The rough, dried outer bark of the tree stung her skin harshly, and Hera winced at the discomfort. Panicked, her gaze wandered, searching for something or someone.
"Andy, you're making a mistake. Please stop it. You're going to regret this," Hera said, still trying to be nice to him. She didn't want to provoke and give him any more reason to get angry. He's not thinking straight as of now. Hera watched stupefied and upset while Andrew laughed. He sounded maniacal, and Hera could only pity him.
"What? You're trying to threaten me that your boyfriend is going to beat me to a pulp?" He asked, still chuckling in mock amusement.
'He won't just beat you to a pulp. He will kill you..'
Hera wanted to say that out loud but stopped herself. She wasn't threatening him. She's genuinely concerned for him and was afraid she wouldn't be able to stop Hunter from doing that. Andrew attacked her lips once again putting an end to Hera's thoughts. She kept her lips sealed tight, and when she couldn't bear the torture anymore, she lifted her knee and kneed him in the groin.
Andrew fell on his knees, grunting in pain. He grabbed her wrist when she took a step away, his grip was tight enough to bruise, as if he's afraid she would disappear if he loosened his hold.
Hera didn't know where the courage was flooding from, but she decided to stay. She didn't want to leave him alone with his broken heart. "I wasn't going to run, Andy," she said, keeping her voice down as if speaking to a weeping child. Andrew's head whipped up, and his look softened as if he'd realised that he'd done something wrong.
Hera crouched down to his level and hesitatingly touched his shoulder with her free hand, offering comfort.
"Why can't you return my feelings, Hera? It hurts so much," he said while rubbing his chest with his other hand. His grip on her wrist never loosened, and the tip of his nails was digging into her skin painfully. "Hera, please don't break my heart," he helplessly begged her. "I wish I could, Andy. But you've to understand I already have a boyfriend. No matter how toxic or silly it looks when Hunter and I fight, he would never break up with me. We would never part with each other," Hera said with conviction.
Andrew laughed sarcastically. "You said it yourself, Hera. How toxic is your relationship with him? Admit it you don't love him. You're with him only because he's not letting you go. You're afraid of him, scared for yourself, for the safety of your friends. That's not how people love each other, Hera," Andrew said, once again judging her brutally.
At this point, Hera was on the verge of losing her patience. "I meant to say it might look toxic to others, but only we know what we feel for each other. Andy, you can't force the feelings. The heart chooses what or who it wants to choose," she said, hoping he would understand the logic. But Andrew didn't want to accept the reality. He started verbally abusing Hunter, spitting his hatred out.
As she expected, he kept on rambling about how bad Hunter was for Hera. Hera was tired of arguing with him, and she lost it when he tried to kiss her again. He thought if they kept kissing, Hera might change her mind and accept his feelings. She shoved him hard before fixing him with a death glare.
"Don't make me hate you, Hera. Why can't I kiss you? Ace does it all the time, against your will if I might remind you. But you don't stop him ever. Remember two years ago when he kissed you and humiliated you in front of the whole school?" He asked, and Hera clenched her teeth in anger. Andrew smirked in triumph as hurt flashed across her features. He knew he struck the nerve.
"If I were you, Hera, I would never look at his face again, not even to spit on him. How could you forget all that and forgive him? Why don't you like it now if you liked it then, huh? How am I wrong if I forced you to kiss me? Or do you have a thing for getting humiliated before a witnessing audience?" He asked, feigning curiosity.
This time Hera couldn't stop herself and slapped him hard, leaving imprints on his cheek.
"Don't talk like you know everything and don't even try to compare yourself with Hunter," Hera uttered through gritted teeth. "He had a reason for what he did. We have a history that you don't know. I met him even before I joined SPALEV High and I've loved him since the very moment I saw him. You don't know shit about our relationship, Andrew. So don't you dare throw your poor judgment on my love life," Hera paused to wipe away the trace of tears on her cheeks. She hadn't realised when she started crying.
Andrew laughed brokenly, and Hera noticed he too had tears in his eyes. He'd been shedding tears silently.
"So, he gets away with everything only because you love him?" He asked in utter disappointment.
"Yes, because we belong to each other. No matter how much we beat around the bush, in the end, we find each other. We're each other's final destination." Hera said without a trace of hesitation. Andrew's fingers clenched into fists, and Hera stepped back as he advanced, a menacing look marring his face into something ugly.
Hera shook her head, warning him to back off. This time she didn't bother to filter her thoughts before voicing out. "You won't live another second more if he gets to know. Believe me, Andrew, I know him," Hera said, tone filled with unwavering confidence. Grabbing her bag and the blazer, Hera turned to leave when she heard him calling her name.
Hera felt a pang of hurt when she saw him rubbing his chest. He was sobbing, the broken, ugly crying kind of sobbing. "It hurts so much, Hera. Why should you be happy when you're making me so sad?" He asked in between hiccups. "I want you to hurt the same in your chest. I curse you, Hera. You'll never get to keep him. I curse you not to have your happy ending, I curse you with all the hurt in my heart," Andrew smiled.
Though he looked miserable, that smile was evil, eyes filled with hatred and Hera sucked in a sharp breath.
Teary eyes widened into their full size, Hera looked at him in disbelief. "Andrew," she whispered his name only for him to curse her again.
"Go fuck yourself, asshole," Hera said.
The hot tears swimming in her eyes blinded her vision, and she blinked, pushing the salty water out and turned on her heels.
Hera took off without turning back once until she reached the premises of the new building.
She ran until she entered the new building through the back gate until she reached the floor to the washroom.
The school hour was over, so to her absolute luck, she found the washroom empty. Hera dropped her bag and her uniform blazer on the floor and slumped against the wall. The flow of tears seemed never-ending.
'God, why is my life so difficult?'
Hera groaned in anger and wiped the tears from her eyes and cheeks with the back of her hand while she tried to suppress a sob.
Andrew's angry voice echoed in her head, playing his hateful words repeatedly.
'I can't believe he did that to me! And he's the audacity to curse me after all that.'
Gritting her teeth, she huffed out her anger. The sound of the gushing water in the tap felt like music to her ears as soon as she turned it on because it somehow blocked Andrew's voice to some extent. She washed her face, rinsed her mouth, rubbed her lips clean multiple times.
Hera waited until her tears dried down, and finally, her hiccups stopped. The ugly bruises Andrew's nails and fingers left on her wrist, throbbed painfully under the water. She hated how the imprints looked so bright on her creamy white skin, a reminder that Andrew did that to her.
Putting on her blazer, she sighed in relief when the sleeves hid her bruises from sight. She finger-combed, fixing her hair before she left the washroom.
Hunter was with his friends outside the library. Eric stood in the middle, leaning his back against the wall, arms folded in the front, one knee bent with a foot resting against the wall. Danny had his arm around Michael's shoulder while his other hand rested in his trouser pocket.
Michael was busy, spinning the book on his finger, balancing it excellently. Samantha stood next to Hunter, clinging on to his arm. Hunter had his hands shoved in his pockets. They all stood in a circle while they discussed the Mathematics paper they had for the test.
"Pixie," Eric called when he saw Hera walking out of the washroom. Lost in her thoughts, Hera didn't hear him.
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