His ExWife (edited version)

Chapter 14

Flashback

"You know I'm not a ghost right?" Iyan's voice was almost always startling for Mariella. She mentally cursed herself, she should have known he would be in the library.

Almost two weeks had gone by since their encounter at the café. She had been feeling pretty guilty after that incident, leaving abruptly. Her father had left for Texas that night regarding some business and had luckily left her only a note- he had not even bothered to meet her, but she was relieved. She had been still relieved that he was not back in town yet. The days got shorter in her joy.

"You scared me," she said heaving a sigh of relief, looking at him.

His hair was damp and he was probably back from the gym, he had his water bottle in his left hand and a sports watch in his right hand blinked, indicating a tiny green light, his Adidas duffel bag also hung on his right shoulder. It is strange to notice this but someone you're attracted to looks even more attractive when their hair is wet- Mariella agreed with that infamous opinion.

Standing there, right in front of her desk, Iyan looked handsome. His face glowed with sweat and his hair was slightly damp with sweat as well, but even though he wore a thick maroon cardigan with dark grey sweatpants, she could tell he was one of the fittest guys here in school. She wondered why everyone noticed Scott more than Iyan.

She pretended not to pay attention to him as he took a seat in front of her. It was just lunch break but Mariella had chosen to come here in peace; at least she would avoid the neglect she had been facing at the local lunch hall at the school. Making friends was one hill she was just not ready to climb yet.

"You don't have any classes today?" she asked casually, not looking at him. She was indeed referring to the gym bag and she noticed that he was not even wearing the school badge.

"Since Edmont High follows streaming and I'm in stream A, the smartest of our batch, we're kind of already done with the syllabus, so now we can work out in peace, no more classes for us," he explained with a relaxed attitude.

Scott and Mariella had both been in stream C. They could be considered average if not poor in academics that is, grade wise. But she didn't want to be in stream C. There were many reasons for that; the students were too rowdy and neglective about their studies unlike Iyan, most kept staring at her like she was an alien but no one had bullied her yet, which was strange given she was a new student and the drama that had taken place on her first day. With the foul prank Mark had played on her, she had expected their bullying to get worse- on the contrary they fell to the silence.

Most of all, there was another reason- Scott. Every time she used to be in class, he had been boring imaginary holes in her body with his eyes always on her- or so she felt- even from a remote distance. The only problem: she was not able to catch him red handed; as soon as she would turn to see if he had been staring, he'd look away almost like it had never happened. It was beginning to irritate her now.

"What is the requirement to get promoted to stream A?" she looked at Iyan with focus.

Iyan was moved by that. His face clearly lit up at the thought of her being with him in the same class was a good way to remain close to her, he liked her more than enough to want to see her everyday without pause.

"Well the procedure is simple- you get a B or A in 6 out of 8 subject in the finals...And nothing but a friendly reminder, it doesn't start with dumping the friends that try to help you out," he mentioned sarcastically.

Rolling her eyes and then smiling to him, Mariella swore not to do it again, "Won't dump you without letting you know first the next time I promise."