BLOCKED

HUNTER'S P.O.V

The car in front of me refused to move. I gripped the steering wheel so hard my knuckles turned white. I was going to lose it if the chick in the red car didn't move.

A horn blared behind me.

"Can you please, maybe hurry the fuck up?" Someone yelled out of the window.

"Jesus Christ..." I muttered under my breath.

The girl in the red car inched forward slower than a damn snail. I bent my head, peeking under the windshield to see the holdup.

I saw it, a yellow "LEARNER" tag dangled from her bumper.

Great, a learner, right in the middle of peak school traffic.

I slumped back in my seat with a bitter exhale. This mess was going to take forever and I was already late for my first lecture.

My phone started buzzing angrily beside me, it was my alarm, a not-so-gentle reminder that I should be in class already. I slammed my thumb on the screen to shut it off and looked ahead again.

Why the hell wasn't anyone helping the learner? Giving directions or anything? Just a terrified learner trapped between angry drivers.

To distract myself, I grabbed my phone and opened my messages with Vera, I read the last text I had sent her:

"How long is this going to last?"

Under it, in tiny, mocking letters:

*seen.*

She saw it and ignored me. My stomach sank, and a familiar ache settled in.

Should I call her? Would she want me to call? Fuck, were there rules to a "break"? Could we talk or see each other? Why the hell didn't we clarify anything?

I didn't sleep the first night she left. I remembered how it felt when I got home, how empty our apartment was without her. I couldn't sleep the second night either, how could I knowing what I did to her, how I had damaged our relationship?

She hadn't left my mind for a single minute. What was she doing right now? What was she thinking? Did she even miss me? Even a little?

A sudden scream snapped me out of my thoughts

"Fucking move!"

I jerked my head up only to see the red car was gone, and now I was the one holding up traffic.

"Oh my God!" the same loud driver yelled behind me.

"Alright, alright!" I muttered, shifting gears.

I threw my phone onto the seat beside me, pulled forward into the parking lot, and found a spot. I killed the engine, reached into the backseat for my stuff, then grabbed my phone again.

I stared at Vera's text, then I started typing.

Delete, type, delete, type again, back space. I ended up with nothing. I didn't want to sound desperate, even though I was. I didn't want to seem cold either, like I didn't care. Because I did—God, I cared so much. I wanted her to know I was thinking about her, every second, every hour. I wanted her to know I loved her.

In the end, I ended up with something simple.

"Vera <3"

One word, with one emoji. Everything I felt compressed into the smallest message. I inhaled deeply... then hit send.

A tiny smile tugged at my lips as I stared at the screen, waiting, hoping she'd reply this time.

A notification popped up, much sooner than I had expected. She answered, she actually—

I brought my phone closer to read the message, my smile died instantly.

"You are unable to chat with this user."

I blinked, then read it again, it hit me. Vera...Vera actually.

She fucking blocked me.

VERA'S P.O.V

The lecture hall door opened slowly, dragging every student's attention away from Professor Halden. I didn't look up.

I was too tired, unbothered and emotionally drained to care who dared to walk in this late. I had previously looked around the classroom and noticed the one person absent—Hunter.

Professor Halden paused mid-sentence, his chalk hovered over the black board. He wasn't the type to tolerate interruptions, he hated latecomers, he hated noise and anything that wasn't orderly. Except, apparently, today.

"Vera," Ellie my best friend whispered beside me, tapping my arm eagerly.

"What?" I muttered, still staring at my notebook.

"It's Hunter."

I turned to look at her as casually as I could.

I told Ellie everything, but I hadn't told her about the break Hunter and I were having. So, of course, she didn't understand why I wasn't excited about the arrival of my boyfriend.

"Yeah," I said, as casually as I could.

"Yeah?" Ellie repeated me, clearly confused. "He's late to Halden's class, and he just missed the surprise test Halden conducted minutes ago".

Yes...the Halden's surprise test, Hunter had missed it.

Halden also happened to be one of the strictest professors at school. There were going to be consequences for Hunter's action.

I shrugged; it was the only response I could give Ellie, and given how well she knew me, she could tell something was wrong—her raised eyebrow confirmed it.

Hunter remained at the door. His eyes scanned the room, until they found me. He kept his focus on me, like I was the only thing that mattered to him now.

Eventually, he returned his gaze back at Halden again.

Everyone waited for a reaction from Halden, for him to fly off the handle. Just just last week, he had barked at a student who had also came late to his class, further punishing him by marking him absent from the class attendance.

I would be lying if I said I did not silently pray for Hunter. I prayed Halden was in a cheerful mood, and he would not scream and embarrass him like the student he did to last week.

You only pray for the best for people you love, and I loved Hunter.

But deep down, I already knew what would happen to him, whether I prayed, or not.