The girl who came back
Chapter One — The Girl Who Came Back
I was twenty-one when I finally started living the life I had once thought I had lost.Art had always been more than a hobby to me.
It was the one thing that made sense when nothing else did.
When I was younger, I drew whenever I could. Flowers, faces, hands, trees, rooms, people I knew, and people I had made up in my head.
If I was happy, I drew.If I was angry, I drew.If I couldn't explain how I felt, I drew.
But after middle school, my life changed.My parents decided I didn't need to continue my education.I fought with them.I cried.I begged.
Nothing worked.
So I stayed home.
One year passed.
Then another.
Then another.
Three years.
While my old classmates moved forward with their lives, I stayed behind. I watched people I knew graduate from high school, make friends, go to college, and start planning their futures.
And I felt like mine had stopped before it had even begun.
Those three years were the hardest years of my life.
I became withdrawn. I stopped talking to people as much. Some days, I barely wanted to leave my room.
I felt like I was disappearing.
But somewhere inside me, there was still a small voice telling me that this couldn't be the end.
You're not finished yet.
So I fought again.
This time, I fought harder.
Eventually, my parents agreed to let me continue my education.
After three years away from school, I went back.
I finished high school with a focus on art, and those years gave me something I thought I had lost forever.
I spent hours in the art room. I learned about painting, drawing, composition, colour, and different artists.
For the first time in years, I felt like I belonged somewhere.Then I got into university as a Fine Arts student.
A Bachelor of Fine Arts.
The dream I had almost given up on was finally becoming real.
University felt completely different.
New people.
New teachers.
New studios.
New possibilities.
And then came my fifth day.
It was Friday.
Drawing class.
I walked into the studio with my sketchbook tucked under my arm. My friends were already sitting around the tables, talking while we waited for the instructor.
Then the door opened.
And he walked in.
His name was Leon Hayes.
He wasn't a permanent professor. He was a visiting art instructor who taught at the university because of his work as an artist.
He had earned his Bachelor's degree in Fine Arts from a well-known university and had built a reputation for being exceptionally talented.
But honestly, I didn't notice his résumé first.I noticed him.
He was wearing a black shirt with the sleeves slightly rolled up. A simple watch sat on his wrist.
And he smelled incredible.Not overpowering.Just enough that I noticed it when he walked past my table.
He was handsome.
Very handsome.
I immediately looked down at my sketchbook.Okay. Don't be weird.
Leon introduced himself and started explaining the class.His voice was calm and confident.He clearly knew what he was doing.
I found myself looking up at him more than once.Then I remembered.I was engaged.
I had been engaged since I was fifteen.It had been my family's decision.
At fifteen, I hadn't understood what marriage meant. I had simply accepted what the adults around me had decided.
But I wasn't fifteen anymore.I was twenty-one.I had changed.My ideas had changed.My feelings had changed.
Still, I told myself one thing.
He's just attractive. That's all.I had no idea how wrong I was.
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