41
"Everyone, take a look at the information I sent to you. There is a list of commonly used colours and the keywords that people associate that colour..." Professor Martins was explaining, during the combined class with the assistants and presenters and Demir turned to look at Tahti's empty seat behind him.
Tahti hadn't showed up at school for about two days, and he had gotten worried, when he hadn't been able to contact her within those days.
"I'll see you in the next class." Prof. Martins said, and the students applauded him as he gathered his books before he headed out. They weren't applauding him because they'd understood the lesson, but because they were glad to see the back of him.
"Finally." Herley heaved a sigh of relief once Prof. Martins was gone.
"Give me my bag."
"Hey, has anyone seen Tahti today?" Jennie asked, as she rose, attracting Demir's attention. "Tahti? I haven't seen her." Derek replied.
"Me too."
"Me too." Someone said and Henry turned to Demir.
"Didn't she not contact you, either?"
"No."
"She's been ignoring my messages." Jennie whined and April turned to her as Sol raised a arm to her shoulder.
"I'm sure she just felt like skipping school." "Tahti isn't like you, you know" Jennie threw and April grimaced as the class laughed.
"We should go now. They'll close soon." Sol reminded and Herley turned to the girls as they made to leave.
"Where are you going?"
"We're off to have lunch." Jennie replied, on their way out and Herley hurriedly picked up his bag to follow them.
"Wait for me."
"Do you want to have pizza?" April asked Demir, who turned to look at her. He was supposed to head home after, to resume working on their project but he feared he couldn't do much, since his mind was elsewhere. Going out to have lunch with the guys will probably distract him.
"Sure."
April smiled as she leaned towards him. "Did you bring your wallet?" She asked and he smiled, knowing where she was headed with her talk.
"It'll be my treat." He responded and April sprang to her feet, almost immediately.
"Let's go."
However, his worry only increased, which made him absent-minded, during lunch, as he couldn't get her off his mind. He found himself staring at his chatroom with her, even during lunch. She was yet to read the message he'd left her, and he dropped his phone with a disgruntled sigh.
Demir was beginning to get worried for real, when the days slowly crawled into a week, and Tahti didn't show up at school and neither was there news about her.
She wasn't the type to miss school and considering the fact that the gallery exhibition was near, she was supposed to be in school at all times.
"What is it?" Stella asked, when he wouldn't stop staring at his phone. She'd refused to go for a check-up at the hospital and he'd been forced to go with her.
"I'm worried." He said, lowering his hand with a sigh.
"About what?"
"Tahti. I can't get in touch with her."
"Really?" She paused and turned to look away. "She must have been shocked." She replied and Demir turned to look at her.
"What?"
"It's nothing. She's attractive."
"You only saw her for a minute and you felt that?" He asked.
"Yeah. I could see why you fell for her."
"What are you talking about?" He asked, tearing his eyes off her. "It's not like that."
"I broke up with Chris." She suddenly announced and Demir was forced to turn back to her.
"You broke up with him? Why?"
She scoffed, unable to believe her ears. "You're actually asking me why?" She turned away from him to gaze into space. "Chris said, he thought he would be okay with me seeing other guys but he wasn't. I think I can understand how that feels now."
"So that's it?" He asked and she turned to him, with a smile.
"I did well, right?" His face wore an expression that showed he wasn't amused by the news and she frowned.
"Why the long face? That's what you hate the most. Getting clingy."
Demir was about to reply when the nurse summoned Stella as the next patient and he decided to reserve his comment.
"You can go, if you are busy."
"It's fine. I'll be waiting." He replied, as she rose to walk into the doctor's office, before he lifted his phone to look at their chatroom again.
"Where are you, Tahti?" He muttered.
