novelraw Chapter 245: Nothing But A Mistake?
Chapter 245: Nothing But A Mistake?
"You heartless jerk!!!" she yelled, throwing the pillow at him.
Christopher was caught off guard for a moment, but he skillfully caught the pillow with one hand while balancing the breakfast tray on the other. He gave her a bewildered look.
"Thought I’d meet you battling with a crazy hangover. Who would have thought the alcohol would still be having an effect on you," he uttered playfully as he strode towards her, placing the pillow down, then kept the breakfast on the side table. However, when his eyes met hers, she was still glaring furiously at him.
"Is something wrong?" he asked, now noticing the hints of hurt in the depths of her eyes.
All of a sudden, she picked up another pillow, fiercely throwing it at him. He caught it, but he didn’t get another chance to react before she threw another and then another. Before long, she’d thrown all the pillows on the bed at him angrily. Noticing how enraged she seemed, Christopher didn’t stop the pillows from hitting him; he let her vent, though the pillows caused little harm anyway.
When her hands couldn’t find anything else to throw at him, she stopped, now heaving, but there was still anger in her eyes.
Christopher gathered all the pillows she’d thrown. "Are you calm now?" he asked, walking around the room to pick up the pillows from the floor.
She was still glaring at him. "You’re such a liar," she spat.
He stopped, giving her a bewildered look. "Liar?" He couldn’t understand why she suddenly seemed angry with him.
"Yes, a big liar who makes promises but never keeps them!"
"What are you talking about? I..." Christopher at first couldn’t understand why she was suddenly angry, but he suddenly stopped mid-sentence as he seemed to realize something. He looked at her doubtfully.
"You have the guts to take a girl’s first time, make promises, but never keep them." There was a sound of hurt in her voice as she spoke.
Christopher went stiff; the realization in his eyes had been confirmed.
Natalia couldn’t control her anger towards him at the moment after figuring everything out.
Eight years ago, she had met a guy. His dark eyes were calm, yet deep and mysterious. She was always fascinated by him—his deep mysterious eyes, his calm and relaxed attitude. He seemed detached, but at the same time aloof and distant. However, there were soft moments she would see vulnerability in his eyes.
That day, she had been hurrying to the presentation hall when she’d suddenly bumped into him unknowingly. She had stopped in her tracks the minute she looked up into his eyes. And ever since then, she couldn’t stop her heart from skipping a beat every time her eyes met his.
All those walks down the hallway, she would find herself looking forward to seeing him. Every time she heard the girls spreading rumors about him and saying bad words about him, it would affect her for some reason, and she’d find herself standing up for him.
After that fateful night, she’d completely forgotten everything that had happened between them that night due to the effects of the drug Lilian had given her. She didn’t try to recall anything because she was embarrassed to even find out who she had spent the night with. She could remember a certain rascally guy who’d come up to her on the dance floor, and the details of that night—if she had actually spent it with him—was something she definitely would not want to remember.
After that, Natalia had stopped seeing Christopher in all the usual places—down the hallways, in the cafeterias, along the school grounds. A few times she’d sight him in the distance, but she wouldn’t even get to see him before he’d disappear from her sight. Natalia had later assumed that he was avoiding her, and for some reason, that thought hurt her. She decided to get any thoughts and anticipation of seeing him out of her chest.
A few months passed by quickly, and it was almost time for their graduation. That was the last time she’d seen him and the last time their eyes had met.
She’d been walking along the first floor of the library when she suddenly felt a pair of deep eyes on her. Looking up, she was met with his deep dark eyes. Standing close to the railings on the second floor of the library stood Christopher.
Seeing him and having their gazes meet, she didn’t know how to react. She internally willed her gaze to look away, her feet to walk away, but she wasn’t able to move an inch.
For some reason, she was caught in a web in the depths of his dark eyes, unable to break away her gaze.
She felt a slight pang of hurt sting her chest seeing him, but she couldn’t tell why. However, as if all the months she’d not seen him while willing her mind to get whatever thoughts of him out of her head had all gone for nothing, her heart skipped a beat at a certain look in his eyes.
His gaze was soft, filled with longing and reluctance. He seemed to be holding himself back from something, and no matter how much she looked, she couldn’t decipher it.
She suddenly felt hints of grievance in her heart, as if she wanted to complain to him for avoiding her all this time.
However, a pang of disappointment struck her chest when he suddenly turned around and walked away after some time. She was left standing dumbstruck and foolishly still gazing up at the spot he’d just been standing.
She internally regretted not being the first one to walk away. The fact that he’d turned his back to her and left made her face burn in embarrassment.
What had she been thinking? They had never been anything to each other. They never spoke, and they weren’t friends. They were just schoolmates who bumped into each other a few times, so whatever internal thoughts she might have developed were all her fault and her problem to deal with.
Natalia had been painfully disappointed before finally leaving the country a few weeks before their graduation. After that, she had never seen him again—well... not until eight years later.
Christopher stared at her silently, seeing the disappointment in her eyes as she continued to glare at him. "Natalia..." he called softly, his voice almost a whispering sigh, but she quickly cut him off.
"What? Tell me, what excuses do you have to cover up the fact that you disappeared after promising and asking me to wait for you?!" she yelled, her eyes slightly beginning to cloud up with tears.
Christopher fell silent, staring at her with guilt in his dark eyes.
"To think... I actually had this huge crush on you. If I’d known you were the one I spent the night with, I’d probably have been really happy, I’d have been overjoyed," Natalia admitted, her voice sounding hurt.
"But you never kept your promise. Had you kept your promise, I’d probably have remembered everything, but after spending the night with me and telling me all those words that had me hoping for just a split moment that I could get to be with you..." She sighed, closing her eyes as the tears that had gathered trailed down. "But you know what? It’s good I forgot. At least I got to avoid the bigger disappointment, and I wish—I just wish I never remembered any of this at all."
Natalia got to her feet and made to walk out of the room. She couldn’t stand being in the same space as him at the moment.
She had been willing—she had been more than willing, realizing it was actually him with her in the room that night. Though the effects of the drug had pushed her to be more forward, she fell into his arms and they’d spent the night together. She didn’t regret it. She was sure she’d have no regrets knowing it was him because even though she hadn’t admitted it, she’d liked him a lot back then. She’d grown silent feelings for him despite the fact that she barely knew him, and recalling everything now made it hurt her deeply.
"Natalia!" Christopher grabbed her arm just before she could walk past him. "At least listen to me first."
"What will you possibly tell me? That night had been nothing but a mistake? Did whatever happened mean nothing to you? Were those words just empty promises of consolation because you felt guilty for taking my first time? Why then did you come back into my life even after all these years?" she raged, unleashing bouts of emotions she didn’t want to suppress.
"I was scared, damn it!" Christopher finally spoke up. "I was scared, and eager at the same time. I was eager to quickly make you mine, but I didn’t want to ruin your name and reputation with my past, so I waited. Believe me, the wait had eaten at my heart. Every day felt like a long and endless torture because I no longer got to see you again, but I had to think about you—about not causing problems or unnecessary rumors for you—so I stayed away."
Christopher pulled her shoulders, making her face him as he admitted, "In the past, I was once labeled as a murderer. I had a terrible reputation that forced me into hiding my face when I came to the new city. Everything had been bleak until the moment I first set my eyes on you."
Reaching his hand, he gently caressed her face, wiping off the trails of tears that had flowed from her eyes.
"I had left that night because I wanted to wait—until our graduation, when we’d finally leave school so I could come to you. I’d court you as you wanted, and I’d make you mine. I waited painfully until that time came, but when it finally did, you’d disappeared.
I searched everywhere, but I couldn’t find you. I later came to know that you’d left the country. I wanted to continue looking for you, but then after my graduation, it was finally time to take over the family company. I left the country looking for you in the wrong places. Little did I know you’d already returned as soon as I left. If I knew I’d miss you by just a hair’s breadth, I’d never have left, but I left with the hope that I’d find you. I never gave up on trying to find you."
Christopher cupped her cheeks. "And throughout those eight years, not once have you been erased from my mind. Not once have I looked at another woman or felt anything towards any other person, because you already held an important place in my heart, Natalia."
Her eyes swung up to look at him in astonishment.