He remembered the difference he noticed from when the last time he hugged his brother and when he got a hug today. His brother's chest was firmer and more than the last time.
The strength in that chest was way more than any he had ever felt. It was the kind of chest that will give anyone assurance. He was weak and he was not scared to act spoilt and not care about learning how to defend himself because he was very sure that his brother will protect him no matter what happens. That sense of security he got from his brother and his father made him not care about any type of insecurity.
He smiled as he stepped out of the car along with the guard his father placed by his side. The guard was one of the best despite his young age.
The guard stretched his hand to take Jace's bag but Jace shook his head with a frown and walked towards the building where the principal was waiting for him along with two other teachers. He was going to high school for the first time. He went to college but he did not attend high school because of the speed of his education.
The fun he promised himself by obeying his brother's order was not going to be lost because he was determined to have as much fun as he could have after all, he was not in need of the certificate he will get by going to school this time. He felt very excited not to be going to school but to meet his future sister-in-law. The smile he wore broadened.
***
"Four new students arrived this morning," a girl announced to her group of friends on their group chat.
"One of them is the second son of the Hart family. The two are the fashion designer, Valerie's daughters and the other, I don't know a think about him," another girl informed them as she snuck to text her friends under her table.
"The guy is hot. I happened to see the Hart heir three years ago and he was very good looking. The second son is also hot. He has a jovial personality. He is sitting a row away from me," another girl texted her friends as she glanced at Jace and swore to be his biggest fan.
"What about Valerie's daughters. I have not seen any of them."
"One of them is sitting down beside Hart's second son."
"One is sitting in front of me. She is the bad girl type. She is actually beautiful."
"Hey, which of them was kidnapped two years ago? And which of them was adopted two years ago?"
"The one in my class looks like Valerie I think she is the one that got kidnapped."
"No, the one that got kidnapped does not look like Valerie. She has black hair just like Mr. Whitfred. We were in the same class in middle school."
"Oh. I remember. Then who is the girl that looks like Valerie?"
"Perhaps she is a hidden daughter? I guess she hid her late daughter away from the world claiming she was dead."
"What a great imagination. Why on earth will she bother doing something like that?"
"Yeah, perhaps she did a plastic surgery to look like Valerie."
"I doubt. She is a natural beauty."
"Hey, I don't want to lose any point. I will have to stop. If I get caught using phone in class, it might make me lose three points."
"Let's talk during lunch break."
"Yeah."
"Okay."
" . . ."
Rose wondered why the guy on her right side kept stealing glances at her. She found it weird and creepy when the guy did not look away when their eyes met but smiled at her but she had to say that he was very good looking.
He had a pair of black eyes. His eyes seemed very jovial and he did not look like he meant any harm but she was not comfortable with being watched in the manner she was. It was enough that she only got out into the world after two years of staying in door and this boy was trying to make her lose her mind.
She ignored him but when it was lunch break and he stood in front of her seat still wearing that boyish smile on his face, she could not keep ignoring him again.
"Rosaline, right?" he asked watching her closely.
Rose froze and the question she wanted to ask him disappeared immediately. How did he know her real name? Her heart began beating fast as she stared at the boy.
"You are very beautiful," he commented and stretched his hand to her for a hand shake. "Could we become friends?"
She stared at the hand feeling he called her by her real name in order to blackmail her into being his friend but she could not come up with a logical reason why he will do that. "Who are you?"
"My name is Jace Hart. I am also a new student and I think you are very beautiful. Could we become friends?" he replied and still held stretched his hand towards her with his broad smile.
"Oh," she could only answer him feeling confused that she could not see anything bad in his behavior except that he called her by her real name. "My name is Rose not Rosaline," she corrected him and took his hand for a shake.
"Hey! Who are you and why are you holding my sister's hand?" Anna's voice called out from the door as she ran into the class and hit the guy's hand as hard as she could.
Those in the class that were watching the new students trying to come up with the right thing to say to the new pretty girl decided to really stay away when Anna arrived. The girls were jealous of Rose's beauty.
Her arrival caused a shift in the hierarchy of beauty in the whole school while the boys were amazed by her beautiful and elegant comportment and appearance that they were scared that they might affect the new goddess in the school.
"Ouch!" Jace shouted holding his hand as it took him all his willpower not to cry. He looked at the bulldozer which was bent on breaking his hand and swore to report her to his brother but he stopped when he got a good look at her face. "Wow, you are so beautiful," he could not hold back his compliment as he watched her with a mesmerized look on his face as though he just came face to face with an angel.
This was not the first time she was complimented for her beauty and she had always known she was very beautiful but the compliment she got from the handsome boy made her blush and she hated that fact. She frowned with a look of disgust despite the pink color now tinting her cheeks. She pushed him aside as she grabbed Rose's wrist and pulled her out of the class.
"Wow, you are very beautiful," Rose told her mimicking Jace's voice and the look on his face when he told Anna. "Wasn't that the legendary public confession?"
"Rose, stop it," Anna tried to stop Rose as she made efforts to stop the warmth that crept up to her face causing her to blush visibly.
"The guy is hot. I am sure a lot of girls are targeting him but you took him away without any effort," Rose continued to tease Anna.
Anna groaned in frustration and released Rose's wrist. "That's enough please," she groaned a little frustrated with the fact that she was actually blushing. She could not remember the last time someone's compliment made her blush.
Jace looked at the face of the guard his father appointed by his side. He held the boy's hand with a bright smile on his lips. "I am . . . No. We are going to have fun." He pulled the boy's hand behind him out of the class in search of Rose and her sister.
He felt a sense of urgency to get Anna to be his girlfriend as fast as he could before his brother succeeds so that his brother will give up on Rose since he will not want to marry his sister-in-law. The guard followed closely with his hand still held in the young master's grip.