Serene’s POV

I turned around to find Arlo standing behind me. My heart skipped a beat, did he hear my conversation with Dria because I never know where he is and how he can suddenly appear at any place? He was holding his special bottle in his right hand. Vampires were served blood in customized black bottles with an inbuilt straw so that they could dine in with other students with ease. Although other vampires dined with their friends, I had never seen Arlo do that. Actually, I had never seen him eat or drink anything at all.

"Did you speak with Dria?" His tone was a bit agitated.

"Yes, she...."

He didn’t let me finish: "Dria told me, did she hurt you?"

"No, she just wanted to talk." I was perplexed about what was going on.

"After all the warnings I have given her, she still cornered you." He gritted his teeth and I could see anger creeping up on his mostly expressionless face.

"Don’t freak out, we just talked." I tried to stay calm and was glad the cafeteria was empty due to lunch hour being over.

"About what? Serene, you don’t know her as I do. Kindly, stay away from her. At least you can understand the reasoning." He took a step toward me and I involuntarily stepped back. He noticed and stopped right there in his tracks.

"Arlo I think we need to stay away from each other. Nothing good is going to come out of this, you should focus on her. I don’t love you and I never will and I don’t need saving. Please stop worrying about me or acting on my behalf." I tried to be as stern as possible with him, hurting him once will be better than hurting him again and again.

"Did she put you up to say this or did she threaten you?" He didn’t flinch.

"She didn’t threaten me but she is right about my existence being a source of pain for you and using you for our personal interests."

"So, that’s what you believe? That your existence pains me? And that you are using me? Tell me, did you ever ask me to do something for you?" His voice seemed to be on the edge of being hurtful. I didn’t know what to say to him and looked tongue-tied. That feeling of hopelessness when you want to do something but you can’t seem to be creeping up on me.

"You spoke with each other, determined my fate and decided whom I was supposed to love. At least let me choose the person I want to love. Have I asked you to love me back?" His words hit me like a tornado shattering my heart into millions of pieces. I couldn’t understand why he wanted an unrequited love so much, which would only bring him heartbreak, over and over again.

"Answer me, please." His tone was playing on the border of hurt and endurance. "No....you didn’t." These were the only three words I could say to him, I wanted to say so much more but my whole body was trembling and my heart was racing so fast right now. I knew he could hear it.

"Then let me be Serene, please let me be. You don’t want me to bother you? I won’t. I already keep my distance as you made that abundantly clear the last time. But, please don’t take my will. Let me decide whom I want to love. And, one last thing: your existence is not a source of pain for me. Don’t ever think like that again and stop letting others put words into your mouth." With these words, his gaze held mine for a brief moment. The agony in his eyes was indescribable, and then he swiftly turned around and left, leaving me rooted to the ground. If I was feeling all these emotions what must he be feeling?

Turmoil in my head was driving me crazy. I felt like I had been hit by my own arrows of pain, misery, suffering, sorrow, and hurt, simultaneously. My head started spinning and everything turned blurred and finally black.

"Serene, Serene open your eyes." I heard someone calling my name. I gradually opened my eyes and saw Alvene had taken me in her arms and was lightly slapping my face to wake me up. "Finally, are you alright? What happened?" The worry and shock were evident in her tone and face. All the emotions I had been bottling up came spilling out as I hugged her and cried.

"Hey, it’s alright. I am here." She didn’t probe me and just hugged me back rubbing my back lightly. Finally, I got up and sat down on a chair while she grabbed me some water to drink. I took a few sips and placed the glass on the table.

"Did someone hurt you? Just tell me and I am gonna break their legs." She was as perplexed as she was angry.

"No, nothing like that. I have been dealing with some personal matters and I think it became too much for my brain to handle. Alvene can we please keep this between us? I don’t want others to worry." I pleaded.

"Yes, of course. If you need to talk you know you can trust me. But I will never push you. Although I am worried about you now." I was glad she was the one who had found me and she didn’t push me.

"Thanks, Alvene I am grateful to you because I don’t think I am ready to talk about it yet." I felt like I was drowning thinking I had caused so much pain to someone who loved me.

"You, don’t have to. Take your time. I came here to look for Ralph, glad I found you." She explained.

Right then I heard Zeph calling me. "Serene, you better not be hiding because you are afraid of losing to me." He called me as he entered the hall. I quickly wiped my face and put on a smile.

"Hey! Zeph," Alvene tried to avert his attention toward her as he got closer to us.

"Hi, Alvene," but his eyes were fixed on me. "We were just talking about you." She lied.

"I hope only the good things," he smiled but his eyes remained fixated on me. "Of course, I just felt a bit light-headed so I sat down and Alvene was giving me company." I tried to explain the reason for being late.

"You should eat on time, you are skipping meals and the pressure of exams will certainly make one light-headed." Seemed like he was buying my half-truth.

Meanwhile, Alvene got up. "I wanted to meet Ralph before going for my exam but I have run out of time. Say Hi to him for me. Will catch you guys later." She waved before leaving.

Once she was gone Zeph took my hand in his: "Let’s go, we need to practice for tomorrow’s exam." I nodded and got up, he didn’t let go of my hand. Once we were in the corridor he suddenly asked: "Why were you crying?"

I got bewildered at his straightforward question: "I wasn’t," I didn’t want to have a conversation with him about it, what will I even say? "Your eyes are still red and it’s written all over your face. You need to become a better liar and hide your emotions if you want to lie to me." He moved in front of me and took my other hand in his as well before pulling me closer.

I inhaled deeply, he smelled like freshly cut grass. He moved his hands behind my back and hugged me, his embrace was so warm that I wanted to melt and cry. But, I had to keep my emotions in check. "Did someone hurt you?" He asked softly. I shook my head while resting it on his chest. He caressed my hair softly. "Whatever you are going through, I am here for you if you need to talk. I won’t invade your privacy because I am not very different from you when it comes to sharing one’s feelings, so I understand." His voice was barely a whisper but hearing his words calmed my heart down, I felt relaxed that he didn’t take it personally and gave me space to breathe as I nuzzled my nose into his chest.

"But don’t for a second think that I will go easy on you during our practice session. Our bet still stands and I am going to win." He chuckled.

"In your dreams," I finally took a step back and smiled at him.