Listen

Listen [14]

[fourteen]

He pressed the pause button as soon as the door to his room clicked open. "Can I come in?" It was his grandmother, standing on the doorway with a humble, wrinkled smile.

He sat up cross-legged. "Nanna! Sure. Come on in." His grandmother came in and closed the door before sitting on the other side of the bed, facing him. "So, what's up?" Even though there was a warm smile on her lips, the look on her face meant that something serious was coming up.

"I wanted to talk to you about that girl you've been bringing in our house." She did not seem much smitten by her as he could see in his grandmother's eyes, but he was willing to act that everything was normal.

"Kari? What about her?" He had barely said it before she started talking again.

"Well, I've been noticing your undeniable attention towards that girl and so, it seems pretty clear to me that you seem to like her a lot-" He felt his cheeks flush at this remark and began to say we're just friends until he was cut off but her continuing words. "-but I want you to be careful."

It seemed like he was cut off not because her grandmother wasn't finished but because of what she said before finishing her words. "Be careful?" He quoted her words, partly uncertain of what she was saying.

"Look, Travis. I'm not saying that I do not like her. She is a really nice girl. But you of all people know how looks can be deceitful." He felt silent. Because he knew how a pretty and shy looking girl like his ex turned out to be just the opposite.

"Are you telling me to stay away from her?" He said in a low murmur, blinking hard at the harsh remembrance of his past. His grandmother leaned forward and placed a hand on his cheek.

"I'm telling you to be careful, okay? Because I've seen you suffer through a trauma. I just... I don't want to see you get hurt again." Even though her voice was like silk, he imagined a sense of harshness in it. But it was just his imagination. Besides there were a lot of things he had to think about.

When his grandmother left, he locked himself in his room and collapsed onto his bed. What if his grandmother was right? What if he was liking the wrong girl again? What if Kari wasn't the way he had expected her too be?

He replayed the scenario of his ex girlfriend in his mind and about how many days he had spent in his room in a serious trauma. Depressed. Shattered. Heartbroken. Betrayed by the girl he once thought he loved. Was that because he was too lovesick? Or because he was destined?

And if he was destined to meet the wrong girl, there was no way he could be sure about her. At least, not anymore.