TEN YEARS BACK HAZELI tucked the hairlock behind my ear and smiled. “The coffee tastes good here.” Justin smiled back. “Mhmm.” “You’re okay with going on dates with me, right?” He asked, passing me the cookies.I blushed. “Any girl from our school would die to go on date with you.”He leaned into his chair and smirked. “You look cute when you blush, you know that right?” My cheeks heated further. God! He flirts like a pro. “So, tell me something about yourself.” “I like white lilies and lavender fragrance. My favorite color is pink and I like rain. I prefer salad over anything. My favorite movie is twilight and..” “No. Shit.” But before I could complete my sentence, he cut me in middle.I raised my eyebrows and looked at him in nervousness. “I know that’s not you. So tell me about the real Hazel not the one she pretends to be.” I blinked, not knowing what to say. What does he mean by real Hazel?“And how do you know that what I told you was not real me?” I couldn’t help but
TEN YEARS BACK HAZEL “I’m sorry I’m late.” I breathed out once I practically ran to my car and found Atlas near it. I almost forgot that I’ve told him to wait. Unlocking the car, I asked him to sit which he gladly did. Once I started the engine, I looked at my wrist watch which read half past six. Shit. He must be waiting for three hours or so. I lost track of time with Justin and later he accompanied me to the library where I picked out few fictions for him along with some for Atlas. “How was your date?” His sudden question caught me off guard.“How do you know about it?” “Whole school knows.” He shrugged.“Right.” I let out an awkward laugh. “It was fun. Justin’s nice.” I added, excluding the detail that it wasn’t anything like date. God! This is so embarrassing! He must be thinking that I left him to wait for hours just because I was busy on my date. Well technically he isn’t wrong.We reached my home and I unlocked the door before stepping inside. “Freshen up, I’ll prepare t
TEN YEARS BACKHAZEL “Have you completed English project. The due date is tomorrow?” I asked to divert the topic.He bit on his lips and exhaled. “Yes.”I narrowed my eyes. “You’re lying, aren’t you?”“Yes.” He added, not looking at me.This boy!“Do you’ve a laptop?” I asked to which he simply shook his head.Okay.“Come with me to the terrace.” I said to him grabbing my laptop and walking upstairs to the terrace.I looked up at the sky which was full of stars and smiled when cool breeze touched my skin. I sat on the floor crossing my legs, asking Atlas to grab a sit next to me. Opening the word file, I looked at him. “Tell me about your dreams.” “I don’t have one.” He answered.I pointed at the stars and he followed my lead. “For a moment, forget everything about yourself. Forget about what kind of life you’ve lived or what kind of life you’re expecting in the future. Just think that you’re among those shiny little stars and you’ve given a chance to live the life however you wan
TEN YEARS BACK HAZEL “Hey, wake up.” I heard a familiar voice whispering next to me. I parted my eyelids and saw Justin tapping my shoulder. “What happened?” “It’s your turn to deliver the English project and yet you’re sleeping.” He pointed to the smart board.I quickly smoothen my hair and walked up to the podium. Rounds of hooting followed me and I couldn’t help but flush in all shades of red.Our homeroom teacher cleared his throat and gestured me to continue my project.I opened my ppt and proudly started the slide show. I’ve modified my project last night. Earlier I wrote that my dream is to become someone who’s loved by everyone. It was good with the words that I’ve molded everything. I would’ve gotten A+ for it easily but I never wished to become that. It was a lie to get good grades and to impress everyone in the school but after I talked to Atlas and heard his dream, I couldn’t stop myself from re-writing my whole project. So I made the project which says that my dream i
HAZEL"I don't get it. If we're talking about the same criminal then why not just put the suspect behind the bars?" I almost screamed in frustration.No body said anything.Right.I took my jacket and stormed out. What the fuck is wrong with them? Just because the suspect is related to the country's biggest billionaire, we can't let him go.Damn rich people. I fucking hate them."Hey princess, calm down." I heard the familiar voice. I snapped my head and found Justin walking out with two cups of coffee in his hand.I took it from him and sipped on the coffee. "Don't call me that.""Why? Aren't you princess?" He grinned.I rolled my eyes. Jerk."You know, you need to calm down. Although you're our team caption, we just can't afford to lose our job, do we? When it comes to money and power, we can't just do anything even if we're detectives in the crime branch." He sighed."That's the point. I'm not doing just anything. He's the fucking suspect for killing three people, how can we let hi
HAZEL "Are you okay?" I asked Justin, passing him the cigarette after inhaling it."That fucker was lying all along." He chuckled."At least he's alive and safe." I muttered under my breath, taking the cigarette back from him."I know.""Let's not talk about him, shall we?" I passed him a weak smile to which he nodded."I'm going back to the club; I need a fucking good sex." He sighed."Count me in." I smirked.As we reached the club, both me and Justin went on your separate ways.But cheers to my bad luck, I didn't find any man who's seems worth spending my night with and when I saw Justin, that bastard was freaking surrounded by women.I tiled my head.I went to him and grabbed his wrist. "Sweetheart, you're randomly flirting with other women when your girlfriend is having a hard time." I faked a frown.He gave me cringe look but walked with me to the bar."This is not fair dude. It's not my fault that you can't find a guy." He whined."Instead of sex, let's drink after all we both
HAZELAs we reached his house, my jaw literally hangs open. You got to be shitting me. The house is so fucking big and gorgeous.I rolled down the sleeves of my uniform and waited patiently at the gate when Justin showed his ID to the guards. We were granted permission to enter inside and that's when my eyes flicker in awe. The interior was so classy and rich. I've never seen something so marvellous like this.Snap out, Hazel.I shook my head and were led by a man in black suit to the study room. He excused himself and went out of the room once we entered.We sat on the couch and looked at each other. Atlas Barrette was yet not here.I took out my phone and started scrolling through it. There was nothing much to see, just random messages in my Instagram DM. I rolled my eyes. I hate creepy flirt texts. Blocking them, I looked at my follower list which was mainly of my high school batchmates and few from college. There's hardly anyone from the work place because I love posting random pi
HAZEL He didn't say anything. He just took steps towards me till we were only breath apart. My heart started hammering against my chest when his strong cologne hit my nose. I tilted my head and he indeed seems different than before. Ten years did their work on him. His fine chopped hair, sharp jawline, clean subtle, green eyes, perfect lips, broad chest, six feet tall, Armani suit, Rolex watch, crisp white shirt, tattoo on his forearm- they're all new and different. He wasn't like this before. The man stood in front of me isn't the Atlas whom I knew, he's the billionaire about whom I know nothing. He looks fine, not just fine, he looks gorgeous."Hazel""Let's be professional and forget our past. I'm your security head and you're my employer, let's not cross the line, shall we?" I said, taking a step back from him."You know I can't." He bit on his lips and looked everywhere but at me."You can, Mr. Barrette. It's been ten fucking years, we're not the same anymore. Hell, I'd rather k