Category : Books-Fiction

Sub Category : Romance

Chapter 20
          Chris groaned in agony as he felt a sudden massive pang of pain shoot through his skull as he drowsily made his way to the bathroom. In the dark, he could barely find the door handle. His other hand struggled to find the light switch. By the time he managed to open the door, his legs were already threatening to give away. Like an intoxicated person, he scrambled shakily inside. Placing both hands on the edge of the sink, he looked up, it came as no surprise when he saw his own reflection in the mirror, his complexion pale, all of the colour drained from his face. 
          Finding it hard to breath, Chris scrambled to open the tap, through his fading vision, he watched the water flow, hoping that the water could provide him with some form of comfort. 
          His nightmarish dream replaying itself in his head like a broken record, Chris felt a familiar heat curl up in his throat. He willed himself to stop thinking only to have the headache hitting him hard like an entire brick was smashed on his head. 
          “Screw this!” Chris cursed as he slammed the water tap off and slumped onto the bathroom floor, feeling defeated, like the whole world was crashing down on him. 

                        XXXXXXXXXX
          Chris dragged his exhausted body up the stairs one foot at a time. The flight of stairs that never bothered him suddenly feeling like a whole hike up the Himalayas. He yawned about 500 times before he reached his class. 
          Today, was an extremely hot day, Chris could feel the sun piercing through his skin and he regretted even coming to class, he had desperately wanted to stay in bed but it's not like he has a choice anyway. If he were to skip again, he would have to explain his reason to the school and Chris just didn't want that trouble. Who would even believe his lame excuse of a nightmare anyway?

          He walked into class and was pleasantly surprised when he saw Eric, sitting at his usual spot, it was as though he hadn't disappeared the entire day. Chris grew excited and wanted to run up to him but he remembered that he was in a classroom filled with people and he didn't want to catch any unwanted attention.
          He walked over to Eric, trying to act as normal as possible, and fake coughed. He intentionally pulled the seat from under the table roughly to alert Eric. He succeded as Eric looked up. 

          “You’re awfully early today.” That was the first thing Eric said after MIA the entire day yesterday.

          Chris wanted to blurt out there and then that the nighmares he has been having recently has been causing him severe lack of sleep. Just earlier, he had spent the entire morning just sitting on the bathroom floor until he could feel the sun shining in through the window and his butt was getting sore from sitting in the same position for hours. Except he lied through his teeth, “I decided to come early as exams are coming.”

          “Where were you yesterday?” Chris asked, finally sitting down. 

          “I was at my family’s.” Eric answered truthfully. 

          “Well, you could have at least picked up your phone. And you didn’t even call back once. I thought you were dead.” Chris didn't care if he sounded like he was whining, he felt nothing wrong in being concern for a friend. 
          “I was busy.” Eric dully replied. 
          Chris looked at his friend incredulously. Not having much energy to fight back, he decided to leave it at that and changed the subject asking, “Why didn't you tell me that Bea wouldn't take part in the event because of her parents' death anniversary?”
          Eric looked up at Chris, surprise plastered all over his face, asking, “How did you know?”
          “She told me.” Chris replied. 
          “She did?!” Eric suddenly yelled, his reaction was beyond exaggeration. His whole body jerked around to face Chris, almost knocking over the contents on the table.
          By then every single pair of eyes present in the room landed on them. Even Chris was staring at Eric weirdly. 
          “Yes, she did.” Chris repeated. 
          Eric shifted in his seat. Seeing that he has startled the entire class, he waved at the others and forced a smile. 

          Chris waited until everyone went about their business before saying, “I’m not going to try to convince her to join anymore. Still I don’t see why you couldn’t have told me then, instead of punching me.” Chris touched his cheek, by then his cheek has already cured, courtesy to Oliver’s help. Chris swore there must be some sort of magic herbs in the medicine he gave. 

          “I’m sorry about that. I wasn’t thinking straight then. I thought that you were serious when you said you would make her fall in love with you just to convince her to join.” Eric apologised. 

          “I’m still going to want to be her friend. You’re not going to punch me for that right?” Chris asked, cautiously, eliciting a playful smirk. 

          Eric suddenly burst out laughing. 

          “You have already made up your mind. Since when did my opinion matter?” Eric threw Chris a skeptical look, knowing his friend all to well. 

          Chris sat back into his chair, laughing. Yep, he definitely missed this. 
                        XXXXXXXXXX
          “This class definitely took the chase.” Chris complained as he and Eric walked out of the class. Mr. Higgs’s classes kept getting more and more unbearable and Chris was remembered why he started skipping classes in the first place. 
          “You weren’t listening anyway.” Eric deadpanned. And Chris couldn't even disagree. The entire day, he was either knocked out on the table or watching his mother's favorite drama when he wasn't. 
          The duo was already on the way to Eric's dorm for a study session when Chris suddenly said, “You go on ahead, I’ll meet you at your room later.” He told Eric. He didn’t even give Eric time to answer, by the time Eric had turned around, Chris was long gone.
          “Uh…Ok.” A stunned Eric replied to the air. 
          Chris prodded through shelves, his heart rate picked up slightly at the sight of Bea just earlier when he saw her looking through shelves while he and Eric was walking pass the library. 
          When he finally caught sight of Bea, Chris ran up to her. He waved to gain her attention and when he managed to, he said, “Eric came to class today, John wasn’t lying, he really was at his family’s.”
          “Is that so? I’m glad then.” Bea took a step back. Chris could tell that she was obviously surprised at his sudden appearance but he had no expected her to not be able to even look him in his eyes.
          “I’m surprised to find you here. I thought you might have already left." Chris soften his voice after seeing her response. 
          "I'll be leaving soon." She answered after giving one look at her watch. 
          “Hey, since the exams are coming, I was wondering if you could help me out with my studies." Chris wanted to dig a hole and bury himself after asking. The words had escaped his mouth before he even had the time to let it go through his thought process. 
          Chris wasn't one to get nervous but he definitely could feel his cheeks burning in anticipation while he waited patiently for her reply. The library was air conditioned but Chris could feel himself heating up and he could tell how many beads of sweat had rolled down his cheeks and he was afraid if she noticed his overly nervous gulp he just did. 
          Chris thought he just might pass out from the nervousness, after thinking long and hard, and after what felt like an eternity but in reality was merely just a few seconds, she finally answered, “Sure.”
          And Chris's heart did a backflip in joy, he suggested, “How about tomorrow after class? We can meet up at the library."
          “Yeah.” She replied with what Chris swore to be the sweetest smile he has ever seen on another person and his heart did a double backflip, again. 
          Chris left the library feeling like the top of the world. He wasn't even shocked when he bumped into John. 
          “I never thought I would see you walk out of a library in my entire life.” John sarcastically remarked. 
          “There’s always a first time for everything right?” Chris asked. His tone wasn't at all riled up like John had expected. Chris was feeling too much in a good mood to bother with John’s sarcasm. John could only stare incredulously. 
          The door opened for Chris after a few knocks. 
          “You have the creepiest smile on your face.” Eric told Chris the moment he opened the door.
          “Do I?” Chris asked, surprised, if he had he sure as hell hadn’t notice. Chris pushed past Eric and walked into the dorm and sat himself down on the floor, leaning against the edge of Eric's bed. 
          Just ahead of him was Dominic, lying in his bed, the poor guy was still battling a cold. 
          “You okay, Dom?” Chris asked.
          “I think I'm dying. I can hardly feel my nose.” Dominic said. Even though the weather was hot, he had himself wrapped up with the blanket like a dumpling. 
          “You look worse than when I last saw you. You sure you don’t want to go to the doctors?” Eric asked as he emerged from the pantry, a glass of water in each hand. 
          “I’m fine. You guys can just pretend I’m not here.” Dominic was so weak, he had to drag himself up from the bed to sit in an upright position. He thanked Eric as he took the glass of water.
          “You have a girlfriend right?” Chris suddenly remembered. 
          Dominic nodded in between sniffs. 
          “Where is she?” Chris asked.
          “She’s down with the cold too.” Eric answered for Dominic as he passed Chris the other glass of water. 
          “I need to recover fast, otherwise she might leave me for someone else! She even blames me that I’m the one that got her sick.” Dominic cried out, his voice hoarse and laced with worry. 
           Chris shot Eric a ‘Is he serious?’ look. Eric just shrugged.
          “Maybe you shouldn’t be stressing out over things like that and focus on recovering.” Chris told him after sighing in exasperation. In the few times that Chris has ever hung out with Dominic, Chris could tell from a mile away that his friend was a worrywart, always worrying about something insignificant. 
          “I’d rather die than have her break up with me.” Dominic continued to sprout his worries. 
          “If you whine that much, she just might leave you.” Eric dropped a blanket, his own blanket, on Dominic. This managed to silence him as the already weak Dominic was pushed down by the blanket.
          “Why don’t you see a doctor?” Chris asked.
          Dominic peeled the blanket off his face weakly. “I don’t want to eat medicine. They taste gross.” 
          “Well, we can’t help you then.” Eric said as he wore his Beats headphones and started studying. 
          Dominic groaned in agony and pulled the blanket Eric gave him over himself. So now he has two blankets atop of him.
                     XXXXXXXXXX
          The afternoon passed with Eric listening to music as he studied and Dominic's snoring. 
          Chris looked at the time and realised it was about time he paid him mother a visit, so he took his leave by bidding Eric farewell and left the dorms. 
          Walking pass the library, his thoughts shifted to Bea and their promise to study together and he couldn't help but can't wait for the next day. 
          He entered the hospital and walked towards his mother’s room. As he turned into the lane, he noticed a man standing outside the room. The man was clad in a black suit, that Chris could only guess must be worth at least thousands. Chris couldn’t recognize the man just from his side profile but something about him was screaming at Chris that he has seen him before, that he knows this man. 
          Standing right outside his mother's room, the man seemed hesitant and unsure about opening the door. One moment, he had his hand on the handle, the next he would recline his hand and place them both on his waist. 
          By then, Chris was hiding in the corner, eyeing every single move the man made. Ready to jump out and confort him if he ever tries something funny. Why? You might ask, it's because he knows that his mother doesn't have any friends enough to warrant a visitor that Chris has no recollection of.
          Who is that man? And what is he doing  outside of mother's room? 
          Suddenly, the man stopped pacing, his hand reached into his pants pocket. With his back towards Chris, Chris could only assume the man's phone vibrated as the man brought a phone to his ear. The man was speaking very softly but Chris could hear bits and pieces of his conversation. He seemed to be talking about business, something about stocks and fluctuations etc. 
          Chris found the voice of the man strangely familiar. And he found himself gulping nervously. Chris almost cried out and ducked his head immediately when the man suddenly turned and started walking in Chris direction. He stuck his back to the wall and prayed the man doesn't come any closer. 
          At some point, Chris wasn't even intruding on the man's privacy, he was so close, Chris could hear him say, “I’m about to meet the doctor right now……I believe she is still in a coma.”
          Chris could hear the man’s voice loud and clear now. And his heartbeat quickened. Chris has definitely heard of that voice before. Somewhere. He just couldn’t remember where. 
          “Mr. Greg? I’m sorry to keep you waiting.” Chris heard Oliver. 
           Mr. Greg?! Chris almost chocked on saliva at the name. Shocked, Chris peeked out of the corner to see that the man had turned his back towards Chris to face Oliver, who was currently walking towards the man. 
          Chris felt his blood run cold and his senses numbing as the air around him thickened. Whatever Oliver and the man conversed about outside his mother's room, Chris couldn’t hear. The man's image burned in his head. 
          Flashes of the dream he had last night came to him and Chris remembered why he found the man so familiar. His voice, his figure, his profile, his hands and even his hair. Everything was coming back to him. 
         It can't be! It can't be! Chris's internal self screaming to convince himself but then the man turned and Chris caught a full glimpse of the man's face for a split second, and Chris could feel his whole world come crashing right in front of him for the second time in a day. 
          ...... The man is his father.


 All Rights Reserved @ 2018 by Anne Teng 
Author's notes. 
Shit's about to go down. 
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