Hacker

Chapter 10 - Fragile

That's it. I couldn't take it anymore.

Family matter is the worst problem one could ever experience. Add some spice of problematic groupmates, and there you have one of the most stressful phases in life. But family had a major role, really. And here I was, bawling my eyes out. I didn't even know how long I'm going to let myself affected by someone else's fault.

A caller id was shown on my phone screen as it rang - Zack. I was contemplating whether to ignore it or pick it up, although the first one sounded tempting, I didn't think he's going to stop. So I did the latter. "Not tonight, Zack." My voice unintentionally cracked. And I swore inside.

There was a moment of silence. "You okay?" He asked.

I knew I might not be able to control myself, so I just hung up on him. Fortunately, he didn't call again.

The next day, I spent most of the time in the library. It was Saturday so the place was only opened until 5 pm, which was quite heartbreaking because I was hoping to spend more time during the night in here, too. The stress was getting too much of me, I refused to face any human being for a while. And there seemed to be no other places to do so but here.

I was imagining myself to be in my own world, my only safe haven between all these books. Out of the sudden, someone decided to ruin it by taking me by the arm and pushed me against the shelf. One side was the wall and another was his arm.

"Hello, Miss Moody." Zack started.

"That's a really bad nickname." I gave him a deadly look. I wanted to shove him and walk away but one slight move and his other hand was already on my shoulder, locking me in the place.

"We need to talk."

Sighed, I avoided his eyes. "Not today, Zack."

He seemed to be taken aback with my tired voice. I didn't even bother to put my mask on anymore. I was just tired.

Slowly, he put both his hands down. "Then when?" He demanded.

I shrugged. "Next week, next life. I don't know." I replied nonchalantly.

He let out a long sigh. "If this is about Leyla-"

"IT'S NOT JUST ABOUT THAT, OKAY?" I cut him with a yell. It's just the fact that he broke into my privacy and freaking underestimated me for being stress just because of one damn group assignment, was so irritating. "Would you just shut up and stop talking about something you don't know?!"

I was about to leave, since I'd get kicked out because of the shouting anyway. But again he stopped me by grabbing both of my arms.

"Then would you just tell me what happened?" He insisted.

I responded with a humorless laugh and before I knew it, tears were threatening to come out. "Why do you care?" I dared. This time I moved so quickly and pushed his hands away, hard. But they wouldn't budge one bit.

"Why did you cry?" He asked, most likely after noticing my obvious eye bags.

"Not, your, business." I was struggling to escape during each word.

Probably found it annoying, he pushed me back against the shelf. His body was close and I hated every single moment of it.

"Just tell me so that I can help you." He said softly. It was a whisper and there was a hint of genuine in his tone.

I would've laugh at the thought of him being this sympathetic. But I just looked down. My mask had broken completely. I bit my lip as the small sobs had started to come out.

At that one cursed moment, I cried in front of him.

Eventually, he let my arms go. He took a step back and just stood in front of me. My hands covered up my face. Minutes passed and we both did nothing but stayed like that. It took me a while to calm down. Once I did, I braved myself to look at his eyes again.