NOT THE ONE || Completed✔

29: His confession

Deborah sat at her table, pen dotted on the piece of paper Dr. Philip had given her the day before. He wanted her to write on something so dumb she couldn't even come up with a word to describe how dumb it was. The topic: WHERE YOU SEE YOURSELF IN THE NEXT TWO MONTHS. Of course she saw herself here, at home, with her family, still battling with her demons and wondering the reason behind the kiss she and Eric shared.

The thought of that kiss made her drop her pen, her fingers reaching for her lips. It still felt like a dream, one that felt so real that she wished she hadn't woken up.

It has been a week since that very day and she hadn't been able to pluck up the courage to call him, neither had he called.

'Was he as confused as she was or just didn't want to talk about it? Did he make a mistake and didn't know how to apologize? How was she supposed to know any of this if she didn't call?'

She grabbed her phone from the table and began searching for his name in her contact list. When his name and phone number popped up, she stared at her screen, willing herself to move but unable to. What was she going to say if she called?

"Hey, Eric. About that day, the kiss..." That was already the wrong thing to say.

She dropped her phone back on the table and folded her arms, a frown on her face.

A minute had already gone by since she dropped her phone on the table, when it began ringing. Her ringtone startled her back to reality and when she peered at the screen, she almost couldn't believe her eyes.

Instantly, she picked up the phone, cleared her throat and answered in the calmest and most nonchalant voice possible.

"Hello."

"Hey. How're you doing?" Just the sound of his voice made her heart beat a little faster than usual.

"Fine."

There was an awkward silence as she heard shuffling from his end.

"Uhm... Haven't heard from you in a while now."

"Yeah. Been busy with stuffs."

'Busy with stuffs? What?'

"Oh. Uhn... Are you busy now? I wanted to-" he cleared his throat. "-I wanted to come over, so we could talk."

"Sure. I'm not busy. You can come over."

She was starting to doubt she sounded any calmer than he did.

"Alright. See you in 30 minutes."

"OK. 30 minutes." She said and they both hung up.

Putting the phone down, she let out a breath she didn't realize she had been holding. As she breathed out, she felt light-headed. Eric was coming over. They had kissed a week ago and she was wearing one of her ugly dresses, she panicked as she looked down at herself, jumping out of her seat.

***

Exactly 25 minutes after Eric had called, he was at the gate. As surprising as it was, she decided to focus more on the fact that he was here, nothing else.

Grandma was in the sitting room when Deborah passed the passage to the front door. Grandma was the least bit bothered about whom was knocking, her eyes glued to the TV screen. She was watching an English movie which made Deborah wonder if she understood a word they were saying.

Shrugging at the thought, she brushed off the invincible dirt on her jeans, took a deep breath, and worked a few smiles to look natural before finally opening the door.