My colleague (Rob Jetten x Jesse Klaver)

Chapter 25

My heart is in my throat and so is Huffie's, the poor thing jumped straight off of me leaving me with scratches all over me. I rumble through my bag for my phone and pick it up. My vision is still a little blurry so I didn't get the chance to see who it was before I answered it. 

'Hello?'

I say, but I get no response. 

'Hello? Who is this?'

I ask but still, there's no reply. 

The only person I could think of crosses my mind. 

'Jesse?'

I call out his name through the phone, yet still no reply. 

'Jesse is that you?'

He doesn't respond, but somehow, I know it is him though, I can sense it.

'What do you want Jesse?'

It's like I'm talking to a dead person with the silence on the other end. 

'Whatever, I'm going to hang up now.'

I'm tired and not really in the mood for one of his games. The dude is married, and ever since he told me he hasn't been into work or returned any of my phone calls. 

It's been a week, if he had something to say to me, he would have done so already. 

'Wait.'

The silence is broken, yet I don't want to abide his demand. However, I can't resist it, what if he needs me?

Damn, I'm weak... 

'What is it?'

'I just... I-'

'You what?'

There's the silence again... 

I sigh. 

'Look Jesse, I don't know what's going on with you, I don't even know you thinking about it, so if you have nothing else to say, I'm going to...'

'I needed to hear your voice.'

He interrupts. 

My heart flips, the pain in his voice makes it almost impossible to enjoy the words he spoke, yet still, it excites me to hear him say them.

It's the first time he actually has admitted to needing or wanting something from me... It's not much, but I'll take it. However much insanity runs through my veins around him, to hear these words coming out of his mouth make me feel sane for once. Maybe I hadn't made everything up in my head?

'What's going on?'

'It's nothing really, just... you know.'

There goes my hope of him actually opening up for once. 

I mean he has though, in the past, when he told me a little bit about his hands, but even then it was just below surface level. 

'Nothing? Really?'

I challenge him, I need more. 

'It's just... busy.'

I have no idea what he means by that, it's busy? What's busy? The street? Work? Life?

'What do you mean? What's busy?'

I ask him, my voice softening instantly. Even though I'm agitated by the lack of information he's providing, his voice is coming out rough and ragged, like it physically hurts him to speak. 

'My head.'

Oh... 

The silence is now at my end of the line, I have no idea how to respond to this. I mean I have thought about hurting him quite a lot this week, but I just imagined him stubbing his toe to the corner of the table. Hearing him being in actual pain, makes my stomach turn and an icy coldness crawl up my spine. 

'Talk to me, please.'

He pleads, his voice cracking at the end of his sentence. I have never seen or heard him in this state, he is usually very composed. His question urges me to talk his ears off but I have no idea where to start... 

'How was work this week?'

He asks me, good topic!

'Boring... Mark got a parrot, and he wouldn't stop talking about it all week, he even mentioned him while on the stand, it was awful! Every topic which came up he would find a way to turn around to talk about the thing. I feel like I even know the bird better than he does by this point, he has yellow and green feathers and only likes to eat Italian herbs crackers at night, two to be exact. Arib even called Mark out, saying she thought that only parrots repeated themselves not humans. Made me and Sigrid crack up for the entire afternoon. She's been smiling a lot lately, I think she is having an affair with someone, I just have no idea who it is though... I saw Wilders one time checking his phone when she had hers in her hand but I can't possibly imagine those two together. Hoekstra has been catching glimpses of us as well, I have no idea if he's looking at her or me, but it's awkward as hell. I don't think he notices I noticed, but I did, I told Sigrid about it but she thinks I'm being delusional. Speaking of delusional, Thierry came back on Thursday with an excuse of how he fell from the stairs, and most members of the parliament believed him or at least said they did. He's been keeping his distance from me though, which is good I guess.'

I have no idea why I'm telling him about Thierry right now, but I grasp at every memory I have of this past week to just keep talking. 

Until I'm done... 

I search my mind for anything left that I haven't told him yet but I come up empty. Screw it. 

'Do you want to talk about anything?'

I ask him, timidly, trying not to overstep any boundaries. 

'Maybe something about your week?'

'I missed hearing your voice this week...'

Well, that hurts... 

His voice is still hoarse, but a little lighter than before though. 

'I missed you too.'

Shit, I didn't mean it like that... Or well, maybe I did, but I didn't need for him to know that.

'I mean, your voice of course... Mark's one has started to bug me, hearing so much of it you know.'

I attempt to recover, but every word I speak gets more and more anxious. Even through the goddamn phone he has this effect on me... 

I hear a small chuckle, and my heart lights up instantly. I feel a tear forming at the back of my eyes, due to the beautiful sound that just travelled through the small machine I'm holding in my hand. 

I love... it.

- Chapter 25 darlings! 

I'm sorry for the late update, I was a little distracted by simping over the guy from Italy at Eurovision.

XOXO Your favorite Dutch girl