I'm dedicating this chapter to two people who are not present on this site. 896Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxwo2XSUIn7
Firstly, to Jebin Samuel who has been my best friend for about thirteen years now. I wrote this as a friendship gift to him but then decided to post it online. He has been looking forward very eagerly to the release of this story for a while now and has promised that he'll come here when he gets free time.
Secondly to Perumal Krishnan, one of my friends from college. He started reading the draft one day and got pulled into the story to such an extent that he would not sleep if he didn't read my story everyday!
Janet’s P. O. V:
I went to Jason’s apartment to see how he was doing. I was climbing the stairs when I heard Ms Emily’s voice. “So that’s how it is. Your crush on me has started to fade. Well, better sooner than later. So I’ll be going now. Goodbye Jason,” she said and started coming down the stairs.
WHAT?! I thought they were together!
I didn’t want to be seen by her so I went all the way back to the parking lot and hid there. She exited the stairs and went to the next wing of the apartment where her house was. But she neither took the stairs nor the elevator. She leaned back on a nearby pillar.
I went closer to where she was taking care not to be seen by her. She looked at the ceiling blankly and mumbled incoherent sentences.
“Jason...Why? Was it something I did or was it that you simply got tired of me?” she asked to nothingness. The rays of the setting sun seeping into the basement was more than enough to reveal the state she was in. Her face was swollen, her eyes were red. On a whole, she looked destroyed.
I didn’t see that coming. So the news of Kelly’s illness did burn down their relationship. As much as it surprised me, I wasn’t happy that Jason and Ms Emily broke up. In fact I was sad about it. Even though she was much older than him, she was the one who made Jason laugh more than George and I did. And she was also a completely different person when she was around Jason. She smiled genuinely and spoke to him like a friend.
Thinking of it, she was rather kind to everyone else as well, especially to me. Given the atrocities I committed, any other teacher would have taken stringent action against me but she just let it slide with a smile.
I felt even worse about my rash actions when I looked up and saw her in such a devastated state. She stared lifelessly at the sunset and started singing TobyMac's 'Family'. It was a Christian song but the lyrics were a perfect match for her situation.
In a soft voice she sang,
"Are we too far apart?
Two worlds among the stars,
You're gonna take a piece of my heart if you leave;
So it's two separate ways,
Or am I too late to say?
I wanna fight for what we've got 'cause I believe..." she trailed off with quivering lips. I saw glistening tears rolling slowly down her cheeks. Up until that time, I thought that I was the only one who knew how much loving someone made the heart ache but after seeing the helpless lady, it seemed like her love for Jason was many times stronger than mine.
All of a sudden, she threw her handbag away in rage and started weeping so much that she could not even stand properly.896Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBlB9b7Zgfp
[‘Perfect’ by Hedley]
After seeing how much she loved Jason, whatever bitterness I still had towards her melted away. It was actually tragic seeing her like that. I didn't want to leave Ms Emily like that.
I ran over to her choking back my own tears that came for two reasons. One was the fact that Jason was being torn part by Kelly's illness and the second one was seeing Ms Emily so broken. Ms Emily saw me coming over and she looked shocked, obviously because I wasn't giving her a look of hatred. I went up to her and just held her tightly.896Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnH2Mz7o0WC
After a few short seconds, she pushed me away. I was wondering why when she started apologising in between sobs. "I'm sorry Janet. I... I can't believe that I was so love-struck that I dreamed that I could have a life with Jason. I should have just backed away when you said that you liked him. I'm just an old lady who doesn't stand a chance. I should've realised this sooner but I kept fighting and making you angry. I now realise how much of a nuisance I have been to you. You see, the reason why I fell for him is because he showed me the love I was denied. My father left me when I was a child. No man ever loved me before. Jason was the first one who made me realise that even I had a chance at getting a boy who loves me unconditionally. I'm sorry that I stood in your way..." she trailed off sobbing.
"Can you just shut up?" I snapped and she looked at me in surprise. I looked her in the eye and said, "I never knew that you loved Jason this much. I'm not gonna fight with you over Jason because you're the one who can make him more happy than I can. He is yours for the taking. But what're you gonna do about Kelly? You know she's ill and that is taking a toll on Jason."
"I don't know Janet. I just need some time to think now. I'll come up with a decision tomorrow," she replied as she stood up and left. I thought of visiting Jason but decided against it because moments after Ms Emily left, I saw Jason's aunt coming into the apartment so I just went home.
The next day, Ms Emily came a little late to class which was out of the ordinary so everyone asked her the reason. She seemed to hesitate for a while and then said, “I may resign at the end of this semester.”
WHAT THE HECK!!!
“What? Why?” everyone asked.
“I’m sorry I have no choice, but hey, I only said that ‘I may’ and not ‘I will’,” she said. I turned and looked at Jason who acted as if he didn’t even hear anything!
I called Jason out during a break and asked him about Ms Emily’s resignation. “That was the first time I heard of it. Satisfied?” he snapped. “Hey! What’s with that attitude? I’m just worried,” I said.
“Oh really? I thought you’d be happy. After all, you never thought things would work out between us right?” he asked. “That was a while ago, not now,” I countered.
“Is it because of Kelly?” I asked and almost immediately he yelled, “KELLY HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS,” and ran away.
As much as I didn't want to admit, I was in a mild state of panic because if Ms Emily resigned, everyone in our class was done. Our math scores were soaring only because of her efforts and if she resigned, that'd have the same effect as failing everyone for no reason. I couldn't understand why she took such a decision. I had to do something; for Jason, for the sake of our class, for Ms Emily.
There was however one thing that was bugging me. Kelly's illness seemed all too sudden to me. I had little bits of suspicion in my mind. I had to make sure of it otherwise Jason and Ms Emily would end up distant for no fault of theirs.
A/N: Hey everyone, this is the first update of this weekend. Hope you like it. The continuation will be posted tomorrow.
Now Janet has started to root for Jason and Emily and she has started to doubt Kelly too. Will she able to see through Kelly's ruse? We'll find out tomorrow :)))
ns 15.158.61.8da2
