Second hand hearts

Chapter 17 (So close, so far)

A chill ran down her spine and her legs began to shake, it was a moment of mixed emotions for she has been longing to see him yet it made her uneasy and jumpy now that he is standing in front of her. She wished she could just turn back and walk away from this but he had already seen her and it will be a weak move to turn around or pretend she hasn't seen him. So she gotta take the bull by it's horns ofcourse,  after all a girl's gotta do what she gotta do right.
Taking slow light  steps as if she was afraid that if she takes any bold steps will cause the ground to break when the truth is her legs really felt like jello.
Bassam smiled inwardly on seeing her walking towards him and on registering that she has seen him just as he has seen her, a sudden wave of relief washed over him. He realised how much he had missed her even without knowing her fully well and he made a mental note to himself that he needed to know what she is like, what she likes and what annoys her because right now she is just like a mystery to him. Difficult to read and hard to figure out.
"Amal" ,he called her name and was suprised himself how the name sounded so perfect as he said it.

"So we just decided to sweep away  each other under the rug, no calls, no messages no nothing " , he continued.
He noticed her uneasiness and wondered what made her so uneasy around him. May be it wasn't a good time for her,he thought.

Amal gave a small shy smile and felt embarrassed on remembering the way she acted the last time they met. But she had to protect herself from the kind of funny explainable things she feels towards Bassam and if he keeps getting close, not falling for him will be hard. So the best option is to simply avoid him. But how can you tell someone that you're avoiding them because you think you have got feelings for them? So the little white lie slipped through her lips.

"I'm sorry Bassam, it's just that i have been busy with school and studies. I barely have time lately ".

It wasn't actually a lie but she wasn't too carried away since she had time to think about him. But you don't go around telling a guy you barely know all that right...

Bassam nodded in understanding as his eyes landed on the big textbooks she was carrying.

"It's just been too long ,i have been occupied by many things too lately. I stole some minutes from work right now to come see you".

"How have you been? I hope i am not taking too much of your time,i can see you're quite busy" , he gestured to the books in her grip.

"Uh oh, not really. Just picked them from the library for a paper that i need to write. I have been good, how about you?"

"Well not so good..."

"Oh my God I hope you didn't get any attacks lately " she cut him mid sentence with her eyes widening. It really made her cute in a way and he couldn't help but feel some warmness at the convern she showed towards his  health

"No don't worry i am healthy and no attacks. I have been really busy at office too and I've been doing more painting even while at home these past few days".

She felt relieved on hearing what he had to say.
"It's good" , she nodded

"It's exhausting and draining" , he argued.

She laughed a little and realised this is the first real laugh that she had in weeks. He's really rubbing on her, shit.

"It's great seeing you again Amal, but we must really do better at keeping in touch with each other. I missed the conversations we used to have and i am not up to missing you anymore ".

Woah, did he say miss her, she thought as her heart took a leap inside her chest. She controlled it instantly before she embarrases herself in front of him.

"It's great seeing you too Bassam".
She stopped there despite that she missed seeing him and being around him too.

He jammed his hands in the front pockets of his jeans studying her facial expression, it was unreadable and he wondered whether she was glad to see him as she had earlier stated or otherwise.

"So I just wanted to see how you're doing. I'll be on my way now" he said as he started to walk towards the entrance of his car.

She felt her some heaviness inside her chest because she wanted him to stay a bit longer,  maybe talk with him but as usual there is this powerful force that's always dragging her back when it comes to Bassam.

She opened her mouth to say something but ended up closing it like a fish because her mouth felt dry. She just watched his retreating back deciding that maybe she needs to summon up the courage to call or text him because she wasn't sure the kind of person she has been passing to him as.

"Can I call you? Like later in the day?" , she heard him ask and a wave of happiness passed through her as she responded with a yes.  He flashed her his signature smile showing his near perfect dentition and waved at her as he started the ignition.
She waved back with a smile of her own feeling like she had completed the most important task of the day. She headed back to home with her heart full of anticipation of Bassam's call later as he had told her.

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She changed into a light baggy cotton shirt and a pair of leggings after taking a warm and relaxing shower. Pulling her braids up in a high bun, she made a mental note to take them down soon and get her hair washed and cleaned. She walked into the small kitchen and made herself a light meal, she wasn't really that hungry but she decided that she needed to put something in her system still.
By 6 pm, she was on her study desk checking her notebooks to skim through the lecture delivered earlier. She was on her period, so no need to get up and pray, but she kept glancing at her phone at close intervals hoping that Bassam would call.

Soon it was 8pm and she started to get a little uneasy expecting Bassam's call.

He said he had been busy lately, maybe he is working late and has forgotten to call

A part of her mind told her while the other part wondered and silently hoped that something bad doesn't happen to him.

At 10pm, she was tired, anxious and edgy from waiting, so she picked her phone to call him thinking that maybe he had forgotten to call and she really had her mind on wanting to hear from him. The phone rang several times with no one answering and it went straight to the voicemail.
Her anxiety grew and she tried to think that maybe he was too tired and had fallen asleep early hence not answering his calls, but a greater part of her insticts told her that something wasn't right somewhere. Her heart beat heavily in her ribcage and she decided to leave him a voicemail,  maybe he when he awakes he might remember to call her in the morning.
She dropped her phone after and made her way to the room to get ready for bed too.
She changed into a pair of pyjamas,  did her  facial night time routine and climbed into bed while her mind has been racing with the thoughts of him. She switched off the lights and drifted off to sleep eventually.

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It's been three days since Amal left messages in Bassam's voicemail, she was worried at first and now she is totally annoyed at herself and regretting why she thought he would even call when he said he will. She is angry at herself for calling and leaving messages because she was sure he must have heard them and decided to deliberately not to call her. But why play mind games with someone like that? She asked herself which made her even madder. She was tired, hungry, angry and had alot to do because the mid semester examination will be starting in a few days time.

She felt her phone vibrating from inside side pocket of the faded denim pants she wore and decided to deliberately ignore the  call because she wasn't in the mood to make or answer any call at that moment.  She continued her walk around the garden in the school premises deciding that it is more therapeutic to talk a walk than just wonder why her whole life is just not going  the way she wants it to. Everything is just getting more complicated, harder and she is totally a minute away from losing it all.
She walked for an hour and decided to take some break as she took  a seat on the fallen branch of some giant tree she had no idea which tree that was. She retrieved her phone from the pocket to check to see the person that called, giving a mental note to herself to call them back when she gets home. She saw the missed calls from an unknown and a text message from that same number. She opened the text and what she red made her gasp and almost dropped her phone.
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Cliffhanger lol. #Basmal really got some issues, ship isn't boarding anytime soon. Hehe feel free to guess what message made our pretty Amal almost drop her phone. Vote, comment and share pls pls. ❤