Chapter 283: Sick
"Are you feeling sick?" Adir asked the moment the car drove off, his voice laced with open concern.
Adam glanced at him briefly through the rearview mirror before shaking his head in silence.
"Then why do you look so bad?" Adir pressed, tilting his head. "Like someone made you eat medicine that tasted really, really awful."
Adam sighed, keeping his gaze fixed on the road ahead. "It’s nothing, kiddo. I just... don’t like making Melanie wait."
Adir gave an exaggerated roll of his eyes. "But I already called her and told her my friend was hurt. She said it was okay if we dropped her off first. She even said she hoped that my friend would feel better soon."
Adam didn’t respond right away. He gave a brief shake of his head and muttered, "Miss Melody is your teacher, not your friend."
"She said she can be anything. She said she’s our ’mother teacher,’ so she can be like a teacher, a mother, or a friend. I like her as a friend."
Adam didn’t argue. He drove on in silence, but his mind was far from the conversation.
He wasn’t thinking about Adir. Or even about Melanie. His thoughts were stuck on that look.
Because he had seen that look before.
He’d played the field long enough to know when someone was intrigued and interested. When her eyes followed just a little too long. When her voice softened without reason. When her posture shifted, her attention held, her guard dropped-not from professionalism, not from politeness, but from something else entirely.