FALLING IN LOVE WITH HIM - HER FIRST LOVE

"Oh, no, no, I didn't mean to guilt-trip you or something, Hera. You don't have to do it. I'm so sorry," Abby said, still hugging Hera. She squeezed Hera tightly in her embrace before letting go. Hera smiled in understanding and wiped Abby's tears with her fingers. 

When a good person intentionally hurts someone, and if that someone happened to be their dear ones, their conscience wouldn't allow them to rest peacefully afterwards. The burden of guilt becomes unbearable, especially when the other person only has good intentions at heart. Sometimes life would get cruel enough to make a wise person turn into a bad one. 

Abby never wanted to hurt Hera, but the unfortunate difficult circumstances forced her to do it. She knew Hera would've never betrayed her had the situation reversed, and Hera was in her shoes. But Abby was weak and scared and chose to become selfish. 

"You don't have to feel sorry or apologise for anything, Abby.. It's not your fault, and I'm doing it for my brother. I want to help him. Let me," Hera announced, leaving no room for further argument. "Don't be scared anymore, okay. I'll talk to Danny," Hera assured without any hesitation or second thoughts. 

Two more minutes passed in silence. It wasn't comfortable or peaceful. It resembled the two minutes silence held to pay tribute to the deceased. Millions of thoughts, questions and scenarios ran inside Hera's brain while Abby had to constantly struggle to push down the guilt monster raising its head inside her chest. Yet, Abby couldn't muster enough courage to change her mind. 

Letting out a deep sigh, Hera broke the silence. "Uh-oh, we only have five more minutes left to finish our lunch," Hera pointed out. Abby didn't have the appetite for food anymore. She was drowning in guilt, but Hera forced her to eat with her. 

Setting her thoughts aside, Hera tried hard to pay attention to what her teachers taught in the class. As she was expecting, she had already received detention for not doing her homework. She had to endure the punishment of two more hours of extra teaching in the detention class, and she didn't want to earn any more torture for the day. 

She had sent a quick message to her brother asking him to meet her at the old abandoned lab building after school. Hera had stressed that it was urgent and something important in case he ignored her request. Danny had read her message, but to Hera's displeasure, he didn't respond yet. 

When her classes for the day ended, Hera rushed to the restroom to quickly wash her face. She suddenly felt nervous, and her hands were shaking. She didn't know how to broach the topic or how her brother would react. She could guess he wouldn't be pleased that she now knew his secret. 

'Oh, Fuck!'

Hera just realised she forgot about her detention. 

She quickly typed a message to inform Danny about the same and asked him to meet her after two hours. To her surprise, Danny replied instantly this time. Despite the tension, Hera's lips twitched into a smile, looking at the name displayed on the notification bar. 

She had saved Danny's contact name as Beau. She chose this French name for her good-looking brother and added grouchy before that. 

Grouchy Beau:

What is it, Hera? Is something wrong?

Pulling her bottom lip between her teeth, Hera inhaled and exhaled through her nose. Her brother seemed worried about her, and for the first time, Hera felt the tug at her heart as she recognised the bonding budding between them. She hoped this unfortunate troublesome situation wouldn't corrupt it. 

She typed a quick reply to her brother that they would speak in person. 

Dragging her feet lazily, Hera walked towards the detention class. She analysed every scenario in her mind as she kept rehearsing what she should say to her brother. She had to be careful with her approach so that it wouldn't ruin the relationship between Danny and Abby. After all, he wouldn't approve of Abby betraying him by revealing their secret to Hera.

Hera still couldn't believe Danny was involved with illegal drugs. She thought of speaking to Hunter about the matter. Danny and Hunter were best friends, and they never hid things from each other. Hunter would know if Danny did drugs, and Hera was sure he wouldn't have let him do it if he knew. That knowledge alone gave her hope and reduced the burden of worry from her shoulders. 

'Would it be alright if I speak to Hunter first?' 

Hera hesitated about the idea because it wouldn't be fair on Danny's part if Hunter heard the truth from her. They would fight for sure, and she didn't want to be the one causing any misunderstanding between the two best friends. It wasn't her place to disclose Danny's secret without his knowledge. So, Hera decided to keep her mouth shut until she spoke to Danny first. 

She was about to push the door when someone pulled it open from the inside, and Hera came face to face with Jake. Smiling wide, she greeted him. Jake was leaving, and Hera frowned in confusion. "Are you not going to tutor me?' she asked, sounding pleased. Jake chuckled, shaking his head. "Someone is waiting for you inside. I was here to ask a favour from a friend," Jake said before waving bye to her. 

Pursing her lips, Hera watched him walk away. She cursed mentally for not getting lucky. She thought he would let her go and save her the torture of getting tutored for two long hours. Disappointed, she turned around and stepped into the classroom. 

'Oh!'

Hera's forest-green eyes widened in surprise before a pleased smile graced her lips which soon turned into a happy grin. 

"You're late, Hera," she heard his deep, rich voice scolding her. 

'Oh, how much I missed him.'

Hera nodded, grinning shamelessly. 

"I'm sorry, Mr Hunter," she said politely and walked to the fourth row to take the empty seat. Hera noticed the girls occupying the first three rows. She knew most of them purposely got themselves into detention only to get a chance to thurst over her boyfriend. 

'How the fuck did they know he'll be handling today's tutoring?'

Hunter cleared his throat, and with that, everyone sat straight, giving him their complete attention. 

'Huh, as if they would look anywhere else when he's in the room.'

Hera thought while scowling in displeasure. 

She didn't like how the girls were ogling him unashamedly. 

Meanwhile, Hunter ignored her as though she was invisible. He had his focus fixed on the rest of the students. 

"So it's going to be an hour of learning The Merchant of Venice," Hunter said while writing the topic heading on the digital whiteboard. "And then I'll teach you Physics. We'll study about Reflection of Sound Waves and Echoes," he said and wrote the same on the board. When he turned around to face the students, he pushed aside the front panels of his uniform jacket, sliding his hands into the pockets of his trousers. 

Hunter started explaining the characters of the play The Merchant of Venice, giving a brief introduction to the story.