Chapter 14: Chapter 14

Isabella's pov;

In college,

Tracy, "Looks like your lips went back to normal."

"Stop teasing me. Aren't you tired?"

She made funny faces and asked, "By the way, what's with your outfit today? Turtleneck sweatshirt in the middle of July? Aren't you feeling hot?"

"No."

"You really got a weird taste in dressing." She went back to work on her assignment.

I touched the cloth around my neck and raised it a little more. Today, when I came out of the shower, I saw a hickey on my neck. I remember how shocked I had been to see it there, and then how angry I had gotten at myself for being careless enough not to cover it up or maybe even put something over it. That's when I realised why Harry buttoned up my shirt. Mr Martinez! How can he leave a hickey like that? Because of him, I have to wear a sweatshirt in the middle of the summer. When will my classes get over? I want to go to Mr Martinez's house right now.

Jose asked, "Do you have any plans for the evening?"

"No, why?"

"Then, can we go and have a hotpot?"

Did he just invite me to a hotpot? I'm already boiling in here!

"I have to go to the house."

"You just said you don't have plans for the evening. Then, come with us. It's been weeks since we three hung out together. Without you, we're missing the fun part."

I teased him, "Does that fun part include teasing me? By the way, Going out with Tracy wasn't fun for you?"

Tracy asked him, "Answer her. Didn't you have fun when we went out?"

He looked at Tracy and me and said, "Why is it so hard to convince a lover and a friend at the same time?"

I tapped on his shoulder and said, "You gotta learn, boy."

Tracy asked me, "Are you coming or not?"

"Where?"

"The place where Jose asked you."

"Why are you suddenly teaming up with him?"

Jose, "We didn't have an answer yet."

"I already said I have to go to the house. Why are you still asking me?"

"What are you going to do at the house? Come with us."

"I… I have an assignment to finish so I'm not going with you. If i go, you two will be lovey-dovey and leave me out so i don't want to go. You can go and have fun without me. Moreover, Mr Davis asked me to submit this assignment on time, I don't want to go to the detention room again so leave me out of this."

"When did you become so obedient?"

The question is asked, with some form of amusement in it. It's obvious why he asked me that because I haven't submitted any of my assignments on time before.

Tracy said to Jose, "We'll take her another time. Like she said, this time Mr Davis has given a lot to write so she needs time to finish it up, let's go together."

He gave a nod and went back to his place.

I started sweating all of a sudden. It isn’t even that hot in this room. Maybe it’s the heat from my sweat shirt.

It’s a good day, I think a nice, warm, sunny day with not too many clouds in sight. But that doesn't mean it's pleasant outside, either. It's still early enough in the season for there to be some breeze here and there when it finally starts to get hot out.

During lunch break,

I ordered chilled chocolate smoothie with ice cream toppings while Jose and Tracy ordered burgers and sandwiches.

Someone tapped on my shoulder to make me look at them.

"Gia?"

Gia sat beside me after greeting my friends and asked, "I need help from you. Are you free after this?" She looked at me hopefully before adding, "The guy who is supposed to help us didn't come so we need an extra hand. So, what are you saying?"

"Oh, sure!" I said to her, smiling at her sweet smile that she was wearing.

She stood up and tried to leave.

"Gia! You didn't tell me what the help was."

"Come to the playground after you're done with drinking the smoothie."

"To the playground? What kind of help do you want from me?"

"See you there." She left after waving a hand at me.

That sounds suspicious.

Tracy asked, "You're going to work in the playground wearing that?" Asked while pointing at my turtleneck sweatshirt.

"It's a little help."

"In the playground under this hot summer? Even if you take a walk around, you're going to sweat a lot. If you want a shirt, I have a spare one in my locker." She gave me the keys to the locker and continued, "Better change your sweatshirt."

"I'm totally fine with the sweatshirt."

"Oh, really?"

While I was looking at the keys placed by Tracy, Jose took them and put them in my bag and said, "Done."

"I don't need the keys. I'm fine with this shirt."

"Take a look at your face and talk."

"What's wrong with my face?"

Jose shoved his phone on my face and said, "Here."

When I looked into the phone, my face was red hot.

Jose asked, "Why are you still wearing this sweatshirt?"

I finished my smoothie and said, "Gia called for me so I'll take my leave. See ya guys in Ms Greta's class."

I headed to the playground.

In the playground,

I looked around for Gia. I'm already starting to sweat badly. This heat is unbearable! I can feel it on my face, and I don't know what that's supposed to mean. All I know is that it feels like the sun just took a bite out of my skin, right as my skin was about to peel off like an unwanted piece of meat.

I took the water bottle out of my bag and wet my kerchief using it and wiped it across my face. Even though it lasted for a few minutes, it felt good.

"Bella!"

I heard Gia calling out my name.

When I turned and looked at her, she was standing along with some people and signalled me to go to her.

I walked to her and stood beside the students who were standing facing her.

Gia started speaking, "Since everyone knows that sports meet is on Friday, we should clean all the places near and tidy. Yesterday, we started cleaning the playground, so today we'll

continue with that, and we'll move on to the basketball court after that. If we have time today, we'll organise the sports club room too. Okay, form into groups like yesterday and start cleaning."

Everyone dispersed after she finished talking. I stood without knowing where to go.

Gia came and said to me while pointing at a group of people, "You can join that group."

I nodded and tried to leave.

"Wait, are you going to wear that while cleaning? Do you have any other shirts to change to?"

"I'm fine with this, Gia."

"Okay, then go and join them."

I came to the group which Gia asked me to join.

"Hi!"

They greeted me and one of them said, "You can take that part."

"Okay."

I started cleaning the playground.

When I looked at others, some were picking up litter, some were moving over the grass, some were writing something on the ground, some were planting sticks…

I didn’t expect anyone else to be there and I wasn’t in the mood for company, but it seemed a little odd to be so alone.

As the sun gets higher and higher, I start feeling hot. I wiped my sweat and continued with my cleaning.

"Bella!"

"Harry!"

"Are you in the cleaning team too?"

"No, One of my seniors asked me to help today."

"Okay. What are you wearing? Don't you feel hot?"

When will people keep asking me that? Do they think I can't see what I'm wearing?

"No."

"Okay."

He left to work with others.

When I had finished cleaning, I went back to the bench, sat down and began to stare at the ground beneath my feet. The ground felt like I was stepping on an oven. I started feeling uncomfortable breathing so I excused myself and went to the restroom.

I splashed water on my face again and again to cool down the heat. When I looked at my face, it looked like someone had painted my face red. Since the restroom felt a little cosy, I stayed there for some time.

Someone knocked on the door. Why are they knocking if it's already opened?

I said, "It's open."

They still knocked. Didn't they hear me?

"Come in, it's open."

They opened the door and peeked their head inside. It was a guy and looked familiar. Jose?

I walked to the door and opened it, "What are you doing here?"

He asked, "Is someone inside?"

I shook my head and said, "No."

"Okay." He lifted my hand and placed a patch and continued, "Stick this to your neck and wear Tracy's shirt."

"How did you know?"

"It doesn't matter now. Just take it." And he left.

I took the shirt from Tracy's locker and came back to the restroom. I changed my top and put on the patch on my neck which Jose gave me and let my hair down. The patch didn't look odd though. I let out a sigh of relief after changing my shirt. It feels like I can breathe freely now.

I came to the playground and continued cleaning with them. Since I changed my top, I could work comfortably now.

After we finished cleaning the playground, we moved on to the basketball court.

I asked Gia, "I have a class now. Can I leave?"

"I already asked permission from your teacher so you can continue cleaning here."

"From who?"

"Your class teacher. Mr Davis."

"Oh, okay."

I asked the group, "What are we going to clean here?"

"We're cleaning the basketballs."

"Okay."

One of them brought bags filled with basketballs.

We grabbed a piece of cloth for each other and started cleaning it free from dirt.

While I was cleaning the balls, it reminded me of playing matches along with my team in high school. I don't know if i could play with them again since everyone took different directions in their life.

After the balls were cleaned, I moved them back into the store room.

While I was looking at other things in the Store room, it looked like a mess. Why does this place look like this?

Harry walked in and said, "If you were the head of the sports club, this place would have looked better than this."

"What?"

"I remember how you maintained the sports club room in our school. You should look out here too. Hey, What about joining the team? I bet you'll be popular here like how you were in high school."

"I don't have time for those things."

"What happened? Did Alexander ask you not to play basketball?"

"He gave nothing to do with this. It's me who stopped playing."

"Why?"

I walked out of the store room and headed to the group in which I was working.

Suddenly, someone hit me with a ball. I took the ball from the floor and turned to look at who it was.

Harry.

Others in my group started gossiping, "What's wrong with him?"

"Why did he throw the ball like that?"

"How can he hit a girl with a ball?"

I calmed them down and said, "I'll take care of it."

I walked to him and handed over the ball and said, "I know what you're trying to do here so stop it."

He dropped the ball and said, "You can throw the ball and get back at me."

I picked up the ball and walked into the store room and placed it with other balls.

When I came out, Harry asked, "You never changed. You're still as stubborn as before."

"Thank you."

Gia asked me, "I heard that Harry throwed a ball at you. Was that true?"

"Gia, I feel tired. Can I leave?"

"Yeah, yeah. If you want to, you can."

I bid goodbye to the group I was working in and headed out of the basketball court.

I made my way out of the college and walked on the pavement.

While I was walking on the pavement, I heard Mateo's car honking behind me.

Mateo asked while I was getting inside the car, "Didn't you see the car?"

"I… I was thinking about something."

"Why do you look tired?"

"One of my seniors asked me to help her to clean the playground for the sports meet."

"Is this the shirt you wear to college? Didn't you go in a sweatshirt?"

"Sh*t! I totally forgot about that."

"What is it?"

"I forgot something."

I called Tracy but she didn't pick up so I messaged her, "I'll return your locker keys and shirt tomorrow." And put back my phone into my bag.

"What did you forget?"

"I borrowed this shirt from her but I failed to return it."

"Okay."

At the house,

I walked straight to my room without taking a look at anyone.

When I entered the room, I dropped on the bed and tried to take a little nap. I felt stuffed up so I removed my shirt and threw it on the floor and lied on the bed. It has been days since I have properly rested, and as such, it was necessary that my body get more rest.

I heard someone knock on the door, but I didn't bother with looking up and trying to find who it could be. The knocking continued until I heard Mr Martinez's voice calling out my name.

I walked to the door and opened it and saw Mr Martinez standing in front of my room.

"What is it, Mr Martinez?"

He didn't utter a word and looked stunned. What's with him?

I remembered throwing my shirt before. Don't tell me that I'm standing in front of him with a brassiere.

"Can you give me a second?"

I closed the door and ran quickly to pick up a shirt from the wardrobe. After I got changed, I opened the door and asked him to come inside.

He walked in and asked, "Do you have time to have a talk?"

"Yeah, have a seat."

Instead of taking a seat, he walked to me with a worried face. He stood in front of me a few inches away, raised his hand and moved it closer to my face. What is he trying to do? He touched my neck which had a patch sticking to it and asked, "What happened? Did you get hurt?"

I slowly removed the patch and showed the hickey while saying, "I tried to hide this."

He looked nervous all of a sudden. While he was struggling to utter a word, I asked him, "You came to say something."

He nodded and sat on the couch and took something from his pocket and placed it on the map table. It's a key. Key to what?

I took the keys and asked him, "What is it? Did you buy a new car?"

"No, it belongs to an apartment."

"Apartment?"

"That's why I came here to talk to you."

I sat on the bed and asked him, "What is it?"

"Listen to me, Yesterday you were talking about moving out which was suggested by Harry. I didn't like the idea in the beginning but after thinking about what you said. I think You're right. You don't have any places to go other than this house. That's stupid, right? Without thinking, I changed your house into a cafe too. I think everyone should have their own place so I bought this apartment today…"

"Are you asking me to move out, Mr Martinez?"

"No! I never do that. Even If you wanted to, I will try to stop you at all costs. I bought this apartment in case you want to have some alone time to…"

I gave the keys back to him and said, "I don't need this."

He stood from the couch and placed the keys on the table and said, "I bought this apartment for you and it's in your name. Even if you don't want it, it's still yours. You can give me the money for the apartment from your restaurant's profit." And walked out of the room.

I went blank for a moment. There was nothing on my mind for a second. I was trying to recollect what just happened here.

I looked at the keys on the table. Why did he give me this? What's the reason behind this? What is he trying to tell me through this?

Doesn't he love me? He said he loves me but still gives me a key to an apartment. He said he won't allow me to move out but is still asking me to accept the apartment. He said everyone should have their own place, doesn't this house is mine even a little bit? At Least this room?

I didn't say that i want to move out or i have a little bit of thought about moving out of this house! I just shared what Harry told me. And you bought an apartment just because I shared something about moving out. I wonder how he knows all the ways to hurt me.

Why did you give me these keys? Why? Why! I throwed the keys from against the wall and yelled, "I didn't ask for a f*cking apartment!" And started crying out in pain.

I heard a knock. I didn't bother.

"What are you crying about?"

I heard Mr Martinez's voice beside me.

I wiped the tears and stood from the bed and tried to walk out of the room but he stopped me by holding my hand.

"What happened?"

I removed his hand and tried to leave.

Suddenly, he hugged me from behind which made me break out again. Tears rolled down my cheeks and fell on Mr Martinez's hand.

"Why are you crying?"

"Let go." I said in a lower tone.

He made the hug tighter than before and said, "I won't."

I tried to take his hands off me but I couldn't because he's taller and stronger than me so I let go of trying.

He continued, "Why are you crying?"

"Why do you want to know?"

He placed his chin on my shoulder and said, "Because I feel upset seeing you like this. Please don't cry."

I wiped my tears and said, "Okay. Leave."

He turned me facing towards him and lifted my chin and looked at my face and said, "Your eyes are red." gave a worried face.

I snapped his hand and said, "Why do you care?"

He wrapped his hands around my waist and hugged me while saying, "I know I don't have rights on you but spare me to care for you."

Why do you like me so much? Why do you care for me so much? Why are you giving me so much love? I don't want to get used to this. I'm sorry.

I wiped my tears and removed his hands off and said, "I feel tired. Please leave."

"Is it because of the apartment?"

I didn't give a response and made my bed to sleep.

"I will take the keys back."

He took the keys from the floor and continued, "I didn't know it could hurt you. I'm sorry."

When he tried to leave, I stopped him and took the keys back from him.

"What are you doing?"

"It's fine."

He placed his hand on my shoulder and said, "I said I'm sorry."

I shook my head and said, "You were right. Everyone should have their own place for themselves. I'll take this."

"What do you mean by that?"

"You know what I meant."

He walked out of the room like he's mad.