Unfazed

Chapter Two

It had been a couple of days since Catherine had come back to Virginia.
The walls of her apartment were white which highlighted the pattern of bricks behind them, her bed encumbered by the alcove of walls encompassing a small window.

Catherine had spent the past two days vacillating whether to go ahead with the pithy amount of information she had gathered about Loreilai or not. Her mind going back to the memory of her now deceased parents every now and then, it seemed almost impossible for her to do anything at all.

Tears shed from her eyes everytime she thought about her parents. She was sprawled on her bed hugging her pillow, comforting herself not to give up, when she heard the doorbell.

She made her way into the hall and opened the door only to see worried expression on Noah's face.

Noah and Catherine were classmates, their relationship could barely be passed as friends. Catherine looked up to him confused to see him at her doorstep. Noah and Catherine had merely passed a few glances at each other during the classes. Only a handful badinages, yet here he is, standing at her doorstep.

" Yes?", Catherine asked, her voice grim. Catherine did nothing to hide her bewildered look.

" I just dropped by to see if you were alright", Noah answered sheepishly. He looked more embarrassed and flushed. His cheeks turning a light shade of pink, his eyes looking everywhere but at Catherine.

Catherine stood at the other side of the door, holding it slightly ajar, enough for Noah to see her messy apartment. Noah knew something wasn't right.

Noah Wright was jejune. He was a maverick, his views were never confined by the stereotypes of the society.  Oddly, he could see right through a person, especially in their dismay. He was the kind who could sense the vibes coming off a person.

One look at her and he knew things aren't well. Even if Catherine was trying her best to give a stoic expression her puffy eyes belied her.

"Umm, yeah I am fine. Thank you for your concern" , Catherine didn't want to break down, not in front of some guy from the college, especially. She tried to play the charade, didn't want to sound rude she asked Noah if he would like to come in, and Noah did. He knew something was off, he knew Catherine is not the kind of girl who would tell about her grief to anyone. She was the kind of girl who would put up a brave face in front of everyone, and cry alone in her locked room. She was nothing like the chirpy girls you'd see boisterously walking down the hallway. She was the exact opposite. She was reticent, intrepid, magnanimous and cogent all at once.

An air of benign affability surrounded them. Catherine was sitting across Noah and he could see right through her. " I lost my parents" , Catherine soliloquized.

Shocked by her capriciously blurt statement, Noah looked at Catherine and held her gaze. He tacitly tried to comfort her, mumbling " I'm sorry for your loss" and " my condolences". He just held her gaze, asking her to have courage.

" How is everyone else coping with this, are they fine? ", Noah inquired.

" It's only my elder brother left now. He will be fine, I know, he is brave" , Catherine replied, a tear rolling down her eye.

" You two are each other's family now. At least be strong for him", Noah said, still holding Catherine's gaze. Catherine as if enchanted by Noah's words, stopped crying.

" It seems like you  haven't had food properly in a while", Noah said glancing at the messy apartment and focusing on the remains of the half chewed cold pizza lying on Catherine's bed.

" Do you like Mac and Cheese?", Noah asked.

" Yeah, but I am in no mood to go out somewhere. I just want to be alone for sometime ", Catherine replied in a sharp voice.

" Alright, then. Take care", Noah got up and left the apartment not before bidding goodbye once again.

Catherine didn't know why she blurted out those words. Why did she tell Noah about her parents' death? She didn't want to tell about this to anyone, she didn't want anyone to look at her with those sympathetic eyes. She hated them.

She locked the door again and sat down with all the files that had the tinniest information about Lorelai. Catherine wanted to find her biological mother and for some reason she felt even more intrepid and diligent than before.