𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐌𝐞

17 | Aurora

"You did what!?"

Rachel, who was apparently with a guy on a dinner date right now, yelled so loudly after I told her about my meeting with Jade today that I literally heard the man sitting there with her choking on whatever he was eating or drinking.

"Rach, calm down. You are going to scare your date away." I said, and she scoffed.

"You are telling me that you hugged that hot-shot jerk Grogan and for me to be calm both at the same time? Girl, are you kidding me? How am I supposed to keep calm?" She babbled, and I knew this was going to take longer than I expected.

"Rach-"

"Wait. I need to do something first." She cut me, and I heard muffling sounds on the other side. "This date is over. Thankyou." I heard and face-palmed myself.

"Now, spill." She spoke.

I sighed before continuing my rant about my day to her, while she kept silent all along. She was like a ticking bomb, just waiting in the silence to explode, and I knew after I was done speaking, she would explode.

"Say something already. It's been a few minutes since I was done, and you are still not talking." I asked, and she remained silent, "Rachel? Your silence scares me more than your words."

"Rachel-"

"Do you like him?" She asked, and I knew she was being serious.

I stilled, contemplating my own feelings about Jade. But every time I tried to understand my behaviour towards him, I was left with nothing but more confusion.

"I don't know Rachel." I sighed. "I don't know what I feel for him, and even if I do feel something, I don't know why I feel that way."

"It's okay, Auri." She spoke. "You don't have to stress out, okay? Take as much time as you need to figure all this out, and I am always with you."

"I know." I smiled. Rachel always had my back; she was my support pillar, and I trust her with my life.

"So, what's next? You are going to stay?" She asked.

"I have already submitted my final report in a pdf about him via mail and in our official chat group. Did you not see?" I replied. After coming back to my suite, I was determined in my decision about him. So, I took no more time in giving my final response to the hospital authorities.

"Sorry. I was too distracted by this date today." She giggled. "Wait. Let me have a look." She took a minute or two, probably checking the report thoroughly. The report has his basic details, his complaints that were described by Adrian when he first told me about him, and my thoughts and contemplation of those complaints as I observed him while adding my own observations about him. The report didn't contain any major things that were disclosed to me by him or by my own observation about him as part of the confidentiality agreement of therapy.

"So, this is your final decision?" She asked.

"Yes." I stated.

"Well, I think it's great." She replied.

Suddenly, my phone vibrated in the middle of the call, indicating that I had received a text message. "Wait. I need to see the text." I told her and lit up my screen.

"Fuck."

"What? Who? How? What is it?" Rachel spoke on the line, and I could hear how loud she was. But I was too distracted to answer as I saw the message popping up with Jade's name.

"It's Jade." I muttered while putting the phone on speaker and opening the text message.

Jade: Meet me at the cafeteria near the hotel. I am waiting for you.