From Pune Sector

Chapter 28|| "Wait."

"After the wreckage
After the dust
I still hear the howling, I still feel the rush
Over the riots, above all the noise
Through all the worry, I still hear your voice."

Us, James Bay

(rewrote this chapter a billion times because it wasn't coming out the way I wanted to :'()

Chapter 28

I tried my very best to concentrate on the dress I was making for the fashion week but Ethan's words kept repeating in my mind.

"Damn it!" I cussed when the paper sliced through my finger.

I sighed and threw my pencil aside and glanced at the phone beside me.

I grabbed it and started framing a message to Ethan.

Type.

Erase.

Type.

Erase.

Finally, I wrote, "Hey, can we talk, please?" and before I could change my mind again, hit the send button.

I kept the phone down, my heart beating fast and hands trembling.

I didn't know how he would reply. We haven't talked in a week, the longest since we've known each other. I had submerged myself in making draft after draft of the two dresses I had to submit to my mom for the fashion week and she wasn't making it easy, criticizing each one for something I missed.

I would have been annoyed usually, but I knew she wanted it to be perfect.

I don't know if she wanted her daughter or the show perfect, though.

My phone pinged distracting me from my thoughts. I picked it up instantly.

"Jenny, hey, I'm sorry, I really am for everything I said. Please forgive me."

I slumped in my chair, my heart welling up.

Before I could type up a message, another came through.

"I was giving you time to cool off, I know that's what you usually want when you're mad about something."

I read the message and hit the call button, overwhelmed, suddenly.

He picked it up on the first ring.

"Jen—"

"Can we meet?" I asked, cutting him off.

A sneeze and a snivel followed.

"I'm sorry, but I'm down with the flu."

"Oh, how are you feeling now?"

"Like shit," he chuckled.

I missed him.

A moment of awkward silence followed before he broke it.

"What do you want, Jenny, about us? It is your call."

I bit my lip, uncertain about everything, staring at the curves of the dress, I had made.

"I just have too much on my plate, right now, I just can't—I don't know, plus, I don't want to do this on the phone, Ethan," I mumbled, after a while.

"I understand, the doctor said that I will be fine in a while, possibly a week before I can come out, what about we meet then, in our park?"

"I have this fashion week hosted by my mother, next week, she has asked me to design for her, I will be too busy, then, what about after that?"