5 Chapter Five

For the first time, Abby did not wake up as scheduled. Her alarm failed to ring or she just failed to hear her alarm. Even so, it won't change the fact that she's late. In hopes to put something inside her growling stomach, Abby took the risk of being late to get a hot coffee at the vending machine outside her building. Her hands shakily pulled out a couple of coins in her back pocket before swiftly dropping them inside the designated slot. She glanced at her watch and noted that she only has three minutes left till her class starts. Tapping her shoe on the concrete floor, she prayed for the dark liquid to pour out a bit faster.

Once her coffee is done, she rushed on her feet, hurriedly pivoting her body to get to the entrance of the building. Abby turned so fast she did not notice the other person behind her. As expected, her steaming hot cup of dark coffee collided with the person's white-now-turned-coffee-dark-blouse. The person hissed both in pain and annoyance.

"Damn it." Abby lifted her head as she hears the other person curse in frustration.

"I'm sorry. I'll wash your top after my class." She blurted out in panic. Her eyes meet with angry ones under thick glasses. She faced a woman whose hair is neatly styled while tied in a tight bun, her face covered with slightly thick make-up and her lips painted a blood-red color. Abby didn't have to be psychic to know that the person she bumped into must be a professor. She already has enough clues from the way she dressed to the stacks of reference books in her arms.

"I'll help you carry your things to wherever you need to go, ma'am." Abby politely offered. Strict eyes observed her from head to toe, carefully scrutinizing. Perhaps the woman identified her as a student so she uttered a quick "follow me." And then instinctively, Abby picked up the items sprawled on the floor, swiftly piling up everything in her arms.

Catching up, Abby tried to walk a few steps behind the person in front of her; afraid she might get judged again while feeling guilty for staining her white blouse.

When they entered a large auditorium, Abby wanted to scream, run, or maybe turn back time to a couple of minutes. She promised to not be late again or try to get coffee. She swore to just walk straight to class and remain living as a plain and normal student like the others. She looked at the assigned room once again. Abby blinked a few times. There's no mistake that this is where her first class is being held. Her luck is just ugh. She shut her eyes for a second in frustration.

"Why do you look constipated?" Abby heard the woman say.

She quickly opened her eyes to look at her, "This…here…"

Realization flashed on the woman's face. Abby swore she saw her smirk and then she continued walking behind her as they enter the auditorium.

"You may take your seat here, Miss…" the woman paused waiting for her to say her name.

"Valentine."

"Yes," she said raising her hand in a soft motion, "-Ms. Valentine. Sit here in front." She said pointing at the chair directly facing her podium. Oh, Fun.

As she settled on her new chair, a light tap on her shoulder made her glance to the side. A smiling Natasha greeted her, "You're in this class too?" Abby nodded her head in response, hoping her quiet reply won't catch the attention of their professor.

"So happy you're here. We can badmouth Carter together." She said happily, her voice in a hush.

"What?" Abby whispered, confused.

"This is the Biology class I was talking about. The name Professor Carter should ring a bell." She replied quietly with a wink and a thumbs-up.

Does she have Biology with Noah's potential mystery girl?!

Soon after the class finished, Abby urged Natasha to go ahead of her as she still has something to do. Thankfully, she listened and went ahead without a fuss. She slowly approached the woman who was busy putting her things inside her bag as soon as the room emptied. While chewing on her top lip, Abby carefully thought of what to say.

"I'm sorry. I'll pay for dry cleaning?"

The woman pointedly looked at her before letting out a weary sigh. She removed her eyeglasses and placed it on top of the stacks of paper lined on the laminated table beside the podium. Abby took that opportunity to carefully study her face.

Although looking slightly more mature because of the make-up that covered most of her notable features, Abby cannot deny the resemblance between the woman in front of her and the one Natasha drew. My God. Is she the one they've been looking for? If she is, then what a small world this is.

"I don't expect anything from you, Ms. Valentine so I'm letting this incident go. Let's just say that we both had bad luck today." She explained the tightness of her face gradually disappearing. "-But in return, I'd like for you to assist me during the whole semester."

Abby only gaped with her mouth slightly open. She's deliberating on how she'll respond to turn her down. She wondered where exactly things went wrong with how everything isn't going the way she planned. "I've checked your records during class and I must say that I'm quite impressed. You have a bright future ahead of you."

Abby's not exactly sure how that is related to being her student assistant. She'd rather pay for dry cleaning.

"Thank you. I-I don't know what to say…"

"That's fine. I'll see you tomorrow then. Meet me at the science building, okay?"

"But-" Abby did not even get the chance to protest or plead her case as Ms. Carter swiftly went out of the room leaving Abby standing there alone.

Natasha sat on the small steps leading to the front porch of the old Victorian home. She stared at the heels of her pumps as it scraped on the ground whenever she playfully slides one foot after another. She lifted her head when she heard footsteps approaching. Her eyes twinkled, newfound energy coming back to her body making her feel all giddy and excited.

Natasha patted some invisible dust behind her jeans when she got up from the steps. "I tried to find you in school after Biology but you weren't there anymore so I went to your house worried that something must've happened but you weren't here either. I don't know where you went so I opted to wait in front of your door just in case." Natasha declared proudly when she met Abby halfway in their front yard.

Abby narrowed her eyes, suspicion lined her face. "I have other classes and I was doing my afternoon shift at the school cafeteria-" she began, "-and I bet you're not here to look for me. Don't you have other classes scheduled today? " Abby finished before crossing her arms over her chest.

Natasha made a sideway glance, looking at everything except for Abby. "I'm done for today." Abby let out yet another exhausted sigh upon hearing her friend's reply. "There are no ghosts in this house, Nat."

Realizing that she has been found out, Natasha bit her lower lip in alarm, "Just let me check again, please?" she pleaded, "-look I ordered a new EMF meter. This won't explode or malfunction like the one before. This is also going to be more accurate."

Tired to even try and argue–knowing how stubborn Natasha is–Abby gave in. "Fine, do whatever you want," she replied before stomping inside the house. She didn't care anymore if Noah is discovered or what. She'll just deny it or whatever.

Once she's inside her room, Abby quickly stripped out of her clothes, leaving her with only cotton panties on. She's about to pull out fresh clean clothes from her drawer when she heard Noah's voice, "Abby, your friend is trying to talk to me again. She brought a box with her this time-"

He stopped when he heard Abby let out a silent shriek, careful to not alert the neighbors or Natasha who is just downstairs.

Abby quickly tried to cover herself, crossing her arms above her chest, the exposed pale skin of her chest turning pink from the mishap.

Noah remained frozen in place, his mouth slightly open while surprise carved his attractive face.

"Get.Out.Noah." she snapped at him when he just stood there dumbfounded. Shaking himself back to reality, Noah left without a word, disappearing in record time.

With a shaky breath, Abby tried to continue what she was doing.

"Any luck?" Abby asked her guest as soon as she went downstairs. Natasha's sitting on the floor with a disheartened expression on her face. She shook her head in response.

"Can I come back tomorrow?" Natasha asked.

Abby gave off a light shrug, "Do what you want."

Natasha responded with a weak smile as thanks. Abby believes that at some point Natasha will eventually get tired of ghost hunting at her house sooner or later. Or never.

An expensive-looking car picked up Natasha an hour later. Alone again, Abby cleaned the mess she and Natasha made during dinner. She washed the dirty plates and scrubbed the countertop with a brush. The quietness felt new to her. Noah should be on top of the center island or floating beside her chattering away or teasing her. Where is he anyway? She wondered.

Perhaps he's busy with something else like talking to other ghosts at their neighbor's house or something, so Abby went up to her room to try and study and maybe do some homework that was long overdue to get her mind off him.

The next morning, Abby waited in front of the science building but to not wholly accept her being an assistant for Ms. Carter instead, she waited there to turn her offer down because she's busy as it is already. She's got too many people and jobs lined up on her back. She'll seriously die if she continues to live like this. God.

When her line of sight caught a woman in a gray pantsuit walking towards her, Abby immediately ran to meet her halfway. "Ms. Carter I'd like to tur-"

"Great! You're here early." Julianne Carter began before handing Abby her bag, some research papers, and a box of three-inch-thick books.

She tried again, "Professor, I'd like to tur-"

And then Julianne cut her off, "-the others are in my car. Bring them at my office. 5th floor, okay?" she said throwing her keys at Abby, not even bothering to know if she caught it or not, while she moved smoothly away from her in her 4-inch stilettos.

Abby huffed out, irritated. Now she's starting to hate Carter and her imposing ass. She should have just paid for her dry cleaning rather than become that woman's slave for half a year. Damn it.

Opening the car trunk, Abby reminded herself that this is the first and last time she's going to do this for Julianne Carter. After this, she'll tell her that she can't be her assistant whether she is Noah's mystery girl or not.

The metal doors smoothly open, revealing an exhausted Abby. Thank the heavens for elevators. Abby pondered after coming back to get Carter's things for the last time. Why did she have so many things with her anyway? Did she bring her whole house to her office?

As Abby pushed herself to finish what she started, her ears perk as Carter's voice echoed the hallway to her office. "Thanks, John! I'll put it on your desk tomorrow." Abby heard Julianne Carter's flat voice before the sound of typing returned when she rounded up to the corner of the room where her cubicle is.

Noticing her arrival, Julianne glanced at Abby and then went back again to typing on her laptop. "Thanks." she muttered, "-just put them there," she added motioning her hand at the pile of files on the ground.

Just as Abby carefully place the files on her arms to the neatly piled papers on the floor, her eyes caught the small framed pictures and cute little figurines on display on top of the shelf just beside the pile. Her eyes quickly scanned it hoping to find Noah's picture or some kind of clue to confirm her identity as Noah's mystery girl.

"What are you doing?" Abby's spine straightened in surprise, turning to face Julianne who has a questioning look on her face.

"Nice pictures." she blurted out unintentionally.

Julianne raised a brow at her and then she went back on typing. "Thanks. My husband likes to take pictures and collect souvenirs during our trips."

Abby gulped. A plan is brewing in her mind. She was supposed to talk to Carter about rejecting her offer as an assistant but she can't let the chance to confirm Carter's identity as Noah's mystery girl go. Forget the quitting part, Abby felt that this is her only chance to confirm her identity.

"How long are you married?" Abby tried asking casually before turning her back on Carter as she pretended to fix the pile of paper on the ground.

She heard her tap a finger on her desk. A deafening silence passed between them before she answered, "Not long."

Abby's surprised that Carter was answering her questions so she tried to probe a little more.

"Not long?" Abby repeated glancing behind her to look at Carter. She wanted to see how she'll react.

"Yeah, we married two years ago." She said with a blank expression.

Was Noah a married man?! Abby thought in horror.

Feeling the mood get somehow a little lighter, Abby stood up from where she is and rounded Carter's desk to sit on the empty waiting chair in front of it

"So, where is he now?" okay Abby sounded a little way out of the line. She silently crossed her fingers hoping Carter would answer her dumb question.

Julianne paused while staring into space. She suddenly stood up from her chair to look outside the small window from her office. Abby heard her clear her throat, "He left." She said with a slight quiver in her voice. And then Carter's suddenly sniffing and sobbing in front of her.

Okay, Abby did not expect this turn of events. She only wanted Carter to share a little information about herself. She didn't mean to make her cry. Geez.

Finding a tissue dispenser on top of the desk, Abby took the container and handed it to the bawling woman next to her. Julianne pulled out a couple of tissue paper before gently wiping her tear-stained cheek.

"He left you, for…another woman?" Abby continued asking when Carter calmed down from sobbing.

Julianne turned around to face her. A sad smile forming on her lips, "I wish he were-" She said her voice in a quiet tremble.

Abby already had an idea what Julianne Carter meant when she said her husband left her.

"-he died a year ago though." Julianne Carter finally said and Abby felt her chest throb a little.