Page 94 of I Shouldn't Feel This Way

A blast of emotion exploded inside my heart. The honesty in his words touched the very core of my being. My soul shivered.

“Hey, now. No tears,” he said with tenderness, and his eyes were even more tender—filled with compassion.

I had never met anyone else who had eyes as expressive as his. It was no wonder he masked his emotions so well—he had to guard himself.

“Come here.” Noah wrapped his big, strong arms around me again as a gentle breeze blew by, forcing the weeping branches of the willow tree to sway to the east. I didn’t want him to let go, but the school bell rang, disrupting my secret moment in paradise. I was pulled back to wretched reality.

“I have to get going,” he said, “and you need to get to class. Teachers don’t like tardy students.”

I shrugged. “I think that withmygrades, they would be a little more lenient on me when it comes to punctuality.” I kept fidgeting with the woven leather bracelet he wore around his wrist.

He looked down at my hand. “You really like this, don’t you?”

“You always wear it. Is there a special significance behind it?” I was suddenly dreading the answer. What if his first love had given it to him? What if his first love was my mom?

Please don’t tell me.

“A merchant sold this to me when I was in South Africa. He said that it would bring me good luck if I wore it every day. According to tribal legend, whatever I had lost would return to me—be it fortune or a lost love. Now, of course I knew that it didn’t possess any magical powers—he was only trying to make a sale.

“But I think a part of me wanted to believe in the fantasy. At that time in my life, I needed a ray of hope, so I bought it and wore it every day since. Miraculously, just like that man said …” He paused and looked deeply into my eyes. “The person I love the most in this entire universe returned to me.” He untied his bracelet and fastened it around my left wrist. “Youcame back to me.”

I felt so happy, I could have cried.

“You don’t know how special you are, Aria.”

The bracelet felt a little loose, but just the fact that I was wearing a part of him on my body elated me. I was speechless.

“Thank you.” I flung myself at him and hugged him tightly, not caring if I wrinkled his suit.

“I love you,” he said, and left a sweet kiss on my forehead.

I reached down and picked up my schoolbag. “I love you too.” And I meant it with all my heart.

“I’ll see you later tonight, princess.”

I was about to turn around when he reached for my hand and stopped me. “Wait.”

The front lawn of the school campus was quickly clearing of students. I stood still, disregarding the fact that I was running late.

“Your—um …” Noah hesitated, glancing down at my uniform. “Buttons …” He pointed at his shirt to signal my wardrobe malfunction.

I rolled my eyes. “You should see my friends—their cleavage ismuchworse.”

“Well, you don’t go to school to show off your cleavage. You go to school to educate yourself,” he countered.

“You need to lighten up a bit, Noah. It’s like a hundred degrees outside.”

“You’re my daughter. I don’t want the boys staring down your bra.”

Is that what you’re doing?The thought encouraged a sly little smile to appear on my face.

“You’re so overprotective,” I said. A warm gust of wind glided through my hair and caused the branches of the willow tree to rustle behind me.

“Aria, we don’t have time to argue over this now. Please, fix your shirt.”

But I didn’t want to. I was enjoying this. I liked teasing him. “Why don’tyoufix them for me, since you’re the one who has a problem with a couple buttons coming undone?”

He arched his eyebrow. “Don’t be such a spoiled brat.”

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