BARE SOULS: A STEAMY TEACHER/STUDENT ROMANCE

CHAPTER 57 | ZANE

It was kind of late when I finished working on my program and noticed it was past midnight when I headed to bed. She was the first thing that came to my mind as I recalled that I promised  to call her later, yet I was so focused in my work that forgot she might have been expecting that call.

I was seriously rusty when it came to that stuff. I had been living by myself for quite a while now and was not so sure about the right thing to do. I just thought that there was no rush and that things would come naturally but somehow felt that she might get the wrong idea everytime I missed out.

Once in bed, I took my phone and decided to  try giving her a call, just in case she was still up, still thinking that she was probably asleep.

    "Hello?" She picked up at the fourth ring, with a broken voice.

     "Am I waking you up?" I idiotically asked, hoping I was not.

I heard her smile. "No, don't worry. I just headed to bed".

    "And here I thought you were desperately waiting for my call..." I teased her.

    "Uh... To be honest, it completely slipped my mind" she chuckled.

How comes? Wasn't she supposed to be desperate for me? "Ouch! My pride just got shot!"

Her beautiful laughter echoed though the phone. "Sorry... That was not what I meant. It's just been a long evening..."

   "Anything happened?" A silence settled for a few seconds during which I guessed she was hesitating to tell me.

   "I told Mark today... about my application to Columbia..." She blurted.

A wide smile drew on my lips at this very news. "You did, uh? So is it safe to assume that you're taking this whole thing seriously?"

    "I wouldn't have went through all these hours rewriting my work if I didn't, you know?" She whined.

    "So how did it go?" I already knew that he must have been pleased with the news.

She hesitated, probably searching her words to describe the moment. "Hmm... Emotionally intense... And awakening in some ways".

   "How so?" I asked, amused by her choice of words.

  "I..." She started before letting a long sigh out. "My dad was his father... Why I never bothered asking him how he was feeling all along?" It sounded more like she realized something she couldn't believe herself than a real question.

So I assumed she finally opened up to them and that sole thought made me somewhat happy. Her who had been bottling up every single of her emotions finally started to let it out and I realized how much she was changing, day after day.

   "You know, you are not expected to be open to what surrounds you when these kind of things happen. As a matter of fact, people go through each grievance phase at their own pace" I said.

    "Still, I never asked him how he was doing himself... I felt so stupid today..." She sighed.

    "You're not. I'm sure your uncle doesn't blame you for taking your time to rebuild yourself. So don't". I truly meant what I said. I knew myself too well we all have our own way to deal with the loss of a loved one.

    "Zane... Have you...have you ever lost someone dear to you?"

I can't tell I saw that question coming. For a second, I wondered if she figured something out but she didn't know anything yet. Even though I knew that someday I would fatally need to tell her, I didn't feel like talking about it at the moment and even less over the phone. While I was thinking on how to avoid the question, she suddenly interrupted my thoughts. "Sorry..." She chuckled. "I'm killing the mood with my sinister questions. Forget that..."