MAL found herself heading towards the landline in the corner of the living room, and dialing the number that was just sent to her a few hours before. The landline gave a few beeping sounds, and as soon as she pressed on the buttons, she put the phone close to her ear, waiting for the person on the other end to answer.

A few moments later, she heard a soft 'hello?'.

She smiled, realizing it was him answering.

"Hey, baby! I missed you so much."

"Hey, Mal! Oh my god, I missed you too."

She played with the strings of the landline. "How are you all settling in?"

"We're doing pretty good. The house is a little dark, but you get used to it after a while." he paused for a few seconds, "We're unpacking now, so we're busy. But I'm done, so..."

She chuckled.

"So you want to talk to me?"

"Yes." he muttered eagerly, "I missed you. When are you coming here?"

"I think I'll stop by tomorrow, but I just checked the address you sent me. It's a little far away."

"Oh."

She could hear the disappointment in his voice, which made her disappointed as well. He knew, however, that she was busy so he didn't push it.

"How is it going at home?" he asked, glancing around him awkwardly.

"It's great. My moms are out though, so it's just us in the house right now. Rajwan and Adam are making pizza."

He smiled. He knew she loved pizza.

"Anyways, I have to go eat. I love you, okay?"

His heart fluttered. "I love you too. I'll talk to you tomorrow?"

"I'll talk to you tomorrow."

They hung up not too long after. Mal set the phone down, putting it into its place before she walked towards the kitchen. She took glances at the walls and the furniture of the house, admiring the designs before she entered.

"Hey, guys. Teo says hi."

"How is he doing?" her sister, Luna, asked while she set up the table.

"He's doing okay. I need to go visit them though, he seems off."

"It's probably just being in a new house, with his friends. In the middle of nowhere." Adam reasoned awkwardly, opening the oven along with his brother and getting the pizza out.

The smell of pepperoni, mushrooms, and cheese filled the room making their stomach grumble.

They set the pizza on the big plate in the middle of the kitchen table.

Then, they began to eat.

"So how is the business going, boys?" Maya, the younger sister, asked.

"It's perfect. Mum and mommy are planning to open a second restaurant downtown. They think it will bring more customers."

"This is a good idea! We can take a break from work and come help out." Mal spoke enthusiastically, taking a bite of her pizza.

"Yeah. We can take a break too. I've been feeling stressed out lately. I don't think I can balance between online work and working at the restaurant."

Mal guiltily looked down at her plate, a little disappointed that Rajwan, her brother, was feeling stressed out like that.

She realized that almost everyone around her was feeling like that, and she didn't know why. She knew that her boyfriend was also stressed out, as his anxiety was increasing.

She also knew that he wanted her to visit him, despite him living in a house far away from everything.

She was getting stressed out as well. Having to balance between online work, her career and online school was difficult enough, but knowing that the boy she loved the most in her whole life was anxious and upset...

Now that was heartbreaking.

And she had no idea what to do.

She only knew that she wanted to see him so bad.

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