“So I guess we should start,” Sophie said slowly, trying to ease the twitching of her lips muscles.
The butterflies in her tummies had automatically disappeared the moment she saw him walking towards their corner. That was a thing that had kept her dumbfounded most of the time. As soon as she saw him, that feeling would just disappear. Was it supposed to mean something?
“Yeah, maybe.”
That voice. His voice. Sophie couldn’t think just how many times she’d played it over and over again in her mind. Now they were directed at her, meant for her. So she was supposed to feel something, right?
So why was she isn’t?
Just how nice was it, the way that fate had played with her? If she was Fate itself, she would be laughing at her own arse right about now. Just as the night’s incident – during which she felt like she had been slapped three times by the same guy in one night and the world had just swallowed her alive – were starting to evaporate from her memory, honestly, she was forgetting about it, she thought she was handling it very well, that was the exact time fate came around and decided to pair her up with him on a certain project assignment. She was in presentation and he was in research, but somehow or other, she was being instructed to help him out with his research materials. Just how nice of fate to play around.
They worked together silently, not saying anything, not even just a friendly something. Nothing.
Naturally Sophie felt annoyed, but there was nothing she could think of to do. She’d partially given up on him anyway. Plus, she was used to being annoyed by him, or more like being hurt
most of the time.
Of course he was there in her mind all the time. Yes, she was most definitely focusing the task at hand, but at the same time, she was fidgeting with all her might about what was going on in that brain of his. How couldn’t she?
The longer she thought about it, the more it made sense to her that they couldn’t – or wouldn’t, ever – speak to each other. She knew part of the reasons all too well.
There was her ego, and then there was his ego. They wouldn’t talk to another unless one of them swallowed their own ego first. Wasn’t it the boys who always start a conversation first? That might quite be a conservative idea, but hell, she had approached him first and told him how she’d liked him and everything, and even though she was accepting the fact that the feeling wasn’t going to be reciprocated, wouldn’t it be fair if he could’ve just strike up another conversation?
What was it that he was so reluctant of?
Her?
Why?
From what she knew, she wasn’t such a nonentity or an eyesore that everyone just refused to talk to. No, she knew she was better than that.
So just what type of issue did he have with her?
What?
She’d considered asking him once, because she knew that to know the answer to a question regarding someone, it was best that she ask that person straight to the face. She had considered that, many, many times.
Only problem was, she knew what kind of response she would be getting, without any question.
Of course there were “What ifs” but those what ifs were just absurd to even think about. He was just too predictable that way.
He wouldn’t talk to her. Simple.
So if he wasn’t, she wasn’t going to as well. It would be a waste of her breath anyway. Maybe he thinks it would waste his breath as well to talk to her since he never so much as uttered more than five words to her given previous incidences, so.
Ugh. She huffed in annoyance.
These were the moments when she hated him the most. Thinking about the fact that he couldn’t so much as look at her, much less say a freaking single syllable of the English language. Or any language, for that matter.
Their session together ended as briefly as it had started. None of them said a word, except for “See you tomorrow” and that was coming from a very annoyed, reluctant, hurt Sophie. He just nodded and headed the opposite way without even looking at her. Even when they compared notes, he took one look at hers, cross-referenced a few things, wrote little notes here and there, and that was it.
How would you have felt?
Sophie stared at the void in front of her. How she could come out alive from this, how she was supposed to make sense from all this, she didn’t know. At that moment, she decided to just dive into the situation.
“Don’t worry,” Dom had said to her, “You’ll come out of it alive.”
“Thanks for the well-wishing,” Sophie said half-heartedly. All the colour was coming out from her
face. She felt so dull.
“Hey. Relax,” Dom said shortly.
“How could I, Dominic?” Sophie shot back. “Why is it so hard for him to talk?”
“Maybe he just feels uncomfortable with you,” Dom said.
Fuck that, Sophie thought inwardly. She was already tired of thinking about this. If he wasn’t able to talk to her, that was his problem.
“How’s the research going?” Dom asked.
“In terms of productivity, we’re good. I can imagine already what I’d be presenting about. It’s going to be one hell of an assignment. You wouldn’t believe what we found out,” Sophie said, a hint of interest in her voice. “I think by today we would be finished with it, though. There were just some things that needed trimming. So I’d say today would be the last of our ‘silent dates’.”
Ingrid was the one who came up with that term. It was intentionally sarcastic.
Dominic laughed. “Don’t worry, Sophie. There’s always that silver lining thing, right?”
“Whatever.”
The butterflies in her tummies had automatically disappeared the moment she saw him walking towards their corner. That was a thing that had kept her dumbfounded most of the time. As soon as she saw him, that feeling would just disappear. Was it supposed to mean something?
“Yeah, maybe.”
That voice. His voice. Sophie couldn’t think just how many times she’d played it over and over again in her mind. Now they were directed at her, meant for her. So she was supposed to feel something, right?
So why was she isn’t?
Just how nice was it, the way that fate had played with her? If she was Fate itself, she would be laughing at her own arse right about now. Just as the night’s incident – during which she felt like she had been slapped three times by the same guy in one night and the world had just swallowed her alive – were starting to evaporate from her memory, honestly, she was forgetting about it, she thought she was handling it very well, that was the exact time fate came around and decided to pair her up with him on a certain project assignment. She was in presentation and he was in research, but somehow or other, she was being instructed to help him out with his research materials. Just how nice of fate to play around.
They worked together silently, not saying anything, not even just a friendly something. Nothing.
Naturally Sophie felt annoyed, but there was nothing she could think of to do. She’d partially given up on him anyway. Plus, she was used to being annoyed by him, or more like being hurt
most of the time.
Of course he was there in her mind all the time. Yes, she was most definitely focusing the task at hand, but at the same time, she was fidgeting with all her might about what was going on in that brain of his. How couldn’t she?
The longer she thought about it, the more it made sense to her that they couldn’t – or wouldn’t, ever – speak to each other. She knew part of the reasons all too well.
There was her ego, and then there was his ego. They wouldn’t talk to another unless one of them swallowed their own ego first. Wasn’t it the boys who always start a conversation first? That might quite be a conservative idea, but hell, she had approached him first and told him how she’d liked him and everything, and even though she was accepting the fact that the feeling wasn’t going to be reciprocated, wouldn’t it be fair if he could’ve just strike up another conversation?
What was it that he was so reluctant of?
Her?
Why?
From what she knew, she wasn’t such a nonentity or an eyesore that everyone just refused to talk to. No, she knew she was better than that.
So just what type of issue did he have with her?
What?
She’d considered asking him once, because she knew that to know the answer to a question regarding someone, it was best that she ask that person straight to the face. She had considered that, many, many times.
Only problem was, she knew what kind of response she would be getting, without any question.
Of course there were “What ifs” but those what ifs were just absurd to even think about. He was just too predictable that way.
He wouldn’t talk to her. Simple.
So if he wasn’t, she wasn’t going to as well. It would be a waste of her breath anyway. Maybe he thinks it would waste his breath as well to talk to her since he never so much as uttered more than five words to her given previous incidences, so.
Ugh. She huffed in annoyance.
These were the moments when she hated him the most. Thinking about the fact that he couldn’t so much as look at her, much less say a freaking single syllable of the English language. Or any language, for that matter.
Their session together ended as briefly as it had started. None of them said a word, except for “See you tomorrow” and that was coming from a very annoyed, reluctant, hurt Sophie. He just nodded and headed the opposite way without even looking at her. Even when they compared notes, he took one look at hers, cross-referenced a few things, wrote little notes here and there, and that was it.
How would you have felt?
Sophie stared at the void in front of her. How she could come out alive from this, how she was supposed to make sense from all this, she didn’t know. At that moment, she decided to just dive into the situation.
“Don’t worry,” Dom had said to her, “You’ll come out of it alive.”
“Thanks for the well-wishing,” Sophie said half-heartedly. All the colour was coming out from her
face. She felt so dull.
“Hey. Relax,” Dom said shortly.
“How could I, Dominic?” Sophie shot back. “Why is it so hard for him to talk?”
“Maybe he just feels uncomfortable with you,” Dom said.
Fuck that, Sophie thought inwardly. She was already tired of thinking about this. If he wasn’t able to talk to her, that was his problem.
“How’s the research going?” Dom asked.
“In terms of productivity, we’re good. I can imagine already what I’d be presenting about. It’s going to be one hell of an assignment. You wouldn’t believe what we found out,” Sophie said, a hint of interest in her voice. “I think by today we would be finished with it, though. There were just some things that needed trimming. So I’d say today would be the last of our ‘silent dates’.”
Ingrid was the one who came up with that term. It was intentionally sarcastic.
Dominic laughed. “Don’t worry, Sophie. There’s always that silver lining thing, right?”
“Whatever.”
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