ARIEL’S POV 

The clock hit 5 pm and the people present in the hall scattered in a hurry. I couldn’t help but be mesmerized by the crowd again. It felt so rushed and lost. It smelled of sweat mixed with sweet perfumes and scents people usually wore on them.   

I didn’t know how much time passed till now, and my mind kept drifting off to the other corner of the room where she was.  

Calm and collected like before and that snow-bound look on her face. Her lips moved which indicated she was having a conversation with someone, Mrs. Caroline.   

Unsettling.  

Having not to do anything with that person, I moved to the changing room and changed my clothes.  

Long forgotten about the thoughts I had for her, I made a list to buy from the grocery shop which dad told me to buy, and to scold Defne for leaving me alone in the mess.  

It was too late now, my mind told me to rush more when the sun began to change into a shade darker.  

A notification came on to the screen of the phone while I paced through the main hall in hurry making an echo off my footsteps throughout the room, too rushed to look behind and around what was coming to me,  

Suddenly Defne's names appeared on the phone and I picked it up.  

“Hello?”, Defne’s voice cried out from the other side. The thoughts about screaming at her disappeared to another space when I heard her voice.  

I was about to scold her for leaving me but didn’t expect the hand which came in front of my eyes to shield the sight in front.  

I screamed in fright and stumbled back.  

I looked up to call out whoever did this even as a joke.  

But god forbid me to meet those eyes for the millionth time today, she could have all the work in the world and would still bump into me.  

“What are you doing?”, I asked and looked at the hand which was still in the air, firmly. I diverted my eyes to her face again to expect an answer.  

Her hands slowly came down to reveal the wooden wall in front which might have bruised my head too, guilt and embarrassment filled in me in a second. I gulped while I looked at the hand being tucked under the pockets of her jeans.  

My eyes fluttered open to her ocean ones again but with the extreme embarrassment this time. I wanted to speak and opened my mouth again too but couldn’t form words to say.  

“You should be more careful of where you are going.”, her voice vibrated, again.  

I didn’t miss the way she said it, as if not reprimanding me for this but something else.  

It was a warning.  

She remembered that night.  

She remembered me.  

My eyes widened at that thought, I didn’t want her to think of me or anything related to me.  

Becoming a contractor with our teacher was enough to create a disturbance in my daily life.  

“Hello?”, anyone there? Ariel?”, Defne's voice again called out the silence between us.   

I completely forgot about her and answered her in hurry, “I'm here, I'm here.”  

Looking at her again I made a mental note to forget anything about her, scanning her white face, her silver hair, to her broad shoulder and the hands which had veins all over them.   

I had to forget her.  

I should.  

“Um, I'll meet you in front of the entrance of the station.”, I noticed the way she looked at me while I said the word ‘station’. A slight smirk forming on her face.  

I hanged up in hurry and tried to walk past her only for her to step in my way, I tried to escape from the other side but she moved there too. Irritation and blood rushed to my cheeks.  

What more did she want to say?  

“I need to go, please move aside.”, I pleaded in defeat this time with a sigh leaving my face.  

But she had another plan for me, she tucked the hair which fell on my face behind my ears with her white hands which were decorated with a single bracelet. A black one. Contrasting everything I had thought of her. Cold to no end, making my warm cheeks feel chills in various places.  

But I didn’t flinch at her touch neither was surprised. I followed her gaze which was looking at something past me or me. Myself.  

Wooden, she smelled wooden and something strong, something familiar.  

I shouldn’t do these to me, it was common for everyone to do normal things but not for me. Nothing was common and ordinary with her touch. It shouldn’t be comfortable, unlike her frown.  

I backed away as my footsteps silently tapped across the wooden floor of the hall. I felt suffocated in the space with her. It has only been one day and she intervened in my thought and feelings.   

I saw the way her eyes twitched for a millisecond when I backed away, she diverted her gaze to the hand which was resting on my face seconds ago.  

Realization passed through her eyes, wind blew from my back and hit her face to make her hair fall in all the right places. An art she was.  

I was taking my time to look at every corner of her. She looked so bare yet so clothed.  

Blood again rushed to face me, I covered them with my hands this time and stepped back a little more to get away from the radius of the atmosphere where she stood. Noticing the way of my behavior she backed away too.  

It looked like she was backing away this time. My throat felt hollow.  

It should be like this but it was not for the same reason, she should be like that but it shouldn't be like this.  

“Why-”, I gasped at that. I clamped my mouth with my hands in shock.  

I was about to speak my mind out!  

“Why?”, she closed the distance between us. Her long legs slowly came closer. There was a new glint in her eyes, something much more which got a last push of encouragement by the mistaken word I was about to say.  

She stood proudly in front of me with her height which towered over everything and everyone. The smile gracing her face. She was playing something.  

“Neden?” (why), a strong accent broke from her voice. She had a dialect. And mature one.  

Which intimidated me like how it shouldn’t.  

The list I made from the start of the day in my mind added somethings and crossed out something.  

It was a long way to go and deny those cutout words. 

"winter is forceful"

---------------------------------------------------------------- 

AUTHOR’S CORNER:- 

Soooooooooooo, I changed the pov from a third person to the first person because it felt like a character as itself could describe itself better than the narrator or the writer. 

Once again, I think I should address to somethings I have seen happening. 

SEXISM IS STILL THERE AS LARGE AS IT COULD BE. 

This is totally unrelatable from the chapter or the novel but please do a Favour and lower your ego, humans. Being a certain gender doesn’t give you the right to feel superior to the other. I am so done with people like this 

“EQUALITY WILL NOT BE GAINED UNTIL OR UNLESS YOUR EGO RULES THE HEAD OF YOURS” 

BYE-