CHAPTER 21 : STRANGERS

Nat's POV

"Nat , honey , will you please go out of the house ? It's been a week since you haven't stepped out except for going to school," my mom says to me one fine day and wakes me up from my peaceful slumber.

"Mom, I don't want to go, "I whine.

"Why?" she raises an eyebrow and asks me.

"Please,"

Why is she bothering me?

"I don't care. You need to go out and socialize! How long has it been since you last talked to Nina?"

"A while, " I say guiltily.

I've been ignoring her calls all week and now that even school is over, she can't reach me.

"Exactly! And how long is that while? "

"A week," I admit.

"Seriously?" she asks me in disbelief.

"Yes"

"You haven't contacted her for a whole week? And here I thought it was just two or three days. Good thing I called her. She will come in 15 minutes whether you like it or not," she says and places her hands oh her hips.

"What mother!? You can't force me,"

I'm in no mood to deal with this drama.

"I can watch me, " she says and to prove her point she lifts me off the bed and forces me into the washroom.

"Not fair," I yell but she ignores me and pushes me inside.

"Your clothes will be on your bed!" she calls out before closing my door.

Ugh.

Arguing in my head whether I should go or not, I decide to go.

I can use some fresh air.

I can't spend my time thinking about Leo.

I need to stay away from him or he would kill my family.

I don't care about myself, I'm not afraid of death anymore.

I got away from its claws once and something tells me I wouldn't be able to get away again.

As soon as I come outside, I hear Nina in her Mercedes .

The sight of her makes me smile and I didn't really notice it myself but I had missed her all this while and maybe I could use a friend.

I wave to her and she gets out of her car and rushes to hug me.

"Hey stranger, glad you decided to call"

"Sorry, I haven't been really uh well. I caught stomach flu," I lie.

"Yes, which explains why you look like a nightmare!"

"That bad ?" I say amused.

"Yes, sorrowfully yes !" she laughs and her eyes widen at some behind me.

I turn around to see who it is and see Leo.

My entire body freezes when I see him and I swear my heart stops too.

What the fuck is he doing here?

I look at Nina from the corner of my eye and she smiles at him and he smiles back at her.

"Hey, long time" he greets her.

I feel like shit right now and I want to disappear inside the earth.

"Hey, Leo. Looks like it wasn't just Nat who been hiding lately. What have you two been up to lately hunh? " she says and I look at him and he just smiles at her.

"I've had some work," he says.

"Oh," she says and I bet she can sense the tension between us.

She should.

He doesn't even look at me.

Does he hate me that much?

Of course, he does.

"So everything fine between you two ?" Nina asks clearly not aware of anything.

"Yes" "No" Leo and I reply in unison.

No?

I thought he would fake-pretend that everything was and just lie to Nina's face but I guess matters are way worse here.

I feel so guilty right now for doing what I did and there's no way to even justify myself cause what I did was so so wrong but it would be appreciative of Leo to not make assumptions and judge me so harshly when all I did was save his uncle's life.

He doesn't even look taken aback by my expression.

"Nat, let's go somewhere. Bye Leo," Nina says to him and pushes him out of my way.

"Where are you guys going?" Leo asks shamelessly.

"I don't think it's really your business Leo," she firmly says.

"My business?" he says with a snort.

"Yes," Nina says.

"Well yeah. I don't really care about girls like her," he says and tries to laugh.

"Girls like me? What are you trying to say?" I ask him.

"Girls who kiss their ex-boyfriend's in the lawn of the guy they spent a night with!"

"I slapped him when he kissed me and you saw it! Don't lie Leo and spent a night with? Seriously?"

"Yes and you still kissed him," he says stubbornly and crosses his arms.

"I did not! You know what Leo? I don't have to explain myself to you, think whatever the hell you want okay?" I say and start to walk away but he places his hand on my shoulder and stops me.

"You know what you are?"

"What?"

"A slu--" he starts to say and I slap him.

"Don't complete that sentence," I say and feel the tears pooling up in my eyes.

He realizes what he was about to say and tries to stop me from walking away but I get out of his grasp and run.

"Nat? Where are you going?" Nina asks wide-eyed.

I didn't know myself.

Away from here at least.

My phone starts ringing after a few minutes of running.

I find a place to sit as my lungs will burn up due to so much running.

I'm not really athletic and I never run so much.

After some time of being alone and sitting there, I hear footsteps and I don't turn around because I already know who it is.

It's Leo.

"Nat, finally!" he exclaims as he sees me and he stands in front of me.

"Why are you here?" I ask him.

"I uh--"

"You like always won't even let me explain Leo," I say and get up from there.

I start walking back to my house but he stops me by coming in front of me and says, "I'll listen this time."