Cursed Contract

Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3
To Hell With Friendship

It's almost 10 o'clock in the evening. The cold wind blew making me shiver. The leaves of the trees swayed along with the night breeze, creating different shapes of shadows casted on the glass windows of already closed stores. The tumbling sound of tiny stones filled the empty sidewalk as I kick them one by one. A part of the pavements glistened as I walked because of the lights coming from the old streetlamps.

The silence of this part of the street opposed my noisy mind. My head's filled with racing thoughts I couldn't seem to control. I did not attend any of my afternoon class today. It's not that I didn't care. It's just that, I didn't think I would fail by missing just one meeting with my professors. I went job hunting the whole afternoon after leaving the coffee shop. I had a lot of things to take care of like the rent, my food, the electricity and water bill, my tuition fee, and everything else that involves money.

My neck felt a bit sore after looking at my feet the whole time. I tilted my head sideways, to stretch my poor veins and slowly rolled my shoulders. I looked straight ahead and focused on increasing my pace. I suddenly miss my bed.

Minutes later, I finally reached the outside of my apartment. I exhaled a sigh of relief at the sight of the door.

"Hera!" a man called from behind.

'Hera'

That nickname. That voice. That tone. There's only one person who calls me like that. I spend my days trying to forget everything about him and I always find my self failing every time.

"Miss, you left your notebook on your chair!" Someone grabbed the handle of my bag making me stop on my tracks.

"Yes?" I irritatingly looked back at him.

The whole classroom was almost empty because it's already lunch time. My stomach growled, but only I could hear it.

"I'm Luke by the way, Luke Dominique." He extended his right arm to my direction, with a friendly smile plastered on his face.

I looked at his hands moved my gaze to his face, then locked eyes with him, ignoring his offer for a handshake.

"Where's my notebook?" Lunch time is gold, and I hate wasting it.

He put his right hand inside his front pocket after being rejected. Then, he revealed his left hand, teasingly waved my notebook in the air.

"What do you want?" I rolled my eyes.

"Your name," he answered, now handing the notebook to me.

I was about to take it but he rolled his wrist, avoiding my hand, then shook his head slowly. He smiled playfully after successfully getting into my nerves.

"Herera," I told him my surname, annoyed.

"Is that your first name?" he asked.

"Whatever. As long as it's part of my full name."

"I see." He nodded. "So, you like the 'last name basis' kind of thing, huh? But Herera is too long. What should I call you? Hmm..."

My brows curled in disgust. I took the chance to snatch my notebook from his hand while his mind was still busy.

He laughed and then cleared his throat.

"Hera, short for Herera. Hera is cute," he suggested which I didn't care about.

"Suit yourself." I was about to go but he suddenly grabbed the notebook from my hand, leaving me stunned. "What is wrong with you, jerk? Give it back."