Chapter 33 (1/2)
”He's becoming more restless, Khalil.”
Khalil knew that the counsellor's invitation for dinner that night was with a hidden motive. He knew that she would talk about this.
”Then, what do you want me to do? That Jeremy kid isn't cooperating!”
”Jeremy is not the only way to solve this…”
Khalil was silent. He could guess what the counsellor would suggest.
”Khalil, all this while, he thought that Jeremy is you…”
”So?”
”So now that you're here, what use do we have for Jeremy?”
Khalil pretended to be busy sipping on his cup of coffee, even though there's only 1/3 of coffee left in it and he usually drinks only 2/3 of his water. But because of this weird atmosphere, Khalil had to sacrifice his trademark habit.
”I know it's hard, Khalil. But don't tell me you're going to leave him like that, restless?”
Emotional blackmail. d.a.m.n it.
”I'm already old. It can't be that he won't notice it,” Khalil tried making an excuse.
”If he can see Jeremy as you, then what's the problem with you who is merely 10 years older?” Demmit!
”So, what should I do? Living in a room with him is one thing. But I can't just go to the academic block, staying in the cla.s.s with the students just for the sake of being in character? Acting has a limit too you know?” complained Khalil. He rarely complained like that.
”There's probably no need to stay in the cla.s.s. But if needed, you can just say it's a part of your research for a new work,” suggested the counsellor.
Why is she so smart? Her smartness is at the point of being annoying.
”Are you planning on an ambush? How would you that intervention thing? I don't want to waste my time with him if in the end, he would still be in denial.”
”That too… I might need your help with it.”
”I'm not even too supporting of this current plan.”
”Khalil… please?”
Khalil sighed. It sounded so heavy.
”I, of all people, know it's hard. But you know we gotta do this,” persuaded the counsellor. She then added with a bitter smile, ”And anyway, it's not so bad. You get to spend your time with him.”
Khalil can't help but return her smile. ”It's not him anymore, remember?”
”When you see it, you will feel that it's really him.”
”If, like what Jeremy said, when he appears, he won't look as handsome as he used to, then what?”
”Was he ever not handsome in your eyes?”
Khalil was silent. He was reminded of the time when he liked to steal glances at the person who stole his heart.
”No. Never. He's always handsome.”
”Then it shouldn't be a problem.”
”The counsellor told you to scratch your script>? Why?” asked Lina when going back to Jeremy's room that evening.
”She said that brother Khalil wants to give me some input.”
”But you've already done a rehearsal!”
”It's just an initial rehearsal. Using a different script is still fine,” Jeremy quickly answered.
Lina leered. ”Eleh, you, for your brother Khalil, anything would do, right?”
”Eh, now way! That day, when he asked for that ridiculous thing, did I agree? No, right?”
Lina clammed up, thinking of the counsellor's and brother Khalil's weird request to Jeremy. ”So the rumours about the counsellor were true, eh?”
”It's not, dear. The rumours said that she a psycho. But she's actually a psychic. That's different,” said Jeremy softly. Lately, he had been used to calling Lina 'dear'. Perhaps ever since they started to cohabitate, it started feeling like they were a pair of husband and wife.
How so very great of me to have a husband who's not even sure whether he's gay or straight, complained Lina in her heart. But she can't really complain much about it. If not for Jeremy, what would she even have in this school? In fact, it's actually good for Jeremy to have confusion in his s.e.xual orientation - that fact alone lessened Lina's desire to pounce on him. The desire was there, just lesser.
”Doesn't psychic mean that she can predict the future?”
Jeremy was silent. He must've mistaken it, Lina smiled teasingly. She loves teasing Jeremy, especially when it would make him feel annoyed. She's not doing it because of resentment or anything, It's just that Jeremy would sometimes act like he knows everything so seeing him making a mistake was really fun.
”There are many types of psychic. There are those that can predict the future, read people's emotions, see ghosts,” Jeremy was still trying to look knowledgeable.
Lina didn't reply. Let Jeremy win this time.
”So, have you meet brother Khalil for the script improvement?”
”This evening. Oh yeah, the counsellor asked for you to come too.”
”Me? For what?”