Chapter Twelve
“I’M SO SORRY THIS HAPPENED to you,” Katya said glumly. “If I had known Jack would actually really fall for you, I’d never have introduced the two of you at all.” Spotting a vacant table in the cafeteria, she plunked her bag down together with her tray. Sitting down, she continued, “He’s such a playboy. I thought it would be just another game for him.”
“It’s really okay, Kat,” MJ said reassuringly as she took the seat across her friend. “Everything’s my fault.” Swiftly changing the subject, she asked, “But you’ve really gotten me curious. Whatever did Jack do to you that he owes you a favor?”
Katya waved a hand in the air. “Oh, nothing. The usual.”
“You don’t want to tell me?”
“It’s just too embarrassing. But don’t jump to any stupid conclusions – I’ve never liked him, and he’s never liked me. We were just both...at the wrong place and time. And another guy,” she muttered under her breath.
MJ’s eyes brightened. “Aha! I heard that.”
“It’s nothing. Nothing. Forget it. Please?”
She had never seen Katya so flustered. “I will, I will. I promise.”
They proceeded to eat quietly after that, both of them busy with their thoughts even though both of them also did their best to feign interest in their food. Unlike most university cafeterias, Christopoulos University’s cafeteria was designed like a first class restaurant and open round the clock. As a result, most students preferred to enjoy their dinners at the cafeteria rather than be bothered to leave the campus.
At seven in the evening, the cafeteria was at its busiest, with students jostling for table space. MJ allowed herself to be distracted by the noise and activity around her, feeling secretly wistful as she gazed at the laughing carefree expressions on the other freshmen’s faces.
If she had never been James Cartwright’s daughter, maybe she could be like them, too? Worrying only about grades, club activities, and finding a date for Thanksgiving. But then, if she had been like them, she would never had any reason to explore out of town that day, and she would never ever have gotten to meet Rick – or know about Helios Andreadis.
A sigh escaped her.
No, she wouldn’t wish not to be James Cartwright’s daughter, after all. Every tortuous moment spent under his roof had been worth being able to know Helios and, even for a very short time, being cared for by him.
The doors of the cafeteria suddenly slammed open, causing everyone to look up except MJ. When she heard the sound, she looked down at her plate determinedly. Whatever the cause of that commotion was, it was at least one controversy she was not going to be part of.
“MJ?” Katya suddenly said.
“Yeah?” she asked as she fed herself a spoonful of risotto.
“I think you better be ready.”
“Huh?”
“Because right now, Helios Andreadis is heading this way and he does not look...friendly.”
MJ’s head shot up, just in time to see Helios stop right in front of her table. He was dressed in his usual casual attire, but even so, every other guy in the room paled in comparison. He was that beautiful. He was...Mr. Sunshine, after all.
The shock of seeing him was so great it had her choking, and she made a wild grab for the bottle of water to keep food from snorting out from her nose and mouth.
Dear God, if you love me, please let me know how to perform a self-lobotomy? Because I do not want to ever remember this happening. Ever.
But as always, God didn’t answer on His own.
Instead, God had Helios offering her a handkerchief, neatly pressed, beautifully soft, and pristine white.
Looking down at her, Helios tried to mentally summarize everything he had to say. But all he could think of was how much he loved her. He remembered all the days they had spent together and wanted a thousand more days like it. A million, a billion – an infinite number of days would not be enough. This girl, with her love for tomboyish clothes, her contradicting ways and enchanting optimism – he loved every little thing about her, and his heart would always only beat for her.
When she seemed to have developed a fascination with a spot on the floor, Helios said gruffly, “You have something in the corner of your mouth.” He offered her his handkerchief again.
Grabbing the handkerchief, she patted her mouth clean, muttering, “You don’t need to shout it out to everyone.”
“ I wasn’t shouting .” For fuck’s sake, couldn’t he do anything right with her?
“You’re shouting now.”
Helios took deep calming breaths. It was like their first time all over again, and they were fighting like cats and dogs. In any case, shouting at the girl he loved was not the way to woo her back. He looked around, searching for any signs of the other man. But there was none.
Looking back at MJ and seeing that she still hadn’t raised her head, he thought, What the hell, and dropped on one knee in front of her.
The students around them gasped. He had known they would and didn’t give a fuck. He hated this kind of public display with a passion, but he figured that this was the only way he would get MJ to listen. He drew out the roses he held hidden in his back and shoved them at her. “Yours.”
She almost ended up eating the roses, with the way he had shoved it in her face. Would have choked on it, too, because she was stunned by the fact that Helios Andreadis was doing this. The only time he liked being in the center of the attention was when he was on a bike and this time, he was...not.
Finally finding her voice, she asked, “Wh-why are you on your knee? And w-what’s with the roses?”
He looked like he was itching to kill her now. “What the fuck do you think all this is?” he snarled. “You said you wanted a fucking normal guy. Isn’t this what a normal guy does when he wants to get his girl back?”
Across her, Katya whispered, “He kinda has a point, MJ.”
Yes. He did. And it just showed how little she knew about normal guys even if all this time, she had professed to want to go out with one. The thought had her paling even more. Jack was a normal guy and he had wanted her to go out with him. But in the end, she had said no. What did she really want?
“MJ?” It was Helios, his voice rough.
“You should get up now,” she mumbled under her breath.
He forced himself to say the cheesiest words in history. “I’m not going to stand until you tell me we’re together again.” Fuck. He wanted to gag right this moment. He had no doubt somewhere in this suddenly-silent cafeteria, people were recording his every word and movement. In minutes, the boys would know about tonight, and his life would be officially over.
But if this was the way for him to get MJ back, the humiliation would be worth it.
MJ could feel her face flaming at what Helios had just said, and he hadn’t even bothered to lower his voice. If he wasn’t embarrassed for himself, she was more than embarrassed for him. Didn’t he realize how silly it was for someone like him to prostrate himself like this for someone like her?
She shook her head vigorously. “Please, Helios, please get up.”
“You know what to say to get me off my knees.”
She asked haltingly, “Did it work out in Greece? Will the rumors stop then?”
Ah, fuck, she had to ask that of all things. Helios took a deep breath. “It’s...going to continue for a while.”
MJ froze.
He continued tautly, “It appears my family’s butting in again, and they got Rick involved.”
She gasped. “Your old tutor?”
He nodded curtly. “My stepmother says she has him. Her condition for keeping him safe is for me to let the rumors slide. They’re to convince the board of Andreadis Enterprises that I’m a not fit replacement as chairman for my older brother.” He exhaled harshly. “I hope you understand that there’s nothing I can do at this moment. I can’t unknowingly risk—”
MJ grasped his hand, unable to stand the torment in his voice. “You don’t have to explain,” she said softly. “I know what Rick’s done for you. He’s helped me, too.”
When she tried to pull her hand away, he didn’t let her go. “And me?” Helios forced himself to ask. “You really don’t have anything to say about me?”
Her head lowered once more, and a second later he felt something fall on his skin.
Tears.
MJ’s tears.
“I just feel like everything’s going against us all the time, you know? I don’t think we can keep knocking our heads against the wall—”
“Just tell me what you want.” He tried not to sound desperate but realized it was impossible. He was desperate. A man about to drown, a man about to starve, a man about to die. They were all desperate, and he was all three without MJ.
“Listen, MJ. Listen to me carefully, please.” He tightened her hold on her. “If you really want a normal guy, I can do that. I’ve given up my bike for you. If I can give that up, I can give up anything. You understand? I only need you.”
He was about to say more, but the sound of the doors crashing open once more interrupted him.
“IS HELIOS ANDREADIS IN THE FUCKING HOUSE?”
Helios moved lightning fast at the sound, knowing trouble had come searching for him. He bent down, whispering to MJ, “Whatever happens, stay here,” before striding away.
At the entrance of the cafeteria was a group of drunken men, bikers by the looks of them. And armed, as they made no attempt to hide the guns tucked by their sides.
He recognized the men as members of the club from the rival university across town, one owned by another Greek national. The club was known as Sfagi, and in English the word translated to “slaughter”. The Sfagi was known to have mostly rich spoiled brats as members, cowardly bullies all of them. They had never made trouble with any of the Afxisi until now, and Helios had a grim idea why.
If he were the President of the Afxisi, he could have this matter solved in seconds.
But he was not.
He was a normal guy, and he wanted to stay a normal guy, no matter what the fuck happened.
He raised his hands up. “Let’s take this outside.”
One of the men walked towards him. “Sure we will.” He took out his gun and fired a shot into the air. Everyone screamed. He hit Helios’ head with the butt of his pistol and everything went black.