Collision With The Heartless

part 17

Stella proverb:

As everyone quickly returned to their normal selves, enjoying their partners' company, Mike and I remained silent. I was especially regretting coming on this trip, thanks to Riana's foolish idea. I felt a surge of anger toward Professor Edmerd. Why did he have to make these groups for an outing? It was only making things worse.

My mind was going crazy with the silence, especially since I was not used to staying quiet for long periods. People often perceived me as reserved, but in reality, I was quite different from the outside image. I needed something to occupy my thoughts. What was most frustrating was not being able to talk to Riana, who also appeared sad for me – I could sense it in her expressions.

I stole a glance at Mike, and it appeared as though he had no emotions, unlike me. I was overthinking the situation, while he remained indifferent, gazing at the scenery outside the window. I felt suffocated, contemplating how we would manage to coexist for the next two days. We had no words to exchange, just a mutual avoidance of each other's gaze.

Finally, I mustered the courage and initiated a conversation with him by asking,

"Jennifer must be sad?"

After asking the question, I immediately covered my mouth with both my palms, regretting the words that had slipped out.

And he finally turned his face towards me, a question mark etched on his face as he raised both his eyebrows.

"Sorry," I sheepishly muttered, my face reflecting the sentiment I wanted to convey.

"Are you in love with Jennifer?" he questioned me out of nowhere, maintaining the same expression he had before, devoid of any aggression on his face, unlike our earlier conversation in my room.

"No... no... why would you even think that? I'm straight!" I replied, wondering if he assumed I was a lesbian just because I was travelling with Riana.

"So why are you so curious about Jennifer then?" He asked, still sounding suspicious.

"Oh, I see. Actually, she always gets upset when she finds out anything related to you linked with me. But that's not what I wanted to tell you. It just came out of my mouth without any intention. Maybe those thoughts were somewhere in my mind. Ugh... So actually, the thing is I wanted to say... as you know, I... and... also you... yeah... really don't want to be together, right? So..." I was just blabbering nonsense.

"So?" he asked again.

"So, I want you to ask Mr. Edmerd if he could change our partners with someone else," I gave him a very reasonable suggestion.

I thought at least he must be happy to be thinking of being apart from me.

"I'm okay with my seat and having fun. So why would I?? If you have any issues, then you can ask Mr Edmerd to change your partner, not mine! And talking about Jennifer, practically I don't care, Stella," I could sense a certain intensity in his eyes, obscuring my view, before he turned back to the window.

I opened and closed my eyes several times, trying to make myself believe what he had just said especially his last line.

I don't know why, but deep inside, a substitute part of my soul was dancing joyfully and sending waves of overwhelming goosebumps throughout my body, which I was trying hard to suppress.

Without any reason, a smile lingered on my lips, and my eyes fluttered with excitement.

"So, Jennifer is not your girlfriend?" I asked the same question again but in a different way.

This time, without any argument, he simply said "No" to me while looking outside the window.

After that moment, I felt so relieved, and my heart started to pound faster with joy. Even I was curious why my body was reacting this way to his response.