Say The Word

Chapter 45- Man, I Sweat A Lot

  My train ticket back to Tazania wrinkled in my sweaty grip. Bringing myself to say goodbye to Zander was hard; not just because of Ceb. After everything, he had always been there for Ceb and I, always been a father figure of sorts to the both of us. Telling him I was going back to college felt like leaving the first time all over again. He hugged me tightly in his coffee stained apron, said the same words as he had the first time, asking me to take care of myself and have warm meals daily.

Difficult would not even cover the bases of what it was like to leave El at the hospital once again. I went in before she had to get another CT scan.

"I'm not going anywhere, you know?" She laughed, breathless.

Yeah, that was the problem.

"I promise when you see me the next time, I'll be much better. I'll show you my newest batch in person too!"

I smiled into the hug, "Okay, you better not go back on your words."

Dramatically, she gasped. "I would never."

Her arms around my neck got tighter, nearly pulling me down onto her bed. Our combined body warmth was enough to have a thin film of sweat coat my forehead.

Alive, I realized, she was warm and alive and breathing.

"My second wish," I murmured, my words only loud enough to fill the space between us.

"Yeah?"

Words that repeated in my head at least a million times the night before came spilling out, "I want to see your thousandth batch, with you there to talk about it or whatever."

"I don't think you know how long it takes to make a single batch, Vas," she laughed drily. "I'll probably be fifty by then."

"Really? That's good then, I want to see it, your thousandth."

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I saw her off with her promise and headed to the station. Some part of me still wondered what kind of plant she would have made for her thousandth. Maybe she would have thrown a party revolving that plant, telling everyone about whatever special genes the batch contained. Interested investors would be asking her about it, her parents would finally give her the approval that she always wanted. Said approval would probably lead her to have a bigger lab or two. Or maybe she would have those labs even before the thousandth.

The entire train ride back to Tazania was filled with my mind, keeping me company as the sun dipped behind the trees as I eventually reached my destination.

▪▫▪▫▪

Texting the only three numbers I had on my phone was not a difficult task, informing them that I had a safe journey or whatever people did when they were hours away from home.

My bag sagged on my shoulders as I remembered that the Kaisers probably had a lot of questions about my...sister.

And I was right.

Carefully, I creaked open the heavy second front door. (Yes, with all the butlers and maids judging me as I insisted to open the door myself. Seriously, it's just a door, anyone could open one themselves.)

"What are you doing?"

I shrieked.

"Sorry, sorry," Luzien laughed, clearly not sorry enough to hold it in. Patting my back, he said, "Welcome home. I didn't mean to scare you."

"R-right, thanks," I cleared my throat, pretending to straighten my T-shirt.

We went in together, his hand causally rested on my shoulder. Being with him somehow made me felt less awkward about things.