Chapter 4: His Little Dove
** Eli **
Eli couldn't help but feel amused as he texted Harper the theater's address five minutes later.
She had hung up all too quickly after that "Okay", and he could tell why. He heard the subtle change in her pitch — a telltale sign that she was shy. She might not have even realized it herself that ever since she was a kid, her voice always thinned whenever she defended herself from being naughty, or whenever someone teased her with false gossips. He could almost see her palming her face with that voice, regretting the "Okay" slipping from her tongue.
She hadn't changed that much after all, he thought with a smile.
It had really been too long. The last time when they saw each other was at his college graduation ceremony, and she was yet to turn eighteen that summer. In his eyes, she was still the young girl in the neighborhood who he nicknamed "little dove", for her sweet nature and the pure, innocent little bird that she always reminded him of. But now, four years later, when he stumbled upon a web novel that came out of her head, he could hardly believe that those wild words had come from the same little dove locked away in his memory.
In four years, she had grown from a girl into a bold woman, and he had missed out on that entire journey.
Eli didn't mean for that to happen though. Back when he first left for his new job on the other side of the country, he had every intention of staying in touch with her. She was just admitted into Davenshire University, the same place where he graduated, and it was her first time living in this city. Although he couldn't spare a vacation during his onboarding period to fly back and show her around, he had called her many times, trying to introduce her to the area and give her an insider's scoop on their campus. But she never answered his call. Whenever she returned a short text, it was always devoid of real content as well, as if she was reluctant to talk to him and was only replying out of politeness.
He never understood what happened to her then, though he was too occupied with work to think too much about it. Maybe she was just busy coping with college life. So their texts trickled off over time, and in the end, all they had exchanged since then came down to simple greetings on birthdays and new year's eves.
Then, four years later, she made a dramatic re-entry into his life with a web novel.
Eli's eyes drifted to the laptop next to him. The browser was still on the tab for her book, displaying the last scene he stopped at: