Asher

Hazel Amstrong.

That's who she had become after all these years. But I wasn't even surprised by it. I knew very well that she was a fighter. She is not like other cliché girls who would be depressed if one man broke her heart. She is the kind of a girl who will work harder to show that man what he had lost.

The Hazel who ran away from me came back as a different person. She had become someone else who was way beyond my imagination. This woman was even more powerful than me. She was more stronger than all the men I have ever met. The one thing that left in her was her broken soul. She may neglect it but I could see right through her. Her thirst for power and revenge is just a mask for her shattered soul.

I know that I should leave her alone now. I had destroyed her once and I couldn't bare to see her broken again. When I watched her breaking down in front of me, I couldn't take it longer. I wanted to hold her closer to my heart where she belongs. I wanted to tell her that I was experiencing the same pain she was going through. I wanted to tell her everything. Why I did what I did 8 years ago. I wanted to tell her the deepest darkest secret that I was hiding myself for many years. The secret that changed our life.

Yet I couldn't do anything because I knew I was late. She was in the arms of another man who loved her even more than I ever did. He was holding her in his warmth and comforting her pain. I watched with longing when I felt her leaning into her fiance's arms and getting the support she wanted.

"Are you alright, man?" My thoughts about hazel was broken by Stef's voice. I was standing in the hospital lawn. I didn't notice his presence until now.

"Yeah. When did you come?"

"Just a few minutes ago. I was going inside when I saw you standing here like a Greek statue."

"What?"

"You know the handsome guy statue with thoughtful stone face."

"I know how Greek statues looks like."

"Yeah whatever. You want one." She took out a cigarette and passed to me.

"No thanks. I stopped smoking long ago and when the hell did you start this habit." He lit up a cigarette and took a blow.

"Not quite long. This helped me with lot of shits going on in my life lately." He exhaled. White smoke were coming out of his mouth and nose. He took another blow.

"You know smoking is not the solution for everything you know. It can kill you." I pointed. He coughed all the smoke and looked at me shocked.

"What the hell man? You sound like Hazel." He was right. I was a heavy smoker until I met Hazel. I used to do hookah when I was in Dubai. So it was kind of a habit for me. When I joined Grace I got myself a bunch of cigarettes and smoked it secretly. When I met Hazel, lot of things about me got changed. Even my smoking habit.

"I know that look. Dont tell me you are still crazy about her." I stayed silent. I dont have to answer that to anybody. Hell, I am not crazy about her. I am completely insane about her.

"Why Asher? Why the hell did you do that? Why did you hurt her like that? Why didn't you tell others about your relationship?" I couldn't even answer that to her then how the hell will I tell that to him. Nobody really knew about my relationship with Hazel. It was a tiny secret between us both. I didn't tell about it to anyone but Hazel's best friend's Mia and Rayn knew about it. Hazel said she couldn't keep it from them. Then there was Stef who found us between the shelves of the great music room on my graduation day.

9 years before...

"There you are... Are you hiding from me firefly girl?"

I was looking for her all over the campus. But she had been missing for a long time. She didn't come to my graduation ceremony so I was getting worried. Finally I found her in music room. The room was still looking like an old storage room with heaps of music instruments scattered here and there. There were record album shelves which was dusted off. The glimmer was spotlighted in the single great piano in the middle of the room.

In the end near a window pane sat Hazel looking outside to the morning glory all alone. She looked lost in thoughts. As I came closer to her I saw her eyes tearing up. I lifted her chin up to look at her eyes.

"What happened Hazel?" I asked her. Just as her name left my mouth, She hugged me too tightly and sobbed.

"I can't take it anymore Amiri... I... I... How can I survive without you? What will I do without seeing you?" She whispered under her ongoing tears. I smiled at her and took her face in my hands. I could feel her pacing heart as our body stood closer.

"Its just one and a half more years Hazel and then you will also graduate. I will come to see you as possible as I can after I go back to Dubai. Besides if I dont come back then how am I going to get these sweet but earth shattering kisses?" With her blushing, I locked my lips with her and kissed her hungrily. I devoured every second of that moment. I have never felt this good while kissing anybody ever. Kissing her felt like the first kiss over and over again. Everytime I kiss her, I felt my soul binding to hers and never want to ever break it. It was impossible to stop devouring her soft pink lips once I started to kiss her.

She broke it as she felt breathless. But I was never breathless. I wanted more of her.

"Amiri, Promise me you will love me forever. Promise me that you will come back for me. Promise me now." She took my face in her arms and looked at me with her innocent hazel eyes.

"Are you scared that I would find some beautiful Arabian girl in Dubai? Why are you looking so paranoid? Oh! Let me tell you... Arabian girl are soo much gorgeous you know but I kind of have a very beautiful girl in my mind already. I am completely head over heels in love with her." I joked and started laughing at her cute jealous face.

" Who? Who are you talking about?" She snapped. I took out the drawing that I had in my pocket and gave it to her. Hey! For those who dont know, I am a very talented artist, Okay! I love to draw other than being a bad boy rich brat.

"Here give this a look. I had drawn my dream girl in this." She gave me a look and quickly opened the paper. Her reaction was priceless. She gaped at the portrait I had drawn of her. The picture was exact copy of her. Her beautiful tan face with the most beautiful eyes and smile I have ever seen. Her face brightened.

"It's beautiful, thank you so much Amiri. Nobody has ever done to me something this sweet. I... I love you very much." She kissed me in my cheeks. I couldn't believe every time she said those words. She used to oblige so much because she said she didn't believe in that term. But I am feeling very much overwhelmed with the fact that she is saying those words for me because I made her feel that for the very first time. Most of her first's was with me but I was the experienced one in our relationship. Yet everything I do with her felt like first's for me too.

"I promise Hazel. I promise that you will be the only one I will love until my last breath."

Her eyes glistened with love. I moved even closer to her and kissed her eyelids, then her nose. I moved south kissing her lips like it was the last day of my life. Our souls binding and our breath becoming one. I devoured her. Her scent, her tears, her taste, her love for me. I devoured myself through her. My hands were touching all over her body. The only thing separating us was few layers of clothes. My fingers brushed between her shirt and her skirt. I ran my fingers inside the gap finally contacting with her skin. She moaned at my touch leaning to me. I gently moved my hands inside her shirt touching her waist and then her belly moving north as my lips devoured hers. She was running her fingers through my neck and hair pulling me closer to her warmth. My fingers then grazed through the rims of her bra when suddenly her breath hitched. She pushed me back and moved away from me. The lost of her presence in my arms is what brought me back to reality. I had forgot myself in the heat of the moment. I was blinded by my own lust. If she hadnt stopped me then I would have-

"I... I can't do this Asher... I am not ready... I am not-" She was looking so flushed.

I put my index finger in her lips and whispered to her ears.
"You dont have to explain baby. I know... I should have kept my manners. I.. I couldn't stopped myself. It's okay." She looked like she regretted going through it so I kissed her forhead.

"I want you hazel... I want you now when you look at me like that but not now. Not here. When I do have you I want you all myself. I want you somewhere where your moans and screams could be heard only by me... Where I can love you in every corners without caring what others think." I said to her. She blushed like the sun in the dusk as I said my words.

I reached out to kiss her again when suddenly a sound of a groan came from someone.

"What the hell are you two doing?" Hazel jumped at that sound and moved away from me. I turned angrily to the person who interupted our another great kiss. There near the great piano stood one of my best friends brother- Stef.

~~~~~~

I couldn't answer stef's question. I gave him something I knew the most. Silence.

"You still love her, don't you? I know that. Then why did you just let her leave. What actually happened 8 years ago?"

"You don't want to know that. Let me make it clear boy, ITS NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS." I snapped.

"NONE OF MY BUSINESS? Yah right... it is my damn business if it was the reason that killed my brother, man. It is my damn business if the girl who helped me to become who I am today ran away all of a sudden because of you. It is my damn business because it affected my life too. So you better tell me NOW!"

"Stay away from the past Stef. Its for your own better. I am sorry about your brother, Okay. He was my bestfriend too. I didnt know that would have happened but I am sorry I couldnt stop it."

"I know it has to do something between you and Abid. Everything was fine before you and Abid went out to talk about something. What was it? What did you tell Abid that made him too upset? What did you do to Hazel that made her runaway? What did you do?"She shouted at me.

"Just leave me alone¡¡" I snapped and walked away. Why can't just everyone leave me alone? I don't want to go there anymore. To the past. It is better when some secrets are buried in the past itself. If we dig up all the dirt from the past then no one can bare it. Everyone will be shattered.

"ASHER!! Talk to me... You can't hide from the past... talk to me.." Stef's screams were fading under the cold bright morning. The winter had only started to change welcoming the bright summer. But Grace town was indeed a weird place. It didn't have anything ordinary. The climate was unique than most of the other mass lands. Grace town has its own climate changes. One can't predict what comes next.

The truth of our past lied there on Grace Central hidden in every corners of the great Victorian building. If the walls, the flowers, the trees or the ground can talk, then everyone would have known everything long back itself. It's better this way. I might have been cursed to carry this secret alone forever as the other one who shared it with me is lying in his grave. I hated myself for baring it but it was never my secret to share it to the world but his. Alas he is no more alive to do that.

As I walked alone in that deserted drive way I had only one thing that I want to shout. An apology to all.

I am sorry Hazel for breaking your heart.
I am sorry Zara for lying to you.
I am sorry Stef for your brother.
I am sorry to everyone I ever hurt.

And

I am sorry Abid for everything.

♢♢♢♢♢♢♢♢♢♢♢♢♢♢♢♢♢♢♢♢♢♢♢♢♢♢♢♢

There it is... a cliffhanger. I know you will hate me for doing this to you but let me tell you... I have two surprises for you.

1. As we are reaching little jubilee by the next chapter. The most important secret will be revealed in the nxt chapter. Cheers!

2. If you want to see how Hazel, Asher and other's look like then go follow our little reunion instagram page.

Dont ever forget to vote, comment and share this story if you are loving it.

사랑해
Salanghae♡ #koreanmode

♡ U My fAM.