Chapter 49: Chapter 18

Like a young child standing before his long time crush, Vukan found his words missing and his verve to respond to Oliver, completely gone. He fiddled and fondled his phone in his hand and continued to hear Oliver inquire if he was there before finally breathing aloud and seeking to give a response. 

Five minutes had passed since he arrived at Oliver's door and the urge to race back home in shame was slowly becoming a possibility. 

"Vukan? Is everything alright?" Oliver kept asking from his end of the line. 

Vukan finally replied, "Yes, I a outside your house". 

Silence aired between them at that very moment, born from disbelief and a good sense of oddity. Whenever they fought or had such encounters, Oliver would often have to be the peacemaker or the one to breach the barrier and try to mend fences immediately. It was often rare to have Vukan be the one to mend things, talk less of driving all the way down to his house.