Memories

Lucas walked into the room and found Dionne sprawled on the bed still in her afternoon clothes. The ink he drew on her face was still there although some had begun to fade. Lucas walked slowly to the bed. He stood for a while examining her face, when he saw the drawings which she have yet to wash off, he smiled to himself.

He sat next to her and removed some of the hairs that covered her face. Dionne stirred in her sleep as a result of the dip caused by Lucas climbing the bed. It didn't take long for her to settle down and resume her deep sleep.

Her sudden movement startled Lucas but he calmed down when he saw that she wouldn't wake. Even with the ugly drawings on her face, Lucas couldn't help but be in awe of her beauty. He remembered when they first met, back then in college. She was the school's belle while he was, oh well, that guy.

He never liked attention and was just that quiet boy who sat at the back of the class with no friends. He and Dionne were different majors but they shared a few classes. He was never attracted to her the first time he met her– he thought she was pretty– just like he was never attracted to any woman before. She was his first.

Until the day they were grouped to work on a particular project. He was the smart one so he was the team leader, as for Dionne, she didn't want to work.

The first thing she said to him was, "You'd do my share for me right?" And she ended with a wink. At that time Lucas found it extremely annoying. He thought she was one of those girls who used their bodies to get what they wanted. Just like his stepmother, every other girl like that disgusted him. Overall, women disgusted him.

"No," Lucas said flatly and proceeded to walk out of the hall. But it didn't end there. In his whole 21 years of life, he has never met a girl as persistent as Dionne. The project carried many marks and he was fully aware no sane student would want to miss such an opportunity to raise their GPA.

Dionne would follow him everywhere– she would even walk him home–it didn't take long before her popularity started rubbing off on him. People started noticing him and even attempted to be friends with him on many occasions.

They thought Dionne was wooing him and while girls started taking interest in him, he became the envy of all boys. Whenever he would walk past some boys, they would make snarky comments about how he doesn't deserve Dionne and should stop playing hard to get. It got to the point when they went as far as to Inflict physical harm on him. At the end of it all, he concluded that to go back to his peaceful life, he needed to stay away from Dionne.

The only way to get her off his back was to do her share of the project, but he wouldn't do it. It was not fair to the others. He then came up with a way. He would tutor Dionne so that she'll be able to work on the project herself. When he first proposed this to Dionne, she instantly refused. It took threatening to file a restraining order against her before she then agreed.

"What are you thinking about?" Dionne's voice rang out in the placid room retrieving Lucas back from his memories.

'When did she wake up?'

"How long have you been awake?" Lucas found his voice.

'Long enough to know that you've been staring at me this whole time' Dionne thought but of course, she didn't say it out loud.

"Just now," She lied.

Lucas's impassive gaze made her wonder if he knew she was lying.

"I'm going to take a shower" Dionne quickly scurried away from the bed, grabbed her towel and a change of clothes, and escaped into the bathroom. This setup was making her uncomfortable. Her heart was beating at an abnormally fast rate and her palms were sweaty.

She has never shared a room with a man before. Not even with her many boyfriends. The only person she had come close to sharing a confined space with was her ex-fiance, Christopher. And now she has to share a room and probably a bed with a man.

When she woke up, the first thing she saw was a pair of eyes staring fondly at her. She was startled but was also drawn to it. It didn't hold its usual malice anytime it landed on her, instead, she saw longing.

Dionne held the bathroom sink and looked at herself in the mirror. She looked horrible. Her skin looked so dry and devoid of its normal glow. But all those were not her problem at this moment. Her mind went back to earlier when she caught Lucas staring at her.

`Does Lucas still like me?`

She immediately shook the thought off. "I'm just overthinking things," She mumbled and proceeded to brush her teeth. She groaned when she couldn't get the way Lucas looked at her out of her mind. Why was he confusing her like this? One moment he looks like he wants nothing more than to see her suffer, the next moment he's looking at her like the most precious thing in the world.

Dionne finally got out of the bathroom after an hour and a half. She met Lucas– in his pajamas, casually laying down while typing away on his phone. He cast a glance once she was out of the bathroom and quickly returned to typing on his phone.

Dionne quietly sat on the couch awkwardly. She was not sleepy as she had just woken up from a deep sleep. She was hungry but she didn't know how to mention it to Lucas. Her stomach suddenly growled loudly grabbing Lucas's attention.

Dionne made eye contact with Lucas and immediately hid her face in embarrassment. That was such a loud noise.

"Do you need me to do anything for you?" Dionne asked gently to reduce the awkwardness. The tone she used caused Lucas's brow to shoot up. That was new.

"Are you not hungry?" Lucas asked without making eye contact. The last time they ate was on the plane and she didn't even eat much. It was late night already and he was sure she'd be hungry by now.

"I'm a little bit hungry," Dionne bit her lips waiting for what he would say next.

Lucas wordlessly stood up and changed into a comfortable jogger and shirt.

"Follow me," He ordered, walking out of the room while expecting Dionne to follow behind.

*AUTHOR'S NOTE*

Hey guys. I'll be locking this book from the next chapter. As much as I'll love to keep this book free, I have to earn ಥ‿ಥ.

I hope you guys support the book and if you don't have the coins to unlock future chapters, they're fast passes that can be used. I'm stockpiling more chapters for my monthly attendance bonus(MAB) so expect daily updates from next month ( ╹▽╹ ). Thank you all for your reading my work.