Apology

It took her a while but Lisa finally calmed down as the intensity of her sobbing slowly subsided. Andrey's hand was gently placed on her back as he waited for her to calm down without any hint of impatience. 

A few seconds later Lisa's state became much better. The pain had not lessened but the weight that she had been carrying in her heart seemed to have been lightened thanks to her emotional outburst.

She slowly pulled herself out of Andrey's embrace with a reddened face. She felt embarrassed about crying like a baby in Andrey's embrace now that her head had cleared up a little.

"Feeling a bit better?" Andrey asked while trying to make his face as gentle as possible for Lisa.

"Mhm...T-thank you..." Lisa managed to overcome her embarrassment and thanked Andrey. His presence allowed her to let all her pent-up emotions out and relieve the weight she had been carrying inside her heart all this while.

"Ah y-yeah," He responded while scratching his face. This was the first time in his life that he had been so close to a girl so it was natural that his thoughts were a bit chaotic.

Lisa didn't notice Andrey's awkward state as she leaned back on the backrest and stared blankly in a particular direction. 

Noticing her gaze Andrey too followed it and realised that she was looking at a particular photo frame. It was a picture of Lisa and her father. The image was quite old as Lisa seemed to be nine or ten years old in the pic and her father was also looking quite young when comparing him with the rest of the pictures in the room.

Lisa had a cheerful expression on her face as she was sitting on top of her father's shoulders while he was posing for a picture. The cheerful laughter she shared with her father from that time echoed in Lisa's ears as her memories flashed back to the time when she went out to a picnic with her father.

Alas, despite her conscious efforts to remain in that memory she was soon brought back to the present which was accompanied by a pained expression.

"I miss him...I truly miss him. It feels just like yesterday when he left for work...If I had known that something like this was going to happen...I would have never let him go," Lisa said bitterly.

Seeing that pained expression on her face Andrey gently placed his hand over Lisa's. It seemed to have worked as her frown had lessened a bit.

"He was a great father...wasn't he?" Andrey remarked.

"Yes, he was the best...the best I could have asked for," Lisa said with a trace of longing.

"If he was here, then how would he feel knowing that his daughter almost took her life because of him," Andrey remarked.

Andrey's words struck where it hurt and Lisa could only guiltily look towards the ground.

Looking towards the white ceiling of the house Andrey continued "He would be disappointed and sad...wouldn't he? I believe he is definitely watching you from above just like how my mother is always watching over me... No parent would want their child to end their life or live a life of misery because of them so, as children we must always make sure to live our lives to the fullest not only for ourselves but also for their sake...you understand right?" 

"Sorry...I shouldn't have done something stupid like that...I was just so overwhelmed with all the emotions and couldn't control myself," She said to Andrey.

"Do you still feel overwhelmed?" Andrey asked.

"I do...but compared to earlier it's a lot less now thanks to you," Lisa said. She was grateful to Andrey because she felt that it was because of him that her inner turmoil had lightened down as the earlier heavy feeling inside her chest that she felt was too much for her to bear was no longer present.

"I'm relieved then, I should be going now," Andrey said while looking at the time on his phone.

"Ah...alright," Lisa said as she too realized that Andrey had been with her for quite some time.

Seeing her expression that seemed a bit lost Andrey smiled at her and said "If there's anything you need help with don't shy away from calling me Alright? Take care," 

"Mhmm," Lisa hummed to Andrey as she too stood up along with Andrey to accompany him to the door.

"See you tomorrow Lisa," Andrey said while emphasizing the word 'tomorrow' while trying to make the most amiable face he possibly could. He was doing this to ensure that Lisa didn't try to do anything stupid tonight.

'If I stay with her I would be able to stop her from attempting it...but I can't always be with her,' Andrey thought to himself as he walked back home. On the scale of probability though, he was seventy per cent certain that she wouldn't try anything like that as for the remaining thirty per cent he could only pray.

After reaching home Andrey slammed himself on his bed while staring at the white ceiling. Even though he didn't do much physically today, mentally, he felt exhausted. As a result, just after ten seconds of lying on his bed he fell asleep.

Beep Beep Beep Beep...

Andrey frustratingly hit the stop button of his alarm clock as he went back to sleep but alas...his bladder proved to be a hurdle for him to go back to that blissful state.

'Fuck' Andrey thought to himself in his sleep as he pushed his lethargic body up from the bed and walked towards the toilet while struggling to open his almost-shut eyes.

When he came back to bed almost half of his sleep had gone away and he felt a bit frustrated regarding this. He was about to stubbornly go back to sleep but his gaze inadvertently went towards his clock.

"6 AM?!" Andrey exclaimed. He clearly remembered going to sleep at around five in the evening.

His stomach suddenly growled as if to prove to him that he indeed had slept for more than twelve hours.

He went to check his phone only to realize that all its battery had been discharged and while cursing his rotten fate he plugged it into the charger and went to freshen himself up.

An hour and a half later Andrey left for school with a full stomach and a fully charged phone. He switched on his phone to check all the messages he got.

There was a missed call from his father which was followed by a good night message from him. A couple or more messages were from Jacob which he decided to put aside for now as he didn't want to get caught in an accident while walking on the road while staring at his phone.

While entering the school premises Andrey felt a bit weird as he was attracting a lot of gazes than he normally does so he decided to go to the nearest washroom to check his appearance.

His messy hair looked as messy as always while there was also no stain on his face. His top which was a regular round neck t-shirt also didn't look any different from the normal.

'What's wrong with everyone?" Andrey pondered to himself as he walked out of the class.

On the corridor, just like yesterday, he saw a Rebecca. Her face carried a frown on them which was much greater than yesterday which made Andrey wonder as to what had happened.

When Andrey had noticed her, she too noticed him. Her frown deepened a bit when she saw Andrey and after hesitating for a second she walked towards him and stopped just a couple feet away from him.

Andrey too formed a bit of a frown when he saw her coming towards him. The impression she left on him the last time she approached him was to blame for this.

Seeing her standing a couple of feet away from him Andrey couldn't help but hold his breath. It was maybe because of the fierce aura she carried that made him hold his breath like that.

Just when he was about to ask her for what business she had come here for he saw her bowing her head towards him as only her brown hair which she had made into a low bun was visible to him.

Before Andrey could ask her for the reason for it he heard the following words from her.

"Thank you for saving Lisa yesterday! I'm truly sorry for behaving rudely with you yesterday,"

The words were said quite loudly as it was not just Andrey who heard it but also all the surrounding students who started talking among themselves. 

Andrey who was not expecting something like this to happen was put into quite an awkward situation as he said in an attempt to make her lift her head, "It's ok you don't need to apologize for that...you were only worried about Lisa so I understand,"

Hearing his words Rebecca lifted her head with a grateful expression as she said, "Still, apologising was necessary after I heard what you did for Lisa,"

She soon bid him goodbye among the penetrating eyes of other students and Andrey too walked towards his class as it was almost time for the homeroom teacher to arrive.

A/N: An amateur poem for a change.

The words my hand grasped from the portal of my mind,

It was always so the case but not so for tonight,

I tried to catch them one after the other,

Failed I each time spiralling down the ladder,

Confused and fearful I checked inside my heart,

The unrest from waiting was keeping the words apart,

I wanted to struggle but my body listened to the heart,

I lost the battle and let the storyline halt for a few hours.