Chapter Three

"Sorry about your health, Ava." The voice sounded quite familiar.

"Thank you!" She replied, looking up to see who it was. To her greatest surprise, it was her one and only crush, Adrien. Her jaw dropped. She had a thousand and one thoughts running through her mind at that moment. Adrien laughed dutifully at her expression, though he was not quite sure if he was supposed to laugh about this.

They had been mates for the past six months, but had never spoken to each other. I think it was love at first sight, but they both did not want to accept this. Ava only acted like a hard girl who did not have a thing for boys, or even believe in love.

Well, she didn't really believe in love because of the circumstances that surrounded her life, but only tried to think that love existed somewhere in the world.

Adrien on the other hand was a quiet and reserved guy. He just liked to exist, but not to be noticed by anyone. This was nearly impossible as he was a handsome and good-looking guy that girls liked.

Most people saw his quietness as pride or rather, rudeness but this may not have been the case.

A few times, girls in his class had fought over him. They'd go as far as getting him gifts, yet he still didn't look in their direction.

"Have a sit." She offered him.

"Alright, thank you!" He said as he sat down.

"So tell me, how do you feel now?"

"I'm feeling better. Thanks for yesterday. "

" Yesterday? What happened yesterday? "

" The fruits and the note. It was so nice of you. "

Adrien felt slightly shy and a little betrayed that Lisa had mentioned this to Ava. However, Ava only just realized that she had said too much already. She wasn't supposed to say a thing but I guess it's his charms that casted a spell on her.

"It's nothing, I just wanted you to feel much better. " He replied with a soft smile.

" I never imagined that you'd ever talk to me, especially with what happened the other day. "

" I've been watching you closely, Ava. You're a smart girl. Just because you showed vulnerability doesn't make you weak. I believe you had a lot of things that took a toll on your mental health. "

Ava stopped and stared at him for a while and when he snapped his finger at her face, she became conscious again.

"What are you thinking?"

"Are you really the one who's saying this?"

"Did I say anything bad? "

" No! You just made me feel a lot better. You're really a sweet person. "

" Well, I know that most people think I'm proud. I'm just shy most of the time. I'm an observer, so I just love to sit back and observe. "

" Oh, that's nice. You're cool. "

" You too! "

They talked for a while and got to know a lot about each other. And for the first time, Ava felt butterflies in her stomach. Maybe, just maybe, Adrien felt them too. The sparkle in their eyes said it all.

Ava was on her laptop when the doorbell rang. A package had been delivered to her house. On opening the door, there was no one there. This was quite strange. When she looked down, she saw a small, neatly wrapped box and could not imagine what it contained.

She weighed it in her hand a few times; It wasn't heavy. She took it in and tore open the envelope taped around the package.

Dear Ava

Sorry about what I did, it was very bad of me. I was so stupid and ignorant of the fact that you were a little girl. I regret my actions. Therefore, I'm writing this to say that I'm deeply sorry.

Remembering your reactions all those times, I thought it was best to write this. Please forgive me.

Best,

Tunde.

"How stupid of you", Ava said to herself. When she got through the wrappings, she found a book. It was from her favorite author.

The smell of the book was fresh. Like a little girl, she couldn't resist inhaling the smell of the book from page to page. Once again, there was that haunting sense of hatred, she ripped the book into pieces with her teeth.

Her body remembered before her mind could. As she sat and faced the note, everything came back to her.

Tunde was her cousin. Growing up in a place where there were no girls, she mostly spent her time playing with her male cousins. It was all rosy and nice until one day, Kevin molested her. She was only six when this happened. The more it went on, the more she longed to tell her mom, but she was never around. She was always busy going from States to states for occasions of different types.

He had severally threatened her never to tell anyone. She tried so much to forget the incidence, but it kept coming back. And just when she had finally started to heal, he came back to add more salt to her wound. This made her hate him more.

She picked up everything he had brought and lit them up at the backyard, making sure that no trace was left.

"I hope you rut in hell!" She uttered angrily and turned away.

Even though she was a forgiving person, she swore never to forgive him on this one. He left her very traumatized. And one day, just one day, she hoped to heal completely.