At Midnight

Chapter 9

It was a Saturday morning and I was lying on the bed and listening to some music when the doorbell rang. Since my mother had already left for Japan on a business trip, I had no choice but to drag myself downstairs to see who the visitor was.

" Hello Mia!" the visitor greeted cheerfully.

" What are you doing here?" I was beyond surprised.

" House visit. You haven't stopped by my office for a long time and I was starting to worry about you." He explained.

I let him in and offered him a cup of coffee. " Black. No sugar."

" Just the way I like it, thank you." He smiled as I sat on the couch opposite him in the living room. I stared at my hands and shook my feet. My nerves were getting the best of me and I was starting to become jittery.

" Mia, I know you lied to me. And your uncle. It took me some time to figure it out and when I did, I wanted you to come to me and tell me when you were comfortable enough. But I can't wait any longer, Mia. I haven't told your uncle about this and I won't. I need to see you soon in my office, okay? We can talk there." He said seriously before giving me a reassuring smile.

" Okay." I nodded. I dreaded going to his office and the only reason I lied about taking my medication was so that I wouldn't have to visit him. Don't get me wrong, I really liked Dr Martin but our sessions were draining.

I showed him to the door and just when he was about to leave, Ashton showed up at my doorstep. " Hey." He said and looked at me weirdly.

" Have a nice day Mia. I'll see you soon." The visitor smiled at both of us and then left.

After there was no sign of him anymore, I heaved out a huge sigh. I hadn't even noticed that I'd been holding my breath. The minute the door closed, Ashton bombarded me with questions.

" Will you chill? He's Dr Martin." I grumbled.

" Details please."

" Friend of my mum's." I said harshly. I hated lying to Ashton but what just happened wasn't something I'd like to discuss. Plus, I never told a single soul about Dr Martin and no one knew about it except my uncle.

" Why would he visit you then?" He pressed on. Man, it was as if he didn't know his limits.

" I don't know okay." Frustrated, I sat down and switched on the television to the loudest volume possible to drown out his questions.

He sat down beside me without uttering another word. In my peripheral vision, I could see him looking at me but I kept my eyes glued on the screen, refusing to make any eye contact.

After long moment of silence, Ashton finally spoke up, " Sorry, Mia. I was just-"

" Curious." I finished his sentence for him curtly.

" Yeah, that. But I care about what's going on in your life too. We've been friends for a while and I hardly know anything about you other than the stuff you've already told me. You know a lot of things about me. Personal stuff too. I feel like I don't really know you. And I'm sorry if I've stepped over the line a couple of times before but I just wanted you to know that I care. Genuine. Period." He explained.

" I know I'm a handful. I know I'm draining. And I'm sorry if I'm a bad friend. I'm just new to this friend thing." I finally met his gaze.

" If you're willing, we can work this out. Together. At your own pace." He smiled.

I nodded. " But I've never been good at making friends."

" You see, Mia. The way the whole friend thing works is that you have to tell one another stuff. Like deep stuff. Ocean deep." He illustrated.

" Deep? Uh-oh." I laughed.

" Okay. For starters, when'd you get that tattoo from?" He pointed at my right ankle.

" For my sixteenth birthday." It was a small tattoo of a dove. I had wanted a small tattoo of that since I was thirteen. As a kid, I had a strange liking towards tattoos but I never got the guts to get one.

" What does it mean?"

" Hope."

" Why hope?" He queried.

" When I was getting that tattoo, I thought that if I got a tattoo of a symbol of hope, I might actually experience it. But wishful thinking doesn't do anyone good." I explained.

" Do you remember where you got it?" He asked.

" Yeah, why?" I had a bad feeling about what he was going to say next.

He stood up and grabbed his jacket, walking to my coffee table. He jiggled my car keys in his hands and said cheekily, " You're taking me there."