Chapter fourteen

Collins sat on his bed, critically thinking. He was bent over a table with a pen in his hand, with which he was supposed to jot down what business idea he could think of. He had spent over two hours in this position and his limbs ached badly. Still, he was determined to come up with something at least. The last few days had seen him putting off the exercise of brainstorming and today was going to be different. He vowed to eat only after coming up with something tangible and so far, he has come up with a whole lot of nothing. If only he had someone he could trust with this assignment he thought, and immediately the thought of Anne popped up in his head, She is the perfect person for this exercise, he reasoned.

Now that he was free from the bounds of Sugar, he thought about reaching out to Anne, although he wasn't sure of her reaction but they could wind up as friends, or even more...

He felt disgusted with how selfish he sounded right now plus, he had successfully distracted himself. He reverted his thoughts to coming up with a business idea and concluded almost immediately that he needed help from a second person and the question of who stared back at him with full force.

He wasn't sure he could trust his friends with his little secret and he didn't want to be judged by his cousins. The only option he had was Anne but he wasn't sure how to go about it. Judging from how he had simply disappeared from her life after he met Sugar.

He made up his mind to reach out to Anne and allowed the thought to settle in his mind. He didn't know how she would react to him showing up after many months but he was going to give the thought a try. Although the thought made him nervous, he also felt somewhat relaxed. He was prepared to walk through fire just to hear from her again and become friends with her once more. Whatever her reaction would be, he deserved worse.

It was becoming impossible for him to ignore the hunger he now felt so he stood up, clutching the table when he almost fell, and then struggled to keep himself standing. He dished a large portion of food from the pot, thanking his stars that he had prepared the food before he began brainstorming. He hurriedly ate the food and dished some more. He was so hungry that he didn't notice the excess salt in the food.

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"The number you dial is switched off". The service provider announced for the umpteenth time, while Collins exhaled a rather disappointed sigh. He was tired of hearing the disappointing announcement from the service provider and hoped against all odds that the call would connect. He needed to hear from Anne, now that he had his morale boosted, and was prepared to receive whatever insults from her.

After several attempts to reach Anne which yielded no result, Collins, rather bored, typed away on his phone. It was currently 07:45 p.m., and he had been attempting to reach her for over two hours. The fatigue he felt would not stop him, he kept reminding himself.

He was scrolling through Facebook when he came across a photo of Anne on his phone. How lucky could he be! Why did he not think of reaching her via Facebook, he wondered.

Hastily he sent her tons and tons of messages, apologizing and explaining himself. He was disappointed when he realized she was not active and had not been for days. He stayed up for hours, hopefully waiting for Anne while he reminisced on the times when it was a ritual to hear from each other daily and realized how much he missed those times.

To keep out the dizziness he was beginning to feel, he dished the remaining food on a plate. After he forcefully swallowed a spoonful, he disposed of the remnants, wondering how he had managed to eat the same food earlier today and not notice the excess salt.

He lazily crawled into his bed to continue the battle between reaching Anne and reaching Dreamland.

Sugar had generously left him with annoying messages, garnished with insults, and he had scrolled further without sparing the messages as much as a glance. He had better things to do after all. He was only surprised at her nerves to leave him with annoying messages after her shameless attempt to embarrass him by creating a scene in his school.

Once more, he felt triumphant for having enriched himself within the many months he spent in hell.

A message came into his phone just then, it was from Sugar. Without bothering to open the message, he blocked her on Facebook and made a mental note to do the same on all other social handles.

When it seemed the dizziness had gained the upper hand, he fought back by sending Anne more messages. He was into typing a message when he slept off, losing the battle to reaching Dreamland.

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For days, Collins woke up, expecting a reply from Anne, and was disappointed, each day's disappointment greater than the last. He was truly sorry for the pain and hurt he caused her and wanted more than anything else to make it up to her.

The days dragged into weeks and his expectations dwindled with each passing day. He kept himself busy by thinking of a suitable business idea and hung out with his friends whenever he was bored.

His friends were quick to notice his absentmindedness and pointed it out to him. Even when he assured them that he was fine, they kept pushing. He got tired at a point and avoided meeting with them.

He had a lot bothering him and he had no intention to disclose them with his friends, even though he trusted them.

He instead channeled his focus towards his final year exams which were around the corner, since brainstorming always led to thoughts of Anne.

He promised himself to get Anne to forgive him no matter how long it would take and until then, business ideas could wait.