Fond Of This Bond

14. Down The Memory Lane

The call had left me in sheer amazement.

I could not get those words out of my head and soon realized that I had been thinking way too much about him lately.

I had to distract myself.

At first, I tried to watch all that Instagram had to offer. I kept scrolling and scrolling, liking random stuff without actually knowing what that post even said.

But it didn't do the magic.
I was still feeling lost.

Then the only other thing that I could do now was to drown myself in work. This appeared to be a nicer option as it was important at this very moment, and it would even help me divert my attention in doing something productive.

I started working on the project by eight in the evening, about an hour after I had that call with him.
I had my dinner in my room and could hear Dad complain about it continuously as I ate.

I stayed up late as I had gained an interest in the work I was doing. Sleep had abandoned my eyes.

But even though I had my full concentration on the project, his voice would still return in some corner of my head at times, forcing me to shake it off.

By half-past two, I started feeling exhaustion along with the satisfaction of having completed a major portion of my job. Just a few aspects were creating some problems and I knew how to get them clarified.

I stood up from my bed, strolled towards the door, and opened it. Exiting my room, I started tiptoeing in the corridor towards Dad's study, making each move in an attempt to create the slightest noise possible so as to not wake anyone up.

Finally, when I reached the room, I turned on the lights and walked towards the bookshelf. Dad works in the financial department, that's why he has a lot of books relating to economics and finance.

I started searching for the one that I thought would help me right now, Macroeconomics by N. Gregory Mankiw.

But as it always happens, when you go on a search for the thing that you need the most at that moment, it ends up being the last thing to come your way.
Well, it's always true, at least for me.

I went through all the books that were present on the shelf, but I couldn't find the one I was looking for.
I searched again, and again.
It wasn't here.

Making up my mind that I'll be asking Dad about that book in the morning, I turned around to leave, but just then, I remembered.

Dad keeps some of his favorites separately, in a little cabinet in the corner of the room.

I walked towards the cabinet, opened it and there was a pile of about ten to fifteen books, kept one on top of the other.

I looked for the one that I needed, starting from the top of the pile, reading the names of the books as my finger moved along them, and of course, Mankiw had to be at the very bottom.

I pulled it out, as slowly as I could, but I guess, I couldn't be as slow as I should.
Because the next thing I knew was that I heard a loud thump.
Almost all the books had fallen from the cabinet creating a complete mess.

The thing that scared me the most was, that, what if the noise wakes Dad up. He'd be mad to know that I am still awake at this hour, and on top of that, I "injured his favorites" as he says.

I kept the book by Mankiw on the side table and turning on my superpowers, I started picking them up in a hurry and arranging them back in the same manner as they were.
About a few minutes later, all the books were placed properly.