later I heard that you liked me since college yet I never once saw you there. And you were sweet and understanding and so I felt guilty and told you that I will give you a chance plus I wanted to show Chris that I moved on too' Hazel confessed.

She didn't hold back this time she wanted Ryan to know the truth, he deserved to know it and it was for her too, she wanted herself to know the truth too so that she could stay in reality.

'So from the beginning I was just a tool?' Ryan asked heart broken.

'No…no you are a nice guy Ryan but something doesn't click between us. How much ever I try I just can't feel any spark between us' she explained so that he doesn't misunderstand her intentions.

'That's what I thought!' he told her emotionless.

'Ryan…I am sor...' she tried apologizing.

'No…don't be! I should have known. Chris always told me that I can't get you cause you will be his no matter what I do!' Ryan answered looking into a distance.

Hazel for a moment thought she didn't hear him properly.

'Wait! What!? Chris told you that I was his?' she asked him making sure she didn't misinterpret his words.

'Yeah! And I give up. He was right! It's been six years and though he wasn't there with you, you still like him' Ryan answered getting up from the bench.

'Ryan…I am sorry! I had no idea about all this' she told him sincerely.

'In college he knew I was trying to pursue you. At first, I just got some warnings and I didn't care about it thinking that it was just casual that he cared for you because I thought he treated you as his sister. But then when I tried to approach you once he was really mad. I almost got beaten up and when I tried to fight back he told;

'She is mine, you better stay away!'

Though he sounded calm, I clearly knew it was a warning; I didn't try and approach you after that because I thought you guys were dating and was pretty sure you will end up together but he left and when I heard he rejected your confession I thought god was giving me a second chance and so I tried to make you fall for me and failed…failed and failed again' Ryan told her everything. He didn't want to tell her but he knew there was no use hiding it.

Hazel stood there speechless. Chris liked her too? But why didn't he accept her? Her whole world collapsed. She couldn't think straight. Tears flowed down her cheeks. Was it happy crying? No. Was it sad crying? She didn't know. Did it hurt? Yes very much.

Did she want to confront Chris about it? Yes, very much. But she wasn't gonna do it. She knew him, he was never going to tell her the truth in the first place and plus it happened long time ago and it seemed as though he moved on. So there was no use asking.

Ryan noticed that Hazel was trembling.

'Haze?' he called out. There was no reply. Hazel kept trembling and tears kept rolling down her cheeks.

Ryan went and sat next to her and took her hands into his.

'It's ok Hazel! Don't cry' he told her.

Hazel looked up at him but she could only see a blurred image of him as tears kept clouding her eyes.

'I deserved to know, right?' she asked her voice trembling.

'Yes you did' he answered.

'Thank you for telling me' she told him

He nodded quietly holding her hand for support. Hazel wiped her tears off.

'Are you mad at me?' she asked looking at Ryan.

'Well…not anymore. That guy did hurt you more than you ever hurt me. And plus I realized something, I deserve someone who understands my love' he told her.

'That does sound like an insult but I deserve it' she told him laughing. Ryan laughed back. He knew he couldn't stay mad at her.

'You are a good guy Ryan. You really deserve someone better than me' she said looking at him.

'And you deserve someone better than that scumbag' he told her pouting angrily.

'I know…I will move on' she promised.

'So…Friends?' she asked him after some time.

'Always' he replied giving her a light hug.

'You sure didn't want to see that' Ed told Chris as they were standing at a distance looking at Ryan and Hazel.

'I don't care' Chris said and walked away from there.

'Doesn't seem like that to me' Ed commented following him.

'Shall we go?' Ryan asked after making sure that Hazel was back to herself.

Hazel nodded at him. As they both made their way back to her apartment, she stopped at the fountain.

'What's wrong?' Ryan asked looking at her.

'You go ahead. I will be back in a few minutes' she told him.

Ryan knew she needed some time to herself so he nodded and left from there first.

Hazel went near the fountain and sat beside it.

'The first time I made a wish, it backfired! Today when I made a wish again for the last time, it backfired too! I am starting to think that your legacy wasn't true at all' she said looking at the fountain.

'My first wish here was a promise, no matter what people say I was going to wait for Chris and he will come back for me and he did…with a family. Today I wished that I should move on from Chris and never look back and I got to know that Chris liked me when we were in college. I am starting to think I have no luck at all' she said tearing up.

'Hazel!'

She looked up to see Chris standing in front of her. She quickly wiped her tears and stood up.

'Are you all right?' he asked coming towards her.

'Yeah' she replied.

'We were just leaving. And Ryan told me that you were here. So I came to say goodbye' he told.

'Ohh ok, bye' she said and slowly walked away from him.

'Hazel, were you crying?' he asked stopping her from leaving.

She turned to look at him.

'Tell the kids that I told them bye' she said and turned away from him.

'Hazel White I asked you a question' he said in a loud voice.

'I am right here Mr. Finch. You needn't have to shout' she said looking right into his eyes.

'Then tell me what's wrong' he demanded.

'Ok I will tell you what's wrong but can you help?' she asked in a stern voice.

'Yes' he assured her.

'Just get away from my life and then all my problems will be resolved' she answered and walked away and this time she didn't come back.