Chapter 27: Chapter 27

Isabella's pov;

When I woke up, I was inside the embrace of Mr Martinez. Did he hug me to sleep last night? I took his hands off and slowly got up from the bed.

When I got out of the bed, Mr Martinez asked while rubbing his eyes, "You woke up?"

"Did I wake you?"

"No, I got up on my own. How are you feeling now?" He signalled me to come to him.

I sat in front of him and took his hand and tried to place it over my chest. He hesitated and stopped.

I smiled at him and placed his hand on my chest and asked, "How's my heart?"

He smiled and held my cheeks together and said, "It's perfectly fine now. And, I told Mr Johnson to take care of your father so don't worry about him."

I touched his hand and asked, "What if he comes back."

He tapped his biceps and asked, "Did you forget how I protected you by blocking him away from you last night?"

I said, "My knight in the shining armour." And patted his head.

He gave me a peck on my cheek and stood up from the bed and said, "Okay. Get ready. It's time for your college."

I looked at the time, "Oops! I'm going to be late for the first hour. I hope I don't get detention…"

"What?"

I let out a nervous laugh and said,Um… I said I'm going to get punished if I go late."

He nodded and left the room.

I let out a sigh of relief and took my clothes and went to the bathroom to have a shower.

In the dining table,

I said to Kirk when I came downstairs, "Kirk, can you please pack me this. I'll eat it in college."

He nodded and walked into the kitchen with my breakfast.

After some time, he came out with a lunchbox. I received the lunch box and thanked him for packing it for me.

When I came to the parking lot, I couldn't see Mateo as well as the car which he used to drive me to the college. While I was being confused, Mr Martinez tapped on my shoulder and said, "Get inside my car. I'll drop you at the college."

I got into the car without uttering a word since I'm already late for college.

While we're on the way to the college, I asked him, "Where's Mateo?"

"He took the car to the service."

"But he gave it to the service last weekend. Then, why did he go? Did he forget that he already gave it to a service?"

"Because I asked him to."

"Didn't you know the car was serviced last weekend?"

"I asked him to take it to the service because I wanted to drive for you. Do you get it now?"

"You could have said that in the beginning."

"Yes, I forgot who I'm with for a moment back then."

"What do you mean by that? Are you trying to pick a fight with me?"

He smiled.

I hit him on his shoulder and asked, "What are you smiling for?"

He said, "Since we do this everyday, it feels weird if you're not here."

"Don't get to that cheesy stuff yet. My college came. Stop the car."

I got out of the car and he looked like he was waiting for something.

I shrugged my shoulders and asked, "What?"

"Goodbye kiss?"

"Shhhh… we're in front of the college entrance. When do you become so clingy?"

He pouted his lips.

I smiled at his pouty face and said, "That's not going to work since I'm standing in front of the college entrance. What if somebody sees us? And, I don't want to be in the headlines again. So leave."

He let out a sigh and said, "Okay. Have a good day."

I walked into the college. When I turned to look whether he's there, he left. I smiled to myself thinking about Mr Martinez.

In my classroom,

Tracy and Jose listened to the story like they're so into it. I told them about what happened last night.

Jose, "I can't believe that guy showed up after all these years and asking you to go with him. Doesn't he feel guilty for leaving you like that?"

Tracy tapped on my shoulder and said, "I don't know how you handled it but it looks like it's going to get more serious. Since you're living in someone else's house, you should be careful. Because we don't know what will your father upto. Even though he's your boyfriend, he is still someone in your father's eyes. But don't worry, we will be beside you this time."

"Thank you guys."

While we're talking, Mike interrupted and asked them to go to their respective seats. They both gave a stare at him and left to their desks.

Mike asked, "Did you finish the assignment for Ms Greta?"

I leaned on my desk and said, "The deadline is next Friday."

"Why are you so lazy while being my deskmate?"

"What does that have to do with being a deskmate?"

"My deskmate should always be punctual and reliable."

"We still have time for submitting the assignment so f*ck up." And lied on my desk.

Mike whispered in my ears, "What's wrong with doing the assignment now?"

I sat straight and held by his shirt collar and asked, "If you want to do your assignment then go on and finish it. Don't order me to do it too. I know when to submit my assignment so don't talk about anything related to the assignment ever again to me. Did you get it?"

Jose separated us and said to me, "What are you doing?" And apologised to him and asked him to do anything he wants apart from talking about studies with me.

After Jose left, I took my phone to see a message from an unknown number, "Come to the ji cafe."

It's the cafe Mike mentioned the other day. Ji cafe?

I turned to Mike and asked, "What is the name of the cafe you went to yesterday?"

"Ji cafe."

While Jose was talking with him, I said, "I need him now."

When we came to the entrance of the college, I asked Mike, "Tell me how to get to ji cafe."

After hearing the directions from Mike, I thanked him and said, "Go to the class. I'll be back in a minute."

I walked into the ji cafe and looked around at the people who were already seated inside. I took a seat at a table near the window and took a glance at them. I think they aren't here yet.

While I was waiting, A guy took the seat in front of me and said, "I'm the one who sent you a message."

A taller, well built, dressed in branded clothes.

"You look familiar. Did we meet before? Wait, the handsome guy I met in the club. It's you, right?"

He nodded.

I asked him, "Why did you ask me to come here? And, how did you get my phone number?"

"My name is Isaac Walton."

"That didn't ring a bell."

He gave a nod and said, "My father's name is Jacob Miller."

"What?"

"You and I. We have the same father."

So he cheated on my mom?

I asked, "How old are you?"

"Twenty."

I was shocked after hearing his age out of his mouth.

"Twenty… you are older than me. How was it possible?"

"Don't you know why our father left your mother?"

I shook my head and said, "No. And, I didn't want to know that either."

"Our father left your mother for my mother."

"I thought they were in love."

He said, "Our father was in love with my mother too."

"Can you please drop the term 'our' here. He's not my father. And, what the hell are you talking about? I don't understand anything."

He said, "My father and my mother were in love but my mother's parents didn't accept him since my mother's from an elite family and they opposed the idea of marriage between my mother and father. He met your mother and married her. Later my grandparents found out that my mother is pregnant with me. They disowned her from the family. Your father married my mother without your mother's concern. After I was born, my grandparents asked my father to leave the family he created, which is you and your mother to become part of them. He asked for time and Like my grandparents asked him, he parted from you and your mother when you were 5."

"So he was a greedy one."

"I have a younger brother, Steve. He is eleven years old. He's in sixth grade now. After my grandparents passed away, Mother is looking after my grandparents' business."

"Why are you saying this to me?"

"Because we're your family too."

I stood up and said, "I had a mother and she died. I have no one."

He stood up and said, "I heard that your… sorry, My father came to see you last night. I was the one who told him about you when I met you in the club. I never thought he'd behave like that. If you're mad because of what happened last night, I'm really sorry for that. you don't have to worry about it anymore. I took care of it. He won't disturb you anymore."

I took the seat and asked him, "Does your mother know your father had another family?"

He shook his head and said, "She'll get broken if she knows about this."

"Who else knows about this?"

"Me."

"Did he tell you?"

He shook his head and looked away.

"You found it by yourself. It must be hard to know that your father had another family, right? What did you do when you came to know about this?"

"I felt bad for your mother."

"Were you mad at him for not telling you?"

He nodded his head.

"Don't worry. I won't tell your mother. You can be rest assured."

"I didn't come for that."

"Then, why did you come?"

"My father came home last night drunk and was sobbing for something. I heard that your mother passed away through him."

"So?"

"I'm sorry for your mother."

I stood up and said, "You are a good guy. Your mother must be happy to have a son like you."

I walked out of the cafe and headed to my college. I heard someone's walking after me. I bet it's him.

I turned and asked him with teary eyes, "What do you want from me? Look, it's hard for me to take everything all at once. I'm not like…"

Suddenly, he pulled me to his chest, burying my face in his shoulder. It was warm and smelled like someone I knew. I broke out in tears when he wrapped his hands around me.

I broke the embrace and headed to my college.

In my college, when I entered the class, Tracy asked me, "Where did you go? Jose said that you rushed out of the classroom after seeing something on your phone. Hey, why's your eyes red? Did you cry? What happened?"

I rubbed my eyes and said, "That guy has another family." I told Tracy what happened in the cafe.

After hearing that, she said, "I don't know how to console you but I'm relieved that your father's not going to come back." And tapped on my shoulder.

In Mr Martinez's house,

Mr Martinez asked while eating his dinner, "Why do you look so down? What happened in college? Did he come to your college?"

"He won't come see me again." Said while eating my food.

"What?"

"Nothing."

I hurriedly ate the dinner and tried to go to my room but Mr Martinez stopped me by holding my hand and asked, "Tell me what happened in the college."

"That guy's son came to see me."

"Who's son?"

"My father's son."

"I don't understand. Your father has a son?"

"Yes. The guy who returned my wallet last night." I told Mr Martinez what happened in the cafe and continued, "He was older than me. Do you know what that means? If my mother was alive by now, everyone would have called her mistress. And I'm the mistress's daughter. Why are adult relationships complicated?"

"It's not complicated. It is the people who make it complicated." Mr Martinez hugged me and asked, "What's his name?"

"Issac Walton."

"Seems like no one took your father's surname."

I lifted my head and asked, "Will you look down on me since I'm a mistress's daughter?"

He gave a flick on my forehead and said, "Where did you get that crazy thought?" He hugged me tightly and said, "For me, you are Isabella. Isabella that I like… And, your mother wasn't a mistress. She is the first person to marry your father. No matter who shows up being older than you, don't forget that you're not a mistress's daughter."

"I'm scared."

"Why?"

"What if someone let this out? Issac said that his mother's generation is an elite. Paparazzi is always after rich people. What if they know about this? Will I be in the headlines again but for being a mistress's daughter this time?"

"Did you forget who I am? I don't let anyone do that to you. Even if they did without my knowledge, I will make it disappear in a second."

He held me, he was so warm but his hands were cold and his skin soft and smooth against mine and the only thing keeping me steady was him. His fingers tangled in my hair, I closed my eyes, basking in the feeling of his warmth. It took a moment for me to realise what was happening, I hadn’t realised how much I needed it until he held me. I felt safe again and it was the only thing that mattered. I buried my face in his chest, inhaling deeply his scent, not wanting him to let go for some reason.

There were a lot of things about him I liked about his hugs; but one thing in particular stuck out in my memory more than anything else, because it was the first time in my life I felt something close to safe around someone. It wasn't like I had ever felt that way before with anyone else at all.

He had been holding onto my hand for about ten seconds, but I could still feel the way his fingers had tightened around mine, almost painfully so. His hand gently cupped my cheek, running a thumb along my chin asking, "Are you feeling better?"

I nodded while being in his embrace.

He caressed my hair while saying, "Let us sleep. It's been a long day."