Alpha's Blue (BXB)

Chapter Forty Three

"Marco, uh, hi." I blurted out as soon as I heard the call getting picked up. "Am I not disturbing you, am I? I just-- Is Nicolas better?" 

"It's me." The moment I heard his cheerful voice again, my heart had already started doing somersault inside. 

"Are you okay? Did you eat something? Got some sleep?" I asked questions one after another before I could've even stopped myself. 

He laughed again and all my worries started to melt away. "I'm alright. Are you alright?" 

"Yeah, yeah. I am. I just couldn't stop thinking about things…" 

"Is that why you looked so exhausted last night?" 

Since I had gotten used to that question, I answered pretty much immediately. "No, no. The work has been kinda hectic and stressful." 

"You sure that's all?" He asked in a dubious voice. 

"Nicolas," I whined dramatically. "I don't want to talk about work on my day off. Please." 

When he stayed silent, I tried again. "Instead, tell me about your day. Or ask me about mine. Like, why am I home today and all that." 

"Let me guess. You're home because it's your day off?" He laughed and I pretended to be frustrated. 

"Forget it. Tell me about yours. What were you doing?" 

"Well," he started and I pressed the phone closer to my ear in anticipation. "I ate a lot, slept like a log all night and woke up just a few minutes ago. I even missed the training." 

I felt a pang of guilt when I heard the last sentence. I knew it was all my fault that he had been away for so long and even now he still hadn't recovered. But I also knew he would be able to sense it if I dwelled on it any longer, so I chose to change the topic. 

"My turn now." I started with every bit of cheerfulness I could gather within me. "I've been awake for quite some time now and got hungry, so I thought I'd whip something to eat." 

"You sound busy. We can talk later if you want."

"No, no." I shook my head before realising he couldn't see me. "I'm just trying to figure out how to cook this thing." I flipped over the huge packet in my hand to take a closer look at the instructions. 

"What's it?" 

I flipped it back to the front to read the name again. "It says Poha here. Apparently it's flattened rice. I'm hoping it'll be good."

"You bought it without knowing about it?"

His surprised tone made me chuckle. "Tay did. He bought some random things last time and we still haven't tried most of them so far."

"I would like to try your cooking someday." His words were barely above whisper and I probably wouldn't have heard him if I hadn't been paying all my attention to him. 

For the first time in a while, I didn't have to force a smile on my face. "I would like that too." 

~~~

"You're smiling?" Tay gasped dramatically the moment he saw me. "Wow. Am I dreaming?" 

I rolled my eyes but continued to grin as I plated our breakfast. 

"How? What changed overnight?" He crept closer to me and pushed his face uncomfortably closer to mine. 

Pushing him back, I sat down with my plate on the couch. "I don't know what you're talking about."