The next few days were fun, I would say.
Not perfect, but lighter than before. Sometimes we'd stay on voice call from morning till evening. I would be doing small things—scrolling, lying down, just existing—while his voice stayed in the background like a constant presence. Cole was so fun to talk to. And he was extremely blunt too. The kind of person that tells you things exactly how they are, without even trying to soften the edges.
No sugarcoating. No hiding behind polite words.
Just truth.
And weirdly… I liked it.
But then again, he's a lastborn, so I should've expected that kind of energy from him.
There was something about him that filled silence easily. Even when we weren't saying anything important, it never felt awkward. It just felt like he was there.
And I didn't realize how much I liked that until I had it.
One late night, I was lying down on my bed, phone pressed to my ear, the room quiet except for his voice.
"Hey baby," I said softly.
"Hey love," he replied, his voice low and calm in that way that always made me pause for a second.
"How are you?" he asked.
"I'm good," I said, staring at nothing in particular. "Just here… bored."
He chuckled slightly. "You miss me."
It wasn't really a question.
It was more like he already knew the answer and just wanted to hear me say it.
I smiled to myself before replying.
"Maybe."
There was a short pause on the line, like he was enjoying that answer too much.
"Maybe?" he repeated, amused. "So you've started acting like that now?"
I rolled my eyes even though he couldn't see me. "Shut up."
His laugh came through the phone again, soft but confident. That kind of laugh that made you picture his expression without even seeing it.
"Don't worry," he said after a moment. "You won't have to wait any longer. I'll soon be with you."
Something in my chest shifted immediately.
"Really?" I asked, my voice changing without me meaning to. More alert. More excited.
"Yeah," he said casually.
And just like that, my mood lifted completely.
"Wait—when?" I asked quickly, sitting up a little. "Don't start that 'soon' thing. Give me a real date."
He laughed again. "You're impatient."
"I'm serious," I said, trying to sound firm but failing slightly. "I don't want 'this week' or 'next week.' I want an actual date."
There was a short pause, like he was thinking about how to tease me properly.
"I'll be coming next week," he finally said.
I narrowed my eyes even though he couldn't see me. "You're just saying that to calm me down."
"I'm serious," he insisted, but there was something playful in his tone that made it hard to fully believe him.
I let out a small laugh
"Got a dog by the way," he said.
Then he sent the picture.
It was a German shepherd.
"Woah," I said before I even thought about it.
She was big. Like, really big. And just looking at her through the screen made me pause for a second. There was something about her eyes too—alert, like she was already studying me back.
I'm not really a dog person. They've always made me uneasy. You never really know what they're thinking, or what they'll do next. One minute they're calm, next minute they're not.
So I just stared at the picture for a bit, unsure if I liked her or feared her more.
"She's big," I said finally.
He laughed a little, like he was expecting that reaction.
I couldn't wait to see him, and that was the only thing on my mind as soon as I got off the call with him. The classes I had tomorrow wasn't even on my mind. And I remembered.
Oh no , I have classes tomorrow.
I rushed up from my bed to look for a dress for class.
But something about him left this lingering happiness in me , I know I'm supposed to avoid him because of the statement he made that night but I can't help it. It's always guys with obvious red flags I get attracted to .
And I liked it.