"Hey guys," Alita greeted when she got to their table and sat down.
"Hey, Lita, what's up?" Brian responded, leaning forward against the table as if he couldn't wait to hear what she had to say.
"You look radiant. What's the good news?" Kayla asked as her eyes looked curiously at her friend. It's very rare to see Alita this happy. Even though she laughs and smiles, one could see if they looked closely, the sadness in her eyes. Kayla knows that something was troubling Alita, but she had never pressured her into talking about it. Now seeing Alita in such a good mood, she was really curious to know what good news she had to share.
Alita passed the file to them without saying anything and waited patiently for their reaction when they see what was inside.
And just as she had expected, "He approved it?" Kayla screeched and Alita nodded her head, still smiling.
"Wait, isn't this the first topic that he rejected?" Brian queried with furrowed brows, as he looked closely at the paper again.
"Yep, It is," Alita affirmed
"What happened?"
"How did it happen?"
Kayla and Brian asked at the same time, their eyes fixed on her silently telling her to start talking.
"I really don't know guys. When I arrived this morning, I was told to report to his office. I went as instructed only for him to give me this and he said I should start immediately. I am as shocked as you guys." Alita iterated.
"Congrats Lita. I'm so relieved. We need to drink to this." Brian suggested and they all agreed.
"Congrats baby gal." Kayla whispered in Alita's ear as she wrapped her in a warm hug.
***
That night, Alita could not sleep. She contemplated for a long time whether to call Axel or not. Even though she didn't know what he did to make her supervisor change his mind, she had a strong feeling that it was him and she was grateful. College without Alexa was tough and extremely heartbreaking. They had applied for it, dreamt about it, and planned for it together, only for her to attend it alone. She had grown stronger and stranger even to herself, she had trained, fought, and killed, became colder towards vampires and humans, but the pain in her heart still remained. The wound still bleeds. She couldn't mourn her sister because she wasn't sure if she was still alive or dead. There was only hope to hold on to. Hope that she was still alive somewhere. But right now, she wanted nothing more than to graduate peacefully, to close the painful 'college without Alexa' Chapter of her life, Only for Mr. Silas to decide that it was not time for her to go yet. Whatever Axel did had really helped her and he deserved a thank you from her, so she decided to call him.
"Hi, it's Alita." She introduced herself immediately after the call connected.
"Hey sweetheart, missing me already?" Axel teased with his alluringly beautiful voice and Alita couldn't help the smile that crept to her lips.
"You know my name already, so why are you still calling me sweetheart?" She asked.
"I can't help it. it's an expression of how you make me feel. You see, my heart has known no other taste except for bitter and sour until you came along. You showed it the taste of sweetness. Now I'm addicted and I just can't get enough." As the words were tumbling out of Axel's lips, Asher whipped his head around to look at him, brows raised in surprise.
Alita on the other hand blushed furiously despite the fact that Axel wasn't there presently.
"I... I... Umm..." Speechless, she couldn't form a proper sentence.
"You don't have to say anything, Alita. I didn't say it for you to respond. I said it so you would know how much you affect me, and how much I want to put a smile on your face again." He sent more explosives to her heart.
Alita felt warmth creep into her heart. She suddenly felt like crying and she didn't know why. Why do his words make her feel so... She could not find words to describe how she was feeling at the moment.
"So how was your day?" He inquired and she swallowed before she answered.
"It was fine. No. Great. My supervisor decided to let me off his net and stop frustrating me. I know you had something to do with it. What did you do?" Her curious voice rang out over the phone.
"What??? Now you are accusing me falsely." He feigned ignorance, acting as if her accusations hurt him.
"I know you did something, Axel. Stop denying it." Her words made him freeze for a moment. This was the first time she called him by his name and it sounded so good coming from her lips, that he wants to make her say it over and over again.
"Okay, you caught me. No one is permitted to bully you or make you angry apart from me." He replied.
"Thank you." Her soft voice uttered.
"You are welcome. Have a good night's rest, Alita." He wished her.
"You too." She said and ended the call.
"Where did you learn that!" Asher exclaimed as he couldn't hold back his shock.
"What?" Axel turned around so he could face Asher.
"All those flowery words you just spouted?" Asher's face still looked as if he couldn't believe what he just heard.
"I didn't learn it anywhere. I just said it as it was in my heart." Axel responded
"So is this you saying you... Like her?" Asher's question made him furrow his brows. Does he like her?
"Tsk... I don't think 'like' can fully describe it." He responded. He didn't know what he was feeling, but he knew he had never felt it before. Was it love? He didn't know what love is. He had never felt it before. Maybe he had, but it was a very long time ago and now he doesn't know how it felt. He had only known hate, and pain, and sadness. So what was this new feeling?
"Is it love then?" Asher asked again and this time, Axel didn't utter any word for a while.