Page 18 of Teaching the Kot'oll Coach

Dren nods. “Yes, that’s right.”

I sigh. “I hope he’ll be fine.”

Now, all of us fall into silence, with no one wanting to say a thing. Maybe I’ve said something so dumb that both of them don’t know how to respond to.

Fuck... I’m so dumb.

Chapter 11

Winnie

I must be so dumb...

My living room seems a bit too quiet despite the television being on. I’m not watching, and I can’t listen to a word from the system. My heart is still racing even though I’m in the comfort of my home and on a nice couch.

I take a sip of my lemon water, trying to calm myself.

But I can’t...

I can’t stop seeing Telke on the hospital bed...

I let out a breath as I stroke Ossa’s back. He purrs and seems to be the happiest kitty cat ever.

It was such a wait... But at last, the red light turned off and the doctors came out. Telke is as fine as he could be. But he won’t be good for work for another week or so.

Given what happened, one week is like nothing.

The doctor said that the spaceship’s auto system likely halted the spaceship, so it wasn’t a full impact hit, which was good for Telke. And he rolled off the spaceship, which probably made it better, too.

I sigh. Maybe Telke thinks he is strong enough to get away unscratched. Or maybe he didn’t give that enough thought.

Just enough thought to know that the kid would be fucked, but not enough to know that he could get fucked too...

Ossa hops off my lap. Maybe he thinks it’s time for bed.

How is Telke? The doctor said he would most likely be fast asleep through the night after the operation. Even though he is a big being, the painkiller won’t wear off that quickly.

I hope Telke won’t be in pain.

It didn’t take long before I had no reason to stay behind. Even Telke’s brothers were heading home. As a coworker with Telke, who has only gotten to know him for a few days, there’s no reason for me to stay around.

I don’t understand why I care that much about him.

Maybe because he is a nice guy.

I shake my head. But I’m not supposed to care about anyone else other than myself. It took so long for me to get out of a stupid situation, I don’t need to get myself into trouble again.

I get off the couch and head to my room, pulling out my phone to check the story I’ll be telling the next day. One of the nice things about being the story lesson teacher is that I can prepare a single story and tell that again and again to all the kids in the school, regardless of grades. I only have to prepare different sets of discussion questions so that the older students will be able to look deeper into the stories and think about more complex topics.

But it still doesn’t mean it is going to be easy when I can’t focus on anything. Maybe just by witnessing the accident, I have quite some emotions to get through.

I suppose I can read a book myself to calm down for the night, but at the same time, I’m not in the mood to pick up a book. It feels like... The mere idea of focusing on the pages stirs my stomach.

Maybe I should just sleep. I check my phone again, making sure my alarm is set.

I stare at the ceiling after I turn off the lights and get ready for bed. Is Telke also staring at the ceiling?

No... He is supposed to be asleep, so he won’t be staring at anything.

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