Teaching Noah | √

038

TIME REALLY DID move slowly when you have nothing to do. For the past two days, the highlights of my day had to be freshening up and listening to music. To be honest, I was tired of being alone in my room, but it didn't necessarily mean that I was ready to have a conversation with Mom about what I heard. I had been trying to convince myself that maybe I didn't need an explanation. Maybe I could just pretend like I didn't hear anything and just move on with life knowing that Mom had just simply told dad not to come home. But I knew it wasn't possible. Deep down, I had a burning desire to know what happened. Besides, Mom already knew that it was a topic up for discussion.

I dragged my eyes to the door, and my eyebrows furrowed when I heard the sound coming from the other side of it. Like a person softly hitting the door. It wasn't long until I heard a whimper that I suddenly remembered that shutting everyone out also meant shutting Coco out. I instantly felt bad when I realized that she hadn't seen me for some days. Pushing myself off my bed, I quietly walked to the door and opened it slowly, bending immediately to rub Coco's back. I could tell she missed me when she inched her face close to mine.

"Hi," I said softly to her as I left multiple kisses on her head, "I missed you."

My heart warmed when she dropped down and turned her belly upwards, whimpering even more. I took her in my arms and shut the door behind us, but I almost dropped Coco in fright when I turned to see Noah standing by my bed, hands in his pocket and eyes intently watching me.

"W- What? H- How did you get in?"

"Hey," he answered, like he didn't just mysteriously appear in my room.

"Hi," I replied and moved to my bed to sit while Coco jumped beside me. She had a burst of energy, moving around me restlessly and displaying bouts of hyperactivity before she stopped to lean into me, and although I was still confused at how Noah made his way into my room, his presence uplifted me.

"How are you?" he asked, his eyes not leaving mine, and I swallowed, "I'm fine."

He let out a breath and sat beside me on the bed, "So, how long did you plan on being stuck inside and wallowing in sadness?"

"I'll be honest, I'm tired."

He chuckled lowly while Coco moved to his side. "Your mom told me."

"Everything?"

"Not specifically what happened," he shook his head. "She just said you were upset and wouldn't leave your room."

I was quiet for a while. "She lied to me, Noah. She's been in touch with my dad all this time. All this time, I thought he was gone, but she was the one telling him not to come home."

Surprised etched Noah's face, "That's quite surprising, but if she told him not to come, there has to be a reason, right? She wouldn't just tell him not to come."

"I get that, but she acted like she was clueless too. It's the lies I'm thinking about."

"We all lie at some point in our lives, right?" He eyed me. "For different reasons."

"Do you know how I found out? She was yelling at him over the phone."

"I'm sorry you had to find out that way. But you only have to hear what she has to say. It's the only way you can understand it all. She's quite worried about you."

I swallowed then nodded.

"I can't believe you've been in here for two days straight. Didn't you need some orange juice or something?"

I felt a small smile creep up to my face before teasing, "I might have come out if you came yesterday."

"I did come yesterday."