CHAPTER 4: Strangers Again
652 Words
Chapter 4: Strangers Again
The first day at Monteluce Integrated High School was filled with the usual chaos — students shouting across hallways, teachers giving instructions, and freshmen struggling to find their classrooms.
Yarra Sebastian, now 18, kept her head low as she walked toward her room. She clutched her books tightly to her chest, still thinking about the daisy pendant she found in the secret garden just days ago. That memory haunted her more than she liked to admit.
As she turned a corner in the corridor—
BAM!
"Ay!" she gasped, her books falling to the floor as she collided with someone.
"Watch where you're going," a low, cold voice snapped.
She looked up, stunned.
A tall guy stood in front of her — fair-skinned, sharp jawline, chinito eyes that were half-lidded with annoyance. His face was calm but carried a quiet storm, and he wore the school uniform like it didn’t belong to him.
"Sorry din," Yarra mumbled, brushing dust off her skirt.
"Good," he muttered, not even offering to help with her books. He just walked past her.
“Ang sungit naman nun,” she whispered under her breath.
She didn’t know… she had just bumped into Zarred Altamonte.
He didn’t recognize her either. The years had changed him — the boy who once smiled under the mango tree was now a man with the weight of the world in his eyes. He didn't care about girls, fame, or attention. Even though many in school secretly swooned over him, he stayed distant.
Only one person managed to poke fun at him — Josh del Valye, his noisy childhood neighbor turned class clown.
"Uy, bro!" Josh clapped Zarred's back later that day in class. "Kanina ka pa ah. You bumped into that cute girl sa hallway, ‘no? Grabe ka. Stoic ka na, suplado ka pa!"
Zarred gave him a look.
Josh just laughed harder. "Wala talaga. Walang babae ang makakabutas sa yelo mong puso."
Zarred said nothing.
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The Next Day…
Zarred felt restless. Something inside him itched — memories, maybe. Or the pull of something he couldn’t name. His feet carried him toward a place he hadn’t seen in years.
The Secret Garden.
Still hidden behind old trees, still forgotten by most people. But not by him.
He stepped through the foliage… and stopped.
Someone was already there.
A girl sat under the mango tree — sketching quietly on a notebook.
Yarra.
She looked up.
“You?!”
“You?!” he said back, both recognizing each other from yesterday’s collision — but not from their shared childhood.
“I was here first,” she said.
“This place doesn’t have your name on it.”
“Excuse me?” She stood, arms crossed.
“I said—”
“You’re so full of yourself,” Yarra snapped.
"And you're too noisy for such a quiet place," Zarred shot back.
“You’re rude!”
“You’re dramatic.”
Silence.
They glared at each other like enemies. Strangers who hated each other on sight — not knowing they once shared laughter under this very tree.
But something in Zarred snapped — maybe her voice, maybe her presence, maybe the feeling of being known and not known at the same time.
And before he could stop himself…
He kissed her.
Quick, angry, confusing.
Yarra froze.
Then—
SLAP!
The sound echoed through the trees.
Zarred’s cheek stung. His lips were still burning.
Yarra stepped back, eyes wide with disbelief. “What’s wrong with you?!”
“I… I don’t know,” he muttered, suddenly lost in himself.
Without another word, Yarra ran off, her heart pounding in her chest.
Zarred stood alone in the garden, touching his cheek where her slap still tingled.
He didn’t understand what just happened.
And neither did she.
But the past had begun to stir — and destiny, once again, had started to move.
- Writer
