"Pass your assignments forward," the professor instructed.Since I was absent for two days, I had nothing to pass. Still, I was responsible for getting the paper of my classmate sitting at my back to relay them forward until they reached the teacher's hand.Without saying anything, when Trey passed his paper to me since he was sitting at my back, I accepted it without a word, too, and I even avoided looking at him. If only I had a choice, I wouldn't want any interaction with him. But I didn't have, and it was my responsibility to get his paper and pass it forward because his seat was behind me.I could almost thank the heavens that I survived the whole period without having to talk to him or to even meet eyes with him. I, or should I say both of us, pretended to be back to zero, as if we never knew each other and being complete strangers to each one.Gratefully, weekend came and I finally had a break from the stressful and exhausting school works.I went on a jog early in the morning.
"Oh, my dear Camila, I'm so glad you came!" Just as I walked inside the restaurant where mom had asked me to meet her, she gave me a warm embrace and a kiss me on the cheek. I just smiled, feeling a bit awkward. "Hi, mom." She held me on my shoulders and looked at me with a wide smile on her face. "Hey, how are you, beautiful? I missed you a lot! How long had it been since we last spoke? Anyway, let’s sit down, dear." She brought me to a seat in front of the table where various foods were already set out and waiting to be eaten. I could remember I debated with myself yesterday whether to come and meet her today or not when I read her text message. I actually thought about it the whole day, and yeah, I decided to go on and see her. "I'm alright, mom. How about you?" "Oh, I'm so happy, of course, because you agreed to see me today! I have been so excited since last night for this lunch date with my dearest daughter!" I smiled small but genuinely. Somehow, no matter how I felt d
I wasn't really able to sleep well that night after hearing those exchanges of conversations, so when the next day came, early in the morning, I packed my things, and mom was taken aback to see me in the living room with my luggage, fully clothed and ready to leave…"Camila, where are you going, my dear!" she asked."I have decided to go back to dad's house, mom.""But why, Camila? Aren't you happy being here?"I looked away from that. I always felt like I didn't belong here, who would be happy with that kind of feeling?"Uhm, mom, I didn't mean to eavesdrop, but last night, I overheard you and uncle Raul arguing about my stay here.""Oh!" She was genuinely apologetic. "Camila, I'm so sorry."I shook my head understandingly. "It's alright, mom. I understand. And I'm not even mad about it. Uncle Raul actually has a point. I don't belong here, I don't belong to this family…" My heart stung with those words."Camila, don't say that! You're my daughter!" And she embraced me.I responded t
"How are you? You actually survive that afternoon incident? We all thought you were dead already—""Mom, that's enough." I interrupted to cut my mother’s words out, stood beside her, and gently held her arm.She looked at me. Actually, all of them looked at me.I turned to Trey and apologized, "I'm sorry, Trey."He didn't respond, but he finally seemed to get what was happening…Mom was even more amazed. "So, you knew all this time that he's alive? Wow! Why haven't you told me about it? And what? Why didn't you call him 'Noah?'""Mom, he is not Noah," I said in a low voice, totally feeling embarrassed in front of the Gregoris watching.Mom stopped for a bit to let what I said sink into her mind.I continued, "That's Trey Gregori. He's my classmate in Biology class. He and his cousins." I eye-gestured the other Gregoris alongside Trey himself.Few seconds later, mom awoke to her senses. "Oh! So, I got it wrong? He isn't Noah, after all!""Yeah. He is not him, mom," I emphasized.She tu
I couldn't really be wrong!I saw them with my own two eyes! Her eyes quickly changed color! From the very flaming pupils to the normal colors I usually see around!"Barbara, it's you!"My gaze also caught those long nails that seemed like they were animal claws! I couldn't see it wrongly, I really saw them raw! But she seemed so quick to hide her hands on her back."What happened to you? Are you alright?" I checked on her, back into looking at her seemed-tired and anxious face.She nodded as if she wasn't in her senses, and she couldn't directly look into my eyes. "Yeah.""Are you sure? You wanna go to the clinic? I can assist you going there—""No!" she quickly cut me off, but immediately realized, too, that she was reacting a bit strangely. She sighed and gathered herself together. "I mean, I'm alright. No harm, Camila. Just the usual digestive issues, but I'd be all fine later on. No worries."I was still not convinced. The excessive sweating on her forehead couldn't really agree
"Are you following me?" I asked him directly.Honestly, I chose to ignore him at first but later on, as I saw that he was really following me, I stopped walking and went straight to him to ask.Trey looked at me blankly. "No." With that, he passed by me.I was a bit embarrassed by that. What the heck!I walked again, passing him and getting ahead, making my footsteps bigger.When I turned around to look once more, I could see he was still walking in the same direction I was taking! So what I did was stop and wait for him until he was near and I approached him over again."Liar! You're following me!"He gave me tired eyes and a lazy smirk. "Why do you think would I? Any reason to make me follow you? Besides, what could I get doing so?" And he eyed me head to foot, showing no interest at all.I was again deflated! Was he implying that I am simply boring and unattractive, huh?!I looked away and crossed my arms. "You're walking in the same lane as I take. Isn't that enough evidence that
He looked at me with a soft expression and nodded. "I'm a vet med student. Of course, I have knowledge of attending to them, forget about that?"I watched him as he turned around on the cabinets and shelves and he seemed to be looking for some things there."Exactly. You're still in college and studying your field but the way you performed showed that you already knew so well what you were doing."His passion and penchat to veterinary practice is truly radiating. I witness how he seems to love the path he's taking, and I'm actually happy to see that he enjoys what he does and he has his heart in it.It never seems like he is only forced to do this just because of his family's bloodline in veterinary medicine but he's doing this because this is what he truly wants.He stopped for a while and glanced at me. "Maybe because since we were young we were already trained to do things like these. During weekends, our aunties and uncles would want us to join them and be their practicing assista
If there were pictures of Trey when he was younger with his cousins that he's still around with today, meaning he really isn't Noah at all. They are absolutely different people.The album was the clear proof that I was really wrong thinking and hoping that Trey was my late fiancé Noah. Trey grew up in a wealthy family, well-provided, and had cousins with him, while Noah, on the other side grew up in an orphanage, alone, parentless, definitely not rich, and without a family to call his own.This maybe is the realization that from now on I should really stop linking Trey to my first love because he is not Noah and Noah isn't Trey. They are different from each other and grew up with very opposite life privileges.At home, I prioritized my cat and served him the cat food that Trey had given. Happily, my dear cat seemed to enjoy eating it.The next morning at school, I was walking in the corridor when I saw Barbara walking ahead, so I decided to walk faster to get to her and talk after wha