“ Love Is the most beautiful force on earth; it can make or mar a person. ”
***
 — Cecile —
  I felt the first gush of worry wash over me when Joel didn’t reply to the message I sent to him even after three hours. 
The clock in my room struck eight. “ Could he be asleep? ” I wondered, but that would be way too early wouldn’t it? 
Either way, I tried moving on to other things. 
 I checked again after my usual four hours of night study, yet no response. 
“ What’s going on? ” I said to myself already feeling super worried despite it just been eight hours since we’d last spoken. 
“ Had I said something wrong? ” I thought, quickly going through our last conversation in my head. But I hadn’t, right?
Even when I'd broken down, he wasn’t repulsive; rather he comforted me till I was okay. 
“ What then is the problem? ” I wondered once more. 
  All of a sudden, my day became blurry and I started failing to see the beauty of it. 
“ Please be fine, Joel. ” Was the thought on my mind as I fell asleep due to exhaustion? 
The next time I woke up, I was filled with hope and grabbed my cell phone. Knowing him to be an early morning person, I had expected him to reply to my messages already as always.
But I was wrong. 
Still no reply. 
I thought as my shoulders dropped in defeat. What’s going on actually? I wondered yet again. 
My morning was slow and I barely had three spoons of my fruit cereals before I lost my appetite. 
   “ Please be in school today, Joel. ” I muttered, making my way out of the house. 
“ Good morning, Miss. ” I nodded at my Chauffeur, Timothy. He’d been that way since I was in kindergarten and my parents had no time for us. As a result of that, and the loss of my twin, we’d become close and never ceased to exchange convos here and there, but today was different as I wasn’t interested in any of that. 
  I was only interested in hearing from Joel and talking to him.
I arrived at school five minutes earlier than usual, half expecting to see Joel there, but much to my disappointment. He wasn’t. 
“ Where are you, Joel? ” I thought as sadness and longing washed over me. 
The next few hours were filled with me constantly checking the exit door praying for a miracle to see any sign of Joel. But there wasn’t.
“ Is everything alright, Cecile? ” I brought my gaze back to Miss Eli, our literature tutor. She had a concerned look on her face. 
“ Y.. yes, Miss. ” I forced a smile, trying my very best to focus on the lecture despite my wandering mind. 
Leisure came and I remained in my class, seeing no reason to go to the canteen without Joel. I had suddenly lost my appetite and had no motivation to do anything.
“ Are you okay, Cecile? ” I turned my head at the sight of Stacy, Joel’s friend. 
“ Yeah… ” I forced a smile. 
“ Well, you don’t look fine to me. ” She said, taking a seat on a chair beside mine and Joel’s. 
   “ Um… ”
“ Do you mind? ” She offered me a bottle of vanilla milkshake. 
“ Yeah, thanks. ” I took it from her, opened it and took a long sip with the straw. 
She looked around, then at me. 
“ I didn’t see Joel today. ”
“ Yeah. ”
“ Is he okay? ” She sounded as worried as I hoped she would be. “ I don’t know. ”
“ Have you sent him a text? ”
“ Sure, no reply. ” I am sure my tone sounded very sad as she patted me gently on the shoulders. 
“ He should be okay. ” She thought for a moment before saying, “ Though Joel had never missed school. ” Her words rang in my mind like a bell, causing me to be more worried. 
“ Really? ”
“ Yeah, he’d won the punctuality award for five years already. ”
“ Wow. ” I’d always known him to be a punctual student who is always serious about school, but never would I have thought it would be to that level. 
“ Yeah… ” She smiled. “ But he will be fine, He survived Jemmy’s demise. I believe he will be able to survive anything. ”
“ Yeah… ”
“ About Jemmy, I am sorry for your loss. ”
“ It’s okay, I believe we’ve all got our share of losses and grief. ”
“ Yeah… ” On a normal day, I would have jumped into a conversation about how I had lost my sister to sickle cell anemia and how much I missed her presence in my life, despite it being two years already. Sadly, I wasn’t in the mood for that today.
“ Be fine, Cecile. ” I forced a smile at her words. “ I will. ”
“ Joel will be fine, okay? ” She stood up and stared down at me. “ He is a strong guy. ” Her words somehow sprang up hope within me, I’d been so worried about Joel that I forgot to hope.
“ Yeah. Thank you. ” I took her outstretched palms and felt warmth surge through me as she squeezed them. 
“ My pleasure. ” She patted my shoulders lightly one more time before finally leaving to meet up with her Sister Essy, who had been silently waiting for her at the door. 
Essy’s blank face broke into a smile at the sight of her and they embraced, before slowly hooking their ankles together and walking away. 
Their interaction, though simple, was beautiful, I couldn’t deny that. 
***
   “ Where are you, Joel? ” I muttered, after trying his cell for the umpteenth time and being sent straight to voicemail.
He isn’t in school and his phone is unreachable. 
What could be going on? 
The dull ache in my chest became more prominent and all the feelings I had been hiding began to gain expression. “ I miss you, Joel. ” The words felt heavy and sorrowful.
At the moment, I couldn’t deny the fact that I have started having feelings for him.
I had known it would come to this from the very first day, but I hadn’t dared to admit it to myself until now.
How can it be, Joel?
I have known you for only a little over two months. How then can I fall so deeply with you despite knowing you might never be able to return it?
How? 
I thought as a memory flashed before my eyes, “ I love her, Cecile. I did and I still do. ” Those innocent words hurt more now.
Is falling In love a crime?
I thought as my eyes slowly closed from exhaustion.
“ Please be fine, Joel. I need you… ” My brain was too stuffed to think of the reasons why I did…
“ I need you, Joel. Please be fine. ” I repeated subconsciously as sleep consumed me.
….
A/N: Wow. What do you think of the chapter, guys?