An alternate universe

Ch-36

Blinking after an eternity, still looking up at the ceiling, I finally noticed the beautiful patterns carved on it.

There was not much to do other than rotting on the bed, overthinking and waiting for something to happen, although what, I was not too sure either.

It had already been a few days since that dramatic conundrum.

I had not responded to any of his calls or messages. It was not without effort obviously.

It was maddening to see the phone screen lit with his name while I ignored it repeatedly.

What was bothering me at the moment was the sudden absence of his calls.

Had he decided to finally leave me behind and start all over?
Was I a burden that he had finally walked away from willingly?

Had he finally decided to settle me as a nasty memory in one of the cold, locked chamber inside his head? The one that was to be buried and forgotten?

I sighed and scolded myself mentally. Just let go, there is no point diving into that nightmare again.

There was this promise I had made to myself to not think about him. My duty was done and so was the starry-eyed utopian tale I had engaged in, keeping him the focal point of.

A twinge of pain twisted in my gut at the thought of not seeing him again.

I ignored it.

It was becoming a habit now, feeling lost and then reminding myself that I was already lost and there was nothing to be afraid of anymore.

Like an addict my mind fled once again to its safe place which was distraction by various means.

Sometimes I read, other times my mind wanted to be consumed with movies and all the warmth the words written on the pages could offer, sometimes I read about impossible tales.

Wanting none of that at the moment, I decided the flow of my restless mind towards pursuits of my mother these days.

She was busy than usual these days.

More meetings, hushed calls and bursts of anger, I saw all of it without questioning her.
I had tried asking her, what was she up to, but this time she was adamant to not involve me.

'You need to rest and don't get involved anymore, I will tackle it my way'

There was nothing else to do hence I had agreed to it but I knew something was up.
I had not seen her more stressed, she even lacked her usual nature to be arrogant and sarcastic in the face of crisis.

Things were grim.

Another thing that irked me was a constant ringing silence from Hee-sik and his team.
No matter how much I tried to keep my thoughts sane about their activities, there still was this gliding suspicion like an itch in the back of my head, constantly pressing me to be on guard.

They were up to something and I knew it was not anything good.

Rather than focusing on the roots, they had been adamant about the trunk.

Time and again I had tried to make the reality visible to them but they were fixated on eliminating Ryu Si-Oh.
As if he was the axis of evil, as if they couldn't bother about anything else as long as Shio suffered.

The thoughts had become too suffocating hence I decided to go the garden for a while.

I skipped down the stairs in a blur of motion,
but as I was passing by my mother's office, an utterance of a familiar name rooted me to the spot.