chapter 5

She was pretty, he had to give her that. Beautiful even. But she was not his type.

She gave him a sweet smile when she noticed his presence in front of her but she just responded with a straight face.

“Hey, I'm Belinda. You must be Dan." She stretched her hand out and Dan just stared at it, trying to contemplate on whether to take it or not.

"Well, no shit Sherlock." He thought.

He knew he couldn't be rude to her because that information would get back to his mother and the last thing he wanted was for her to serve him another one of her three hour long lectures.

He took her hand and offered her a forced smile.

“Yeah, I'm Dan. You must be Belinda."

Two can play this game.

Belinda chuckled.

“Very funny. So you want to order?"

“No. I already told my mother I wasn't hungry but she forced me out here with you so I thought she'd tell you already."

Dan wondered why his brain kept telling him to be careful with the way he was speaking to her but he didn't listen. The words just kept coming out.

She beckoned to the waiter and placed her order, not forgetting to place one for water for the gentle man.

He tried to hide his shock but he thought about it. Most of the time, when he told the girls he didn't want to eat, they just went ahead and ordered pale and irritating vegetables.

Not only has she ordered actual food, she has ordered something for him as well.

He decided not to get too because he knew that rich girls were always a pile of no good.

“So, I hear that you're the CEO of one of the country's top architectural firms. That's impressive. Wanna tell me about it?"

He looked up from his phone and looked at her. She was actually talking about his work and not her latest outing with “the girls. "

“There's nothing to tell. It's what I studied, it's what I wanted to become, it's what I became." Very short and straight to the pint so he won't give her the impression that he was happy to be here.

Belinda nodded her head and was about to ask another question when the waiter came with the food.

Dan watched her as she gave the waiter a small smile and said a thank you as he walked away. Was this girl for real or was she just trying to pretend so they would end up together

“The food smells nice, Dan" she out a spoon full in her mouth and chewed “It's amazing too. Try it."

She stretched out a spoon of food to him and he just stared at her in shock before shaking his head to reject it

His mum had definitely told her how to behave beacaue all the women he had met were irritating and for once, that had turned out to be a good thing for him.

“I know you won't ask but I'll tell you anyway." She took a sip of her wine.

She had studied the kind of person he was and she decided not to push him too much. She would have to do things that would bring him out of his shell.

“Last month, I signed a deal with a non profit organization and I got sponsorship to go on a mission to Slovakia. It's war with Russia is taking a huge toll on its population and ithey need as much help as they can take so my team and I decided to volunteer. I can't wait."

Never had he heard one of his mum's projects talking about being excited to go out and help people. He had to keep staring at her to make sure that he hadn't been lying.

When he realized he was staring at her for too long, he got up on his feet.

“You're leaving?" She asked with a little disappointment in her voice.

“Yeah, have a good night." He said and walked away.

His first stop was the cashier's desk and he quickly paid the bills before she noticed.

As he left the restaurant, he got a text and as he looked down at his phone, he didn't see the person that was in front of him.

The books fell on the floor and he bent to pick it up.

“Oh sorry. I didn't look where I was going." He froze when heart the voice. After all these years…

“Sarah?" Sarah's heart beat twice two times in that second.

Surely she hadn't heard right, had she? She hoped to God that she hadn't.

She raised her head to look up at the man that had bumped into her and she was mortified. After all this time, her past had caught up with her.

“D-Dan…" Her brain couldn't form more words than that.

They both rose up from the floor and just stared at each other. To Dan, he was seeing a miracle.

The Sarah he knew back then in school had been the opposite of responsible. She had been reckless and carefree, not caring for anything in the world.

Right now, he was seeing a mature woman, even the way she dressed indicated that something indeed changed in her.

Sarah couldn't stop staring. She wanted to but this man that was standing in from of her was too captivating. Dan Tinders… the Dan Tinders from high school that she had made fun of.

She had made so many mistakes in the past and now, they were here to bite her in the ass.

“Hey Dan. How are you?" She managed to say.

Dan didn't want to answer, not because he away still angry and hurt about high school but because words failed him.

“Hey." It came out as a very tiny whisper so he repeated himself “Hey Ana."

Jeez, even his voice had grown up, Sarah thought.

“How have you been? It's been a while." Ana didn't know if being friendly was the right thing to do now or if she should apologize.

“I've been horrible, very horrible. What do you think?" Dan spat back.

Anna didn't know how to respond to his attitude. It was justified, no doubt but she wanted to beg for forgiveness.

“Why're you looking at me like that? What, you never thought it would be attractive? Just because I didn't get voted “most likely to succeed' doesn't mean you can still look down on me."

Sarah understood his outburst, in fact if he hadn't said anything to her, she would have called him out and riled him up so he would get angry and do something about it just like she wanted him to.

But he never did anything. He just sat there and took the beatings, the pain, the insults. If only he and his friends had learnt to stand up for themselves, then maybe-

“You know, I don't have this time. I'm actually really busy so have a nice life, Sarah."

As he walked away, all the hopes that Sarah one felt that maybe she was finally gettin her life back went away with him