Leanna Clavelle | COMPLETED

GARRETT AJIEL

Gael (part II)

I stayed at my table at the High-Ed faculty. It's afternoon break, so that left me alone in the room. I rested my elbows at the top of the table and covered my face with my palms.

Damn it! I'm still on my first day and yet I can't stop myself from wanting to go near her. Confront her. Ask her where I went wrong and why she suddenly left me without notice. Siguro naman deserve kong malaman kung bakit niya ako iniwan. Or maybe I don't.

I'm about to go to the canteen when I noticed Clavelle, my living kryptonite, walking towards the field. I didn't plan to follow her, but my body is as stubborn as my heart. I kept a distance so she wouldn't notice me from behind.

She looked weary and sluggish as she sat on a bench under the Talisay tree. I let myself stare at her back as memories came crashing inside my head. I bald my hand as pain is piercing my heart again. I want to be mad, like what I have carried throughout the years. But by just seeing her, it brushed all the anger I had collected. It's hard to fight the urge to face her. To kneel and ask for forgiveness for what I have done. And beg her to take me back into her life.

Then I noticed her shoulders were shaking. Is she crying?

"Clavelle," I called. Hindi na napigilan ang sarili.

She stiffened for a while. I saw how she secretly wiped her tears away. It took her a long time before finally facing me. Our eyes locked for the second time today. She gave me a small smile that didn't reach her eyes, breaking my heart. I noticed her eyes were red and that was the answer to my question. She was crying and it irked me. My brows furrowed as my lips turned into a grim line.

Why would she cry? I was the one who was left hanging. So why the hell would she fucking cry and look at me longingly?

Magsasalita na sana ako pero naunahan niya ako.

"Good afternoon, sir! Mauna na po ako." aniya at agad akong tinalikuran at nagmamadaling umalis.

She's avoiding me. After that day, she made an effort not to cross paths with me. Though it's unavoidable for us to be in one place, for she is my student and I am her professor. But I chose to make her life easier. I tried to avoid her too, for her sake, even though I badly wanted to talk to her. Maybe she needs time as much as I do. I don't want to break down when I talk to her and that's the last thing I want to do. I don't want her to think I'm still all over her. That she still has power over me.

But fuck! When I saw that same boy in the same position as the first time I saw them together months ago, I wanted to lash out. Jealousy flared in me. I clenched my jaw as I'm trying to control myself from being possessive. And when the boy noticed my dagger stare, he immediately straightened.

"Good afternoon, sir!" The boy greeted me.

Clavelle also greeted me, but it was almost like a whisper. I traveled my gaze to her. She looked agitated as if she was being caught doing something forbidden.

I don't trust my mouth enough. Baka kung ano pa ang masabi ko kaya tumango lang ako bago sila nilagpasan. I continued hardly because their image still flashed inside my head. And I almost lost my head when I visited the workplace of Clavelle, only to find both of them, near each other, looking delighted. I asked my co-teacher earlier about him and what his name was. Gerard Abella. That's him.

"Mr. Abella," Hindi ko na napigilan ang sarili.

They looked at each other like they were communicating through their eyes as if they were sharing a secret. Then Gerard smiled awkwardly and looked scared at me.