"Who?" I asked.

"I don't know his name. He wanted to talk to you." She answered and I immediately thought it was Edwin because I had blocked him. He might've found out my landline number easily if he could find my personal one.

"What did he sound like? Bossy? Rude? Arrogant and cocky?" I asked.

"No? Do you know someone like that?" She asked worryingly.

"No," I breathed," Then what did he sound like and what exactly did he say?"

"He spoke in whispers. He just said he wanted to talk to you and hung up."

"Whi...spers?" I uttered as I realized who it was.

Shit. Ethan called my mom? I'm going to die if mom and dad find out. What in the fucking world is he thinking? When I try to talk to him, he doesn't respond. He has to keep my parents out of this or I'll go insane and-

"Do you know him?" Mom asked, interrupting my thoughts.

"Yeah, my classmate. We have to work on a project together. He had a really bad throat." I lied.

"I see," She sounded relaxed," So, what are your plans for tomorrow? Are you really not going?"

"It's just not what I like." I said as we shifted the topic to Prom night.

"Shall we just keep this between ourselves?" She winked and I watched cluelessly before she spoke again," Do you have a crush on anyone?"

"I don't. I- I actually have to leave right now." I stood up and rushed upstairs to get changed. Whatever was happening wasn't going in the right direction. I had to talk to Ethan before he did something more stupid.

I needed to see Elijah.

I texted Elijah to confirm where he was and thankfully, he replied immediately, asking to see me at the Frat house. I hadn't felt Ethan's presence around me for about 24 hours. It was definitely strange. Was something preventing him from being around me? He wanted to talk and knew that he could just appear in front of me, yet he didn't. There was something wrong. I slipped into some warm clothes and wrapped a muffler around my neck before climbing downstairs and shaking the whole house.

I was met by mom in the hall and she wanted to know where exactly I was headed to and how much time it would take me.

"I'll be back in 3 hours. I'm visiting the classmate for discussing the project at his house since he's sick." I said as I pushed my feet roughly inside my sports shoes.

"You know I'm on night shift today. Back before dinner or your dad will starve." She said and I nodded along with a pale smile before leaving through the door and closing it behind me.

Fraternity House-

The doors that were previously wide open, when Elijah had brought me there first, were now closed. I rang the bell twice, waiting for someone to open the door quickly. There were minimum five guys living there but none of them was making the effort of opening the damn door. And I believed Elijah was in there, So I wondered what was taking them so long.

"Anyone in there?" I shouted and rang the bell again. I was surely losing patience with every passing second. Earlier, I hated Ethan being around me but now, I was dying to feel his presence. The chills. The tingling in my spine. I wanted it to happen. Where else could he possibly go apart from my house?

"Open the door, please!" I yelled again, when I heard hurried steps nearing me. But they weren't coming from behind the doors, but from behind me. I turned around and walked out of the gate and met with Elijah, panting heavily as he had a run. He stopped right in front of me and bent down, resting his hands on his lower thighs and recollected his breath while I just waited. He stood right back up, his gaze locked with mine as he licked his lower lip, making the pale lip turn into a strawberry-red.

I couldn't help but stare at his lips before he spoke," What happened to him?"

I was more than surprised to see him worry for Ethan even after knowing why Stace left.

"He- I don't know but I think he's in a problem." I spoke.

"You said he called your landline and asked to talk to you, right?" He asked and I nodded.

"And has he been around?" He asked again and I shook my head," Not since 24 hours."

"He might be trapped somewhere." He said with uncertainty as he leaned against the wall next to us.