Mending Wounds

Chapter Thirteen

I texted him a couple of times the following week, but I didn’t receive a single reply from him. I couldn’t really stress about it because I was going through my finals. It was my last exam today before summer break, and the last day for me to submit my major selection paper. I couldn’t just lock myself inside of my room and cry over Ben when I was wrong to hide things from him.

On the bright side, I didn’t have to run to or talk to Kami and Lina because we had exams and I was always the last one in and last one out of the exam hall. Today was no different, I walked in last, walked out last, then headed straight to my car since I was too late to submit my paper to registration so now I have to email it to them by 12 a.m. tonight.

I still had to storm Alex about question of what happened between her and Jeremy last weekend since I didn’t get to talk to her much and because he was working this week on base. For me, it meant that I’ll probably be crying my eyes out to Alex at night-time as I told her what happened. Then we’d somehow end up with a full basket of junk food, sheet masks on, and re-watching The Hunting of Hill House together. She’d complain about her classes, and I’d complain about mine and the fact that I don’t have friends on campus anymore since Adam started ghosting me as well.

Since the semester is over, I decided that I would spend the rest of the afternoon at the local coffee shop next to Alex’s house. There wasn’t anything for me to work on during the summer, which automatically meant that I do not have reason to sit in a coffee shop and enjoy the quietness of the place while sipping coffee while I peacefully worked on my assignment; so I decided to take this last opportunity to do so while I can.

Coffee was a relativity new concept for me; I only started drinking coffee earlier this year because I had to pull an all-nighter to finish and edit my assignments, and because Alex used to always bug me about not liking them. I’m not saying that I became the biggest fan of coffee and drink it all the time, I like that one type of coffee that most people say it makes me basic and would only have it every now and then when I need to focus since coffee is pretty overpriced almost everywhere around here.

I steered at the forum for what seemed to be hours, not knowing what major to put down. It was a big decision for me to make, one of the few personal decisions that I had to make on my own that would affect my whole future. Aside from selecting where I wanted to go for college and my relationship to both Cole and Ben, I never made such a big decision on my own. And this, this was a decision that would affect my future, it was a decision that would limit and lead to my future career. I didn’t want to make the wrong decision then end up studying something that I didn’t like and end up in a job that didn’t fulfil my need of self-achievement and dreams.

“I don’t think that the laptop would run away from you if you blinked for a second” I heard a voice said “Your eyes are going to dry out if you don’t blink”

My eyes snapped up to where Cole was now seated on the chair across me. He was dressed in the usual white shirt and navy dress pants that he usually wears to work, it made me assume that he was on a coffee break since it was the middle of day and he had three to-go cups.

“I’ve been here for the last 10 minutes and I don’t think I’ve seen you blink once” he pointed out “What are you working on there?”

I sighed “Not working” I told him “I’m deciding”

He chuckled “Making a decision has never been one of your strongest points, nether was standing up to yourself. Not that I’m trying to be mean of anything” he said as he titled his head “What is this life or death situation that you can’t make a decision for?”

I leaned back as I rubbed my face “I haven’t chosen a major yet” I told him “And I honestly don’t know what to choose. I don’t know if I should do HR or if I should just do marketing”

He looked at me like I’m stupid “Why are you even asking yourself this? We both know the obvious answer that you’ve been trying not to think of” he said using a duh voice like it was the most obvious thing in the world “Choose both. Your passion lays in both, so why take both of them and give yourself more strength and bigger career options”

I rolled my eyes at him “You think I didn’t think about that?” I told him “It would be too much for”

He leaned back with his arms folded over his chest “Soph” he sighed “I know that only reason you’re saying that is because someone told you not to do so. Someone told you that you won’t be able to pull it off”

I shook my head, laying I said “Of course not”

He picked up his coffee cups as he stood up “Just sign up for both, the girl I know can handle more pressure than an average person can. Plus, worst case scenario, you can just drop one of the two if you don’t like or don’t feel like continuing anymore” he said “Just stop think about what other people say, and start thinking by yourself for once. Whatever you’re going to choose, you’ll be fine. We are young and got our whole life ahead of us”

I gave him a small smile “Thanks, Cole” I said then realized that were still not on good terms after what happened a weeks ago “This doesn’t change anything though. What you did last week was wrong and I’m still mad at you for it”

“I didn’t expect you to let it slide” he said “I’m sorry about you and Ben, I heard what happened”

I shook my head with a sad chuckle “No, you’re not. We both know that you are happy” I told him “We’re not broke up though, Cole, it’s just a stupid fight that will pass with time”

“I hate to admit this, but perhaps you’re right for the first time in a while” he said.

Before we feel into an awkward silence, he smiled “Let’s go grab something to eat”

I titled my head “Don’t you have to go to work”

He shook his head "I don't have anything to work on so they gave me the day off" he then pointed at his cups in his hand "I volunteered to grab coffee for my team, so I just have to swing by the office to drop these"

"I don't think that's a good idea" I said as I closed my laptop "I'll just head to the house"

"I know, but it's a great idea since no one is home" his smile grew wider before he grabbed my laptop and tucked under his forearm “Well, I’ll be holding your laptop hostage. If you want to see your laptop alive, you better follow me”

He didn’t give me time to protest, he just walked off to his car with my laptop.

“Cole” I called as I gathered my things as quick as I could before running after him.

By the time I got out of the car, he was already getting into the car, so I pushed all of my curse words in my dictionary back down as I get into the passenger seat of his mum’s car. He didn’t say anything, he just had this wide stupid grin on his face as he backed out of the park.

“What do you do anyways?” I asked.

He looked at me offended “What do you mean ‘what do I do’?”

I shrugged “I know you’re working part time, but I don’t know part time in what” I told him “Or where since we never talked about it”

“A graphic designer” he said “You know Jimmy and Co. consultancy?”

I nodded “I heard about them in my introduction to marketing class last semester”

“Well, they are a marketing company that work with different company and handle their marketing plans and social media” I explained “I guess I specialise in content design mostly. I usually design the content of the company account and the client’s account. Like recently I worked with Coco’s house of chocolate”

“Are you serious?” I asked with a smile “I literary wrote a paper about that company two weeks ago for my marketing class. Their video marketing has been the best I have ever seen lately, and their graphics and post has been all over social media accounts lately”

He smiled “I worked my hardest on those videos, those motion graphics were a bit tricky since I don’t actually practice those pretty often”

“They were amazing, didn’t even give the vibe that you didn’t know what you were doing” I told him “From a marketer’s perspective, you ticked all the boxes”

He chuckled “Looks like you just announced what you’re majoring I” he said “You just called yourself a marketer”

I smiled at him “I guess we won’t know till mid-night” I said.

While we listened to music in the car, I pulled out my phone and typed a quick email to the registration choosing my major. The minute I sent the email, I felt like half of the weight on my shoulder has been removed and like I can finally take a breath without feeling like my brain and my heart are being pulled apart by two different decision that I have to make. Those two majors just had to share both and find a common ground because I decided to choose both.

“It’s been a while since I’ve seen you smile like this” he said.

I looked out of the window with a small sad smile “It’s been a while since I felt anything to be honest”

It only took us 10 minutes to get to his office building. From where I was sitting in the car, it looked like it was a 20-floor building. I just steered at it completely amazed because I never been in such a huge formal looking office, nor have I imagined working in one.

“Let’s go” Cole said.

I turned to him confused, something that I’ve been doing a lot lately “I’ll wait for you in the car”

He shook my head “No, I might take time in there. I just need to do one more think before I leave” he said.

“Cole, I can wait here. I’m not dressed for walking into an office” I said as I pointed at the mum jeans, white blouse and white sneakers I had on”

He chuckled “You look better than the guys down at web development” he said, he was about to open his mouth but then closed it again.

“What?” I asked.

“Nothing” he instantly said “Nothing at all. I don’t think this is something I can tell you”

I smiled at him “What? You know how much of a curious cat I am” I told him “You can’t just open your mouth to say something then stop. I’m probably going to be distracted about this all day”

“Let’s make a deal” he said “If I tell you, you have to come in with me”

“Deal” I said.

He got out of the car, then leaned down to look at me with a smirk “Even dressed like that, you still make one sexy ass secretary” I said “I won’t mind teaching you a think or two during office hours”

I felt my heart stop in my chest and all the blood in my face rise to my face as it turned to the deepest shade of red I have even seen or turned. My mouth couldn’t utter a single word as it hung open in shook and disbelieve at the words he spoke.

The amusement in his eyes grew as he saw my reaction “Chop Chop, we’re going to be late” he said before closing the door and leading the way.

I followed him, face still as red as a tomato “You can’t just say these kinds of things to me” I told him.

He turned to me with an innocent look on his face “I wasn’t going to but you insisted I did” he defended himself “So technically, it’s YOU that shouldn’t make me say these kinds of things”

“Cole” I said, more like warned.

“Yeah?” he smiled as he slowed down so that I am walking beside him.

I watched him smile, something that he hasn’t been doing much of lately as well. Even the way he was today was something that he hasn’t been like in a really long time. I don’t even remember when the last time he was this cheerful and nice to me.

“Nothing” I shook my head then smiled “Nothing”