Unraveling Her Secrets

Chapter 5 : In the park.

Theo's POV:

I smiled thinking about the interaction I had with her. "Riya," I whispered, testing her name. She looks gorgeous and her ocean blue eyes always pull me into the depths unknown. I turned around and took the picture from the nightstand. " There is something about her, I don't know what it is, Mia. But I like this girl," I said looking at the picture of us standing on a beach. Keeping the photo inside the cupboard, I laid my head on the pillow taking the book in hand. The picture fell on my lap and I picked it up smiling before sending a quick text to Riya. I kept looking at the picture and that's when a thought hit me. I made a call and asked Mr. Simon to come and collect the picture tomorrow. With that I laid on the bed closing my eyes and fell into a deep slumber.

I groaned, cutting off my alarm and tried to sleep only to be disturbed yet again by a knock on my door. I grunted before pulling off the blanket over me. Walking up to my door, I opened it to see Mr. Simon fidgeting nervously. "Good morning, Mr. Wilson," he said looking at me.

"Good morning, Simon. Why are you here?" I asked, feeling annoyed from lack of sleep.

"You asked me to come and collect a picture…" he said, dragging the sentence. And that's when I remembered asking him to come and collect Riya's childhood picture from me.

I sighed before walking inside my room and took the picture in hand. Her two teeth smile is way too adorable, I thought, smiling to myself before walking back and giving the picture to him. He took the picture and kept it inside a folder before turning around and leaving. I looked at the time and it was already past 9 so I decided to take shower and go to the stadium for football practice.

Coach Douglas shouted from the place he was standing, asking us to move faster. We panted as the scorching heat was burning our skin. "So what's with you and that strange new chick at school?" Mason asked, wiggling his eyebrows.

"Nothing," I said, passing the ball to Kayden. Coach blew the whistle signaling us to gather around. After discussing the upcoming match with "St. Peter's high school," I left for the parking lot. Sliding inside my car, I sped past the driveway to the park. I drummed on the steering wheel thinking about the memories of my childhood at that park. I and Mia always used to go there and play when we were kids. Taking a deep breath, I parked my car and saw Mr. Simon waiting near the entrance gate. I collected the folder from him before taking out my phone and texting Riya.

She didn't reply so I went inside searching for her and someone crashed into me making us stumble. I caught the person in my arms steadying both of us before looking down. I was surprised to see it was Riya who was looking at me with wide eyes filled with fear. "Riya, what happened?" I asked, holding her face in my hands.

"Nothing, we need to go from here," she said, taking my hand from her face before walking past me. I stood in the same place feeling confused but she turned around asking "Are you coming or not?"

"Yeah," I said before following her. She took me to the kids play area and I smiled looking around.

Riya's voice broke me out of the trance, "Where is the picture?" She asked, crossing her arms.

I pushed my hair back before giving the folder to her and looked at her expectantly. She looked at me confused but nonetheless took it in her hand and opened it. "Oh my gosh," she said, covering her mouth.

I let out a breath of relief which I didn't realise I was holding. She jumped into my arms and hugged me tight. I smiled, wrapping my hands around her. I heard her sniffling as I rubbed her back softly. She pulled away from me and looked into my eyes with a happy smile. My smile grew even bigger looking at that.

"Thank you so so so so so much, Theo," she said, clutching the folder tightly to herself.

"Here," I said, taking my wallet from the back pocket and pulling out her old childhood photo outside. She took it from my hand carefully before keeping it inside the folder I gave.

"Thanks again," she said looking down. "You're welcome, sweetheart," I said, ruffling her hair. She swatted my arms before narrowing her eyes at me. I chuckled, raising my arms in surrender.

"It really means a lot to me, Theo," She said, wearing her hoodie cap.

"You're leaving?" I asked, looking at her with raised eyebrows.

"Yeah," she said, shifting in her place. "Shall I drop you?" I asked, looking at her expectantly and hoping to spend a little more time with her.

"Naa, it's fine. I can walk. Thank you once again, Theo. Take care," she said before turning around.

I grabbed her arms and a small book fell out of her hands. I bent down to pick it up and that's when I saw a sketch of me in it. I looked at the book and then at her before she hurriedly pulled it out of my hands and ran away. I jogged towards her and held her by arm. "Riya, stop running away from me," I said feeling annoyed. She pulled her arms away from me and pushed me back saying, "Stay away from me, Theo," before walking away…