Chapter 3 - Changed Feelings?

His both hands rested at her waist and pulled her towards himself leaving no space between them. He wrapped his strong arms around her, embracing her in his tight hug giving her the essence of his being but actually he was taking in her warmth.

" I missed you." That's all he managed to say with his voice slightly cracking.

Bella for a moment was startled and she was confused as to what to do, for a split second she thought of hugging him back but then old harsh memories came back rushing in her mind and she decided against it.

Ashton was waiting for her to wrap her arms around him but it never happened. Instead all he felt was a slight push which made him stumble a bit but he managed to stand still. He looked at her which met with her devoid eyes.

Her expressions were unreadable, her blank stare was radiating cold. "How could she change? ", was the only question that rang in his mind. After two years they were in front of each other but it still felt like they were far apart.

He hugged her and she was beyond happy and her hands were about to reach his shoulders when her happiness came crashing down and she was pushed back to reality harshly. He didn't deserve it.

He didn't deserve her.

So Bella had pushed him and his looks told her that he wasn't expecting that from her. Well how he couldn't expect it from her after knowing what he did to her.

Ashton opened his mouth to say something but words never came out of it. She should have guessed it.

He wasn't saying anything and she wasn't interested in a contest of our eyes either. So Bella tore her gaze apart and turned over her heels, heading back to Jacob.

" Bella... " she heard him but she didn't have energy to look at him cause she knew if she would stay here any longer it would just break the walls she had built around her heart.

Which was something she didn't want.

So she sighed and kept moving with a steady pace to let him know that she wasn't interested in talking to him at all. Walking through the long corridors Bella reached back to the reserved room. Jacob gave her a smile when he noticed her coming in. Bella just returned a tight smile and settled down back at her seat.

" so... "

" what...? " Bella questioned him.

" Wanna dance?" he asked her while taking out his hand for her.

" But music?" Bella asked as an excuse to avoid it cause she wasn't in a mood to be up for dancing but Jacob didn't get the signal. He held her hand and made her stand up.

" Singer Jacob Hunter at your service. " and he winks at her, gaining a smack.

" Just kidding, violent girl." she rolled her eyes at his reply.

Jacob took out his mobile and went through his playlist to find a perfect song for them. Bella was being impatient as right now there was nothing to distract her mind and her thoughts kept on drifting towards Ashton. She wanted to stop herself from recalling the fact that she met him a few minutes back.

" What the hell is he doing here even?" she was retorting to herself feeling frustrated.

So she decided to pull her mobile out of her purse and to go through F******k, Twitter or I*******m or any damn thing she was just willing to do anything to keep her mind occupied by notifications rather than Ashton Blair.

" Did you find your oh so perfect song Jacob?" she asked with a slight chuckle.

" yeah." and he hit the play button.

Jacob forwarded his hands in front of Bella which she gladly accepted. He pulled her a little towards himself, she snaked her arms around his neck and his hands reached for her waist. And in all this Jacob failed to notice how void Bella's eyes looked. He didn't know that she was just dancing with him to not come off as a rude person.

Ashton was looking all the way around for Bella, his heart ached as she had gone without speaking anything. There was so much to be said but they both were engulfed by quietness the moment they met again today.

Suddenly my ears caught a faint sound of music and I didn't know when and why my legs led me there. Maybe because there was something in that melody I was hearing but wasn't able to get it properly.

His legs stopped at the front of a reserved room. He thought to go away from there without disturbing as a reversed dinner room meant a private dinner but before he could tear his gaze from the door. His eyes stared at the familiar figure dancing inside there.

Thanks to the glass doors.

He was so happy about finding her that he didn't notice the existence of the guy until my heart stopped doing flips. He didn't know who he was and neither he wanted to. He had already started hating that guy's existence.

He felt a pang of jealousy but he wasn't going to accept it that out loud especially in front of her. Here he was searching for her, dying to talk to her and she. She was busy with this girly boy.

Alright Ashton admitted he wasn't girly at all but he was so lean and too fair to be called a man. And his disinterest was too much to accept his good appearance.

But it hurt him more when he glanced at her. There was a small smile on her lips while their bodies swayed together.

Had she really moved on?

No she couldn't. She loved him and promised to love him forever. And their forever couldn't come to an end like this, such thoughts filled his mind which was only making him more sad and angry.

Bella was fighting hard to act all so overwhelmed and sweet while dancing with Jacob as she didn't want to hurt him and neither did she want him to get to know that she met Ashton, which would just make the situation awkward for them nor did she have any plan to ruin his hard work on planning this date.

But the reality was she was going through a heart wrenching turmoil. So many knots were tied in her stomach and she tried not to break in tears in front of him. She was trying to stay strong. She was waiting for this dreadful night to get over and wake up like it was just a nightmare. But the song kept going on, filling the air with suffocation. It was like if she would speak, she would choke or words wouldn't come out of her mouth.

Her mind drifted back to the memory of her college time. When she was on cloud nine until she got pulled back at the ground mercilessly by the only person she loved. Ashton was staring at Bella and Jacob with blood shot eyes.

He wanted to enter and hit Jacob with a lamp or anything good enough to touch up Jacob's face. Both Bella and Ashton were both on the verge of crying because of the memory as both thought of their happy days they had together. All those moments came back gushing in their veins.

It was an encounter none of them had anticipated. Both were going through indecipherable emotions. One wanted to run away while the other wanted to hold on to it. Bella had no clue anymore as to how she should take her date with Jacob.