The Blind/Gangster

Chapter Four

Eunice Mariano

The next morning, they woke me up as early as four in the morning, to prepare for school, which I had no idea would start as early as six in the morning! I mean, who goes to school this early?!

"It's five in the morning, why do we have to be there before six?" I asked. Sitting in the back seat, crossing my arms and furrowing my brows at them.

"Because of heavy traffic," Justin answered, while driving, and pointed at the cars going in and out of the parking lot of the school to drop off some students and some park their vehicles.

"If you come to school at five in the morning, you are early. If you arrive at six, you are on time. If you arrive at seven you are late. And if you come any later than that, you are absent." Mollie explained.

"And we can't be stuck in traffic," Justin said, and parked the car.

"Oh. The Philippines." I sighed and got out of the car.

"Well. Welcome to our school. Look around and notice the beauty of it." Justin said, and looked up. I looked up too, and I noticed the tree surrounding the parking lot and covering the sky with its branches and leaves. I can smell the spring breeze around here. The parking lot is already filled with students and the whole place is covered with their chatter.

"Oh. Justin, where is your mind right now? Eunice is blind," Mollie said, and pulled me away. We walked into the hall, she held my hand as we went through many students. A few minutes later, she stopped walking in front of the door to a class. "Okay, before we get inside, I want you do something."

"What?"

"I want you to look down as we find our seats."

"Why?" I asked, looking at her eyes.

"Because there are high-ranking people in our class."

"Which rank?"

"Rank one and two."

"And you want me to hide my scary eyes from them?" I asked. She nodded as an answer. "Okay," I said.

"Thank you." Mollie said and held my hand. "Okay. I'm going to open the door now." Mollie said, so I looked down and we walked inside. I'm doing it not because I am scared of the high-ranking ones, but because I need to cooperate with Mollie in order for my plan to work. She pulled me gently until we got to our seats. "Sit down," Mollie whispered, and both of us sat down.

"Hey. Mollie." Someone said, and I heard a kick on Mollie's chair.

"Yes? Jennifer?" Mollie asked. She then stood up and faced Jennifer, who was sitting behind us.

"You made a friend?"

"N-No. This. ..this is my cousin." Mollie answered with a stutter. I furrowed my brow due to confusion, and I noticed the change in Mollie's behavior. She was holding her hand behind her back and picking on her fingertips.

"Oh? Are you not going to introduce her to us? She is new here, right?"

"D-Do you want to meet her?"

"Yes, stupid, why would I ask if I didn't want to?" Jennifer answered and laughed. Mollie made eye contact with me.

"Hey. Why don't you introduce yourself to us?" Another woman asked and kicked my chair. I breathed in deeply, Mollie shook her head and looked at me, begging me not to do it. But I'm blind. I couldn't see, so I stood up and faced them. I slowly looked up at them and saw how their reactions changed into shock.

"Eunice Mariano." I introduced myself, lifting my head up and looking at their faces.

"What? You're blind?"

"Yes. Reena," Mollie answered. I looked at their uniforms and saw their names.

"Jennifer Riveral, and Reena Clemente." I said in my mind and looked at Reena.

"I didn't know they accepted students with disabilities here." Jennifer whispered.

"It's not going to be our fault if she suddenly dies." Reena whispered back.

"You can now sit down," Jennifer said to Mollie. Mollie held my hand and we both sat down. I smirked while looking forward, knowing that my half-sister was a high-ranking gangster. My father said that Ryan was his youngest, so Reena must be the older one.

A few minutes later, a group of three men walked in, looking more like gangsters than they already are. One of them locked eyes with me, and there the past just came back to me.

"Eunice?" He said, trying to eye me and to make sure that I was who he thought I was. I tried looking away, but he walked up to me, knelt in front of me, and touched my face to make me face him. "It's you!" he shouted, smiling. I looked at him and remembered all the pain he had caused me. How he embarrassed me in front of many people.

"Zulius Saragoza," I said, and pushed him gently with all my strength.

"What are you doing here?" He asked, smiling and touching my hand. I felt a chill on my spine and goozebumps went all over my body. "What happened to your eyes? The last time I saw you, you had beautiful brown eyes. Now you have two black holes in your eyes. Did you get blind?" He asked continuously.

"Get away from me." I said, and pushed him even further.

"How long has it been since the last time we saw each other?"

"It has been two years since you left me," I answered, glaring at him. He paused for a second, looking at my eyes with sincerity.

"What happened to you?" He asked. I stopped pushing him, I looked into his eyes, leaned forward and got closer to his ears.

"You happened to me." I whispered and pushed him harder. He stood up at my last push. Well, he is a gangster, alright. He sighed and turned to Mollie.

"Eunice is blind," Mollie answered Zulius's question.

"Did you know how it happened?"

"No," Mollie shook her head. Zulius then nodded and walked back to his friends. They sat in front of us. I breathed in deeply to calm myself, seeing that face, remembering how everything ended between me and my ex-boyfriend, and the pain that caused me.

The class started the moment the professor walked inside. She was so into her lesson that she didn't even mind if there was some student who was not paying attention or looking behind. Like Zulius, who kept staring at me, and not minding people being uncomfortable.

"Zulius has been staring at you for the past three subjects," Mollie whispered to me the moment the class ended.

"I know. I can feel it in my spine." I whispered back.

"Mollie," the professor called out.

"Yes, ma'am?" Mollie responded.

"Help me with this," the professor answered.

"Eunice, stay here, I'll be back." Mollie whispered to me. I just nodded as a response and she went on her way to help the professor with her things.

I then noticed Zulius making his way towards me. I stood up and tried walking away from him, but he caught my hand and made me face him.

"Eunice, let's talk."

"No. Mollie told me to wait here."

"I'm her boss, so she really can't say no to me."

"I don't want to be with you."

"Please, I want to know everything, and I want to introduce you to my friends."

"I don't know who you are."

"It's me, Zulius Saragoza."

"Ah. My ex-boyfriend."

"Let's go. They are on the rooftop." He said and pulled me away. He gently holds my hand while guiding me up the stairs. When we got there, Zulius pulled a chair for us and made me sit in front of his friends, and then he sat in front of me. "Shoot, Eunice. Tell me how you are doing. I want to catch up with you."

I looked at his friends, they were looking at me. I turned to Zulius, and saw he was happy, expecting.

"I am great, weak, and you ran, you left me in the middle of the road, where people were watching. I was hit by a truck," I explained. He looked at me in the eye and I started seeing sadness in his eyes. Tears forming.

"Eunice," he whispered.

"I was chasing after you. But the next thing I knew, I am lying on the cold ground, bleeding to death, hoping and praying you would look back for a second, look back and see me at least for the last time."

"I didn't know," he said, and looked down and tears started falling down from his eyes. "I'm sorry, I don't know what to do. I want to make it up to you. I hope you can give me another chance?"

"Zulius, you and I are over. There is no chance to be given, and change will not happen."

"Please. I need to at least do something for you."

"Zulius, I will accept your apology, but you and I cannot be together again. I can't experience the same pain I had with you again." I begged and held his hand.

"I missed you." He whispered.

"I'm okay now more than ever." I said.

"Eunice. Please."

"We can still be friends,"I said and stood up. He let go of me and I saw his friends smirking down at me.

"Stop being pathetic, Zulius. You are hurting my eyes."

"Dovan," Zulius said and stood up to face Dovan.

"You get away from him, you are a trash." Dovan said to me while pointing his finger at me. I smirked and laughed.

"Sure. With pleasure," I said, and started walking towards the door.

"No. Wait. Eunice. Let me walk you back." Zulius said while sniffing.

"No, stay here, I can go back down alone." I said and headed down without looking back. "What is his problem? It's not my fault his friend made himself look pathetic in front of them." I said in my mind while looking up, and then bumped into Mollie. Both of us fell to the ground.

"Ah!" She shouted.

"Mollie," I whispered.

"Where have you been?" She asked and helped me up.

"Zulius, wanted to talk." I answered.

"Wow." She said and looked down. "You are so lucky."

"Why? What do you mean?"

"What's your past relationship with him?" She asked. I looked at her for a second.

"Ah. He's my ex-boyfriend," I answered.

"Oh."

"But, we are years over, so. and he really doesn't mean that much to me right now," I said.

"Really?" She asked, with a smile she couldn't hide.

"You like him, do you?" I asked.

"What? No. I just idolized him. Well, every girl in this school does." She excused. I laughed and we walked together.