Some Bittersweet Memories

Chapter Ten

It all happened in a flash.

One moment, Joseph was offering me his hand and the next, his knuckles smashed into my face with a loud thud followed by the volleyball bouncing off in the distance.

My head jerked back and I instantly covered my throbbing nose when Mr. Steven's whistle went off. "That was a foul play, Anwar. The game wasn't on!"

"Are you okay?" Joseph turned to me and hastily bent over. His eyes narrowed as he examined my face. "Shit, you're bleeding," he muttered. On cue, I felt warm liquid trickling down my fingers and squeezed my nose tighter.

"Someone take her to the nurse," Mr. Steven ordered and without wasting a second, Joseph reached forward to help me up. I shrunk away from his hand. He paused, looking momentarily confused.

"It's fine. You don't have to," I croaked out, feeling eyes on me. Everyone was staring as if I'd performed a magic trick and honestly, I didn't mind magically disappearing at that time.

I mean, talk about embarrassing.

One of my girl teammates volunteered to take me to the nurse and I agreed to go with her. As we made our way out of the gymnasium, I tried to keep a casual face and I think I was able to fool everyone into thinking I wasn't dying from the inside.

But on the bright side, the school nurse was very friendly and lifted my spirits. She even called me darling and locked the infirmary door so I could take off my hoodie and loosen my hijab to cool down. If that wasn't the sweetest thing anyone had done for me, I didn't know what was.

According to her, I could've gotten a serious injury from that throw if it wasn't for my 'friend' who protected me. Oh, and I also sprained my ankle a bit. You know, the usual.

"Thank you, have a good day." I smiled at the nurse as I left her office and headed towards my locker. With the last period over, there was no point staying in school any longer.

I turned to the seniors hall and to my surprise, found Joseph leaning beside my locker. His eyes caught me and he straightened himself, smiling.

I pulled my eyebrows together, confused to see him there, still in his gym clothes, when something dawned on me.

He...had he been waiting for me?

That thought lifted the corners of my lips. Aww that's— no. Don't aww. Keep a straight face.

Knowing him, he was probably there to make fun of me. I fixed a stern expression and without casting him a glance, opened my locker. "Why are you here?"

"Well, damn. If I knew it was going to be so cold today, I would've brought an extra jacket," he retorted, sounding offended by my question.

I turned my head to give him a hostile look but what happened next caught me off guard.

In a split second, Joseph's face was right in front of mine; a little closer and our noses would've touched. My eyes widened in surprise and I jerked back, hitting my head on the locker door.

"Ow! Wh-what are you doing?!" I screeched, feeling my cheeks burn. Joseph, however, didn't seem the least bit affected.

He continued to observe my face like it was a normal thing to do before a content smile appeared on his lips and he moved back. "That's a relief. Everything looks okay." He ruffled his hair and grinned. "I was a bit worried. I thought I'd broken your nose and you wouldn't like me anymore."

I blinked, not fully recovered. Was he serious? "I already don't like you!" I snapped back with the most pathetic reply ever. He was lucky I resented violence, otherwise he would've been punched for what he just did.