It comes and goes

eight

Camila's POV

I actually spent a lot of time at Mister Mendes hospital room, or Manny, how he asked me to call him now. Shawn wasn't wrong about that. Still, he let us work alone every time I visited.

I was terrified to start the classes, but Manny was going to guide every step of the way and I was really glad about that.

The first day I stepped inside the classroom I felt like I was going to puke any second. By the time students came inside I had already done some breathing exercises to calm myself down. At the beginning, I was so nervous that my voice sounded weak and some girl in the second row asked me to speak louder. I was mortified, but I gave myself a quick pep talk and carried on with the class. When it ended, I was beyond relieved and surprisingly satisfied with my work.

Mandy asked for extra lunch time at her job and invited me to celebrate with her my first day as a professor, a substitute one, but professor nonetheless.

"Was it worse or better than you expected?", she asked me drinking her mimosa.

"Uh... Maybe better. No, no, that's not the words. I think it's was just easier than I thought".

"Really?"

"Yeah, I guess it's because these are college kids and they're here to actually learn, not because they're are forced to, like in high school, you know?"

"Oh yeah, that makes sense".

"I was shaking for half of the class, though".

"Pretty sure you did an amazing job, Mila".

"Thank you and thank you for this", I said pointing out at our food.

"No worries", she smiled. "What are you doing later?"

"Mr. Mendes wants me to tell him how the class went so I'll stop by the hospital".

"For how long will he be there, by the way?", she asked. I had told her about his illness and she was sad as well.

"Maybe he will be able to go home next week if some exams come back clean. Shawn thinks that's likely to happen because he's being in a better mood and appetite".

"So you and Shawn are talking now...", she eyed me.

"Kinda. He apologized a hundred times, and even though his explanation was stupid, I still see him every other day so there's no point on trying to avoid him or have bad blood with him".

"As long as he owns up to what he did and feel sorry for it, I guess it's ok to let it go".

"Exactly. I have too much going to also worry about what he said".

"I'm glad you're doing better".

"I am", I repeated feeling lighter and happier.

When I arrived to the hospital, Shawn was walking to the room from the other side of the hall, holding a cup of coffee. He smiled shyly when he saw me and I responded the same way before we were right in front of each other.

"You're here again", another cheerful voice said next to us before Shawn and I could say hello.

"Hi, Christian..." I said looking at his bright smile.