2 : The Familiar Stranger

Yes, mom", Haya somehow spoke.

"Where are you? You didn't show up this morning either. Didn't you come home last night?", Sofiya barked from another side, which was enough to ice Haya on the spot. 

She was so nervous after knowing about her pregnancy that she didn't even show up in front of her parents.

"I did. I had to study in the college library today so...."

"Leave it. I'm going out of town for a few days with your dad. Make sure you take care of the home"

Haya waited for her to say something else, but Sofiya cut the call without even asking her to take care of herself.

However, she sighed in relief, since her parents would be away for a few days and her pregnancy could be hidden.

She marched towards the football court to record her name for the upcoming tournament. 

"You're the girl?", a middle-aged man in a tracksuit asked her. He had blonde hair and a long whistle hanging around his neck.

"Yes. I'm Haya", she pulled a smile on her face. 

"Hmm. Take this and sign here", the man handed her some documents. "Are you sure you'll be able to control the girls and lead them?"

His words scared her a bit. She knew she could hardly handle those girls. The ex-head cheerleader could give her tough times.

"I'll try", she signed the documents and turned around to walk away. 

In the blink of her eyes, something happened. She could see a ball coming towards her in full force. She held her belly tightly right away; her devastated eyes froze on the ball. 

Close enough to her belly, it stopped, bumping into a hard chest. She was left numb on the spot as her eyes drifted to Aaron, stopping the ball against his chest.

"Aaron, you're okay, dude?", a guy from the court yelled. "Why did you go out of the court to hit it?"

"I'm good", Aaron raised his thumb and turned to Haya. Their eyes came across each other as she took a couple of steps back. 

"Are you okay?", he husked in a thick, raspy voice. 

"Yeah"

"You should be more careful right now", he uttered, fixing his grey hairs. Haya's twitching eyes lingered on his face, full of sweat. 

Seconds later, her eyes shot up. She couldn't understand what he meant by that statement. Did he know something about her pregnancy? But they didn't know each other well. 

"Anyway, did you sign the documents?", grabbing the water bottle from the nearby bench, Aaron asked her.

"Yes", she muttered. She couldn't realize how her eyes pushed up to steal a glance of him, pouring all the water on his head.

Water drops streamed down to his face, glistening over his caramel skin as she drove her remorseful gaze away. She had seen him many times on the campus itself, but that was the first time they were talking and standing close to each other.

Seconds later, she discovered the ex-head cheerleader, Koena, scowling at her from the other side of the court. She gulped her saliva down.

"Well, so....", Aaron strived to say something when he found Haya's gaze iced behind him.

Twisting his head, he saw the same view of Koena and her flocks glaring at her. 

"I guess you're obsessed with your bullies", he scoffed abruptly, dragging Haya out of her muse. 

"Ha? What?", she clasped the straps of her handbag tightly, looking back at him.

"I'm talking about something important. And you're lost in something else"

"So-sorry. I was listening to"

"You always talk like that?", a smirk appeared on his face when he scanned her reactions well.

"Huh?"

"So-sorry", he repeated, mimicking her. Her face went pale with his sudden insult. She couldn't speak. "Thankfully, cheerleaders have to dance. If they needed to speak, I wonder how you would do that?"

While Aaron was waiting for a hard reaction from her, she was still silent. 

"Anyway, if you can focus, can we talk?"

"Talk? To you?", she exclaimed, regretting right away. "I m-mean, you're a player but from the organization. What will we be talking about?"

"Don't take me lightly. I own the whole organization", he chuckled with a sound, walking towards the court. 

Haya's eyes popped out, hearing him. She couldn't figure out what to do. Should she leave or follow him? 

"Haya", Aaron shouted from the middle of the court, shuddering her from the core. His voice echoed in the whole football court. Her name was buzzing inside, her name could be heard aloud. The echoing sound of her name mesmerized her, standing numb like a statue. 

"Y-yes", she tried to say aloud, pushing her throat harder. 

"Are you coming?"

It made her glance at Koena for once. Undoubtedly, Haya knew she would be the prey of their jealousy, because Aaron Samuels was never heard calling a girl. 

However, her nervousness seemed to be her attitude, which gave shivers down to Aaron's spine. 

"She is definitely over naïve or she has some shitty attitude problem", Aaron mumbled to himself. 

"I'm not waiting for you the whole day. I have to practice also", he shrugged off.

As he started walking again across the big court, Haya pushed her legs to run towards him and halted half a foot away. She was walking beside her, peeking at him more often so that he could say something. But Aaron was only taking sips of his bottle while walking, and she felt too much ignored again. 

Like always!

"You wanted to say something", she reminded him.

"Yes. But you had a lot of things to ponder about. Let me take my time now"

She felt pissed off that time which she had never felt towards anyone while many of them treated her like an unwanted creature. 

"I said sorry", she frowned, glaring at him 

"Oh? So, you can react too? I thought you can only hear and stammer"

"Are you mocking me?", she scowled at him.

"Obviously, yes. I didn't know it would affect you. You don't mind people mocking you, no?", he said.

Somewhere she knew she was habitual to this. 

"Not every time"

"I see. Maybe, I'm exceptional", he cracked up as she gawked at him with no reaction on her face. "Anyway, you have an entire week to prepare the team. The head of the organization isn't here at this moment. You can discuss anything with Sir John. He pointed out the person who had taken Haya's signature earlier. 

"And I hope you'll not ruin the team"

"Huh", she startled, halting there. 

"You'll be the head. And I can see that you will have a hard time controlling these girls"

"I'll try", she lowered her gaze.

"By getting afraid of them?"

"Huh? I'm not afraid of them"

"I can see that", Aaron grimaced, trying to hold his laugh. 

She didn't argue back because she knew she was afraid of people, their comments, their judgments. She preferred to stay in her shell instead of messing with them. 

"Now I need to go. See you after college. I'll drop you at your place", he said, hitting the ball against the ground as it reached up to him again. He kept bouncing it.

"Excuse me?", a clamor escaped Haya's mouth with a line of surprise on her forehead. "I don't know you well. What do you mean?"

"But….", he stepped closer and leaned over her, almost near her ear. "I know everything about you. Everything", he whispered, causing cold shivers all over her body.