Undeniable

.12.

I almost choked on air. Actually, air left my body when I heard his name. I remained stiff, cold and mostly shocked in my whole life.

The hell?!

And it was then I remembered that Lyda told me that Vincenzo was going to be the Guest Of Honour. It was the first time I actually heard his name. To say I was beyond shock was an understatement.

How could I be so stupid? How did I even forget about this? If I had remembered he was the one going to be here, I would have stayed at home.  To hell with my graduation, to hell with everything. I absolutely did not want to face the doctor again in my life. Yet circumstances were different. Life had its own way of playing a game with me. My fate brought me in the same room where he was, not as a normal person. He was the Guest of Honour of my university, and I would be handed over my graduation certificates from him. What an irony of life, I hated this very moment. My excitement, the happiness I was starting to feel, the spirit of moving on was vanishing in the air just like that. His name was all it took to bring back those painful memories again. 

I wanted to disappear. I wanted the land to open up and swallow me. I wanted the sky to fall. Long gone was my energy and enthusiasm, which was now replaced with the agonizing pain in my heart. I was feeling too many emotions. It was as if my nightmares were here to chase me again. 

"You are here for sex, I have dealt with girls like you."

His sharp words rang in my head again and again and pierced my heart like sharp daggers. The same pain that I went through was back again, to traumatize my mind. I sank back in my seat, hoping my name was not there on the graduation list.

He stood up from the V.I.P row. I had failed to notice him before. He was sitting in front of me, yet I never noticed him for once. I felt scared. I felt vulnerable. There was a little part of me afraid that he was going to tell about the prank call in front of the entire university just to take his revenge properly for calling him out. What if he started to speak all those insulting curses in front of everyone? Showing how unworthy and selfish of a person I was. He might, and that is what I feared the most. I wanted to smack my head for the foolishness of coming here. If I remembered Vincenzo was going to be here, I would have stayed home and collected my certificate someday later. I wanted to disappear from his life, after all, that was what he asked me to do. Leave.

He told me to leave...

He got up from his privileged seat, and buttoned up his black tuxedo glamorously. He walked towards the stage like a king. Every moment, every action was flawless. He was wearing a rich black tuxedo, which looked perfectly tailored. Inside, it was a black shirt and an exotic-looking blue tie. He knew he was perfect, and he knew how to carry himself like he owned this land. I took a deep, much needed breath. How could someone be so sinfully handsome and harsh at the same time, I wondered.

There were lots of cheers when his name was called. Girls were squeaking, because in front of them was the most eligible bachelor, but everyone knew he was unachievable.

He was untouchable. 

There was no one who could reach him. Boys were clapping at his success because they wanted to be like him. Girls clapped for him because they wanted him.  However, he didn't care. He never cared. I stared at him while he took large steps and climbed on the stage.

He shook hands with the Dean who was already standing on the stage, and gave one of his charming smiles, flaunting his perfectly shaped dimples.

Don't look, Lily. For the love of your heart, don't look.

However, I could not listen to my conscience. My eyes were glued to him, and it was not because I found him too attractive. It was because he was the man who had humiliated me. It was because I was not ready to face him again. It was because I failed to understand how someone could look good from outside but terribly ugly from the inside. No matter how beautiful he was from the outside, only the inside beauty mattered in the end.