Chapter 2: The Way Things Are
Ichigo sits in her gigantic, corner office. She signs a document. Ah. Last one. She rises just as the alarm goes off on her phone. She reaches down to pick it up, and the two wedding rings glisten from the chain around her neck. She grabs her purse at the same time and heads out of her office.
As she passes through the halls, interning students in white uniforms, managers, temps... everyone seems to stare at her. She forces herself to hold her head up high.
She rounds a corner and heads out the door, passing a woman in orange carrying coffee.
"Uh!... Miss Ichigo... uh..."
Ichigo turns around to see one of the interns. She wears a white uniform with a red emblem. Ichigo sighs, grateful. All students in the high school wear white uniforms, and some sort of badge, gold if they were born with or developed powers or were able to transform, and red if they had no powers, but were training to fight as well as those with powers. The most fearsome to her at this time were the few wearing blazers. This only amounted to a meer 1% of the student body, but these students were personal assistants to the Mews and Knights, and thus knew about, and were there for, the wedding. All of the students knew the much-awaited wedding between Mew Ichigo and The Red Knight didn't happen, but only the personal assistants knew why.
"Yes?" Ichigo responds. Goodness... it's already been a month... You don't have to walk around me on eggshells!... Not like the media's been any help...
"Um... here!" she holds out a form. "One more... would you please sign it?"
Ichigo grabs the form, signs it, and places it back in the girl's hands before heading out the door.
Once outside, she let the sun hit her face, imagining it was cleansing her from the disaster of the last month. She breathes in deeply in a futile attempt to loosen the knot that has been plaguing her chest since she heard Andrew was cheating. She hits the remote to her car and gets in, placing her purse on the passenger's seat. Since then, she hadn't been able to talk to Andrew. He appeared in school like normal, but every time she tried to speak to him, he acted like nothing was wrong. When she'd asked him questions, he didn't respond, but rather just stared at the wedding rings around her neck.
I've gotta hear it from his mouth. I won't believe it until I hear it from him!
Ichigo turns the ignition and hits the gas.
When she arrives as Nagia to class, she sees Andrew seated in his usual spot. Her instincts tell her to sit where she usually does, the opposite side of the room, but this time, she clenches her fists and takes a seat next to him. No sooner had she done this than he gathers his books and stands up. Desperate, Nagia grabs his arm. He turns to her, and their eyes meet.
For a moment, Nagia feels like things are back to the way they used to be, but this dream shatters as he pulls out of her grasp, almost causing her to fall.
"Don't you get it? It's over between us. Don't you ever touch me again. I don't want you." he says to her sternly as he heads to the back of the classroom.
Nagia's glance follows him, oblivious of the stares of the professor and the other students. That's not my Andrew. What happened? Why are things like this? Andrew...
Andrew takes a seat, trying to ignore Nagia. His heart aches. She finally turns around, and he looks at her, staring at the chain around her neck. Take it off, Nagia. If you would only just take off the necklace...
He leans on his hand. I want to hold you. I love you. But she'll kill us if I tell you. Nagia, please just take off the necklace... give up on me... For your own good, give up on me...
The professor begins to speak, "Now turn to page 89 in your text-"
A whimper echoes through the classroom from Nagia's direction. He watches her as she rises from her seat and darts out the door. Andrew starts to get up, feeling tears well up in his own eyes. He forces himself to sit in his seat, heart breaking as he hears Nagia's cries resound down the hallway until the door shuts behind her. He feels the hot glares of everyone in the classroom.
Nagia runs through the hall, down the stairs, and out the building. Laden with books, she sprints past onlookers. She doesn't even notice when she passes Ahimsa, who was walking with two friends to the cafeteria.
Without explanation, Ahimsa breaks away from her friends into a sprint, following Nagia into the music building. Sounds of Beethoven fill the place, but Nagia is no where to be found. Ahimsa sets to searching the building.
Meanwhile, Nagia sits curled in a ball in the dark in one of the piano practice rooms. For the first time since her wedding day, Nagia lets herself cry. The only reason she'd held on so long was because she'd never heard anything directly from Andrew. She clutches the rings around her neck, pulling the chord so hard it digs into her skin.
Ahimsa enters the room and pries Nagia's fingers off of the necklace. Nagia sits there with no will to move. Ahimsa wraps her arms around her tenderly, tears falling from her eyes too.