Once upon a night

Once Upon a Coincidence

William's POV

I was walking by the university I had intended to take my sister to eat and spend some quality time together. She had been sad since Jannett had been fired by my mother, Janett really was a good friend to her and she missed having her around. She spoke fondly of her and all the memories they had built together. My sister had always been lonely, and the few friends she did have, had been picked by my mother. To say the least, she was never around friends of her choosing, or real friends. At some point, my thoughts left me and gravitated to Janett. She was petite but deadly. I had gotten lost in the memory of her standing up to my mother. I wanted to find her and offer her help for my sister's sake... at least that is what I told myself. I wanted to convince myself that I had no interest in her and that all I wanted was to help my sister's friend.

The truth was that I wanted to be close to her and to get to know her, although I could never have her, her proximity would be enough. Even if I wanted to have her, I had a duty to find the girl from the other night. I had taken her virtue and had wronged her in the most disrespectable way. I had wronged her in a way that I could not take back and I had a duty to make things right for her. I was battling the inner turmoil in my head when someone crashed against me. I was taken by surprise, but the years of venting my frustration in the gym had paid off. I was not even moved but the woman walking towards me almost went down head first.

"Watch where you are going!" I said as I stretched my arms to hold her steady. As I held her shoulders, her eyes pierced deep into my soul. She looked terrified, as if I could get her livelihood by simply being there. It took a minute to identify who she was, but as soon as I did, my world became brighter.

"Let go of me," she screamed. "are you here to finish what your mother started?" She asked bitterly.

She looked like she had been crying, there were dark circles under her eyes and her nose was red. She looked miserable and I hated myself for having been so rude. She had hurt herself with me badly enough to make her cry, or was I misunderstanding her tears?

"Janett, I am sorry I did not know it was you." I said, trying to comfort her.

"So if it was someone else, you would deem them worthy of your rudeness?" She screamed back at me.

"No, you have misunderstood!" I said, but she was furious.

"You Ports, always mistreating those you see as lower than you, well me and my b..." She said. "Nevermind!" She screamed, looking down.

I had not realized that I was still holding her and in my need to explain myself I was holding her a bit too tight. Everything I did to or around this woman was wrong, no matter how much I tried. I let go of her hesitantly. I had a feeling that once I let go she was going to take off running. To my surprise, she just sat down crossing her arms in front of her stomach. Thinking back, I should have read more into that action. I was successful in business, but women were not my area of expertise, they were always throwing themselves at me. Janett, however, was different. She wanted to put distance between her and I and it seemed like she wanted to put all the distance available. She, however, was not running away and I saw that as a win. I wanted to apologize for my mother and I wanted to ask her if she needed any financial help. I was not planning on giving her free money. It was clear to me that she was proud and hard working. I did not want to insult her but, like everything I did around her, I went about it the wrong way!

"I am sorry for my mother's behavior. Could I help with your financial burden?" I asked not realizing at the moment how wrong that sounded.

"I do not need your money. I will not go to the authorities. You can drop the act!" She said as she got up to walk away.

"That is not what I mean..."

"Stop following me!"

"I am not following, I was coming to... wait I do not need to give you an explanation." I was not trying to hurt her or be rude, I was simply saying the truth.

"Typical of you Ports!"

She got up to walk away, she looked at me, her face lost all color her eyes rolled back, and I barely had anytime to catch her limp body before it hit the ground.