Status Quo | ✓

-9-

Winter break ended in a swift and the festive holiday was great as usual since Mom and I got to celebrate it with Leon's parents, Katherine and Paul. This morning, Mom woke up earlier to prepare breakfast for me before sending Cotton and I to the airport. We stood in front of the departure gates and she hugged me tightly while sniffling, "Take good care of yourself, my baby girl."

I wrapped my arms around her and noticed that she cried this sadly when I first left for college months ago too. Even though it was also hard on my end to part with everything here and return to where I was supposed to be, I braved a smile and assured, "I'll be alright, Mom. I'll call you often."

Looking towards her reddened eyes from all the tears, I waved at her and she watched as I walked through the departure hall. For a moment, I stayed on the other side of the glass and mouthed an 'I love you, Mom' before I headed towards the designated flight gate and waited for my flight to Boston.

-

I placed my luggage and Cotton back into my own apartment before heading towards Leon's apartment and it was almost like a déjà vu once again when there wasn't a reply after I rang the doorbell. Looking down at the various bags that I was holding, it would've been trouble to bring them home with me so I decided to try the doorbell again. Still, there wasn't a reply.

Out of curiosity, I walked close to the door, attempting to stare into the door's peephole while I wondered if Leon really wasn't home.

Honestly, curiosity really kills a cat.

The door was pushed opened suddenly and I didn't have time to dodge, ending up impacting on my forehead hard. Dropping whatever stuff there was in my hands, I crouched down as my hands raised to cover the part of my head that contacted the door.

My god, that fucking hurts.

"Oh fuck." A familiar male voice cussed. "I'm so sorry, Rachelle. Are you okay?"

Then, I heard hurried footsteps stomping from within the house towards the door. It was another familiar male voice that demanded, "Move it, Ty."

Leon crouched down in front of me and held onto the back of my arms. Concern filled his tone when he asked softly, "Rae, you okay?"

Honestly, it was so painful, but I raised my head to face Leon while bursting out a laugh. The man in front of me frowned, perhaps thinking that I might've knocked myself stupid. Even so, I couldn't hold back the fun when I held onto my sore forehead and joked, "I'm still waiting for my accident-prone award. I think I really deserve it."

"Seriously—" Leon chuckled, unable to finish all that he wanted to say. Leaning forward towards me, he placed an arm under my knees while the other wrapped around my waist to hoist me up in his hold.

"Hey!" I called out in surprise but instinctively folded my arms around his shoulder and firmed myself in place. After being rammed by a door, I didn't need another unnecessary injury like falling from mid-air and crashing to the ground. Flustered but decided to be obedient, I allowed Leon to carry me into the house and he placed me on the couch. Behind us, Tyson picked up the things I had dropped on the floor outside the house.