CHAPTER THIRTY TWO - BROKEN HEARTS

MONA'S POV

“No!!! No!! And no,” I refused angrily, making the smile drop from Aster's face immediately.

“What do you mean No?” he asked, sounding annoyed. “Don't you want to find the stalker?”

“I do, I really do, but not like this,” I said, looking up at him.

“How do you think Luka is going to feel if I do something like that?”

“Genuinely? I don't give a fuck,” he said and I walked closer to the door, trying to leave but he blocked my path again. 

“But… we can all come to a form of agreement. I know Luka would want to find the stalker too, especially after that note so you can talk to him. We would date for a week at most and catch him or her after,” he said, making it sound so easy.

“What if she doesn't contact us after?” I asked, folding my arms at my chest again 

“What if, we have to do more and more things to make us look believable to everyone, you think Luka would be okay with that?” I asked him and a smile appeared on his lips.

“Things like what?” he asked with a smirk.

“What do you mean ‘things like what’? Clearly I mean us having to kiss in public and all that,” I explained, feeling my cheeks turn red in embarrassment.

“If we play our cards right, we may only have to do it once,” he said, still smiling.

“Why do you look so horrified? Was kissing me really that terrible for you?” He asked, staring at my dumb struck expression.

“Even if we do decide to enter a fake relationship, nothing is for sure, what if the stalker doesn't take the bait?” 

“She will,” Aster replied confidently. “Any girl that goes through all this trouble just to let me know that she is watching me and now threatening you is definitely unstable so she will take the bait.”

***

“So did you find out who did it?” Vera asked me the next day at school.

“Nope and to be honest, I don't really care,” I lied to her. Aster wanted me to keep as much information regarding the stalker to myself.

As much as I trusted Vera, no one was above suspicion until the stalker was caught.

“You seemed to care a lot yesterday,” Vera retorted, giving me a knowing look.

Gosh, why couldn't I have made a less noisier friend

“Well all that is behind me now,” I replied to her with a smile as we headed towards our lockers.

“If that is true then you sure do get over things fast,” Vera said sarcastically and I fought back the overwhelming urge to roll my eyes at her.

A small crowd of people were gathered around my locker side as we approached..

“I wonder what went wrong now,” Vera said and I walked faster, pushing past the crowd, trying to find out what the ruckus was about.

My stomach dropped as I found the reason 

There was large platter of cupcakes and chocolates placed in front of my locker with a bouquet of flowers right beside it.

I didn't have to check the note on the flowers before I knew who had sent it.

It was Aster.

“Damn, Aster is really pulling all the stops to get you back,” Vera commented as I stood in front of my locker.

I knew what he was doing. He was trying to set us up at dating without me agreeing to it.

That arrogant asshole, I thought angrily, with my stomach burning up in rage.

“You really are a bitch, you know that right?” Sierra said, breaking through my thoughts.

I looked away from the package to find Sierra's tear stained face.

Great, and now he had already broken up with her.

Why did I feel bad for her as I watched her grab her books, slam her locker shut and then walk away.

“Well someone is jealous,” Vera commented beside me as I sighed.

“Come on, help me remove this stuff,” I told her calmly.

“What is going on here?” I heard Luka ask as he came up behind me.

Shit. I still hadn't told Luka about the fake date stuff.

“What is all this stuff?” He asked, looking at me expectantly.

“Aster sent it to—”

“Vera shut up,” I shouted at her and her eyes widened as she realized her mistake.

“Did Aster send you these?” He asked, looking right at me.

“Yeah well, it's a long story,” I started and he stared at me calmly waiting for an explanation just as the bell rang for class.

“So tell it to me then.”

I looked around the people gathered around us, obviously waiting to over hear something and I took his hand in mine, pulling him closer to me.

“Let's talk about this later, I promise, I will explain everything to you then,” I said and he sighed deeply, before nodding in acceptance.

***

“I know I said that I no longer envied you yesterday but I was lying,” Vera commented as she took a bite out of a cupcake, sighing in satisfaction.

“These are too good Mona, gosh, I need two hot guys to fight over me like this,” Vera said and I smiled at her, grabbing a cupcake and taking a bite.

She was right, they were really good.

“I get that Aster is really trying to get you back right now, but are you sure you want to be involved with him?” Vera gave me a serious look.

“Especially now that he has a stalker?” she asked and I sighed, taking another bite of the cake.

“Aster is trying to get you back?” Luka asked, suddenly appearing in front of our table.

Just perfect. Now I had to explain the whole plan to him.

“Luka, it isn't what you think,” I said standing up to look at him and he gave me a hurt look.

“I have been through this before Mona, and I would really appreciate it if you are honest with me, do you want to be with him? Are you just stringing me along?” he asked, with a broken expression on his face.

“Oh my gosh, no it isn't like that,” I explained, stepping out of my seat.

“Then what is it like?” Luka asked, loud enough for everyone at the cafeteria to hear.

“I… I—” I trailed off, trying to figure out what to say to him when Aster appeared, walking into the cafeteria and his eyes already finding mine.

“Tell me what is going on Mona?” Luka insisted and I knew that I couldn't tell him the truth.

At least not right now when the stalker could be watching us.

I knew that I would have to break his heart for now.

“Do you want to be with him, even after he lied to you severally? Even after everything I said about him turned out to be true? Is that really the guy you want?!” he asked and my bottom lip trembled as l looked up to Aster who was staring at me intently, willing me not to fuck the plan up and I sighed.

“Yes Luka, it is Aster I want,” I told him and watched his eyes harden.

“That is all I needed to hear then,” Luka said, his shoulder pushing me aside as he walked away, leaving my heart feeling hollow.