Novel & Cerita I Just Wanna Keep Calling Your Name

Our SAT results came back, and our parents booked a private room at a Michelin-starred steakhouse to celebrate. Over dinner, they began discussing how we should apply to the same university so we could keep looking out for each other. I looked across the table at Derek and asked politely, “Derek, which university are you planning to apply to?” The moment the words left my mouth, comments suddenly flashed across my vision. [Here she goes again. Is this desperate side character going to apply to the same university as the male lead?] [I feel so bad for him. Just to keep the close ties between the families, he has to be okay with her clinging to him for three whole years!] [Don’t worry. H

Crashing, hitting a wall Right now I need a miracle Hurry up now, I need a miracle Stranded, reaching out I call your name but you're not around I say your name but you're not around Yeah, I badly need a miracle right now. How will I be able to make him stay? Why is he still in the US? Why not in the Philippines? He still avoids me for reasons I don't know. I need you, I need you, I need you right now Yeah, I need you right now So don't let me down I think I'm losing my mind now It's in my head, darling I hope

His arm that was wrapped around my waist pulling me closer to him, but other than that, he made no other move. I smiled against his chest, then spoke again, this time a bit louder and clearer. “Kai…” I nudged his chest with my index finger. “…I need to head back now.” Kai—a new nickname I had figured out for him, one that I think best fits this best, has become a name that I cannot help but keep calling out. It feels like the best thing to my ears really. It feels almost as though I have been saying the name my entire life, and I now cannot remember a moment in the past where I have not called the name. It felt normal. It felt good.

she started. “But I like your name,” I said. “Really? Thank you. But, I don’t want to call Aphrodite by my friends” she said. Aww, she thinks of me as her friend. “What do you want me to call you then?” I ask. “Uhm… it’s up to you hehe. I wanted to make a nickname, a good one. But I can’t think of any nickname that I like” she said. “Why did you want to have a nickname?” I ask. “don’t you have a nickname when you were younger?” I continue.

It lit up again. Same name. Same number. Same person. Calling like he hadn’t already missed too many chances. I swallowed lightly. My thumb hovered over the screen. Answer. Just one tap. That was all it would take. One tap and I would hear his voice. Would he sound the same? Would he pretend like everything was normal? Would he ask where I was? Would he— I pulled my hand back slightly. No. I wasn’t ready. The call rang out again. Then stopped.

So wrong, as if it were actually a mistake, and I so fucking want to pull myself out of it, but it doesn’t seem to be as easy as it is. She fucking doesn’t matter anymore because someone’s name has totally occupied the space in my mind, and the name keeps echoing like the sound of a bell in my head. And right now, all I want after the fucking two-minute call with Sandra is a distraction. I want a distraction, and the perfect distraction is her, Anastasia. So I pick up my phone and call her. I watch as she takes the call while her friends pause their conversation, and she swallows a few times before she says a word.

Something that feels like standing on a curb and realizing the headlights are coming a little too fast. I reread the instructions. Simple. Clean. Almost too clean. West End Café. Corner booth. Mr. Black. No phone number. No company name. Just initials and a clock. I rub my temples. It's just work. I need the money. I can't afford to turn picky over a detail that's probably nothing. Still, the name claws at me. Mr. Black. It sounds made-up. Like the kind of name you give when you don't want to be known.

Yet I kept asking him to do all those things while refusing to tell him the truth. A lump formed in my throat. Then I pulled out my phone again. His contact appeared immediately. 'My First Mmm'. Heat instantly rushed into my cheeks despite everything happening around me. The ridiculous name still made me blush. I stared at it for several seconds. Then I pressed call. The phone rang. First once, twice...three times, then voicemail. My heart sank. I tried again, same result. Again, still nothing. A strange emptiness settled inside my chest.

I liked the way my pulse quickened when I thought about their ruin. "I want Meredith to try and buy a loaf of bread and find out her name is a curse that people spit on. I want Thaddeus to see me in your arms and realize he didn't just sell a wife—he sold his own executioner. I want them to rot in the very basement they forced me to sleep in, looking up at a ceiling they can no longer reach while the power is cut and the world forgets they ever existed."

What if I was bothering him? “Ivy,” Maria said softly. “Call him.” I looked at her. “He said you could, didn’t he?” I nodded slowly. “Then call.” My fingers tightened around the card. Slowly… carefully… I pulled it out. The name stared back at me. Zayn Kane. Even his name felt… powerful. I took a shaky breath and reached for my phone. My hands trembled as I dialed the number. Each ring felt louder than the last. Once… My heart pounded. Twice… I almost hung up. Three… The call connected.