1- "Meeting Trey..."

If only I could turn back time, I would've never let him leave by my side…

I let out a sigh when I heard the car stop in front of the school gate.

Before leaving, I gave myself one last check in the mirror. This is it. After five long years of mourning and hiding away from the world, suffering a devastating loss when the man I loved died, I have now decided to go back to school.

I looked at the gate and the buildings inside it. A part of me was missing going to the hallways, sharing laughter with friends, and especially walking with Noah after classes, and then we would go to food courts to bond and date while doing our assignments together…

In addition, a part of me was afraid thinking what if I wouldn't do it this time? What if I wouldn't succeed anymore? Now that he was no longer here and the people from our batchmates had already finished their courses.

Things have never been the same since the last time I remember I stepped foot in this place. This school used to bring back so many wonderful and delightful memories for me, but now that I'm returning, I could feel the eerie silence and I feel so far behind my newer and younger classmates who walked past me having their own worlds and enjoying themselves with people they bond to.

Though it was hard, I forced my feet to take a step forward. It took me a lot of courage to get inside the gate carrying with me a heave in my heart. I tightly hugged the books I was carrying…

I stopped walking as there were soft hands from a playful man behind me that covered my eyes.

“Now take a guess who’s this…” he challenged, grinning.

I smiled the sweetest. I knew him completely even though he was behind me, from his manly fragrant scent to his gentle caress, and his unconditional love…

“Of course, it’s you, Noah! There’s nobody else who can do this and dare to be this close to me but only you!”

He chuckled and removed his hands from my eyes.

I looked at him with the usual admiration in my gaze for him.

He brought me close to his body and hugged me and I submitted myself wholeheartedly. I already found my safest haven in this world, and it was in his arms…

“I missed you, Noah!”

He pat my head and we gently released from that hug then he gave me a smile. “I missed you, baby!”

I let him as he put his arm on my shoulder and we walked together.

“How was your summer vacation? Did you enjoy it?” I dearly asked him.

“Hmm, it was alright, but not so much because I couldn’t help missing you.”

I beamed even wider. He really always knew how he could flatter my heart!

“How about you? You enjoyed your summer break?”

“Uh-huh, but I think it’s always more fun to be in school because here, I could see you every day.”

He chuckled and then planted my head with a soft gentle kiss.

Going back to the present, I couldn’t help but smile bitterly. Those were just one of the bittersweet memories my love left for me…

We were about to begin our sophomore years at that time, and it was the first day of class after a two-month academic break. We hadn’t seen each other in quite a while and when we met again, nothing had changed, we always wanted to be near and got each other’s backs.

Indeed, one of the saddest things about life is when happy moments turn into golden memories…

No matter how much I wanted to go back to how everything used to be, I possessed no power to do that and the only thing I could do was reminisce.

The next thing I knew, I'd stopped walking again because I'd noticed the couple on the bench beneath the big Narra tree.

Nostalgic…

How could I forget that that place used to be our lovers' den, too! When Noah was still alive…

I watched the two as they study their books together.

Noah and I used to do that during our vacant time. We would sit together on a bench and sometimes I would even fit myself to lay down there and rest my head on his lap while he remained sitting and he would read me a book, caress my hair with his soft fingers, and cup my cheeks as if it was the cutest squishy thing ever that he could gently pinch!

I felt my heart load even heavier. I really missed him and longed to feel his loving warmth and care once more!

To cope with my emotions, I decided to walk further.

After five years of grieving Noah's passing, I realized that continuing to feel sorrow for him would not help me recover from this greatest tragedy and it would only prevent me from moving forward with my life. It would only lead me to not being able to let him go and his memories…

"You could have played better, Rain!"

“Shut up, Jude! You were also at fault for why we didn’t win the game!”

“Come on, boys! Don’t take it too seriously! To take your minds off the fact that you will never be able to beat Trey at a game, just remind yourselves that he is, by nature, the best player among you. That simple!”

I caught a glimpse of the group of students talking gleefully as they walked through the corridors and it seemed like they were completely ignoring other people around.

Three boys and two girls. They appeared to be cool and I couldn’t help but notice that every student they passed by as they walk would automatically look at them with admiration, some would even smile and greet them.

The girl with short blond hair whose hands were in the pockets of her jeans looked so cool and friendly that she even waved at her schoolmates. While the other girl with red hair seemed to be clingy with the boy she was hugging and totally snubbed other students who she was maybe thinking were not part of their circle of friends.

The guy that was hugging the girl seemed to be a casual person who would smile at anything often. The other one seemed to be a little serious and snob. But the one who caught my attention the most was the tallest one among them. He appeared to be the most domineering and most gorgeous with that lazy smirk on his lips.

My chest pounded violently. I couldn’t be wrong! What I was seeing before my eyes walking in the corridor along with those people in the group was none other than the love of my life—Noah Carlsen!

I wasted no time and found my feet running nowhere but in his direction.

Emotionally, I never hesitated to hug him when I was finally close to him.

“Noah!”

I could feel my eyes becoming little by little watery. I was so overjoyed to have found him again that I couldn't contain it! Finally, I have found him again! After a long time!

“I missed you, Noah! Every day, I have gone almost crazy missing you!”

I never cared about people around us raising their brows at me, on what I did. Even Noah’s friends seemed to have been appalled and confused about what was happening. But I didn’t care at them all. The most important thing for me was Noah, having him found after several years I had no trace of him!

He didn't seem to reciprocate my embrace, but that was fine with me. I mean, he was understandably taken aback by what was happening. But for sure, deep inside, he was also delighted to see me!

When I released him from the hug, our eyes met. He was staring straight at me with tremendous intensity in his gaze.

I caressed his shoulder, and his chest gently. I just couldn’t believe that I was able to see him again! If it were only a dream, I would never want to be awake anymore! I could no longer afford to lose Noah the second time around!

“Noah, where have you been? We've been looking for you all these years. Why were you hiding and why did you show up only now? Why didn't you contact me for the past five years? We all thought you were dead! Do you even have any idea how insane I became since the day you vanished on that awful afternoon in the midst of the deep sea?! I’ve been missing you day and night, Noah!”

The moment he spoke was the moment my fantasy was cut short and my bubble had just burst.

“What the h*ck are you saying, Miss? Are you on drugs?”

I heard people around us laugh. And that seemed-to-be brutal lady friend of his in her red-colored hair was laughing mockingly at me as if I were a complete joke.

Looking at his other friends, I saw that the short-haired girl wasn’t laughing at all. In fact, she had this expression as if she sympathized with me. One guy from their group remained serious and confused and the playful one was grinning as if watching an amusing romance drama between me and his friend.

The man in front of me looked at my hands on his shoulder and I felt as if electrocuted by the way his eyes pierced me, thus I immediately removed my hands from his body. It was a total embarrassment!

“My name’s not Noah. It’s Trey. Treyton Gregori to be exact.”

He wasn’t Noah? His name was Trey? But how come…

I almost froze when he tapped my shoulder.

I looked at him and his eyes seemed to be scanning me from the deepest depths of my soul!

"You know you don't have to resort to making it appear as if you mistook me for someone else just to get my attention," he stated with a smirk on his lips in a low, tantalizing, mocking tone.

The realization that the man in front of me was not Noah increased as my eyes became fixed on his. He wasn't my man!

I was completely stunned when his finger smoothly touched my cheek. “We can talk about a deal for the two of us. You’re quite beautiful and it wouldn’t hurt if we benefit from each other—”

I took a step back and removed his hand from my face before he could even complete his sentence. He was humiliating me and it was a good thing I came to realize that immediately!

I was wrong. He wasn’t Noah! He was so far and even a million miles away from being Noah!

“I-I’m sorry.”

I hugged my books tightly and ran away as fast and as far as I could…