He was aching to go over and ask her how she'd been these past few years and whether she was doing well.
After finishing up the business he had here, Fabian quickly walked over to give his heart what it wanted.
Vivian felt a little panicked at the sight of Fabian approaching. After all, she hadn't prepared herself to meet him. Her eyes betrayed her uneasiness, but she chose to stand still.
It was going to happen sooner or later anyway.
Vivian was no longer the same weak girl from before. She was going to learn how to face her hardships.
"Long time no see,” Fabian said softly as he looked into Vivian's eyes. His voice was pressed low as if he were terrified that speaking any louder might scare her off.
His heart had been racing at a mile a minute before, but it miraculously calmed down in front of her. He said those four words with ease as if they had only seen each other yesterday.
"Long time no see," Vivian echoed with a faint smile. "How have you been?"
"What about you?" Fabian deflected, his eyes betraying his concern.
"I'm doing well. There's a roof over my head and food on my plate, so I'm practically on cloud 9." The atmosphere between them seemed to be relaxed, so Vivian felt comfortable enough to make a joke.
"Is that so?" Fabian forced a bitter smile. He wasn't sure if he was supposed to feel happy or sad about that. "That's good."
He decided to keep his own thoughts to himself. After all, there was no need to guilt trip her about his own issues.
"Thanks,” Vivian murmured with a nod. The conversation faded off since she didn't know how to continue. Fabian wasn't like those other classmates. She couldn't exactly make small talk with him like she could with the others.
Fabian didn't seem to be trying to continue the conversation either, so the two of them fell into silence. Luckily, once Fabian came to his senses, he finally broke the awkward silence.
"Should we go outside?" Fabian suggested. "It's pretty noisy in here. I wanna go take a look around the school since it's been awhile. I wonder if they made any changes."
Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: A Touch of Sweetness novel (Finnick and Vivian)