Chapter 8: Lotus in the pond

12 years ago...

It was the early springtime and as the snow-covered city warmed up and flora bloomed throughout the Winterwich, all the universities in the city invited their freshmen, Leo hurriedly dropped a note, few pens and his mobile into the bag and rushed out of his dormitory to reach the campus on time.

He made it to the class on time but all the seats were filled except for one at the back, he walked hastily towards the bench and settled on it. Her scent captivated him and forced him to turn towards her, she was wearing a grey-coloured hoodie, laid her head on the desk beside Leo and was contemplating him.

"Hello, I'm Leo...Nice to meet you," said Leo uncomfortably.

"Hi...Nice to meet you too!"

Leo expected her to reveal her name but she didn't, he smiled weirdly and turned his head away from her, she was still looking at him, he barely managed to keep his eyes away from her.

"Your name?" asked Leo.

"It's Marzia...Will you be my partner for the Prom tonight?" She asked gleefully.

Leo was confused and he didn't know what to answer.

" Umm...Prom?"

" Yes, It's tonight, to welcome the freshers." She said with her face still glowing as bright as the sun.

Under the influence of shock, nervousness and immense attraction, Leo terribly failed to put his words together.

"But...Yea...I know that, But why?... I mean you are beautiful."

"Well, you flatter me but none actually asked me to be their partner, so I thought I will ask you." She said and placed her hand on Leo's shoulder.

Leo was overwhelmed with joy, that was the first time someone smiled at him and was nice to him. He clenched his teeth in excitement and said "Yes...I would love to be your partner."

She chuckled and turned towards the board, but her beautiful orbs already cast a charm on Leo. He looked at her almost every minute and whenever Marzia caught him gazing at her, he gave an awkward smile and shifted his head towards the board.

After the introductory classes came to an end, everyone in the class dispersed to get ready for the prom night, but Leo didn't pack his prom outfit, He never thought he would get a partner. He rushed to his dormitory, got dressed up in his only outfit while chuckling all the time and hurried back to the campus, but by the time he reached the hall, everyone started dancing already and he saw her sitting on a table at a corner of the hall waiting for him, she was dressed in a gorgeous silky purple gown and Leo wondered if she was the same girl that sat beside him in the class, she managed to pull two extremes of beauty that is the cool type and the hot type in a single day, Leo's attraction for her proliferated.

As she was drinking her lemonade elegantly, some random guy approached her.

"Woah...you look beautiful, wanna dance?"

Leo grew extremely jealous, He instantly assumed that Marzia would accept, as that guy was way more handsome than Leo, also he showed up on time unlike him. Biting his lower lip, Leo turned back to leave the place.

" No...I have a partner, thanks for asking!" she said.

Leo couldn't control his happiness, He walked towards her and acted as if he didn't see anything but deep inside he fell in deep love with her.

" argh...finally, what took you so long?... I was about to leave." She said as she held Leo's hand and dragged him towards the dance floor.

"Well...I thought I'll skip the prom...but you are too gorgeous to do that, so I had to go back to my dorm and dress up." He said while he followed her, forcing everyone out of his way.

"Such a cheesy ass...stop flattering me." She giggled.

She held Leo's hands and put them on her waist and rested her arms on his shoulders, They were looking deep into each other's eyes and were drowning in the lake of love, as they were slightly swaying their bodies from left to right, the music that was playing in the background slowly faded away for them, they were lost in each other when Leo moved his head forward and gently planted his lips on hers, everything around just vanished, as they savoured that beautiful moment.

The next day, Leo was filled with excitement as he got ready for the second day at the college, many students were already chilling in the campus and more were entering through the gate, as Leo parked his bicycle at the parking lot, a grey coloured car stopped beside him. The windowpane lowered and inside the car was a middle-aged man and Marzia.

"Hey Leo!" said Marzia as she got down the car.

Leo shifted his look towards her and the sight of her smile left a feeling of flowers blooming in his head, He could actually smell them as she walked to him and gave a friendly hug.

" Dad, this is Leo, my partner at the prom and Leo, this is my dad."

Her father lowered his shades and said, "Hello, I'm Marcus, a surgeon at Saint Xavier's hospital."

His deep voice was intimidating and Leo already felt the firmness of a surgeon's hand when Marcus grabbed Leo's hand for a handshake.

" Umm...Hello sir," said Leo awkwardly as he shook hands with him.

" Come on Leo, let's go" called Marzia.

As he followed her, Leo noticed a strange change of expression in Marcus's face when he picked up his phone and looked at the screen.

"So your dad knows about us?" asked Leo as they were on the way to their classes.

" Not yet babe...I'll convey it slowly, my dad is like a baby deer." She let out a chuckle.

Leo smiled and nodded his head.

"So what kind of surgeon is your dad?" asked Leo to extend the conversation with his first ever love.

"Umm...Okay, we will talk later Leo, I reached my Journalism class... See you after college." said Marzia as she barged into the classroom waving her hand at him.

Leo looked down in dissatisfaction as he walked towards his classroom, he really wanted to stay with her for some more time. Leo was sauntering with a huge frown on his face when he felt a warm hug from behind.

" You have an eternity with me mister, now put a smile on that handsome face." Said Marzia as she conveyed all her love for him through that gentle embrace.