❥𝐃𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐮𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐝 • 𝐌𝐉 || ➽─❥ 𝑀𝑂𝐷𝐸𝑅𝑁 𝐴𝑈 • /𝑶𝒏𝒈𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈/•

➽─Part Thirty Nine─❥

A little less than two days after the night of the convention, you had already organized an appointment with Helena, mostly with Professor Hansen's help. You had secured the contact, and he had secured the meeting time that worked to the benefit of the both of you, and you couldn't wait to see where that took you.

That very night, following the end of the convention, Professor Hansen had given you a call to inform you that he had received some feedback about your presence at the event - bearing nothing but good news. He rarely ever praised you, but that evening he genuinely expressed that he was proud of how well you were doing. Sure, you were still learning, but there was only way to go, and that was up. As the days went by, you would only learn more.

Currently, you were rushing to the printing office to get a few important papers re-printed for the appointment that was to unfold that evening. It was still quite early, but you wanted to get everything done as quickly as possible. The morning had only just begun, yet you already felt as though you were running out of time.

A great deal of Professor Hansen's habits had definitely rubbed off on you.

"(Y/N)!"

You stopped and turned back when you saw Mason running toward you, attempting to catch up.

"Good morning, Mason," you laughed as the pair of you resumed walking together, once he'd caught up. "It's nice to see you too,"

"Oh please, I'm all over the place this morning, but I had to ditch class when I saw you," he replied. "We haven't spoken since I brought you home that night," he referred to the evening of the convention.

"You ditched your class?" you gawked.

He rolled his eyes, shaking his head. "No, (Y/N), we're on break together, remember? I wanted to say that to see if you were as preoccupied as you seemed, and I can now confirm that you are working way too hard,"

"Did you wake up this morning with the genius plan to become the thorn in my side for the day?" you narrowed your eyes playfully. "Because if you did, you're executing that plan perfectly,"

"Don't change the subject," he quipped back with a grin. "Did you get into contact with Helena again?" he stared at you hopefully.

Your impending meeting with Helena was something that was currently information only known to you and Professor Hansen, so everyone else was more or less left in suspense.

"About that..." you trailed off, intentionally leading him to believe that the outcome wasn't positive.

"Shit, what happened?" he slumped a little as the two of you entered the printing office.

A smirk dominated your lips as you glanced around the empty room. Then, your smirk widened into a grin. "I'm meeting with her tonight," you couldn't help but giggle at the end.

"Oh my God!" he exclaimed, happily grabbing you into a hug. "This is crazy!"

"Oh my goodness," you continued to laugh as you embraced him. "Luisa is clearly rubbing off on you,"

When he pulled back, he was still beaming with pride and joy. "Then you now have two best friends that will hype you up with equal energy," he wiggled his eyebrows.

"That makes me twice as lucky," you expressed sweetly. "Thank you....really,"

He noticed that you were getting a little emotional, so he reached out to place his hands on your shoulders. "You deserve it all, (Y/N)," he nodded, as if to reassure you. "After what you went through, you deserve to have something that you can call your own,"

"I....don't like to think that I went through anything - I never like to give the thought of him that much satisfaction," you grimaced. "I'm just glad that whatever it was, it was brief," you waved your hand. "And now we're starting anew,"

There was sheer silence for a few seconds, seconds that felt like forever. As the uncomfortable quietness became more overbearing, you turned around to walk over to the printing machine, pretending as though there wasn't an unspoken truth resonating throughout the room.

Mason watched you as you fiddled with the buttons. All that could be heard were the faint beeping sounds that followed every button you pressed. You could feel him staring at you, but you behaved as if you were completely oblivious.

Finally, he heaved out a sigh, breaking the silence. "You really fell for him, didn't you?" he studied you with something similar to that of a pitiful gaze. It wasn't filled with malice of any sort, only genuine empathy.

"(Y/N)," he repeated when he saw that you were still trying to ignore him.

Only when he reiterated your name for a third time did you stop what you were doing to look up at him. For the first time since Michael had left, your eyes had grown teary at the thought of him, but you made sure you didn't let a single one fall. "It's not him, it's the way I felt disregarded when it all unraveled," you kept your tone stern. "But that's all said and done - I don't wish to think about it anymore. I have better things to do,"

"Have you ever tried....getting into contact with him?" he quizzed, his tone bearing subtle hints at a possible reunion.

"No," you couldn't help but scoff. "Why should I?"

"I don't know....maybe he misses you as much as you miss him," he raised his eyebrows hopefully.

"Who said I missed him?" you narrowed your eyes.

He folded his arms, giving you that don't-think-you're-fooling-me sort of look.

"Listen, I don't know what you're trying to get at, but I don't miss him...at least not enough to be devastated every waking moment,"

You took a long pause before finishing off with what you intended to say first upon Mason bringing up the topic of Michael.

"If he really did miss me, and if he really does want to talk to me, he'd have made the effort to get into contact with me by now," you shrugged. "But he hasn't, has he?"

A tiny, triumphant smirk grace your lips as you shifted your attention back to the printing machine. Mason's silence spoke volumes. "There's your answer," you added. "I don't need him to love me, and I certainly don't need him to make me feel good about myself," you frowned. "So can we drop the subject for now?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm sorry," Mason nodded quickly, understanding that it might have truly been the wrong time to have brought up the topic. "I'll help you get organized for tonight - I have a feeling it's going to change the whole course of your life from here onwards,"

And you hoped that would be true, but only if it meant your life would be changing for the better.

However...what was 'better'?

Better yet, how well did you know it?

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