FALLING IN LOVE WITH HIM - HER FIRST LOVE

Helena scrunched her nose, cringing at the strong flavour of the ginger coating her tongue. It was her mother's home remedy for the flu she had caught. It had been a day and a half since she experienced a mild cold and a sore throat. Though Helena never liked English medicine, it now seemed a better solution than her mother's homemade herbal medicine filled with spices. 

"It tastes horrible," Helena complained, "And smells even more horrible," she added, pointing accusing glares at her mother. Myra laughed and pinched her daughter's cheek, cooing at her. "Now be a good girl and finish it," she demanded. Sighing in defeat, Helena gulped the glass of bitter liquid in one go when her mother didn't show any sign of sparing her mercy. "Stay in your bed," she warned sternly before making her way out of Helena's bedroom. 

Helena grabbed her cell phone from the nightstand and typed a message to her cousin asking where she was. Gisela's reply came after a few minutes. It seemed she was in their grandfather's study, helping him sort out his folders. Helena shook her head in pity. Her cousin kept avoiding her since their grandfather spoke about mending Alastair's broken friendship with his best friend, and much to Helena's dread, she had been spending a lot of time with Christopher. 

"Don't tell me, Gisela, you're seriously considering marrying some stranger boy just to please our dear grandfather," Helena muttered in disappointment. Helena had tried to coax her to disclose or admit anything about her conversation with Christopher. But the stubborn girl had cleverly changed the subject by dismissing the matter, claiming it was nothing. 

Helena, of course, didn't reveal her spying efforts to her cousin. She didn't think Gisela would appreciate her eavesdropping on her private conversation with their grandfather. Helena never cared about Christopher's opinion or his brutal judgement about her. Nonetheless, for some reason, what her grandfather said deeply troubled Helena this time. He had forewarned Gisela to keep it a secret from her. 

It hurt when her dear cousin and a best friend followed their grandfather's orders and hid the truth from her. It seemed as if he wanted to create misunderstanding and break their bond. Helena wanted to know if Gisela would share the details with her or not. Hence, she didn't disclose that she was hiding in her balcony and had overheard their whole conversation. 

Soon it would be time for dinner, and everybody would be in the dining hall. Helena thought it was the perfect timing to investigate Gisela's room. She wanted to find out the details about the suggested marriage proposal and see who the golden boy was who had managed to impress her grandfather without even meeting him in person. 

It should naturally please Helena that Gisela had agreed to marry someone else, for there wouldn't be any more competition in her race to win Ace. However, Helena was never a selfish one who would secretly celebrate her victory because Gisela had already given up on Ace, and she would have him all to herself. 

It was their mutual agreement. Whoever wins Ace's heart would be the lucky ones, and the other would back off without harbouring any hard feelings. It wouldn't be fair on Gisela if she gave up on her dream without pushing her chance only to please their grandfather. No matter what, Helena would never let her cousin marry someone without her will. She wouldn't let her be a sacrificial lamb in their grandfather's dirty play. 

'The poor girl is too selfless to think about her happiness.'

Helena thought disappointingly. 

She threw away the comforter and left the soft surface of her bed. Slipping her feet into her slip-on house slippers, she quietly made her way to Gisela's bedroom. Since she was mildly under the weather, her mother had already made her eat in her bed. No one would come looking for her in her room. Helena glanced towards the dining hall and spotted her entire family assembled there for dinner. 

Grinning in victory, she tiptoed to Gisela's bedroom. 

Helena had planned to approach the boy whom Gisela was supposed to marry before they met. She needed to find a way to contact him, phone number, address, anything so that she could stop this arranged marriage bullshit. 

Little did Helena know she was in for the biggest surprise of her life. 

Pushing the door open, she entered Gisela's room. Without wasting any more seconds, she marched towards her cousin's wardrobe. She knew where Gisela could hide the envelope and searched under the pile of her folded clothes. "Where have you hidden the damn thing, Gisela?" she muttered in frustration when she couldn't find the white envelope. 

After rummaging through the whole closet, her eyes fell on the painting hidden behind the long hanging dresses. It was new, the one Gisela hadn't shown her yet. Hunter's bright purple eyes shining like two finely cut diamonds stared back at her. They promptly drew a smile onto Helena's face. She carefully brought it out, and the cursed thing she was searching for fell face down on the polished wooden row of the closet. 

Gisela had hidden it behind the painting. 

"Fucking finally," Helena hissed and took the envelope, but she decided it could wait. She wanted a moment to appreciate the glorious, alluring handsomeness of the face bewitching her through the painting. 

'This is why you deserve that chance, Gisela.'

Helena thought, determined to pour cold water on her grandfather's vicious scheming. 

Pressing her back against the closet door, Helena held the painting to her eye level, admiring her Knight dressed in blue. His shirt, tie, blazer and trousers, everything was blue. It seemed like he had dressed in his school uniform. She wondered when and where Gisela had seen him with his school uniform. 

His blazer had a yellow round patch above his chest designed like a blazing sun. Helena guessed it as his school logo but couldn't read or recognise the name as Gisela didn't pay much importance to the letters in the title. 

'Good God, why is this boy so fucking hot?'

Helena glanced at the door, a precautionary move, to be aware if anyone intruded, before placing her lips against Hunter's on the painting. She had drawn many charcoal sketches of him and kissed each one of them in the safety of her bedroom. Yet, it somehow seemed wrong to kiss Gisela's artwork in her absence. 

Though her heart raced guiltily, she couldn't stop the smile that took over her facial features. She greedily stole another kiss but immediately scowled as she felt her cheeks warming. 

'Fuck, am I blushing?' 

Helena puffed her cheeks and huffed, hitting her head on the closet door. 

She had conveniently forgotten the purpose of her invading Gisela's room as soon as her eyes landed on Hunter's painting. She let out a dreamy sigh, "Boy, you're trouble and will be the death of me," she mumbled before putting it back into the closet where she found it. 

Now the envelope resting in her hand had her full attention. Biting her lips, she squinted her eyebrows in concentration as she opened the paper cover. Grasping the two photographs between her thumb and index finger, she pulled them out. 

"What in the hell!" she exclaimed out loud, eyes widening in surprise. A smile automatically found its way onto her lips, stretching into a wide grin as she checked the photographs. One of them displayed his tall frame. Dressed in blue and blue, hands tucked inside his pockets, his magnificent appearance demanded attention. The second picture was the close-up of his face, the one Gisela painted. 

"Grandpa wants Gisela to marry him?" she uttered in disbelief. 

Helena's smile dropped, slowly fading off. Her heart missed a beat, anxious and hurt. Her dear cousin wasn't that selfless after all. Gisela wasn't sacrificing her chance at love so that she could fulfil their grandfather's wish. No, the cunning fox was secretly weaving a plan behind her back to deceive her and marry Ace.

The realisation hit her hard, and humourless laughter tore out of her throat. The deception was too disheartening to endure. 

"Gisela, you bitch, I never thought you would turn out to be a vicious snake," Helena scoffed in disappointment, "God, I've been such a fool."

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, clutching the photographs to her chest. She wiped the underside of her eyes with the back of her hand as tears rolled down her cheeks. Helena had loved her cousin like her sister and always wished the best for her. 

"Only to get stabbed in the back," she realised and accepted the bitter truth. "You're your grandfather's favourite for a reason," she spat in disdain. She recalled her grandfather telling Gisela to keep it a secret from her because he didn't want Helena to ruin his plans. "Christopher Castellanos, I'll show you how much I can ruin your plans," Helena swore. 

She took a few more deep breaths to cool her anger off and wiped her eyes and cheeks clean before pulling her cell phone out from the pocket of her pyjama pants. Opening the camera app, she took pictures of the photographs. She could see the school logo on Hunter's uniform jacket with enough clarity to read the name. 

She removed the neatly folded paper with a detailed biography report about Ace Hunter from the envelope, which she had ignored earlier. 

"Ace Hunter, eighteen years old, topper of the school, trained in all types of martial arts, the only heir to Alexander and Felicity Hunter's business empire," she read, feeding every information into her memory. 

"See you soon, would-be boyfriend," she declared.