If It's With You

016- Weeks of bonding

I knew that voice, and I hadn’t heard or seen him pop up around me in the past weeks. And for some reason, he hadn’t crossed my mind since the last time we met.

Maybe he wasn’t a stalker, maybe it was all in my head since I hadn’t seen him around for such a long time. As I turned my body, Tim had already halted a few steps away from me.

“Hey,” He smiled and took two more steps towards me.

“Hi,” I smiled, tucking my phone into my shorts pocket. The memory of him asking me out on a date, or whatever he had called it awoke in my mind. Once again, I kind of felt sorry for him. “How have you been?”

“Good,” he shrugged, glancing around. “And you?”

“I’m okay.”

“I already know that, Muna.” He was doing it again, staring at me like he was seeing beneath what I had on, and the look in his eyes was always creepy whenever he did that. I cleared my throat, and his eyes went back to my face. “Uh– I was here for a delivery.”

“Oh-okay, I went grocery shopping,” I said, pushing out the bags I was holding, and his gaze flickered from my face to my hand before settling back on my face.

We stared at each other for a few seconds, without saying anything. Even though I wasn’t sure of the part where he might be stalking me, I couldn’t deny that there was something behind his gaze. Something I couldn’t fathom. Something that always made me a little uncomfortable.

“I– I was heading in before you…” I paused when he started nodding his head.

“Go on in,” he nodded in the entrance direction, and I flashed him a tight-lipped smile.

“Bye,” I said and turned to leave but before I could take a step, he called out my name, causing me to pause and turn to him again.

“Since it’s Friday, I would like to know if you’re free this weekend?” He asked, and I swallowed.

Even though I didn’t have much to do this weekend, he was not part of my weekend plan. “I did love to hang out with you, but…” I paused when a lump of saliva ebbed down his throat

He clenched his jaw, “It’s okay, go on.” His body language, though seemingly cool, oozed an unsettling energy.

Feeling uneasy, I stood there searching his face for some reaction. I needed a reaction to place on what I was feeling, but I couldn’t get any. He was hiding how he felt pretty well.

“Bye, Tim,” I said but before I could move, he spoke up again.

“Are you guys together?” His tone was low, but cold enough to give me a chilling effect.

A puzzled look took over my face, but Timothy didn’t waver, and right now he was wearing a very serious expression on his face. He stared at me intently like he was going to find whatever answers he wanted on my face.

“What?” Confused, I asked.

After a few seconds of studying me, he spoke up again. “The guy from the other day,” he said, and his tone reminded me of the look on his face when he was staring at Nicklaus behind the glass wall. “Nicklaus, Is it?”

I swallowed, “No, no,” I shook my head. ‘‘He’s just a friend.” I didn’t know why, but I wanted to convince him. I caught a glimpse of the quick twitch on the corner of his lips before he sighed, lowering his gaze to the ground, and then back to me. “Why do you ask?”

He shrugged, “Nothing, just wanna know.” He said, but it was hard for me to believe that especially after I saw that expression flash across his face again.