Once Upon A Knight's Woman

CHAPTER 11

        
"I broke up with my boyfriend, no scratch that out! It's more like I found out he is married with a teenage daughter." I said all in one breath.
         
"Oh I'm sorry! I shouldn't have brought the topic up." He said. I could feel his shoulders tense.
        
"No don't be. I'm seriously fine about that. I was not really into him. Now that I think about it, it was a sort of platonic relationship..." My voice cracks and I fiddle with my well trimmed polished nails.
      
"Then why did you have a panic attack?" He pressed further.
       
"The questioning type, huh? You could have become a detective why a literature teacher?" I asked tactfully.    Trying to avoid answering his probing questions. I guess he noticed because he chuckled but it seems like he plans to move along with the flow.
       
"You just don't know but I'm a detective too." This made me confused, I wouldn't lie.
      
"In novels, I can become a detective." He said and I realised he was teasing me so I laughed. I am surprised by the fact that I laughed because some minutes ago I was crying. I looked up at him and smiled. I just realised that I feel comfortable around him. It's strange because I don't feel comfortable around strangers. That is something I inherited from my mum.
       
"So which novels can put you in that detective world?" I teased further.
      
"There are actually a lot but speaking about novels, what are your best novels?" He asked.
            
"I'm not really...sorry... I was not really into novels till two years ago. I read this fantastic novel and my love for novels increased. There was this connection between the cords of my heart and his words. He is a really skilful writer so I decided to buy all his novels. I've read one of his novels not less than twenty times. I'm a big fan of him." I said enthusiastically as I look at him. He has an amused expression on his face.
       
"So who is this skilful writer whose words speak to the cords of your heart?" He mocked and I rolled my eyes at him.
        
"You can't know him." I replied.
        
"I know almost if not all writers. I'm a literature teacher, girl." He bragged playfully. I subconsciously hit his chest with my right hand. Until my hand makes connection with his chest did I realise what I just did. I quickly withdrew my hand. I turned my focus to the moving vehicles. How strange this situation is. Some minutes ago I was having a full blown panic attack and even thinking I might die and minutes later I'm laughing.
       
"What exactly caused your panic attack?" He asked again. I groaned in my mind. I thought he had already forgotten about the question. If it were others, I would directly tell them to back off and mind their own business. But he is not others. I strangely feel comfortable with him which is another surprise. Something in me keeps pushing me to tell him everything not just what happened today. That feeling makes me feel that he will understand it all but I know this is just nonsense and passing feelings.
       
"I told him about my past and he said some hateful and hurtful words about it before the breakup..." My voice breaks and I blink away the tears. There came the cold silence I have been expecting all along.
        
"All men are fools!" He screams. Geez! That scared the life out of me.
       
"What did you just say?" I asked dumbfounded.
     
"All men are fools!"He screamed again. This time louder.             
     
"Try it and see if it feels good." He added as he nudged my elbow. I shook my head gently while trying to hold in my laughter.
        
"All men are fools!" I shouted unsurely but it felt so good so I did it again and he threw his head back in laughter. This feels nice, extremely nice. Yes, all men are fools. Rick is a big fool and Brooks( Clarissa's father and her college lecturer) is even a bigger fool. I don't need men.
     
"All men are idiots!" He shouted again and I repeated after him in a even more louder voice.
    
"But you are a man too." I said as I stared at him and his eyes widened.
        
"There is an exception for me of course" He said with one of the sweetest and cutest smile I have ever seen. I smiled at him before staring at my sneakers.
   
"Who else is there an exception for?" He asked slowly.
       
"Well of course my dad, he is one of the smartest old guy I've ever seen and Justin." I said as I dusted an imaginary dust from my high waist black Jean.
    
"Justin?Can I ask who he is?"
    
"My first crush." I replied with a chuckle as I reminisced on my teenage days when I worshipped Justin. He is my first love,crush, boyfriend, my best friend and so many more. Many people with an opposite sex sibling always wish for a same sex sibling but to me Justin is the best. When boys started to approach me in middle school, he was always there to advice me. I could discuss anything with him. When I first started menstruation in my teenage years, I could not keep track of the days I'm on my periods so I had to face frequent unexpected arrivals at school bringing embarrassment and frequent ridicules. Some of my classmates even nicknamed me 'The Red Erica'. This nickname stuck throughout middle school even to my teachers especially my Religious Knowledge teacher who would always say:
    
"Red Erica, can you answer the question?"
    
"Red Erica, come and read this passage to the class."
  
Red Erica this, Red Erica that...
   
Our grade literature teacher even gave us an assignment to write a creative and innovative poem on "The Red Erica" mainly to mock me. I later reported to my parents and later left the school. When I entered high school, Justin took it upon himself to help me keep track of the days. It was embarrassing at first but it made me admire him the more. He later taught me how to keep track of it when I was about to move to college because we were not going to the same college.