Chapter 20: Chapter 20

Isabella's p.o.v;

Someone tapped on my shoulder to look at them. It's Big brother.

He asked me, "What are you doing here?"

I looked away from him and looked at the beach which was in front of me and asked while looking at the waves, "How did you find me here?"

He sat beside me and said, "Because I have people to spy on you I guess."

I remained silent.

"Mr Martinez said you two had a fight because of Harry leaving for New Orleans. Do you want me to check whether he's telling the truth?"

"You believe in Mr Martinez because you're his secretary. No wonder you think like him too."

"I'm not just a guy who works for him. I'm your guardian too. I have the rights and responsibilities to take care of you. Yuyang and Bella are the same person to me. Even if you come out of his house, I'll take care of you along with Yuyang. It's not a big thing for me to raise you two."

I leaned on Big brother and said, "Everytime I have a good time with Mr Martinez, it doesn't last for a day. We have a fight at the end of the day somehow. I try to be stable but I'm losing it. He says that he likes and loves me but he gave me a key to an apartment. Was he asking me to move out indirectly? He's the one who lied to me about that phobia thing, I forgive him. But he's suspecting everyone around me is lying. Even though Harry is lying to me, I'll take care of it on my own. I'm not a kid. Why does he have a problem with him? I can't stand his jealousy anymore. I don't know how long I'm going to stand it, it feels like the distance between us is getting bigger day by day because of resistance. You know something? There's not a big difference between Harry and Mr Martinez by the way. Harry is so obvious about his feelings towards me whereas Mr Martinez is doing the same but behind my back. I don't think they're different in anything. Moreover, if Harry didn't try to assault me, I would have become his girlfriend by now because I liked him before Mr Martinez. If Olivia didn't do that, I think I would have lived my life differently."

"I'm confused. Who do you like?"

I let out a sigh and stood from the place and said, "I may not be good at expressing myself but if I like someone, I like them forever."

"Are you talking about Harry?"

I shook my head and said, "I'm talking about Mr Martinez."

"You like him?"

"A lot more than you know."

"Then why didn't you say it out yet?"

"I lost once. I don't want to lose twice."

"Then what about him?"

"What about him?"

"Do you know how many years we've been together? I know you heard about him a lot but you haven't heard about him from my side yet. My father worked for him and I saw Mr Martinez as Alex when I came along with my father. He was one lonely child I've ever seen. He doesn't smile or talk with anyone. Whenever I come to this house, he'll go and hide somewhere in the house. I thought he was scared of me, later I understood who he was scared of. I told my father but he didn't do anything for Alex. It took me months to make him talk to me. I wanted to know why he's scared of his stepmother. Later, I knew that she put him in dark rooms whenever he returned from school with high scores. I started to see bruises all over him, when I asked him about the bruise he lied that he got it from falling down but I knew he's lying because I saw how he got bruises by peeking into the dark room. That evil lady beats him up everyday. Alex's father treated him like he never existed. We grew up together. Even though he got beat for getting high scores, he still studied hard and continued to get high scores. When I asked him, he said studies are the only things that are going to save him in the future. He doesn't talk much. Do you know why? Alex's mouth tears when Olivia beats him up. That's when he started wearing a mask to hide the mark. He grew up with a horrible past and bad memories. He doesn't have any one good memories to cherish except meeting you. When he returned back from the fun centre, he always talked about you. That was the first time I saw him being excited about something and he had a smile on his face. That smile didn't last for a minute either. It took 13 years to see him smile again. After you came into his life, it changed him like magic. He started smiling a lot, he started trying out new things for you. Actually, he doesn't know how to cook. He said you liked it when he cooked for you. Since then he started to learn cooking for you and cooked for you. I didn't believe it at first but he took off the mask for you. He changed into a different person from his past. To tell you the truth, the only time he's happy is while being closer to you. Don't give up on him. Sometimes it takes time, but wait a little more. He's afraid that you'll leave him. That's why he's reacting like this. If you give him assurance that you won't leave him, he'll get back to being himself."

I stood up and tried to leave.

"Where are you going?"

"To Mr Martinez house. Do you think I have somewhere to go other than that house?"

While I was on the road, Big brother said, "Get in my car."

"I came here by bus, I'll take the bus again."

I walked to the bus terminal and waited for the bus. Big brother stopped his car in front of me and asked, "Aren't you coming?"

"I'm not a kid, I'll take the bus, Big brother."

After he left, I waited for a long time but there wasn't any bus. Should I take the cab?

I called a cab and got into it. When the driver asked for the address, I gave him the address of the burial ground.

I came to where my mom was buried in the ground. I sat beside my mother's grave stone and said, "I feel so lonely, mom." And sobbed while sitting in front of my mother's gravestone. "Why did you leave so early mom? If you were here, I wouldn't feel like this. Without you I feel so lonely, mom. I want to hug you and cry into your arms. I want your hand to caress my head and want to hear you saying that everything is alright, mom. I don't know what to do anymore. I hate when Mr Martinez looks at me with a doubtful expression. It feels as if I was cheating behind him. No one understands my feelings, mom. I thought Mr Martinez could read me very well but it looks like I'm wrong. Why is he doubting everyone? I don't like the way he talks about Harry. I still remember what Harry did to me but he apologised and I forgave him. But Mr Martinez keeps on reminding me of that incident and asks me to stay away from him. Even though Harry's lying, I'll take care of it. Why is Mr Martinez treating me like a kid? I don't like when he treats me like a kid. Mom, if you knew that you're going to die, why didn't you call me? Why did you call him? Wasn't I important to you?" And sobbed in front of her gravestone.

While I was crying, I felt someone was standing behind me. I turned and looked at that person. Mr Martinez. I ignored and looked at my mom.

Mr Martinez said, "I've promised your mom that I would take good care of you. So, let me do what I've promised." and held my hand to make me stand.

I snapped his hand and stood on my own. When he tried to hold my hand, I said, "I can walk on my own."

I walked out of the burial ground and headed to Mr Martinez's car. I sat in the back and waited for him to start the car. He got in and started the car.

While he was driving, he adjusted the mirror and asked, "Are you still mad at me?"

I remained silent and leaned on the window and closed my eyes to take a nap till we went to the house.

When we reached the house, I got out of the car and made my way to the house. After entering the house, I went straight to my room and closed the door behind me.

In the middle of the night, I felt sweaty. When I opened my eyes, the air conditioning was turned off. I tried to turn it on but it didn't. I tried to turn on the lights but nothing went on. I think the power went down. I remembered Mr Martinez saying that Chuck left for his hometown.

I came out of the room and used the light in my phone and walked on the hallway. Why didn't he knock on my door?

I came downstairs and walked to that room. After turning on the power, I walked to my room.

I got a message from Mr Martinez.

When I opened it, "Thank you for turning on the light."

I smiled at the message and turned off the torchlight and went to bed.

I woke up to the alarm and turned it off. I got a call from Tracy.

"Hello?" Said in a lazy manner.

"Did you pack your clothes?"

Sh*t! Today we're supposed to go to a camp, right?

"Yeah, I packed it last night."

I totally forgot about that in the middle of so many things.

"Don't forget to be here at 8 am." And ended the call.

I pulled out the travel bag, stuffed my clothes and took whatever things needed for the camp. After showering, I took the travel bag and came downstairs.

I saw Mr Martinez and Big brother talking to each other.

Big brother asked, "Where are you going with this bag?"

"I forgot to say that I'm going to a camp today."

"When will you return?"

"By Monday."

"Okay. Travel safely and enjoy the camp."

Mr Martinez remained silent throughout the conversation with Big brother.

Mateo helped me with boarding the luggage in the car and he started it.

At the front gate of the entrance,

When I got out of the car, I saw a bus where our classmates were getting inside it. I walked to the bus and stood near the door.

Tracy, "Ha! Why were you late?"

"I was checking the things I packed last night so it took some time. Where's Jose?"

"He's already on the bus. Get inside."

When I stepped on the bus, I asked Tracy, "Why aren't you coming in?"

"I got the work to check if every one of us had boarded the bus."

"All the best."

When I got into the bus, I looked for Jose. He raised his hand and waved at me. He was in the middle of the bus. I walked in his direction and took the seat beside him.

I asked him, "Why did you leave your girlfriend alone?"

"I asked her to switch to check on our classmates but she asked me to get inside and asked me to get seats for us three. So, I'm here holding the seats for us."

"Goodwork." And patted his shoulder.

Mike stood up in front of me and asked, "Please don't do anything stupid like before. We can't have troublesome camps anymore."

Jose, "That wasn't her mistake. It was explained by Mr Davis on that day. Why are you accusing her now?"

"Even though it wasn't her that time, it will happen again if she's there." And sat in his seat again.

Jose said to me, "Don't take this to your heart. Let's enjoy this camp as much as we can."

I gave a smile and took my phone and looked for any new notification.

After everyone got on the bus, Tracy came and sat beside Jose.

The bus started after some instructions by Mr Davis.

My phone vibrated. I turned on my phone and checked what it was. It was from Mr Martinez.

When I opened the chat box with curiosity, I saw his message.

"Have a safe trip."

I smiled at the message.

Jose poked my shoulder and asked, "Who's it from?"

"Mr Martinez." And stuck earphones into my ears and started listening to songs.

After three hours of travelling, we finally got to the camping site. One by one we got out of the bus with our things.

Spring Lake park.

When I looked around, it was a beautiful and quiet campsite. I couldn't hear any of the honking sounds of the car and other vehicles nearby. The camping site was much larger than the last camping site with spacious. And there was a huge campfire in the middle. It was clean and well-maintained.

While I was looking at the campfire's size, Mike asked me, "What are you planning to set fire this time?"

"I'm not."

In the last campfire, while everyone was enjoying the last day of our trip by singing and dancing around the fire, i accidentally stepped on the hot stick and tripped on the campfire. My shoes caught on fire, Mr Davis splashed water on me to set off the fire. When the fire went off, everyone laughed at me and asked me not to set fire on them and teased me. Since then, my classmates tease me using that incident.

When I took a walk around the trails, I saw a sign leading to Lake. There's a lake in this place? I want to go try it out.

I came to Mr Davis and asked permission to go to the lake but he said the lake was on tomorrow list and asked me not to go alone if i wanted to see the lake.

Tracy, "Bella! Take a look. There's a squirrel here. And, another one there." Pointed at a tree and called me.

I walked to her and looked at where she pointed, "I don't see anything."

She put her hands over me and pointed somewhere in the tree and said again, "Look carefully. Right there. Can you see it now?"

All i could see was branches and leaves. Is there a squirrel really on that tree?

Jose, "Girls, turn around and see who came to see you."

When we turned around, we saw squirrels on the camping ground eating some nut while holding onto it tightly.

Tracy, "It's cute."

"Yeah."

Mr Davis came and asked us, "Did you two set up your tent?"

"No, sir." Tracy answered.

Mr Davis asked me, "What about you? Won't you answer if i didn't ask you privately?"

"I did, Sir."

He gave a nod and looked at Jose who was setting up the tent.

Tracy hit me and asked, "Why Mr Davis is mad at you?"

"Was he?"

"Didn't you see that?"

I shook my head and said, "Okay, I'll go and find some logs for the campfire."

"Can you do that alone?"

"Yup!"

While i was searching for the wooden logs in the forest, "Want some help?"

"Harry?"

"Surprise!"

"What are you doing here?"

"Did you forget that I'm your senior and I'm responsible for the students who came to camp here."

I gave a nod and continued looking for the logs.

"How many did you get?"

I pointed a place where i kept some logs and said, "Not many."

"Actually, there's a shop down there to buy them. Don't you know that?"

"I know."

"Then, why are you collecting it under this hot sun?"

"If we bought it in the shop, it doesn't feel like we came for a camp. It will be like setting up a campfire in the backyard."

He smiled and said, "Okay, I'll join with you in collecting the logs."

"Aren't you going to look out for other students?"

"Since I'm helping one, let's take care of others later."

After a while, we collected the logs and walked to the camping site. On the way, i asked him, "Do you plan to have a party since you're moving New Orleans?"

"I didn't tell my friends yet. To be honest, except you, i didn't tell anyone."

"Why?"

"I don't have any reason to tell them. What's going to happen even if i tell them? They're being friends with me because of money. There's no point of telling them so i didn't do it."

"Didn't you had one true friend all these three years?"

He let out a sigh and said, "The problem is with me. I never trust anyone easily."

"What about the ones from high school?"

"I stopped talking with them after passing out from high school. They were never been my friends too. They were leeching onto me for money too."

"Harry, don't you have friends at all? Not a single person to talk to?"

He shook his head and said, "I never needed one in the first place."

I know he never had true friends but having no one is the worst.

We came to the camping site and kept the logs beside the campfire.

"Did you set up your tent?"

"Yup! What about you? Where's yours?"

I pointed where my tent and said, "Over there."

Some of my classmates came and took Harry along with them for some help.

I walked to Tracy who was setting up her tent, "Do you want some help?"

"No need!" She looked mad.

I asked Jose who was standing beside her tent, "Why aren't you helping her?"

"She told me not to."

I smiled and said, "What did they plan for the dinner?"

"I heard it's steak from the cooking team."

"Wow! Steak night."

We both watched Tracy struggling with the rods and the tent.

I asked Jose, "Did everyone set up their tent?"

"Some were still doing it."

"Can we go and help them?"

He nodded and came with me. We two walked around and helped out classmates who were struggling with making the tent.

Mike asked, "You seem so professional. Do you go to camp often?"

I shook my head and said, "I have worked in shop where they demonstrate building tent quickly to the customers so i learnt it by doing it often."

"You know everything because of working as a part-timer. Not a waste of time though."

The sun went down and everyone gathered for the campfire.

Mr Davis said, "Come and sit with me."

I stood up and sat beside Mr Davis and said, "Actually, you don't have to protect me like a kid. That was a mistake. It won't happen again, Mr Davis."

"It's fine. Sit beside me for tonight. Go to your friends for the rest of the nights."

My classmates started singing together.

Mr Davis said, "Why did you stopped playing guitar?"

I got surprised when Mr Davis asked me.

"What?"

"I know that you used to play guitar. I've seen once when i came to your high school. I'm a friend of Ms Devlin."

"Really?"

He gave a nod and said, "You didn't answer my question yet. You played very well. I liked it since you put so much effort while playing it. I thought about asking you to take part in the dramaclub or music club but i heard that you stopped playing it. What happened in the middle?"

"Please don't tell my friends about this, Mr Davis."

"Okay."

"It reminded me of my deseased mother and some memories which i try to forget."

"Don't you want to remember your mother?"

"What? How could I not want to? She's my mother. I remember her each and every moment of my life. I wished her to see how happy I was. I asked her lap when i felt sad. She did everything to me. She lived her life for me. How could I not want to remember her?"

"Then start playing the guitar which makes you remember her. The reason why you aren't playing it is not because it reminds of her but because you're afraid of the memories of her. You afraid of forgetting her."

He tapped on my shoulder and said, "If you're being afraid of everything, then you can't live your life happily." and left.

Tracy and Jose sat on either side of me with tray of steaks and asked, "Look like you and Mr Davis are getting along with each other. What did you two speak?"

I took the steak piece and started eating it while saying, "He gave me some future advices."

Jose, "Like what?"

"Let's leave it aside. Guys, what about a paying a visit to the lake?"

Tracy, "Mr Davis said lake is offlimit for tonight."

"I asked him too. He said to me not to go alone. What does that mean? It means there's no problem with group of three."

Jose lied on the ground and, "Who agreed to come with you?"

Tracy and I picked him up and sneaked out of the camp.

We came to the lake. I took a deep breath and exhale in a hurry.

Jose, "What are you planning to do here?"

I pushed both of them into the lake and i jumped behind them. It felt so relaxing after the scorching heat of the sun.

Tracy splashed water on me and said, "Why did you pushed me? How will I got to the camping site being all wet?"

Jose said, "Creambun, I'm drenched in water too."

Tracy, "Are you saying that you and I are one? Do you have long hair? No, right? How will I dry my hair? I didn't even bring my hairdryer."

"Bella would have brought right?"

I shrugged my shoulders and continued playing in the water.

Tracy, "She don't even bring things needed for the camp properly. Do you think she will bring a hairdryer with her?"

Jose, "Don't get mad, creambun. Let's sit beside the campfire and your hair will dry up soon."

"But there will be others."

I said, "Then we'll go later when everyone went to sleep."

Tracy splashed the water and we three began playing in the water. We began swimming for a distance with a competing with each other.

Suddenly, some light fell on us. We returned to the shore and saw someone holding a torchlight and pointing at us. When that person turned away the light, i saw the face.

Harry said, "Do Mr Davis know about this?"

We three came out of the water and stood infront of him.

Jose, "I was the one who took them here. If you're going to give punishment then start with me."

I pulled Jose back and said, "He's lying. I bright them here."

Tracy, "Both of them are lying. I was the one who came to look at Lake. They two followed me to find me here."

Harry, "I know that someone is lying. If the person who lied took a step forward, I'll let go of you three and i won't tell Mr Davis."

I whispered to my friends, "Don't do it. He won't report us."

Both of my friends stepped forward and said that they lied.

Harry said to them, "You both can leave. I have to talk with Bella."

After they left, Harry started unbuttoning his shirt. I took a step back and asked, "W-What are you doing? Why are you unbuttoning?"

He smiled and removed his shirt, exposing his bare body and moved closer to me. He wrapped me with his shirt and said, "Your shirt is see through so wear this and leave."

"How will you come to the camping site with being like this?"

"I'll come after everyone went to sleep." And sat down on the ground.

I buttoned up and started walking to the camping site.

After sometime, in the lake,

I waved his shirt to his face and said, "You don't have to wait anymore. Wear this and come to the camping site."

Suddenly, he grabbed my hand and asked, "Can we sit here for a moment?"

I sat beside him and looked at the lake while he was wearing his shirt.

"How did you get into my tent? No one saw you?"

"I know ways."

He gave a nod.

He put his head on my shoulder and said, "The view's beautiful, wasn't it?"

"Yeah."

"If you asked me to wish for something, I would ask to freeze this moment."

I lifted his head off my shoulders and asked, "Can we leave?"

He asked, "Where are you hurrying? I'm going to leave soon so please let me live this moment a bit." And put his head on my shoulder.