Midnight Falls

Chapter Fifty Five

Chapter Fifty Five

Walls Are Sound-Proof For A Reason.

Anna

"...so, Anna. Any ideas for universities?" Emily asks me.

"I applied in Sapienza and Melbourne too," I tell her as I twist the pasta around the fork and put it in my mouth, savoring the salty taste. I'm currently using Luke for two things in this relationship: his mum's amazing cooking and his ability at doing my hair. The braid that he did is better than any braid I have ever done in my life and I wonder what did he have to go through with the girls to be able to do that.

"That's great. That means that you kids will be together," she smiles softly.

"Yeah," I nod, smiling back.

"Which field are you going to study in?"

"Astrophysics."

She raises her eyebrows in shock. "That's a complicated field, dear. I heard that it's about nine years long with the PhD program, the Master's degree and the bachelor's degree."

"Yeah, but I will manage to finish it all in five years or so. I know that it's difficult, but I want to finish early," I reply.

"That's good. Don't force yourself into studying what you don't like. I majored in business management and I regret it now. That's why I told the kids to study what they like." She smiles.

"Mom, mom, mom," Luna chants to grab her mother's attention. "Look at Anna's braid! Luke did it. Doesn't it look amazing?"

"It does," Emily nods, fixing her gaze on my hair.

"Told you," she nudges Clara.

Emily turns to Luke and frowns. "What's wrong, honey? You didn't touch your food."

"I'm not hungry," he mumbles, pushing his food around before he rests the fork down. Emily looks down at her plate and I see her gulping down heavily. It's as if she expected the answer, but she didn't want to hear it.

"But it's your favourite," Luna says.

"I know. I'm just not hungry," he shrugs.

"Are you okay?" I ask him in concern, furrowing my eyebrows a bit.

He turns his head and gives me a small reassuring smile. "I'm fine. I'm tired from work, that's all."

I smile back weakly and nod.

He's lying, I know.

After we're done with dinner, I tell Luke that I want to talk to him and we go upstairs to his room to have more privacy.

"Okay, what's really wrong with you?" I cross my arms, staring down at him and taking a step closer to the bed.

"Nothing's wrong. I told you, I'm just tired from work," Luke says, putting his hands on the mattress behind him and leaning back as he stares up at me.

"No, there's something else," I press.

"Anna, I'm fine. I'm swear."

He called me Anna.

"Clara mentioned something about a doctor's appointment tomorrow," I state.

"Yeah. I'm going to check this fever thing. It's getting worse," he responds and as if on cue, he starts coughing heavily and I uncross my arms, stepping closer to him to rub his back. He covers his mouth with his arm before the coughing fit stops and he clears his throat loudly.