Unconditional Love

Chapter 2: My Secret

13 years later

“Hey, Liam. Wait up.” that voice irritated him.

“My day was already ruined and here you are again,” he whispered.

“Liam, hey. Stop right there will you?” the voice got louder and louder as a sign that the person is near. Liam couldn’t help but roll his eyes.

He stopped and turned around to face the last person that he wanted to see.

“What do you want?” irritation and annoyance is evident on his face as he asked this question.

“I would like to ask for your help.” as she hooked up her arms to his, ignoring his bad mood.

“Help from what?” he asked impatiently.

She just smiled sweetly at him with her puppy eyes, which made Liam want to slap her. But, of course, a gentleman would never do that and she would be badly injured if he laid a hand on her. She might need to borrow the face of a dog. The thought made Liam want to laugh but he couldn’t at that moment, he was not in the mood and this woman made it worse.

“Come on Marie, spill it out right now. I’m in a hurry, I need to get home.” though he had no plans of going home, he lied in Marie’s face just to get rid of her.

“Our assignment in calculus is really difficult,” she said.

“Were you absent when our teacher discussed that topic?” he asked.

“No, but I can’t understand the process and methods of solving it. Maybe I could if you were the one who would discuss.” she said.

Another alibi just to get close to him is what Liam was thinking. Marie Wilson is every male student’s dream. She is a beauty but she has no brains and, of course, these hungry creatures just want a piece of her body to taste. But she is into Liam and she has been hitting on him since the day she met him.

Liam is a looker, he is tall and lean despite his young age. Aside from that, he is a very smart guy, which made him popular without him even trying. He effortlessly got well known because of his scholastic achievements compared to those other students that join any clubs or school organizations just to be famous.

Marie thought they were a match made in heaven. Anyhow, she thought that they were the same as she did not do anything to make herself known throughout the whole campus. She was just a head turner and very recognizable because of her beauty. Both of them have got perfect bodies to die for, both of them are tall and good-looking.

But all of the efforts that Marie made seemed useless. Liam seems not interested in her. She wanted to give up but she was always motivated and encouraged by other students. As a matter of fact, they have a fans club. Almost everyone wants them to end up together. Everyone thinks they look good together and they would make a perfect pair. Some even commented that they would have beautiful children together.

However, it’s been a while that Marie has been showing Liam and giving him hints. They are about to graduate this year but still there is no progress. He is still the ice king that she secretly called him. Sometimes she wonders if Liam is gay because he has never had a girlfriend or been seen with any other woman except his mother. Instead, he has always been together and close with his nerd best friend Brent.

“That’s crazy, because I am not a teacher.” Liam’s baritone voice brought Marie back to her senses.

She blinked thrice as she was so lost in her deep thoughts that she was unaware that she had been staring at Liam’s handsome face, which made the latter want to puke. He really hated how obvious Marie was upon showing how much she liked him. Does she have no shame of herself? Where is her integrity?

“Say that again?” dumbly she asked.

“I said I am not a teacher, so what makes you think that I can teach you better and you will know how to solve calculus problems?” he repeated.

“I don’t know, I just feel it. That’s what my heart says.” she even put her right hand on her left chest.

“Really,” was all Liam could say.

He was speechless but in his imagination he had been pulling the desperate girl’s hair mercilessly. How can she not tell that he has no interest? Is she really that dumb or numb not to know after so many years? Since they met each other when they were first-year students until now that they are their seniors, she has been flirting with him. It gave him goose bumps all over his body and an intense feeling of discomfort.

“Yes, really. I mean all the words that they say and it comes from my heart. So please Liam?” she pleaded.

She was now caressing Liam’s right arm, which made him feel sick in the stomach. He quickly pushed her hand gently. He gave her an awkward smile and cleared his throat. God knows how much he wants to slap the thick face b*tch and his hands are itching to do so.

He straightened up, preventing the monster inside him from being unleashed. He faked a cough and then cleared his throat. He breathed in and out deeply just to minimize his temper. Just right in time, his savior came and Liam was relieved. He is always on time even though he does not call. It looks like he can read his mind and can hear his silent screams for rescue.

“Hey dude,” Brent said.

“Hey,” he replied with a triumphant smile.

“Hi Brent.” Marie greeted Brent just to make him aware of her presence.

“Oh, hi there Marie.” the young lad said, reciprocating the greeting in a shy way.

“I’m so sorry Marie, but we really need to go,” Liam said and hurriedly walked away with Brent.

In a blink of an eye they were out of Marie’s sight, who just stood there feeling left out with her mouth opening and closing out of shock. She looks like a fish brought away from the water. She was really pissed off because Liam ignored her again.

On the other hand, Liam’s heart was so overwhelmed with joy. He was with the guy that he had been dreaming of for a long time. They are currently in a park, eating their favorite street food while sitting on a bench in front of a lake.

When he is around him, it seems like everything and everyone vanishes because he can not see anything or anyone but him. Sounds really crazy but that is how he feels. Yet the clock strikes so fast and it goes very slow whenever he is not with Brent. He feels so hollow, a heavy heart and emptiness hit him so hard when he is not around. There was even a time that he cried so hard because he was missing Brent, which Liam left puzzled.

He doesn’t even remember when it officially started but he just woke up one morning realizing how much he loves his best friend Brent. Their friendship will probably end if he finds out, so he keeps it to him as well, keeping his real identity to everyone except his family.

He could say he was so lucky and blessed to have parents who accepted him whole heartedly. Liam thanked God so much for giving him supportive parents, who accepted him instead of despising him when he revealed his true self. They embraced him and told him that no matter what and who he is, they would always be his parents and he would always be their son. The waterworks flooded on that day.

“What are you thinking?” Brent suddenly asked, bringing him back to reality.

“Nothing,” he lied. He couldn’t tell Brent that he ran in Liam’s thoughts all the time.

“Come on, tell me. Is it Marie?” he asked.

“Yeah.” he replied.

“I can see that she likes you so much,” he commented.

“Obviously,” he agreed.

“Don’t you like her? I mean she is so beautiful and hot. If I were in your shoes, I would court her or should I say, I would say yes to her because it seems like she’s the one courting you.” he stated.

Liam’s smile vanished in an instant. That was the most painful statement from Brent that he ever heard. First, he complimented her with desire in his eyes, second, he pushed him towards her and the most painful thing was it was him. He would immediately jump on to Marie.

“I don’t like her bro.” he said.

“Why?” Brent asked.

“I don’t like girls who make the first move. I like someone with dignity, you know, dignified and will not stoop down so low desperately just to get a boyfriend,” he explained.

“Wow, that was really interesting.” Brent's eyes twinkled.

“Let’s go home, bro. I’m tired.” He replied instead, ignoring Brent’s words.

“Oh, okay sure let’s go.” he agreed.

Liam nodded as a response. When he felt sick earlier from Marie’s flirting, at this moment it was the worst. He felt numb, his heart bled like it was stabbed a million times, which he thought was the reason why he felt weak. He was walking absent-mindedly that he did not notice he was about to be hit by a car, but thanks to Brent, who pulled him away, he escaped death.

“Bro, watch out!” Brent screamed.

His eyes widened as he saw the speeding car that did not even seem to mind that he had almost killed a heartbroken human being. The man who is the reason why he was dying inside is also the reason why he escaped from literally dying.

“Are you okay?” his question made Liam aware of their position.

“What happened?” Liam asked.

He looked around and saw several people staring at them. How can people not stare when Brent’s right arm is wrapped around his waist while Liam’s two palms are hardly pressed on his best friend’s chest? Their faces are just half an inch away and just a single wrong move their lips would intertwine.

“I’m sorry. You almost got hit by that car.” Brent was the first to recover and instantly took off his arm from his body.

“Thanks for saving me bro. I owe you my life.” Liam sincerely said.

“Don’t mention it bro.” he replied. “We really need to get home, you don’t look good,” he added.

“Yeah, I’m not feeling well.” Liam said, which made Brent worried.

“Are you sick?” he then touched Liam’s forehead and neck.

“No, I’m just tired.” Liam said.

He once again felt that strange electric shock reaction whenever he made contact with Brent’s skin and, at the same time, the fast pounding of his heart. One of these days maybe he will not be able to fight the strong feelings that he feels towards his best friend.

It scares him that he will give in to the feeling and confess to Brent the secret love that he has for him. But what scares him more is his reaction. How would he accept it? What if he is disgusted and will avoid him? Their friendship would be at stake and that is something that he really can’t deal with. Liam doesn’t want to lose his only best friend.

=Sarsi=