Chapter 29 (1/2)
Khalil looked around the counselling room. Small. It's not that big. If you looked at the qualification of the person inhabiting the room, it really was unsuited for her, but she still insists on working here with a considerable reason.
”During our last year… you've seen him since then?” asked Khalil while the counsellor was cleaning the room. What's she's cleaning for, Khalil didn't know. He saw that it was already quite clean. Maybe it's because she's not the type to just sit down and do nothing; she must do something. A symptom of control freak perhaps?
She looked at Khalil as if just realised he was there. ”Sorry. What did you say?”
The main problem with people who can communicate with the unseen was that they sometimes don't focus on reality, Khalil concluded.
”During our senior year. You saw him?”
”Oh, no. Not yet.”
”Not yet? How come?”
”These things… they have a slightly messed-up time continuum. 10 years may have pa.s.sed for us, but for them, it might have been only a week or two.”
Khalil sighed. ”This is troublesome. It's like they make up their own rules. They see what they want, think what they want.”
”Things that have no purpose, no direction… that's just how they are. It's the same with us humans. If we live using our own rules, who knows where we'd end up, right?”
Khalil nodded. ”Then, when did you start seeing him?”
”When we came back to get our SPM result.”
Khalil's heart pounded hard, imagining the situation. He didn't know what his reaction would be if he was in her place. Not meeting after a year, but to suddenly see…
”How… is he?” Khalil braved himself to ask.
The counsellor smiled - sweet yet slightly bitter. ”Like… usual. Like he's been seeing me for the past few days. He didn't realise that a year had pa.s.sed. He didn't know that I've stopped mourning for him.”
There's a clear melancholy on her voice. Then, she continued, ”I was shocked when I saw him. I really thought that he had moved on. I couldn't think straight. What I know was that I no longer want to feel that pain again - the pain of losing him.”
Understandable. Khalil truly understood her. ”That's why you picked a nearby college?”
She nodded.
”Didn't your parents say anything? Isn't your SPM result excellent?”
”You remembered my result?”
”Yes.” Yes because I was looking for a reason to hate you at the time. When I found out that your result was good, I hypnotise myself to believe that you're not even slightly affected by his pa.s.sing. You don't care for him like how I do. Just look at my result, it's bulls.h.i.+t.
”My parents were quite angry, asking why I took Psychology while I could choose Medic,” the counsellor said with a chuckle. ”He once boasted to me. As stubborn as I was… I finally succ.u.mbed in his hands.”
”It's actually he who fell in your hands,” said Khalil spontaneously. If he acted on his jealousy, that sentence would never leave his mouth, but it was reality so there was no use denying it.
The counsellor's face didn't show any pride but was instead layered with guilt. ”Was it really because of me, Khalil? Because of me that all those things happened?”
”n.o.body should be blamed when someone commits suicide,” Khalil articulated. ”That's why, matters of life and death, just leave it to G.o.d. If we're responsible for them, the world would be plagued with chaos.”
The counsellor nodded.
Khalil sighed. ”So, now what? Is there any method to use? It's been left alone for too long.”
”I feel that if the both of us meet him and wake him up… maybe things would change.”
Khalil laughed lightly.
”Why? What's so funny?”
”Nothing. I thought that we could interfere with only human matters, but it seems like even ghost could be affected too.” His tone turned mocking.
The counsellor leered at him. Her fierceness is back. ”You have a better idea?”
”These unsettled spirits, isn't it usually that they have unfinished business? Have you tried asking if he has any unfulfilled wish?”
The counsellor's cheeks suddenly reddened for no reason. Ah, now what?
”None that I know of,” a lie came out from her mouth. Her cheeks were as red as a lobster and she was still lying?
”You don't really have to tell me. As long as you know and can fulfill it, that's fine,” said Khalil. Then, he continued, ”Or… is it impossible to do?”
”Of course it's not possible!” as the denial came out, the counsellor's face showed guilt. It's out…