Do not play with my heart

Chapter 1

Like every other day, Heather Melvin went to school with a smile. The smile was a bit more genuine this time because she was going to see her best friend, Evelyn Brooke at school.

Her smile was so bright that even her housekeeper noticed it and asked her what happened but she just shook her head in response.

She stepped out of her Range Rover dressed in a crop top and a pair of jeans with a small black bag pack hanging on her shoulder. She had her hair in a messy ponytail and wore a nice pair of sneakers while holding one or two books.

She was that girl that would cause heads to turn whenever she arrived at a place, no matter what she wore or how she came. Although, she did not know what was so interesting about her to invite stares all the damn time, she also didn't care to know.

As usual, most of the students around the car park stared at her as soon as she came into view. Some stared openly and others did it secretly. They all assessed her for moment before returning to their business.

The stares she received varied from those of envy to those of admiration, though it was only a few. She even got thirsty stares from boys and pissed looks from their girlfriends, potential girlfriends, crushes, baby mamas, side chics, etcetera, etcetera.

Most people would fumble upon so many stares, but she didn't, maybe because she was used to it. She walked through the gazes with a neutral expression and smiled at some familiar people.

She eagerly approached the lecture hall to meet her best friend. Who was away this weekend to look after her grandma.

Every weekend Evelyn goes to her Grandma's house. Other than that, every other day, they were always together, everywhere and every time.

They were seen around together so often that it even brought about some rumors, about them being half sisters. I mean who would not think so when the pretty girls were always together, to extent of even living together.

But they didn't care about the speculations, even wished it was true. With that kind of closeness a separation like a weekend felt like a year.

When she got to the class, Heather immediately spotted her. Her red curly hair, hazel eyes and freckles on her cheeks, made it easy to spot her in any crowd.

She was at the corner of the class with her head lowered between her hands, looking at a book, while grinning stupidly to herself amidst the noise.

With her expression, she was probably in the sky floating somewhere with rainbows and unicorns, while imagining her prince charming was on one knee, kissing her hand or something.

'She must be reading another romance novel' Heather thought and shook her head then walked towards her.

"Isn't he just handsome..." Evelyn mumbled with a dreamy expression.

"Who?" Heather whispered in her ear causing her to jerk her head up and hurriedly hide the book.

Seeing her startled face, Heather immediately started giggling as she took her seat.

"Hey, why would you scare me like that?" Evelyn said with a bit of annoyance.

"Because it works everytime" she replied still laughing.

"And what is that supposed to even mean?!"

"I don't know? You'll the one who jumped like you were caught stealing or something"

"I didn't jump"

"Yes, you did"

"Did not "

"Did too"

"Did not!" Evelyn raised her voice to prove her claim. It drew attention towards them and she got flustered.

"I said you did, sweetheart" Heather said with a playful yet challenging smile but instead of responding to her provocation, Evelyn narrowed her eyes at her.

Whenever she got that flustered, her thoughts would often collide she wouldn't able to say anything. Heather knew it very well but still chose to provoke her.

"Aww, my baby is upset. Come here, darling" she pulled Evelyn in for hug.

"Don't talk to me"

"It's okay, baby. Mama's here" Heather coaxed and kissed her head multiple times, while caressing her hair.

The coaxing was effective since a small laugh escaped Evelyn's lips followed closely by giggling. Her contagious laugh incited Heather's and two friends enjoyed the refreshing laughter in a warm embrace.

After their laughs died down, they parted and started chatting animatedly. They talked what happened over the weekend, their upcoming presentation next week and many other things, girly stuff. Since the lecturer hadn't arrived yet, they had plenty of time.

"And by the way, I wasn't day dreaming about anything, I was looking at his very handsome, beautiful and lovely face, understand? " Evelyn randomly brought their bicker from earlier.

"Oh really now, Can I also see this very handsome beautiful face then?"

"Lovely, you missed lovely"

"With your lovesickness I don't think there will ever be enough adjectives to describe him for you"

"Of course they aren't, see his picture as proof" Evelyn took out the picture from her book and gave it to her.

"Hmm...quite handsome I must say"

"Quite?"

"Uh-huh... quite"

"how can you look at a picture of this man, this beautiful man and say just quite?!" Evelyn started firing at her.

Their meaningless argument lasted for a minute or two before the Lecturer, Professor James stepped in fo his class and they had to settle down.

After the class, he asked them to meet him at his office after they were done with classes. The purpose was obviously for their upcoming presentation.

His class was very practical class, every week he made two students present the previous week's topic to the rest of class. In his opinion, it helped students understand the subject better and it improved their communication skills.

Nevertheless, being asked to meet in his office was a bit strange. He never asked any student to before, at least in reference to the presentation. It made them somewhat nervous for the meeting.

~~~ In Professor James' Office ~~~

After standing in the office for a full five minutes without being acknowledged by him, Heather decided to speak up.

"You called for us, Sir."

It was only after she spoke that Professor James finally raised his head from his laptop to acknowledge them. He assessed them quietly for a moment before nodding to what she said and after his confirmation, he went back to his work.

Something was off with his body language and mannerisms. He was known for always being straight forward with students. Anyone would expect that by now, he would have said he wanted to say. Yet, sometime had already gone by he still hadn't said anything.

'There is indeed something different about our presentation' the girls thought in unison and shared a quick glance.

"Next week is your presentation, correct?" he asked suddenly, then looked over at them.

"Yes, Sir." They chorused.

After their response, he speculated over something before he began educating them of what would be expected from them, what they should avoid when researching, how the presentation would be graded. He basically gave them an overview of the presentation.

They listened to his instructions attentively and anxiously waiting for the big surprise he had in-store for them but got nothing in the end.

"Alright, with that I am correct to be expecting excellent results, right?" He inquired in a less serious tone, that reduced the tension in the room.

"Yes, Sir." Their response this time was rather cheerful in comparison to the last.

"Okay then, Good luck on your presentation next week"

"Thank you, Sir."

But seeing that they were about to take their leave, he stopped them.

"I never said I was done, why are you leaving?"

Upon his inquiry, they paused their movements and shared a confused look.

"Yes, Sir?" Evelyn spoke this time.

"I am not done yet," he stated before carried to inform them of the slight change in their presentation.

"Your presentation will hold next week as planned, but not in the lecture hall, it will hold in the school's symposium. It will be held like a grand event and we will have some special guests attending the event.

Those guests include the Vice Chancellor, Register, and some other senior professors of the department." he paused for a moment, to allow the students assimilate the new information.

Shocked was too small a word to express how they felt after hearing what he said. Anyone after noticing their alarmed faces would slow down a bit, but he didn't. He went in with of the rest of the changes like it was normal.

"T-the Vice Chancellor...?" Heather muttered under her breath. She was clearly stuck in a trance from the moment she heard the Vice Chancellor would be present.

"Yes." he replied briefly and continued " There is also another guest coming, in fact he's more important than the Vice Chancellor you seem to be scared of and he chose next week, coincidentally, to grace the institution with his presence." he sounded a bit sarcastic, although he was serious.

"You are to be informed that he is the highest share holder of the institution, and he has very high influence on the decisions made in school, so if your presentation is not up to expectations then..." His statement was unfinished, but the hidden threat was quite obvious.

"So yes, students. You are required to exhibit excellence, and nothing but excellence. You can't afford to make any major mistakes, it would speak volumes about our educational system. And lastly, his reaction to your work will mostly likely be your grade." He finished and looked over at them for their questions.

He was answered with silence and eyes about to pop out of their sockets. Even after a few minutes, the silence remained. But he did not seem to mind, he gave them all the time they needed.

After much contemplation, Evelyn broke the silence but instead bringing up a valid reason to remove them from the situation, she was a stuttering mess.

"B-but, Sir, how can...we don't...we didn't... Sir we-" he cut her off.

"Your names are Evelyn Brooke and Heather Melvin, is that correct?"

Though his question was puzzling, the girls answered regardless.

"On my presentation schedule for your class, these are the names of the students that are to present next week. Since you both answer to those names, you will undoubtedly present your topic, next week. Is that clear?" His stern expression left no room for objections.

"Yes, Sir." The girls responded meekly with a mouthful of grievances.

"Good, See you next week" he appeared quite satisfied with their response, released them and went back to his work.

Evelyn stepped out first. She tried her best not to storm out but she wasn't really successful, luckily Professor James was on a phone call and didn't notice.

Heather followed right after and about to shut the door behind before she heard something that immediately seized her breath.

Her mind blurred, her heart fell to the pit of her stomach and her hand right next the door knob froze.

It was such a strong reaction that Evelyn-in the middle of fuming- noticed something was a miss and patted her shoulder worriedly.

"Heather?"

'No, I heard wrong, i-it can't be, it's not possible' she told herself to calm down and took a deep breath.

"I'm fine" she assured Evelyn with small smile, completed her action and left with her.

The reason for her reaction was a name she heard Professor James say over his phone call.

It sounded very similar to his name.

Well, it wasn't such a unique name and even if it was, he couldn't be the only one bearing it, right? It was just a mere coincidence.

It had to be, just a mere coincidence. It couldn't be the same name.

No, not after ten years.