Mystery Lights

Chapter 7

A/N: The image above does not belong to me. It belongs to the person who uploaded it on the internet.

Perth's POV

The drive back to Saint's house from his psychotherapy session was a silent and awkward one. I apologized once more to Saint for the trouble I had caused him. Saint waved away my apology saying that the incident was forgotten on his part.

I went home that evening from dropping Saint at his house with a heavy heart. The condescending remarks of his psychologist stung me badly. I entertained the idea of giving up my driving job and focusing on earning a college degree. There were several colleges where I could apply for a student loan in order to enroll into a course of my choice. My problem was my father was not earning enough to support my mother and me by himself. He was a regular employee, a clerk in a pharmaceutical company and was not earning much. I had to augment his income by taking on odd jobs like being a driver for some rich family. My mother was a homemaker who found it hard to work outside of home because she did not have a high school diploma.

Then an idea hit me. I had a friend who was earning good money from being a physical therapist. He earned his license after only two years. Maybe I could do the same. Two years was better than four years of waiting till I could earn a degree to be able to find a good paying job.

I decided to go to the local college to make inquiries about enrolling in a physical therapy course.

As soon as I reached home, I went to greet my mother who was busy preparing the ingredients for dinner. I told her that I would help her out with cooking dinner after I had made a quick call and had gotten out of my work clothes and into something more comfortable.

I went to my room and tapped on Saint's number.

"Perth?" I heard Saint say.

"Young master," I began to say.

"Stop it," Saint scolded me. "Don't you start calling me Young Master or I will fire you."

"Actually, that would probably be best," I replied.

"What the hell do you mean?" Saint's voice sounded alarmed.

"Actually the reason I called is because tomorrow morning I won't be able to drive you to uni," I said.

"And why is that?" Saint of course wanted to know.

"I need to be some place in the morning but for sure I will be able to pick you up at the end of your school day," I tried to explain.

"What about during the day when I have to go from classroom to classroom. What if I get those flashing lights while I'm walking down the corridors?" Saint sounded very worried now.

"Do you think you could ask your mom to be with you just for today?" I asked, keeping my fingers crossed that he would agree.

"I will try," Saint sounded doubtful but at the same time I could sense his resignation to the situation.

Thankfully Saint did not ask where I needed to be tomorrow morning. But my thankfulness was short lived.

"And may I ask by the way, where you need to be tomorrow morning?" he asked, "but of course if you don't feel comfortable telling me, I won't pressure you to do so."

"You are the best master in all the world," I said with great relief in my voice.

I heard him sighing loudly. I knew that he meant for me to hear it.

"I'm really sorry," I said. "I will text you as soon as I'm finished with what I need to take care of. If I finish before lunch, I will take over your mom so that she can leave you to go to her jewelry shop at the mall."

"Alright, I guess," Saint said with another audible sigh.

"Have a nice evening, Young Master," I said.

"Screw you," I heard Saint say.

"What???" I couldn't believe that this prim and proper master of mine knew how to curse.

"Screw you," he repeated more audibly. And then in a louder voice he said, "Screw you for calling me Young Master after I had just told you not to."

"I'm sorry, sir," I said, "How would you prefer to be addressed by me?"

"Sweetheart," I was not sure I heard him because it was said very softly as if I wasn't meant to hear it.

"What???" I asked in disbelief.

"Saint," he said, "just call me Saint like everyone does."

"Okay, Saint," I agreed, "I will text you tomorrow as soon as I'm ready to join you."

"Very well, Perth," he said, "I will wait for you to communicate with me."

"Thank you, Saint," I said, "I wish you a wonderful evening."

He did not reply to that. He cut the call right after.

I did not have quality sleep that night. I got up in the morning feeling a little groggy.

I had to down an extra cup of robusta coffee to make sure that I stayed alert throughout the day.

Luck was with me. I was able to enroll in a full time physical therapy course. I was also assessed by the business office and was informed that I was eligible for a student loan which I could start paying back as soon as I got employment as a physical therapist.

The whole process took a whole morning and by the time I finished it was lunch time, exactly as I had anticipated.

I texted Saint that I was ready to drive to his university if he still wanted me to. I would just drive him back home after classes in my own car. I had assumed that his mother used her car to drive him and therefore would leave him without a means of transportation.

Instead of responding with a text, Saint called me. I swiped my phone as soon as I saw on my screen that it was him calling.

"Were you successful with whatever it was you needed to take care of?" I heard him ask.

"Yes I was," I replied, trying not to sound too excited.

"How soon can you get here?" Saint asked.

"In about twenty five minutes," I replied, "taking into account the midday rush hour."

"Have you had your lunch?" he asked.

"No," I replied truthfully, "but don't worry I'm not hungry right now."

"You will be hungry later," Saint said, "I will wait for you so that we can have lunch together."

"But you might be late for your next class," I protested.

"My next class is not until two o'clock," he informed me.

"Oh, okay," I said, "but if you start feeling hungry before I get there, just go ahead and have lunch with your mom."

"I won't get hungry," he said and then abruptly cut the call.

I tried my best to get to Saint's university as quickly as I could. I changed lanes constantly and overtook several cars, earning an angry honk from some angry motorist every now and then.

Finally I arrived at the university a good ten minutes earlier than I had anticipated.

I texted Saint as soon as I found a parking space for my car. Again, instead of texting back he called me.

"My mom and I are on the way to the cafeteria," he said, "please meet us there."

"Very well," I said, and cut the call.

"Nooooo! You can't do that to me!" I knew that Saint didn't mean to raise his voice at me.

I had waited until we all had brought our lunch trays to a table and were sat comfortably before I announced that in two weeks I was going to start taking my physical therapy classes on a full time basis, and therefore I would have to quit my driving job. I figured that two weeks was more than ample time for him to hire a new driver to replace me.