Page 34 of She will Always be Mine

“You tell me,” she replies pointedly. “This actually came for you.”

“Huh, I didn’t order anything.”

“Feels like books or something.” She walks past me and puts down the box on my bed with a huff. Her gaze lands on my phone and she laughs while shaking her head before turning to me. “You know, I honestly thought that you were doing something shady because whenever I ask about your phone, you would always clam up as if you were hiding something.”

The second she brings it up, all my suspicions about Zain come circling back before she interrupted me. Casually sliding past her, I shove the notebook on which I made notes between others on my desk, away from Pri’s prying eyes.

Nothing slides past her since she’s always been too curious, which also explains why she wants to study science and be a forensic expert one day. I admire her ambitions and if anyone can achieve her dreams, I know it’s her.

Instead of replying, I roll my eyes at her little comment and then utter, “Do you want to see what’s inside it or not, Pri?”

“Duh, obviously,” she sasses, “I didn’t carry it upstairs for no reason.”

“Did Mom see you?” I ask, in case it’s something she shouldn’t know about.

“Nope. She was busy in the kitchen.”

Grabbing a pair of scissors, I cut through the endless amount of tape wrapped around it. It only has my address on the top and I’m curious to see what’s inside. Did someone send me a present or something? My birthday isn’t until next year.

“Hurry, Di,” Pri says, excitedly rubbing her hands together. “Do you have a secret admirer I don’t know about, hmm?”

“And what? They decided to send me books like you guessed?”

“Maybe he knows you’re addicted to romance paperbacks.”

“Or you’re just reading them a lot lately and your imagination has run wild,” I say with a snort.

My fingers are aching by the time I’m done cutting through the excessive amount of tape, and as I open the top, my mouth opening on a gasp because it turns out my sister was fucking right.

Beautiful paperbacks from my favorite authors greet me and I swear there is no containing the grin on my face, making me completely forget about the sender for a minute.

“Whoaa!!” admires Pri with wide eyes. “You’re one lucky girl, sis.”

I can only think of one person who would do this and I immediately want to cry while my heart feels full. I grab the one at the top and notice a note slipping from the pages but I don’t pull it out, afraid Pri might see it too. Then, there would be no stopping her from reading it.

“Did your admirer forget to leave a note?” she mumbles.

“I guess.”

“Or are you hiding the fact that you have a boyfriend from me?”

“You’d be the first person I’ll tell, Pri,” I reply with a smile and she grins back softly. “Maybe Monica sent them.”

She throws her head back and says in between laughter, “No way. Only a lovesick fool will gift something like this.”

She couldn’t be more right. Although I don’t say it out loud. Still grinning, she leans down from behind me and pulls out another book. There are at least thirty different books inside and at the bottom, something else catches my eye.

I’m about to pick it up, when my mom shouts from downstairs, calling us both for dinner. I tell Pri to go ahead and that I’ll come after putting these on my bookshelf so Mom doesn’t notice them, and she agrees with me. I let my sister believe it’s from some admirer and not from our cousin, Riaan.

As soon as she’s out the door, I lock it once again and unpack all the novels until I realize what’s at the bottom. Notebooks, but they are used and with handwritten pages.

When I read what’s inside, I realize those are study notes from all the classes I have missed till now and it only takes me a second to recognize it’s Monica’s handwriting.

I can’t believe he went to all these lengths just so I didn’t fall behind in my subjects.

I pull out the note he left for me, then unfold and read it, unable to hold back the tears any longer.

My little liar,

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