Chapter 23: Chapter 23

Amelia's p.o.v;

At home,

Andrew knocked on my window, but I had already secured it from inside, so he wouldn't come in. I covered my head with the blanket and pretended to sleep. I eventually stopped hearing raps on the window after a while. I believe he gave up and left.

Why is he entering my room right now? Does he wish to witness my pain? After seeing Andrew with his girlfriend in the music club, I have avoided him since then. I am aware that this is not the appropriate response given that, to him, I do not appear to be a friend. How am I supposed to suddenly change my opinion of him? Please don't approach me right now. Atleast, give me some time. It would be simple for me to move on from him if it were just a secret crush, but I love him. No, I won't confess my love anymore to him. I shouldn't be like this in front of him. He is no longer my unrequited love.

I grabbed my phone and erased all of his photos from the gallery which I took secretly. I'm giving up my feelings towards you. From now on, you're just my next-door neighbour.

I have to explain it to my brother as well. Despite hearing Ash on his phone with his girlfriend, I nevertheless knocked on his door. I refrained from crying and knocked on his door.

Ash opened the door, and I said, "I would like to talk to you. Are you free?"

He ended the conversation on his phone and enquired, "What is it? Why are you ugly? Did you cry your eyes out?" he asked after checking my eyes.

"I'm no longer feeling anything for Andrew. So, you don't have to tease me using him."

"Why, what just transpired?"

"I gave up on him because he has a girlfriend."

"What? A girlfriend? Is he dating someone?"

"Yes, I followed after him like a moron not knowing he has a girlfriend. I'm not going to continue doing it."

"Are you alright?"

"Yes, I'm doing great, brother."

He inquired after I attempted to go, "Did you not like him? You ought to confess your love to him."

I turned to face him and grinned "How often do I need to say that I didn't love him? I simply had a crush on him. It's just a crush. Nothing more, please. I'll quit that as well now that I know he has a girlfriend. I came here to make it plain that I don't feel anything for him, so please stop making fun of me with him. If you did, I would only suffer harm. You got it, right?"

He gave me a pitiful look as he nodded.

I gave him a gentle kiss on the cheek and inquired, "Why is this expression suddenly in use? Don't give me that look. There are a tonne of fishes out there, brother." And let out a smile.

He patted my head and said, "Don't hesitate to ask for help if you need one. Understand?"

I nodded and walked away from his room. The phoney smile on my face vanished as I exited his room.

I strolled up to the window after hearing music to see Andrew playing the cello in his room. I have seen your face, heard your words and have felt the warmth of your touch. There is a difference between being able to look at something in your absence and actually having those things in your presence again.

I got into bed, grabbed my phone, and deleted all of Andrew's cello recordings before turning in. I no longer wish to keep items that make me think of you. You made them all a part of my very soul, and I want no other reminders of you than the memories they give me. The memories are painful and they bring nothing but pain.

The following day,

Mother, when I went downstairs to eat my breakfast, "Are you sure that's my daughter? Does she actually have on a red outfit?"

"Mom! Stop making fun of me."

"What suddenly happened to you?"

"Didn't you say that you wanted to see me dressed like this?"

"It's been two years since I stated that, so yeah. But why now though?"

"When I came upon this dress, I had a quick jolt of memory, so I put it on for you. How do I appear?"

"Like a person,"

"Mom!"

"What! It is real. You always dress in those grey, white, and black designs that make you appear to be from another planet, yet you look stunning in this red attire. You do look like a girl now."

"Stop teasing me,mom."

"Should I get you any more dresses like this?"

"You can, if you like."

"I'm really glad today, you're wearing my favourite dress, you're agreeing to buy you more outfits so please eat a lot," she added as she caressed my head.

"You are the one who must eat if you are pleased. Mom, not me."

"All right, eat your breakfast."

At the college,

Hannah, "Wow. In red, you look fantastic. You look well in colourful clothing, as I already stated."

"Yes."

"Put on more of this. You'll attract more lads, in my opinion. I suppose senior Caleb will feel envious seeing you in this outfit. So why suddenly this dress? Do you want to impress seniors or are you chasing after some guy secretly?"

"I'm not wearing this to get anyone's attention. Mom was nagging me to wear this outfit a lot of times. This morning, I accidentally found this, so here I am."

During class,

Jack handed me a piece of paper as I was taking in the lecture.

"What is it?" I murmured.

In response, he mumbled, "Open it."

I peeked inside the paper once I had opened it. Writing was done. 'You look fantastic in red.'

"Who gave you this, exactly?"

"It's me." and gave me a smile.

I called him an idiot and smacked his head and asked to listen to the lecture.

I visited the music club during break after the classes were finished.

Jacob, senior "Amelia, hello! How's your hand doing now?"

"Fair enough, I wanted to chat with you, actually. Are you free now?"

"Yes, tell me about it."

"Senior, I made the decision to leave the music club."

"Why was it so abrupt? Was it brought on by your hand? Would you like a break? I wouldn't mind, you will recover quickly."

"I'm not interested in taking a break. I'd like to leave the club."

"Can you tell me why you're trying to leave the club?"

"I joined the club to learn guitar, but now that I've learnt it pretty well, I don't think there's any more justification for remaining there."

"Has anything happened? Did any club members..."

"Senior, no, no. I made the choice all by myself. It is unrelated to any other things. No club members were part of this. Believe me."

"Amelia, I believe you are confused. You may leave the club, but I will treat it as a break. You're welcome to join us at any time, do you understand?"

Then I said, "Thank you, senior Jacob," and I nodded.

When I left the music venue, I wondered, "Where to?"

As I was making my way to my faculty, I witnessed some males fighting terribly with one another. I peered more closely and saw what appeared to be several men beating a man. The man who is on the ground appears to have been seriously injured.

I hurried over to them, threw my bag at them, and asked them while filming them on my phone "Would you like me to go see the principal? Release him!"

They looked at me and then walked away.

I rushed up to him after they had left and discovered that he was bleeding from his hands and knees. lifted his face, realising it was the bully who had been harassing me since freshman year. I let it go and attempted to get him to rise, but he was unable to. I walked while holding his hand over my shoulder as he said, "Taking another step aches. Abandon me." I forced him to sit on a seat nearby while I watched him examine his legs. His knees were gushing blood. I believe this to be the reason.

"I'll go grab some medicine, so please wait."ⁿ

He took my hand and turned to face me.

I told him to stop holding onto me and to wait here.

I returned to where I had left him after receiving some medications from the hospital. He was lying on the floor.

"Why are you on the floor? Have you tried to walk by yourself?"

I tried to lift him, but I couldn't because of his weight, so I said, "Please help me by trying to stand by yourself. I have a splint in my other hand for your information." "Why did you try to walk when you are so severely injured like this?" I made him sit down on the bench.

I set the kit I'd purchased from the pharmacy down, grabbed some cotton, and began wiping his blood away.

"What are you doing?" he demanded as he grabbed hold of my hand at the wrist.

"Tidying up the blood. To begin treating the wound, we should wipe away the blood."

"I didn't mean that. Why are you helping me?"

"How can I leave you in such a state? Look at yourself, you're bleeding nearly all over."

I cleaned up his blood, dressed his wounds, and applied ointment.

"I intimidated you. You must be pleased to see me in this position, but why do you look so concerned?"

"I didn't intentionally pour the beverage. Actually, it was an accident."

He seized my hands and questioned, "Why won't you respond to me? The purpose of your speech is, Why do you look so concerned right now?"

"Seeing people in pain makes me feel horrible."

"I'm not in pain" ,he said, releasing his hold on my hand. He answered me as I began to take his top off.

"What are you doing?" he demanded as he seized my hand.

"Blood is all over your clothing. You'll end up in trouble when some teacher sees you."

"I have no additional shirts,"

"You may put on mine. I think my shirt is tidy enough."

I yanked my hand out of his grasp and began taking the buttons off my shirt.

"Are you insane to take off your shirt in the open?"

"Inside, I'm donning a sleeveless top."

I offered him my shirt, which I had taken off, and asked him to do the same.

I questioned him while he was sporting my shirt, "What happened? Why did those men assault you?"

"Why should I tell you?"

"Because I saved you."

"You believe you saved me" he continued, laughing aloud. "What a moron you are. They would have left even if you hadn't shown up at that precise moment" he continued as he prodded my forehead. "mostly because they stole all of my money that they needed."

"They took your money, without your concern? Not good. Why didn't you fight back against them?"

"Do you believe I can defeat those six men by myself?"

"They appeared to be more muscular than you as well, yeah."

"Are you now making fun of my body?"

"Do they always act in this manner?"

"The strong will pursue the weak," he added, nodding.

"Like you did to me?"

"Yes. the same way I treated you." and added, "Come with me," as he fixed his gaze on my body. then took my hand.

"Where are we going right now?"

We headed to the locker room while he hobbled his way to the architecture faculty. I had to open it using the key he had given me. There were a tonne of items inside the locker when I unlocked it. He reached inside his locker and took a shirt and handed it to me.

"Put this on."

"For me?"

"It's my favourite t-shirt, so don't forget to bring it back to me tomorrow," he replied with a nod.

I gave him a smile as I accepted the t-shirt.

"What is making you smile? Aren't you no longer afraid of me?"

"You're a good person" I remarked while shaking my head and continuing to grin at him.

"Close the locker," he added after he sighed.

"You're cute too", I replied as I walked behind him after locking it and handing him the key.

"Put an end to your shenanigans. Return to your faculty at this time."

I apologised for bringing him to the principal's attention as a bully as I stood in front of him.

"Go on, it's alright."

I nodded and made an effort to get away from him. A thud was audible. He was on the ground when I turned to look. Did he pass out?

"Are you okay?" I rushed over to him and forced him to stand.

"Why are you still here?" he questioned as he leaned against the nearby wall.

"Let's go to the infirmary," I replied, placing his hand over my shoulder.

"Why do I need to go to the hospital when you already treated it?"

"Stop talking. Let's leave."

In the hospital,

After inspecting him, they requested him to take off his clothes so they could examine him even more. He took off his shirt i lended him the item of clothing underneath it, sitting on the bed without a shirt. When he turned his back after being advised to do so by the doctor, tears began to fall down my cheeks.

"Was she your girlfriend?" the doctor questioned him after seeing me crying in front of them.

He gave a headshake to the doctor and said to me, "Leave."

I wiped away my tears and left the hospital.

And what was that? He has injuries from being mistreated. He had numerous wounds in his back from being struck by something sharp. I'm not even sure how to put it into words. Where did he acquire those from? Who committed those acts against him?

He eventually emerged from the hospital and said, "Why are you still here?"

I got to my feet and followed him out of the building as we walked side by side.

"How did you…"

He said before I finished, "It was my Dad. He really wanted me to join the boxing team, but since I failed, he hit me after each defeat. I gave it my all, won the game, and went to him thinking he would finally stop beating me, but he still beats me in the end even after winning the match. I later learned that he also tried boxing, failed, and now regularly defeats me."

I gave him a hug and said, "It's okay. I don't need you to fill me in on everything."

"What's with the hug?"

I snatched the hug and apologised.

"Do you have sympathy for me now?"

I held his hand and stated, "He beat you because you didn't suck, he defeated you because he himself sucked, so, don't feel low on you." looking him in the eyes.

"By the way, I'm Brian," he grinned.

I heard his name and laughed.

"What took place?"

"Brian. It conveys strength, nobility, and virtue."

"Yes, I'm quite the contrary," he grinned.

"Brian. Amelia here."

"I know already."

"How?"

"Probably, When you reported me for harrasing you?"

"Can we just forget that?"

"Okay."

Brian seems nice, not unlike the way I met him in the first place. Brian doesn't seem like your typical guy. He wears a leather jacket and tight jeans. The type of guy who is just straight up rude to you when you first meet him in real life. Underneath that cold hearted person, he's really sweet.

He just pretended everything was okay while I was talking to him.

"Was he bullying you again?" asked senior Caleb as I was speaking with Brian.

I stopped him as he attempted to fight him and said, "No, We're buddies now."

"What? along with him?"

"Yes, we discussed it and got over it."

"Amelia! Did you lose it? He attempted to molest you by ripping your shirt!"

"I know. I know. But we did discuss it."

"You truly went nuts if you were talking to him about ripping your clothing."

When Senior Caleb attempted to seize Brian's collar, I pulled him away and said, "What the hell are you doing?" Senior Caleb shoved me away.

"Do you mean to push me away from this fool?"

"Don't be impolite, senior."

While I was arguing with Caleb over Brian. Andrew came over on foot.

"What's happening here?" asked Andrew.

Senior Caleb, "Amelia was harassed by that f*cking crazy moron, but now he's being protected from me."

"Stop talking negatively about him, senior", I interrupted.

"Do you notice how she talks on his behalf?"

Andrew tried to talk,but I interrupted, "He has harassed and assaulted me, but he does it in front of me rather than behind me like others. He is better than most of the folks here." and Brian and I turned away from them.

Brian questioned, "Those guys that came, do you like one of them? Because when you talked to them, it looked like you were." when we were in the way.

"Not any longer," and carried on walking alongside him.

"You spoke for me, which surprised me. I'm grateful."

I was followed by senior Caleb, who asked, "Is this the one you like?" questioned while indicating Brian.

"No."

Brian's hand was taken off of me by Senior, who wrapped it around his shoulder and carried on walking.

I asked senior Caleb, "Aren't you mad at me? What drew you here?"

"Even if I tried, I couldn't be angry with you. If you declared it to be over, it is. Realization of it took some time." He threatened to beat Brian to a pulp if he learned that he had tried to harass me once more.

"That was very scary, dude," says Brain.

"You're the only man who truly understands me, senior," I remarked as I leaned on my opposite shoulder.

"I was taken aback to see you acting so irate."

"Sorry, senior," I said.

"It's alright,"

Brian took off senior hand and said, "Guys, I can take it from me." And left after thanking us.

After Brian left, senior Caleb asked me, "Are you really forgiving him for what he did?"

"I didn't forgive him. I forgot it. There's a difference between those two."

"How's that a difference?"

"Because my forgiveness is based on the fact that I could have done anything to hurt him and I don't regret doing nothing. And, When something like this happens, you're not supposed to remember. Not right away," I explained.

"Hey, why do you sound so down?"

"What?"

"Did something bad happen?"

"Like i said earlier, you know me well better than anyone, senior." And I smiled at him.

"Seriously, what happened?"

"Thank you for asking but it has to be taken care of by myself alone, senior."

Suddenly, Senior gave me a hug and said, "Don't forget that I'm here for you. Okay?"

I hugged him back and said, "Thank you, Senior."