Every love has a story. How you first met. Who said the first word.
Even mine does.
Seven o'clock is not the time anyone will think of falling in love. But as our worlds collided, we did just that. In a moment...
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Chapter 25
Waiting.
It seemed to be the only thing I knew during that time. I was waiting for the storm to pass, for the hours of the day to collide, and for whatever was out there on the other side of all this.
"I'm late. I'm late. Kath will be angry at me," I mumbled to myself, holding my notebook close to my chest. I promised Kath that I would come with Mom to her doctor's appointment, but I got held back at the school paper club's meeting.
There had been some disagreements about the final content. It was the last issue for this year, making it the last pages we would leave behind. The senior members wanted to make it memorable. I had already called Mom at work earlier to tell her I'd try to catch up, but they didn't have to wait for me.
When I checked the clock after our meeting, I realized I could still keep my promise with Kath if there were a lot of patients at the doctor's office this afternoon. I'd taken a chance and started running down the fifth floor hall and then down the stairs.
As I was in a rush, I suddenly had a bad feeling that I was going to mess up. I almost reached the second floor at a hurried pace. But maybe because I was going too fast, or I had focused on the steps more intently than I should have, I missed the third to the last step, lost my balance, and I ended up falling back to a sitting position on the floor. My lower right leg hit the second to the last step's junction on my way down.
"Ouch," I muttered, blowing on my wound. The deep cut I'd incurred from the mistake stung and started bleeding. I got up and leaned against the wall as I assessed my injury. I probably needed to let our school nurse check the wound on my leg.
Limping, I went to the clinic on the first floor, covering my face with my hair, just in case there was anyone around. I didn't bump into a classmate, nor did anyone see me. But I felt mortified to have fallen like that. I was such a klutz. This was why I shouldn't be running around.
The nurse usually stayed until all the students went home from their afternoon practice. But when I went inside the clinic, I didn't see anyone around. Instead, I found a note on the nurse's desk. She said that they had a faculty meeting and she would be back at 5:45pm.
I took a seat on the stool, checking my wound again. It didn't look that bad compared to how I had imagined it. The pain became bearable as my initial embarrassment faded away. At least nobody saw me fall down the stairs. That was a relief. I felt my face heat up just by thinking about it.
There was a first aid chart beside the door, so I got up and looked at it. If I would follow it step by step, it didn't seem difficult. I could actually call the nurse in the faculty room, but there was no dial tone when I'd tried to use the phone.
As I was intently reading the instructions, it surprised me when the door suddenly opened, revealing someone who had to lean on the doorknob for support. My heart raced, and a flood of thoughts rushed into my head.
