Chapter 4

Sisley shadowed Daniel deeper inside the garden where tall, towering trees, sculptured bushes, and decorative vibrant flowers blocked the sun.

She wondered if Daniel was going to cut classes. And much to her amazement, he laid down on the grass with arms behind his head. He stared blankly at the sky, face melancholic. Mesmerized at the sight of him, shining and sparkling, she was lost at the view of his handsome features and she was pulled in the memory of the past.

It was also like this day. Warm and sunny.

She was bullied due to her weak stature and meek personality. She was not yet friends with Jen at that time. She was crying when he happened to hear her. She remembered how his presence alone was enough to scare the ones who frightened her. Then without a word, he reached out and patted her head.

"Hey, everything's going to be alright," he said, smiling, drawing a dimple on his left cheek.

Then and there, he became her prince. Her knight in shining armor.

Even though their meeting was short and Daniel seemed to forgot all about it. She, however, nourished those feelings. Not forgetting a single moment.

Not knowing when or why, Sisley found herself approaching Daniel.

"Who's there?"

Daniel stood to his feet and turned towards the noise. He saw a petite young girl with a pink ribbon hairband adorably decorating her shoulder length fluffy hair. His shoulders loosened and he flashed a friendly smile.

"Oh, it's only you. You scared me for a moment there. I thought it was the teacher who found out I was cutting classes," he said, laughing a little.

Sisley blushed and forgot her name when Daniel flushed her a killer smile. Her heart thumped more forceful by the second that she feared he could hear it.

"Are you also cutting classes?" Daniel asked with his usual friendly tone.

Still in a dream like state, Sisley dazedly nodded her head.

Daniel grinned. "I never thought the obedient Sisley Lacroft also knows how to cut classes."

Sisley's heart missed a beat upon hearing her name from Daniel's lips.

"Y-you . . . you remember me?!" She uttered the words in excitement.

Staring at her, a warm smile replaced Daniel's grin.

"Of course I remember you, we are classmates after all," he said through the amusement in his voice while his thoughts flew to that time when he saved a little girl.

He recalled that girl was so small, skinny and weak that he couldn't help but protect her against those little tyrants. It was after lunch and he was taking his afternoon nap when he heard a girl crying, surrounded by boys and girls.

Daniel swept Sisley with his ocean blue eyes. That small skinny girl turned into a charming young woman with the right curves in the right places.

"Ehehehe, yes. Right," Sisley said between giggles, drawing cute dimples in each cheek as she playfully knocked herself with her knuckles, tongue sticking out, looking adorably cute.

Daniel was rendered speechless for a moment. His eyes narrowed as he watched Sisley's innocent smile and angelic face. Somehow, he was refresh, warmth filling his heart.

Being with Evangeline for a year was truly –– exhausting.

The icy intimidating woman was indeed a cold and heartless person by nature, and without even knowing it, his heart too began to froze.

Daniel, like any other men, was enamored at Evangeline's cold countenance and aloofness. At first, he liked her personality. He was challenged in the prospect of her submitting to him like the goal and dreams of most men.

But it turns out, Evangeline was truly a heartless and unpleasant person that even with the amount of warmth and attention he gave her, she remained cold and indifferent even to him –– her boyfriend!

Sometimes, every so often, he thought why she even said 'yes' to him in the first place. Every time that they were together, Evangeline wouldn't let him hug her nor kiss her nor be anywhere intimate with her. It gotten to the point he felt depressed. He felt less of a man. He felt unloved.

But this innocent, charming woman in front of him just thawed his frozen heart with her simple smile. Her pure and heartfelt smile made his ice-covered heart beat once more.

Without knowing it, his lips stretched in a genuine grin, different from his practice polite smile.

In the end, the whole morning, Daniel and Sisley talked and laughed about the things that happened to them in the past years. It was a first that Daniel felt alive again when talking to the opposite sex.

Evangeline was an extremely possessive person that any slightest hint to him coming from a female, she would lash out and humiliate that poor girl in front of the whole world to see.

At first, he was happy about it. But as times went by, he got frustrated and angry at her for treating him like she owned him. Like he was nothing more than an object to her.

Sisley, on the other hand, was in cloud nine. She couldn't believe that one simple move, she and Daniel had gotten a lot closer. If she knew this would happen, she should have approached him in the past.