29.

-HER-

I end up not telling Lisa anything at all. Though, I do listen to her talk about his new obsession patiently and try to help her as much as I possibly could.

It’s almost the evening when I disconnect the call. We have been talking for almost an hour. I keep my phone away and continue working on my assignment.

The rest of the day passes away pretty easily. I don’t have any problems at dinner either. After dinner when I go to bed, dreed washes over me with the realization that the weekend is over. Tomorrow I’d have to be back at college and do the usual thing.

Though I am sure that Lisa would keep me busy with her updates on the guy and we’ll receive the same stale looks from Holly and her group. After the classes, I’d have to go to his office. I’ll just pretend that I didn’t notice his messages and do the work silently and hopefully ignore him to until it’s time to go home.

Basically, tomorrow is Monday and I don’t feel ready to face tomorrow yet but there’s nothing that could stop the sun from rising and introducing the world to a new day.

Ignoring all the messages again, I set the alarm for yesterday and go to sleep, pretending that my problems don’t exist. Maybe they’ll stop existing then? Who knows? They say fake it, till you make it. I hope it works with my problems.

The next day I wake up on time. I am refreshed from the sleep but still find it hard to get ready for college.

After having breakfast, I set out for the day armed with my phone and headphones. The ride to college is pretty much boring. I am lost in the sequence of songs and their melodies. They bleed out into each other until there’s nothing but numbness.

Lisa is already there when I arrive at college. Her eyes gleam with excitement when she finally sees me.

“Looks like you’ve been busy,” I wriggle my eyebrows at her teasingly and she instantly blushes deep red.

“He is taking me out after college today,” She tells me as we climb upstairs for class.

“Good for you. I hope you enjoy your time with him,” I tell her and she nods before breaking off into a chatter. She loves to talk and I let her talk. Though, I listen to her attentively. She tells me a great deal about him.

They have been talking the whole weekend over the phone. I have a strange feeling about the way things are progressing with her and the guy but I don’t vocalize it. I don’t want to spoil anything. Maybe, she will soon figure things out herself when she meets him a couple more times.

I decide not to worry about her too much right now.

When we reach our class, the usual happens. We get the looks but ignore them deliberately. Even Lisa ignores them today. She is in a very good mood and it seems like nothing could spoil it.

When the classes are finally over, Lisa’s excitement knows no limits. She bids me goodbye and leaves soon. On the other hand, I have to drag myself to his office.

When I step inside his office, the first person that I notice is that black-haired girl sitting on his desk while he is on his chair. She has her hands on his shoulder and is leaning towards him seductively. They seemed to be sharing a moment.

I instantly feel a tinge of jealousy but I ignore it deliberately.

He notices me right away. I look away when his eyes focus me on. I mutter an awkward ‘hi’ before I deposit my bag on a chair and stroll at a corner shelf of the office, pretending as if they don’t exist in the room at all.

“Look at me, Jake,” I hear her seductive voice. It makes me cringe right away but I pretend to be busy with sorting some files.

“Tiffany, leave right now,” He mutters at her.

“But, Jake…” I could hear her pout in her voice. I am tempted to run out of the office. It’s taking every inch of patience to not react.

“I am not in the mood, Tiffany…” He mutters at her. His words ignite the jealousy in me even more.

I knew it from the start that he is not playing fair. It somewhat makes me angry at him. I should be really staying away from him. He is not a good guy.

“Jake…” She insists even more but a low animalistic growl cut her off. I freeze, wondering what was that. It sure sounded dangerous and scary.

When I hear her walk out of the office, a chill runs down my spine when I realize that I am with him alone. I continue pretending to be very busy working. Even though my heart is racing in my chest and hands are shaking, I continue to pretend as if I saw and heard nothing.

“Cybele,” He breathes just behind me out of nowhere, giving me a fright. When his hot breath tickles the back of my neck, I take a step away from him.

I have to remind myself that he is not good. I don’t want to repeat that kiss. I have to be in control and act accordingly.

“Oh, Jake…” I breathe, “I did not notice you,” I say without looking at him and point at the files on which I was pretending to be working on, “I have checked them. They’re sorted,”

“Yes, I sorted them this morning,” He mutters. His voice is laced with anger and some other emotion that I could not comprehend. I decide to read not much into it and do my work silently.

“I will work on those papers then,” I said pointing the papers collected at the corner of the office. I don’t look at him once.

When I step towards the messy stack of papers, he appears in front of me out of nowhere, taking me by surprise. This makes me look at him to find his eyes darkened and his jaw clenched. He doesn’t look very pleased.

I think I may know the reason for that.

I deliberately take a step back.

“Why are you ignoring me, Cybele?” He asks me, taking a step closer.

“I am not ignoring you,” I tell him and step away again before approaching the untouched stack of papers.

“Then talk to me,” He presses. I could feel him standing right behind me. It’s not helping me to think straight at all.

“I am talking to you, Jake,” I mumble as I look at the papers.

“Then why didn’t you read my texts?” His question sounds more like a demand. He is demanding answers as if I owe him explanations. I couldn’t help but think of another word than ‘entitled’ to describe him.

“Well, I told you that I was busy,” I shrug as I take a stack of paper and proceed to take them to his table where I could sort them properly. Before I could step anywhere away from him, he grabs my arm and spins me around, knocking the stack of papers off my hands.

I don’t get the moment to react before the momentum swings me straight into his body. His arms instantly go around my waist to stop me from being claimed by gravity.

When I finally recover from the blow, I find that we are closer than we were ever before…
....

Caught is updated on Monday, Wednesday and Friday
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