Weeks pass by and they were happy in their dream world together. Nothing to disturb it, no one to cause problems for them. 

Until this one time, which  changed everything, that exclusively meant their relationship.

   That one day, it was due to her bad luck, that she was in the washroom just  before she could go back to her job of being Ashley. And unluckily, Sam and her gang entered . It wasn't that she wasn't harassed by these girls before. She just tried to avoid it. But this time, it would be too much for her to take. 

    Ash was waiting for her appearance in the recess hall. Even though he knew that she always comes late, probably because of her attention on her studies.  But he still expected her to come. 

    Just then he heard a girl  giggling about something, that caught his attention. "OMG! You have to see the look on that nerd Cassandra's face ... This time she really had it from Sam" Hearing this, he excused himself from his gang and rushed... But, wait a minute, to where?

      Cass stood there, shivering  in fear. The hair on her skin stood up and her eyes widened. She managed to dodge them for a few days. Fourteen to be exact.And the gang seemed  to be agitated that their favourite nerd  had slipped from their very fingers.  SO now they found the perfect time for payback.

    Ash ran into the washroom. Girls to be precise. The moment he entered, the sight shocked him. He never expected the crime to be so... serious. 

    Cass  stood there, her tears merging  with the water rolling down her face. She was drenched completely  and her checked shirt was ripped. She was shivering badly and the shame hung on her face. She wasn't able to meet anyone's eyes but they did manage to search the ground. Her  bag was down the sink, completely wet and her books were swimming in a bucket full of cold water. Getting a clearer look, all the writing  on the papers were badly smudged that not even one word could be recognised.

    "Stop!" He shouted.  All the girls looked at him. He looked at Cass, who refused to acknowledge any one's presence in shame. Something that she never experienced before, he could feel that. He walked towards her, removing  his jacket, revealing the white t-shirt he wore which hugged his body, and wrapped it around poor Cassandra and then stood protectively in front of her.

    "What?" Sam asked, with the 'I don't fucking care...'  attitude, her pose reflecting her look. Her bunch stood behind her, a symbol for unity and strength. 

"What is going on?" Ash asked, trying to make it sound calm as his temper was rising. "Nah, we were just having fun."  She answers, with a shrug. "Yeah, with a nerd's life, I see." "You make a good point, Mr Black." A flirty tone laced in her voice as she gives the innocent nod. 

    "Yeah and now  I'm suggesting  you... TO BACK OFF!"  He growls. and she comes closer, in a threatening way. "Or what are you going to do?" "First, I'm going to embarrass you by telling people the story of your lonely life and then I guess the rest will follow soon." He calmly says with a mocking look.

    A gulp down her throat  before she resumed. Seems like Ash did know some dirty secrets of hers.  

   "What are you doing? Why are you protecting her? Why do you even care?" She asked unbelievably. Ash looked back at Cass who was still shivering.  She shook her head slowly as she hugged herself in search for warmth. He turns to look at Sam. "That's because I love her." He admitted boldly.

      This took the entire gang by surprise. How could the hottest guy of the school  end up dating a nerd?  That was the main question. And truth be told, Ash didn't care for their reaction. 

   So he continued. "And if you even touch her again, I will break your teeth  and hand it back to you. My respect for your gender wouldn't matter any more." He lowly growls in a threatening matter and left the gang in shock  as he wrapped his arm around his Cass and took her to the nurse. 

   "Oh My God! What happened?" The nurse asked in concern, whose figure is like a stick and seemed like she was in desperate need of food.

"Some of the girls drenched her and now she's running high fever." He lied smoothly  while she sat on the bed, glaring at him. "Oh, I'll give her a leave note and then she can go home."   The school nurse went to her desk and began to write one. "Write one for me too." She looked up with  her brow raised. " She can't go home alone! She will need help." He explains with an exclaim. 

A loud sneeze from Cass and it gets Ash worried, seeing that his lie might prove to be true.  "And classes?" " Well, I have a personal tutor at home."He gave the best, cutest smile he had, hoping it would melt the nurse. "Ok, I will write one for you... Don't gimme that face."

   The nurse turned to go and only Cass and Ash were left behind. "I don't want to go back home. I need to study." She persisted quietly as tears rolled down. Under his touch, her skin felt ice cold. 

     "You are going home. that's final.... But if you want, I will make sure that all your notes are delivered to you." He said sternly first then calmly and all she could do was nod helplessly.

     The moment they reached his room, Ash handed  her a towel , a bottle of body wash, shampoo and other small necessities. She looked at him, wondering  what he exactly wanted her to do. 

"You are going to take a bath." He spoke , with his voice filled with soft concern. She nods  and disappears  in the bathroom. 

   Half an hour later, she comes out, the towel wrapped the nudity of her sleek body. He wasn't  seen in the room . And a choice of clothes  were kept on the bed. All strictly ladies.

She profusely decided to ignore them and  walked towards his open wardrobe and picked out a grey sweat shirt which seemed warm enough compared to the others. 

But one  piece of dressing caught her eye:-  a yellow floral dress with a white collar  and three pearl buttons and it's designed to have colourful, bright flowers. Cass liked it so much that when she wore it, it was a perfect fit. It hugged her body well and landed just above her knees. And she wore the sweatshirt on top of it.

    just as she sat own, draping her exposed legs with a warm quilt present, Ashton entered with a small bottle and a spoon in his hand. He sat beside her. 

"Open your mouth." he instructed. She refused by shaking her head.

"Cass, just do as I say!" He let out with an exasperated sigh. "But I-"  and the spoon filled with that vile pink liquid was pushed down her throat.She gulped it down and then made the face of disgust. 

"Here." In his palm laid  a heart shaped purple candy and in return she looked at it suspiciously.  "Cass, I swear its not another medicine. Just take it."  So believing him, she did, popped it into her mouth, which sweetened the horrible lingering taste in her mouth.

"Now go to bed!" She shook her head. "Please ! you really need it..." But instead, "you know you didn't have to do that..." she whispered. Her voice was hoarse like  she had spoken for the first time in so many years.

"No, I had to do it. They ruin your life because theirs itself is so messed up plus they have so jobless in their lives. They can't bear it  when People love their own lives.... We both are humans and we both love each other and if they have a problem respecting that, then they can go screw themselves for all I care. Cause I don't want anyone messing with my girl." he reasoned.

But her questions were not done. "But what about your repu-?" "Cass, let my so- called reputation  go to hell. Cause now all that I care about is you. And if there is anything in the world stopping me from that, I will destroy it." She nods but her eyes were nearly brimming with tears. She didn't know that she meant this much to him. 

"Now will you please go to sleep..." he begged and she responds by sliding  down to lay down and the quilt was pulled over her body.

"Good Night." He whispered and laid a peck on her forehead as her eyes closed and she too mumbled a good night.

      Her eyes snapped open. The natural day light had faded. She turned, only to face Ashton. 

Ash was soundly asleep, beside her, with a sigh of tiredness escaping off his lips. His hand was lightly placed on her waist and peace found itself as shown on his face. Her fingers goes to his face, slowly tracing the outline of his chiselled face and even the slight touch of her fingers did not disturb his innocent sleep.

But something caught her eye. She looked beyond, slightly craning her neck. She was a stack of books and papers. No wonder he was so tired. He was busy gathering notes for her as they were lost in the water.  She laid her head down.

"I love you." she whispered and at a point he seemed to be acknowledging it.

The second time she opened her eyes, he was looking intently at hr. "Woah!" It took her by surprise and she would've fallen down if not for his hand gripping her waist. 

"You don't have to freak out." He let out with a chuckle and pulled her up and let their bodies touch.

  "How are you feeling now?" He questioned with a whisper. "Pretty fine, thanks to you..." She sat up but he made no effort to move.

She got up to look at herself in the mirror and removed the sweatshirt, showing off the dress she was wearing underneath.

"That dress looks beautiful on you." A faint smile appeared on his lips. Memories were coming gushing back. "Thank you. For both the dress and the compliment." She smiled as she turned to him. 

"That was my mother's."He silently admitted. "Oh, I'm so sorry... I will remove it immediately. " "No! No! I think my mother I will... love for you to have that... 'It's better to be valued than stored.' That used to be her favourite line..."  He began to appear lost as a tear rolled down his cheek.

Cass knew about his mother. His father had told her the story since Ashton couldn't bring up the story without few tears rolling down and the depression hanging in the air. She was lost in a car accident when the twins were 11. 

They were very close to her and the sadness and the mourning for the lost  lasted more than  expected.  Cass could only wish that the sadness for the loss of a valuable person in life was not a wound which would tend to bleed again and again.