Heart Vine

The night is cold, and I’m still awake. Why? Oh, simple. I’m heartbroken. No. Not just heartbroken. I’m actually heartbroken. So, let me tell you the story of how it all began. There was this guy in my class whom I never really liked. At least, that’s what I told myself. Maybe I did like him, but I didn’t have the courage to talk to him. Or maybe I genuinely didn’t like him. Maybe I simply didn’t find him attractive enough to give him a second thought. Honestly, I don’t know. And perhaps that’s the funny thing about feelings. Sometimes, you don't realize what someone means to you until they mean something you can no longer ignore. But then, one day, a question was asked in class. I wasn't supposed to answer it. I don't even know why I did. Maybe I just happened to know the answer, or maybe, for some reason, I felt brave that day. So I answered. And he noticed. That was how it all began. He was good-looking. Tall, with siren eyes, soft, curly white hair, fair, bronzed skin, and a black dove tattoo just beneath his chin, resting on the left side of his neck. He possessed a kind of beauty that was difficult to ignore. He was beautiful. But I never really keyed into that. We were never really on talking terms. We never even said hi to each other. Maybe he thought I was too snobbish. Or maybe I thought he was too snobbish. I honestly can't remember. What I do remember was that he was every girl's dream in my class. In my department, too. He was the kind of guy girls noticed, the kind they secretly or not so secretly called their Prince Charming. But he wasn't that to me. Not then. I don't know why. Maybe I just didn't see him the way everyone else did. Whatever they saw in him, whatever made their eyes linger a little longer, I somehow missed it. Or maybe I saw it. Maybe I just wasn't ready to admit that I did. But I wasn't pretending. I really didn't see him that way. At least, not then. After the question was asked and the moment passed, I began to notice something different. A stare. At first, I thought I was imagining it. But it kept happening. I would feel someone watching me, and whenever I turned around, I couldn't quite pinpoint who it was. Someone seemed to be talking to me without actually saying a word. Someone seemed to be following me everywhere I went. But I couldn't tell who. I lived in a very small apartment that my parents had gotten for me. My parents weren't multi-billionaires or anything close to it, but they were doing well. They could afford the things I needed, and that was enough for me. School wasn't a place for fun. At least, not for me. I had dreams. I had goals. And I knew I had to keep pushing if I wanted to achieve them. Relationships weren't part of the plan. Neither was falling in love. And certainly not with him. But somehow, he crossed a boundary I had never invited him to cross. Then he crossed another. And another. Until the boundaries I had carefully built around my life no longer seemed to matter. It all started one fateful night. I went to school that day to prepare for my exams, which were starting in about a week. By the time I was heading home, I realized I was running out of groceries, so I stopped at a grocery store to get a few things. My parents had sent my allowance, and I wanted to stock up on enough food to last me for a while. I also needed a new laptop. I had mentioned it to my dad earlier, and he had sent me the money to get one. So, after buying my groceries, I planned to stop by the electronics store to pick up the laptop I had already paid for. I got everything I needed at the grocery store and was about to leave when someone offered to pay for me. I stared at him, confused. Who was this person trying to pay for my groceries? Then I turned around. It was him. The guy from my class. I didn't even know he was there. Well, I knew he was in my class, technically. I'd seen him from afar countless times, but we'd never interacted. Not once. There had been no conversation, no attraction, no secret feelings, nothing. He wasn't someone my mind had made room for. If you had told me that day that the person standing in front of me was going to become an important part of my life, I probably would have laughed. He offered to pay for everything. I refused. “No, I'm not interested. I'm good, thank you so much.” But he insisted. I don't know why he was so determined to pay, but eventually, I couldn't bring myself to reject the offer again. So he paid. And I left. I continued on my way home, stopping at the electronics store to pick up the laptop I had already paid for. It had finally arrived, and I needed to collect it. The weather had started to change by then. The sky looked uncertain, and the temperature was dropping. I wasn't particularly good with cold weather. I usually carried a jacket or sweatshirt with me, but that day, I had left both at home because I thought the weather would be fine. Apparently, the weather had other plans. I walked into the electronics store, collected my laptop, and signed all the necessary receipts. I thought that was the end of the day. I was wrong. Then the rain started. Not the gentle kind. It came down heavily, drumming against the roof and pounding against the pavement outside. I stood inside the store, already feeling the cold creeping through me. The air conditioner wasn't helping. I thought about asking the store manager to turn it off, but there were other customers inside, and I didn't want to inconvenience everyone just because I was cold. So I decided to leave. The moment I stepped outside, the cold hit me harder. I wrapped my arms around myself, trying to keep warm, but it wasn't enough. I was freezing. I stood there for a moment, wondering how I was going to get home in that weather. Then I felt something warm settle around my shoulders. A jacket. I froze. Someone had placed a jacket around me. He looked like the bad guy. Not because he had done anything to me. Not yet. It was simply the way he carried himself. The coldness in his eyes. The careless confidence in the way he stood there, as though the entire world had already learned to make room for him. He was beautiful, undeniably so. But there was something dangerous about beautiful things when you looked at them for too long. And standing there in the rain, wrapped in his jacket, I had no idea whether I had just met the person who would save me... or ruin me.