𝐑𝐞𝐟𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐂𝐡𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐬

CHAPTER 50

"What happened to you?" Mom entered my room when she saw me sitting on the bed, hugging my knees with my head bent down.

"Yeah, well, my head hurts a lot." I palmed my forehead.

She scooted closer to me and placed my head on her lap. I sprawled my legs on the bed to get more comfortable, and she started tugging at my roots. Instantly, half of my pain seemed to vanish from how effortlessly, she massaged my scalp. That and sleeping on her lap put all of my worries to rest. It felt like this was the safest place in the world and nothing could harm me, while I was here.

My eyes automatically closed in bliss, and I murmured, "I came by a cab today."

Her fingers halted and the pain hammered my head pitilessly. "Why? Why didn't you ask Luce?"

She didn't like the idea of me driving alone with a stranger, and it was the reason, she had insisted on me to always ask for help from my friends, whenever the busses weren't available. It didn't bode well with me. I loved to be independent and didn't want to be put in a cage, but right now, I wasn't in the mood for an argument.

"He went to watch a movie." I sighed in relief when her fingers resumed massaging my head.

"What about Haider? Why didn't you ask him?"

My shoulders tensed upon hearing his name. I couldn't tell her that, oh you know, we just had a fight about keeping our relationship a secret, and without calling to ask for his help, I went in a cab and later found out that, he had followed me to my home. And when I had expected him to stop by, and say something, he had simply driven away. Hearing this Mom would surely freak out, so I simply said, "he too went to the movies."

"Next time, wait in the library till your buses depart. Do you understand?" she asked, applying pressure in circular motions, on my forehead.

I nodded, not wanting to argue that I wasn't a teenager anymore and that I could take care of myself.

Memories of Haider, asking me to go to the movies together, flooded my eyes, and tears floated behind my closed eyelids. I had crushed the chance of our first date together. How many more would I ruin, with my stupidity and idiocy?

★★★

31 January 2017

Livi was leaning against the wall near the bus stand, waiting for me in the morning.

"Hey, why are you here so early?" She had done something to her hair, and upon closer inspection, it appeared shining.

"Mad driver. What can I say? He was in a hurry, so dropped us off early." She shrugged her shoulders and sighed deeply. There was no mistaking that her eyes were sleep-deprived.

"Why are you so exhausted?" I voiced out my thoughts, examining the way she was dragging her feet. "And what have you done to your hair?" I added, unable to resist my curiosity.

"Because I was in the parlour for eight hours straight, yesterday, after returning from the movie. I'm so not smoothening my hair again. They charge like a bomb and with the amount of hair washing they have done, I think I might catch a cold." She groaned in her typical fashion, and I rolled my eyes at her.

"Why did you do it in the first place? It was totally, unnecessary." I complained and fell into step beside her.

"Seriously? In which generation are you living?" She asked surprised, and at my clueless look, she continued, "Aless, we are going to be seniors in two months. There will be no more classes, and the placements are going to start soon. So, this is the time to enjoy your college life, for one final time." She raised her brows as if to say, go get a life.