He Thought I Was Finally Learning Novels & Stories

Silence settled between us again. But this time It wasn’t heavy. It was grounding. Like something had finally aligned. “I didn’t panic,” I admitted. “No,” he said. “You didn’t.” A small pause. Then “And that’s why you’re still standing here.” The words sent something through me. Not fear. Not relief. Something stronger. Understanding. For the first time since everything began I wasn’t just surviving. I was learning how to stand. How to think. How to move. In a world that would have destroyed me weeks ago.

And as I sat there, watching him again this time without trying to hide it ,I realized something I hadn’t fully put into words before. I was learning him. Not through what he said. Not through what we did. But through everything in between. I was learning him… in ways words couldn’t explain.

Because as I slowly lifted my head. There it was again. Standing at the end of the street. Closer this time. Much closer. Waiting. Watching. And this time. I knew one thing for sure. It wasn’t just observing anymore. It was learning. And I had just become its focus.

"I'll come." He laughed. "I thought so." The door closed behind him. I sat there for a moment, smiling. Then I climbed into bed. My arms still ached. My memories were still incomplete. The answers I wanted were still somewhere beyond my reach. But tonight, I didn't feel like I was losing. I was learning. Slowly. One memory at a time. One choice at a time. And for the first time since I had opened my eyes in this world, I wasn't waiting for the story to tell me who I was. I was beginning to decide for myself.

I mumbled and he smiled widely when he realized that I'd gotten it right. “ I see you're much better at handling things cruelly.”He finally caged me against a wall and I gulped down a nonexistent saliva.. “ I learned from the best..” I mumbled while staring into his eyes which looked like they were pulling me in the more I stared into them.. It was like an endless abyss. “ You learned from me?” He asked with a frown and I nodded with hesitation and almost immediately he grabbed his head as he seemed to have remembered something.

The words were still floating around inside my head, and I suspected it’d take a few more minutes until they disappeared and left me in peace. I felt something hard, like the end of a ballpoint pen, poking on the side of my arm. I didn’t have to turn my head to see who was working on gaining my attention. Jess said, “How was it?” I rubbed the bridge of my nose as I mumbled, “Shit.” Jess chuckled. “That bad?” When I nodded, she said, “At least it’s over, right?” I nodded again. Damn right. It was over. The weeks of studying my ass off were finally over. At least until next semester started.

It was now that I realized I should see him more as an inspiration, my own motivation, than to be scared of him. “Wow, I… I never thought of it that way.” I chuckled, trying to hide my shame. He kissed the temple of my head. “Hm, it’s alright. There are new things to learn everyday.” I scoffed. “You’re already doing it, conditioning your mind and I’m in the process of realizing it. I feel dumb.” He chuckled this time. “That’s the last word I’ll describe you, baby.” I snickered. “Well, duh. You already called me dumb before.”

I had never thought that there comes a time that I would definitely had dificulty in learning. Seriously, all those things were messing my mind. They come one after another and I couldn't completely take a grasp of everything. It all happened at once. The terms used weren't even familiar. What irked me most was the man's face beside me. Just by staring at him, I'm certain he had something going on inside his mind. "I'm sure you had an idea to where you belong."

"Appearances are often misleading, sweet cheeks. Didn't your father teach you that?" I finally took a step back as it was getting a little too strange for me. "Are you trying to scare me?" "Maybe..." I swallowed uneasily. "Well, it didn't work" He finally chuckled, getting rid of the tension between us. A part of me was a little relieved that he changed his demeanor. "You have so much to learn about this world, sweet cheeks" I stuck my nose in the air. "And I will, I told you I'm a fast learner."

He says reading my mind. “That’s what I’ve been trying to do since I came back, but it feels like I’m not making any progress,” I say letting out all these emotions for the first time. He’s grown so much that I feel like I don’t know who he is. “You’ll get there, these things take time.” He says making me smile. “What?” He asks surprised. “Shalom told me the exact same thing,” I say and he looks at me with too much interest, the look on his face is making me uncomfortable.