Absorbed

/waking up/

Four.

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Nothing goes straight, that's what she thought. She watched the crooked lines of tiny drops of rain in her side of the window in the bus. She stared at it, how crooked it travelled but in the end, it got to its destination.

She left the lonely cafe and atteneded Uni but she realised something in there that she had been too busy to notice. So that was what had happened.

At her business studies class, she stared at the lecturer with a blank face. She could get what he was saying but the rest of her mind was elsewhere, reminiscing what the old lady told her. She had been right. It was the truth.

But she wasn't one bit glad.  She wasn't hurt either. She just didn't know what she could do.

Most of the times, she was glad that no one really cared for her as much as him anymore. But  a part of her missed such love. She wanted to matter, to feel special and to make her heart as it was before. She wanted a breather but there she sat, blankly staring at the person remotely explaining.

A few hours had passed and there she sat in her lonely bench with a tray of Uni food. It was like her life was going on without any willpower or strenght. Sometimes it looked ridiculous but there was no one to help her, no one to ease her pain and no one was left.

Her phone accidently fell on to the ground with a loud thud and she sighed thinking how clumsy she had been. Slowly, she picked it up with care and felt a presence pass by her. Her eyes widened with amazement when she realised who passed by. She couldn't believe it. Somehow, she turned to see and her guess was right.

"Tyler." She breathed with a soft gasp.

It was soft and a whisper but he managed to hear it. The best he could have done was ignore but something was stopping him. He stopped in his tracks contemplating whether to turn back or not. He knew she was trouble, a broken hearted trouble that he didn't want to get clearly involved with, He hated to care because once, he cared too much. And yet, he still stopped.

"You..don't have to turn. It's okay. I just wanted to apologise on my weird behaviour the other day. I mistook you for someone else. It was a mistake, sorry I won't disturb anymore." Her voice almost cracked but she covered it up.

Silence.

Twenty seconds passed and he turned to look at her but she was already gone. With her food left uneaten on the tray, an empty seat with nothing but the rememberance from where the voice of hers came from. He scanned the room again trying to find out where she had gone off to. He didn't know why he turned and why he searched for her. Maybe he pitied her or maybe he did not. He decided to shrug it off and walk away but.

"Where is Isabella? I wanted to wish her. It's her birthday..She was sitting right there." A girl pointed to her seat. He listened to what she said and already got the idea that Isabella forgot her own birthday and then he walked away, searching for wherever she was. He never asked himself why but he did it anyway.

"Just this once." He said to himself.

She ran but not so fast. Her breaths hitching, with her chest continuously rising, her gasps run short. Her knees trembled and her chest ached with pain and guilt. She hated herself for mistaking someone else. She hated herself for having her heart beated quite so fast at the sight of Tyler. She hated herself for running away. She hated herself for not being strong enough to stay. She hated herself for hoping he would turn back then. She hated herself for hoping and searching once again.

That was why she ran. Far away from him. Far away from whatever she searched in him.

Then it started to rain. While she was on the pavement again with nothing but her phone. She pulled her clothes closer to herself and she felt lost. Her hair was drained in the water from above. Her cheeks drained colour.  Her eyes emotionless. An invisible tear rolled down her pretty face but no one saw it.  She cried in the rain because she loved it. No one found out if she had cried, there was no noise, just soft sobs with muffled gasps. Her chest was rather hurting from all the chaos. She stopped in her tracks unable to continue. She fell on her knees in an empty street. She wished she could melt away or just freeze like the ice. Her vision blurred as the rain got heavier. The water cutting her skin through like a blade. Her eyes filled with watery tears. Blackspots slowly started to form in her vision. Maybe it was the end of her and she still fell further onto the wet ground with her dress, her hair, her face and herself ruined.

And then the rain stopped with an unconscious girl on the wet pavement with a broken heartbeat.

And that's when he found her after she had been ruined. Many people stared at her, most of them assumed that she was dead but none of them did anything about it. He grunted in annoyance. He hated to help. He hated to care. But there she lay, hopeless on the ground looking like a piece of ruined garment. He didn't want to feel sorry but he knew there was no one who was going to help her.

He knew she had no friends.

He knew how lonely she was.

He knew.

Sadly for her, she never noticed him in her business studies classes.  But he did. He sat right behind her.  She never noticed anyone though. Her friends gone. Her parents vanished. She was lost and was desperate for help but she never let it through to anyone. But here she was, rather in a hopeless state because she had reached her limit and there was nothing she could do about it.

He walked forward with his dark brown hair, rather wet, falling onto his forehead. He walked towards her while alot of the people stared at her awkwardly. He sighed, bending down, sweeping up her feet in bridal style. But there was no romance, rather it looked like a gesture. But for what? He didn't know why he was doing it. He wished he could walk past her like the others. He slowly laid her on the passenger seat of his car, turning the heater on.

And then he stared at her sleeping face. Her lips so dry and had marks of stain on her face. It looked like scars. Her cheeks drained colour, her eyes closed yet so innocently. He didn't realise he moved forward to be in line with her face and then he slowly touched her wet cheeks, moving her damp hair from her face. She was still so beautiful even at her worst.

He leaned in closer to her ears with his cold hands slightly trembling.

"Happy birthday, Isabella." He whispered.

Her eyes fluttered open after a few minutes. She didn't recognize the car. She didn't recognize the place. She turned to her right, only see Tyler laying down on the driving seat with his eyes closed. She sighed with relief and a smile tugging at her lips. She never smiled on her own, this was her first in months. She realised he was damp from the rain. But she quickly turned away without wanting to stare at him. She hated the sight of her falling in love with a man who looks like her sun.

She realised she should go.

But.

She stayed there. She leaned closer to him. Instead, she kissed his cheek. Not so hard though, she just pecked his sweet, damp cheeks. She was glad he helped her. She somehow felt alive again, like how she was before. Or should she forget how she was before? She didn't know though.

"Thank you." She whispered and left the car without a hint.

He opened his eyes just after she left and saw her walk away from the car. He smiled back, maybe he didn't have to regret saving her, afterall.

"You're welcome." He said and fell back asleep.

She went into the old cafe again. She waved at the old lady she met before. The woman ran upto her with a warm smile on her face. It happened to be that the old woman and her husband owned the little cafe. She sat nearby a window with the old woman infront.

"Dear, you look...good." She said with a smile.

"Thanks." She finally smiled genuinely.

"Oh, dear!" She chuckled.

"For telling me not go behind it." She said in a bare whisper to which the lady nodded. The lady went to get her some coffee.

She was reminiscing the note she left in his car.

And thanks for reminding me of my birthday.

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Sweet like cinnamon-

Ree.