Girl In The Winter's

Chapter 8

Ayumi woke up with a body that feels fresh, last night she could only sleep at 4 am and 7 o'clock must be ready to go to work at John's cafe, John, after being accepted for an internship at the hospital ER in addition to the new knowledge he received, Ayumi also learned how to take advantage of free time even if only a few minutes to sleep. Slowly he opened his eyes but immediately closed again because the glint of sunlight pierced him, he raised his hand to protect the vision from the golden rays, his eyes had started to adapt, he said, he blinked trying to remember where he was at the moment.

"You awake?"

Ayumi stared at the direction of the heavy voice, a pair of dark eyes as dark as night was staring at her sharply but there was a gentle flash there, at first he just winked at the bewildered eyes staring at the handsome face that raised next to the eyebrows towards him until finally realizing where he was asleep. As fast as lightning he sat, his eyes looked around and breathed a sigh of relief as there was no one in the garden.

"Luckily you're awake, my legs have begun to tingle." Erik grimaced as he lifted his leg.

"Why can I sleep there?" His voice sounded nervous, his eyes staring dazedly at the long legs belonging to the man before him.

"You originally slept here." Erik patted her on the shoulder, "But I felt you were uncomfortable, so I put you on my lap."

A red tinge dyed Ayumi's white cheeks, "I'm sorry, am I heavy?"

For a moment Erik just stared at Ayumi in disbelief at the girl's question, 'is he heavy?' she asked about her weight when she found out that she woke up in the lap of a foreign man? Erik cleared his throat before answering the question, "For the size of a woman like you, you're very heavy." Erik stood up while doing a small knead to remove the aches of his body.

"I shouldn't have eaten too much" Ayumi murmured but Erik could still hear her.

Erik turned to look at Ayumi who was cleaning her bag, "Did you often wake up in a man's lap?"

Erik's question was successful in making Ayumi stop his activities, he widened his eyes to look at the man who stood towering in front of him. Ayumi was still speechless looking at Erik who was looking at her sharply, she was still confused by that question.

"Don't you answer, I think I already know, women now only pretend to be naive and innocent as a mask, I should have realized that from the beginning." Erik sneered in disdain at Ayumi whose face had begun to turn red with anger, realizing the words of the man standing before him by folding his hands over his chest.

Angrily Ayumi immediately stood up, "What do you mean?" He looked up at Erik who was standing right in front of him, his chin raised high, his jaw hardened, his eyes piercing with rage.

Erik just shrugged his shoulders looking at Ayumi like that, "You don't look surprised what else got angry when I woke up earlier, so did I wrongly ask like that?" he spoke leisurely while raising his eyebrows.

Ayumi closed her eyes, trying to dampen the emotions raging within her, "You don't think I'm surprised? Didn't you see I almost jumped when I realized where I was sleeping?" His trembling voice held back the anger of feeling humiliated by a man who did not even know who he really was.

"But you don't look angry, you ask 'are I heavy?'" Erik made quotation marks with both hands while walking and leaned on the maple tree.

"So you're saying I should've yelled or hit you?" Erik shrugged his shoulders casually, "Have you done nothing to me?" Ayumi looked at Erik's eyes who gasped in shock.

"Don't talk too much! I didn't do anything!" Erik growled furiously, his eyes coldly piercing sharp Ayumi who was wide-eyed to see him behave like that.

Ayumi looked shocked and scared for a while before she could finally go back to pretending to be normal even though her chest was beating so fast between anger and fear.

"So you're saying I should get mad and hit you when you're not doing anything to me?"

"Will women not be like that? Assuming what he thinks is always right regardless of the truth."

Ayumi took a deep breath before looking back at Erik who was still looking at her coldly, "I don't know who made you think that, all you need to know... not everyone is the same so never equate me with anyone else, let alone you don't even know me at all."

Ayumi leaned over to pick up her bag lying on the grass preparing to leave, she turned back to face Erik who was still looking at her coldly, "You know why I'm not mad at you?" He looked into Erik's eyes, who was now standing relaxed, leaning against the trunk of the maple tree, "Because I believe in you," ayumi's words made the man raise his eyebrows slightly and there was a flash of shock from the glare of his sharp eyes.

"I think I believe that if you're actually a warm and kind person, you're just wearing your heartless cold mask because you want to hide from everything." Ayumi took a deep breath, her eyes could not be separated from the black eyes that were now looking at her with different eyes, there was a flash of anger there.

"Yes, you're right." Ayumi's voice was just a soft whisper that made Erik's heart tremble slightly as it could feel the pain the girl felt and his round eyes confirmed the pain in the girl's chest, "I'm a fool for thinking you're a nice, warm man." He said with a grievous smile, "Today you have proven that your heart has frozen."

Ayumi turned around leaving Erik still standing staring under the tree, but after a few steps the girl stopped and turned her back to look at Erik one last time while saying with her voice trembling.

"I should ask, do you often approach a sleeping woman by yourself and lay her on your lap?" Erik's eyes widened to hear Ayumi's question, which looked at him with a look of hurt, sad and angry eyes, "And once again you're right, I'm a fool for crying over the death of the one who abandoned me.. after all she was the one who had fought her life by giving birth to me, she was my real mother," said Ayumi with a trembling voice before finally walking away leaving Erik who was still silently staring at the back of the girl who was getting away.

Ayumi walked quickly regardless of the gazes and whispers of the students who saw her, he continued walking towards the medical school and then entered the classroom and sat in the back seat with his face still bent.

"Hey, are you okay?" Yuki who had just come was astonished to see her friend sitting in the back with a pouting face.

"No! I'm not okay." Ayumi answered while taking out her textbooks from inside the bag.

"What does this have to do with the news about your mother?" Yuki sounded cautious when asking.

"No, I can already receive the news of my mother's death."

"So this has something to do with that handsome art lecturer?"

Ayumi was surprised to hear the question of her friend who was now in a smile teasing her.

"It's as if the whole campus knows it."

"What do you mean?" Ayumi now focused herself on looking at Yuki

"Rear garden? Maple trees? Napping and a handsome Lecturer? Do you remember?"

Ayumi looked up at Yuki's words.

"Yes God! How do you know?" He whispered while pulling his chair closer.

"Well, Sweety, everybody knows it." Yuki nodded convincingly, hearing that Ayumi could only close her eyes then lowered her head while covering her face with both hands, so this was the reason the students were looking at her.

Slowly he straightened up and exhaled a long breath before he looked around the classroom, everyone quietly glanced at him then whispered and there were even those who were blatantly watching him.

"Why didn't you ever tell me you were dating her?" Yuki looked at Ayumi enthusiastically.

"I'm not dating her," Yuki just raised her eyebrows in disbelief at Ayumi's reply, "I'm serious, I don't even know her that much." Ayumi now looks desperate trying to convince her friend.

"Listen.you'll have to explain it to me later."

Ayumi was saved by the arrival of Professor Medison who made the whole room immediately silent and started the test today. During the lesson Ayumi was unable to concentrate, her mind branched off to the events some time ago in the back garden. The man who spent the day off together was completely different from the one he had met in the back garden earlier, there was no gentle gaze and a warm smile like back then all there was was was a cold gaze that pierced anyone he saw.

For the umpteenth time Ayumi looked at the white, sweet circular watch on her left wrist, he wanted to quickly get out of the room and go to a place where everyone would not look at him with a probing look. Finally the course ended and as quickly as lightning the girl came out of there regardless of Yuki's chirping voice calling her, she was in no condition to explain anything. Stares and whispers accompanied him on the way to the exit gate of UBC, he was only able to breathe a sigh of relief after successfully sitting on the bus seat towards a place where people would not stare and whisper behind him.

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