Another Chance To Bloom

Chapter 26

The door to the classroom opened just as I finished arranging the study material on my desk.

"I sure hoped I wouldn't have to see you in this situation again." I told the visitor.

Odelia came with a drooping head and sat on her seat.

"It really wasn't my fault this time, Mr Heroux."

I chuckled.

"Then whose was it?"

She pursed her lips and seemed to contemplate before answering.

"Mr Heroux," she whispered, "Alastair said I can pursue him now." She couldn't stop the wide smile that graced her face. She looked very radiant in that moment.

It must be nice to love someone so much that the very thought of them just lights you up, inside and out.

I sighed. I couldn't remember the last time I felt so alive. I wondered when I started living life as if to just get it over with. With no ups and downs. But that's what I wanted, right? A steady and content life.

But am I really content? Sometimes I wondered if human being were meant to live such a life. A calm life without any ripples. I wondered if all of us had that thirst in us. That big black hole in our chest that yearned for something more.

When we are fighting for our daily bread, when each day is lived as if it may be the last, it isn't as prominent. But the moment the waters calm down, a current starts forming underneath. As if we have an excess of energy that we don't know where to put.

Maybe that's why we had so many ways of escapism in my last world. From video games to books to movies. A glimpse into a life that promised adventure and chaos and the feeling of adrenaline rushing... the feeling of being alive.

Looking into those young eyes shining with endless expectations for the future, I wondered when I lost that light, that yearning for more. I wondered, but there's no use in wondering.

All these excess thoughts are futile. I should be content and happy where I am now. I have a family, I'm financially secure. I now have friends. Everything that I ever wanted, I have it all. All my regrets from my past life had been fulfilled. I should be content.

"Okay, then. I wish you the best for capturing the heart of your beloved, Ms Valentine. But right now I need you to concentrate here so that you can catch up with the lesson you missed in the morning." Saying so I turned to the board ignoring Odelia's mumbles of displeasure.

I should be content.

But am I?

******

I walked to the teacher's lodge with a slightly heavy heart. There were many thoughts forming in my mind and I couldn't make heads or tails of it yet. As I was lost in my thoughts, I didn't see one of the doors suddenly opening.

I crashed right into the door.

"Oh dear, you have to watch where you are going Cici. I don't want to lose my favourite teaching assistant."

"I'm your only teaching assistant." I replied to the professor who still insisted on calling me that abominable nickname in private.

"Ah, all technicalities. Never mind about that. You have good timing Cici, I was just about to come looking for you."

"You could have just send a summon, professor. The great masters of our kingdom have been inventing these devices for our ease after all."

"Bah, all it's doing is making us lazy. It's good to come out and walk once in a while, especially at my age."