by M. D. Melai
Emilio continued to stand there and look at me in the mirror. I sat there frozen under his stare as Chelsea finished cleaning up. Neither of us talked. I wondered what he was thinking. His eyes were intensely focused on me.
Chelsea hugged me on her way out and thanked Emilio for allowing her to come. He told her he would call her again if she was needed. I got a little excited at that statement.
“You look good,” Emilio spoke up as soon as Chelsea was out of the room and it was just him and me left. “But I don’t like it. It just isn’t you.”
“Well, thank you,” I laughed. “I’m definitely not a blonde that’s for sure. I do like the eyes though. I think they’re beautiful.”
Emilio looked at me with a smoldering look in his eyes. “You’re stunning just the way you are with your dark hair, green eyes, and beautiful skin. I wouldn’t have you any other way.”
“Thanks.” I smiled. “I guess I need to get dressed. I’m ready to get out of here.”
“Okay,” he said as he turned toward the door. “I will see you in a few minutes.” He grabbed the door handle and was almost out the door, when he turned around to look at me again. “Don’t forget to put your necklace back on, and remember to answer to Eva.” Then he shut the door without another word. I knew he was worried. The only thing that did worry me was the name. I hoped I could remember it. I should be able too. They got Eva from my middle name, Evelina.
I quickly dressed in a nice pant suit, made sure my necklace was securely latched around my neck, and headed out the door. I knew everyone else was nervous, but me, I was excited.
***
The day went amazingly, and I had such a great time. Violet, Dante, and I went to look at the two-story duplex, which took most of the morning. It was nice being back to work and doing what I loved the most.
We did the upstairs house first and then the bottom. The good thing was they both had the same layout and measurements, so all we needed to do was decide how we wanted to decorate each one. Violet and I didn’t want to have the same décor for both. It would have been easier to do them both the same, but neither one of us wanted that. Two separate homes, two separate looks.
After we left the duplex, we grabbed a hot dog from a vendor, which I ate way too fast and didn’t get to enjoy it as much as I would have liked. It was good, though. I had missed eating them and I needed to tell Violet to bring me one home more often.
Next, we headed to pick out everything we were going to need for the new project. I had never been so happy in my life to pick out cabinets, sinks, carpet, tile, and paint. This was an easy project. I would call the contractors in the morning and Violet would meet them in a day or two to go over the plans.
It took a little convincing, but Violet and I talked Dante into letting us stop by two stores before we had to meet Emilio and Elle for dinner. We had a little bit of time left, and neither Violet nor I wanted to just walk around the city, so we used it as our argument.
I went a little overboard with shopping. The only assumption I could come up with was it had been far too long since Violet and I had been shopping. It was almost fall, and winter would be coming soon. They were having great sales on the fall and winter apparel, so we obviously couldn’t pass it up.
Dante refused to let us pay for them and told us it was his treat. It was out of character for him and it didn’t take me very long to realize why he was doing it. If I paid for the clothes, then I would be leaving a paper trail for myself, which none of us wanted. I told him after we left the store that I would pay him back.
Dinner with Emilio and Elle was awkward at first. Elle was hanging on Emilio and he was obviously uncomfortable. Emilio eventually leaned over and whispered something to Elle and she quickly got her act together after that.
Anyone who knew me would know I wouldn’t have been hanging all over Emilio like that. I needed to make sure I said something to Dante. Elle needed to fix that soon.
Dinner went smoothly after that. We all laughed and, for a moment, I didn’t feel like I had been missing out on the last couple of months of everyone’s lives. By the time we left the restaurant, it was almost ten o’clock. I had been away from the house for twelve glorious hours. This had been the best day ever.
***
I couldn’t sleep that night. I laid in bed and tossed and turned for what seemed like hours. I was still hyped up from the day’s events. When I couldn’t take it anymore, I got up and headed down to the kitchen. I noticed a light was on downstairs when I was halfway down the steps. The glow of the light was soft and by the way it was flickering, I could tell it was the television in the living room.
“Hey,” Emilio said as I passed through the living room towards the kitchen. “Can’t sleep?”
“No,” I said as I stopped for a moment. “You either?”
“No,” he answered back.
When he didn’t say anything else, I continued on my way into the kitchen and pulled out a bottle of water and headed back towards the stairs.
“Hey, can we talk?” he asked when I was halfway back.
We hadn’t had a decent conversation since the day I saw him kiss Elle, and when I hesitated, it was like he read my mind.
“I wanted to talk about you seeing Elle and me kiss,” he said as he gestured for me to sit with him.
I wasn’t expecting this conversation tonight, but I knew it would happen eventually, no matter the outcome. I slowly made my way back over to him and turned on the lamp as I passed it. Emilio winced at the brightness of the light.
“How did you know that I saw it?” I asked as I sat down beside him.
“We can get to that in a minute,” he began. “It was a mistake and it hasn’t happened again. Elle was feeling down and I was just trying to comfort her and the next thing I knew, she leaned in and kissed me.”
“But then you kissed her back,” I stated.
“I did and I really don’t have an explanation for that. The only thing I can say is that I just got carried away for a moment. I would never want to do anything to hurt you.”
“So, you want me to forgive you?” I asked.
“Yeah, that was my intent, but mostly I just wanted to explain myself to you. I know that I hurt you. You’ve been giving me the cold shoulder lately and I’ve been ignoring it, because I was mortified to have this conversation with you,” he replied.
“You did hurt me,” I said looking at him. “I was upset when I saw it and I questioned a lot of things that have been going on around here. But then I realized I had no right to be upset anymore. We’re not officially together.”
“That’s true. We haven’t really talked about making it official again, but you’re the only one that I want to be with. This situation is just really hard for all of us to deal with.”
“It shouldn’t be for you since it was your idea,” I retorted.
“Touché, but your safety is the most important thing to me. You already know how I would feel if something were to happen to you.
“Anyways, I just wanted to talk to you about this and let you know that Elle and I have talked and I have set definite boundaries now and I hope that you will forgive me,” he said with pleading eyes.
I stared into his gray eyes for a moment. I could tell by the sorrow in them that he was being honest.
“I forgive you,” I finally said.
He leaned in and hugged me before he kissed me.
“Thank you,” he whispered against my lips.
“You’re welcome,” I said as I pulled away.
“Now, about you knowing that I saw you. How did you find out?” I was curious.
“It wasn’t that hard. You know every time you tried to get into the control room and punched in the wrong code, I would get a failed entry notification. By the way, you locked down the system multiple times. I had to reset it each time.”
Of course he did.
“I had heard my phone beep before Dante had left the room, and I didn’t think anything about it. After e
verything that happened with Elle, I went and picked up my phone and noticed that you finally figured out the password. I was horrified after that. I figured you would have said something to me immediately, but you never did. I should have said something as soon as I got home that evening, but I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. I was so mad at myself for hurting you and embarrassed by my mistake.”
“So, you’ve known this entire time when I have been in the room?”
He nodded.
“Why haven’t you said anything about it?”
“Because I know you need it. I don’t mind you being in there. I have no secrets from you.”
I gave him a look.
“Well, I'm working on not having any secrets,” he half smiled at my grimace. “I know being in there helps you connect to the outside world. While you may not be physically there, you can at least see things that are going on.”
Violet came downstairs about that time looking for me. “I was just worried when I woke up and you weren’t there,” she said as she looked at us.
“I’ll be up in a minute,” I said as I smiled at her.
She smiled back and nodded before she turned around and headed back to our room.
“It’s getting late,” I said as I stood up. “Thank you for finally coming clean about everything.”
Emilio stood and put his arms around me. “You will eventually know everything, I promise,” he whispered as he brought me in close. He kissed me on the forehead and then the scar on my cheek before I pressed my lips to his.
“Goodnight,” I said as I pulled away from him and headed to bed.
“Goodnight,” he called back. I didn’t have to turn back around to see the smile on his face. The relief was in his voice.
Chapter 7
The next two weeks flew by quickly. I upped my training to two hours twice a day. I guess being away from the house for just that one day did me a world of good.
I started to look at things from a different perspective, and I also decided to change a few things in my routine. Every morning and evening I would go for a run around the property. Starting off my day with a clear head and ending it with the crisp night air was making things easier to cope with.
Violet ran with me every morning. She said she needed it just as much as I did. It seemed to be helping her with handling the stress at work.
Elle and Violet had finally come to a compromise on how to run things. Elle had started to catch on quickly. Along with their work on the outside, I feverishly worked every day to make all the necessary phones calls, check in with the contractors, and input the data into the computer to make sure we were all staying on budget.
Today, though, was different. Emilio had been home all day long. That was unusual for him. He always got up really early and went to the club. He had his normal routine that included inventory, accounting, and making sure that the manager was caught up and prepared for the evening. The weekend manager had quit, so the club was down a manager. Unfortunately, Emilio had to fill that position until he could find someone else.
Emilio checked on me throughout the day. He even brought me lunch around one and sat it on my desk, smiled, and then went back downstairs to the basement. Something was off, though, I could tell. I was worried, but I tried not to let it distract me from my work.
At six-thirty, Emilio walked in my office dressed in athletic pants, tennis shoes, and a hoody. I was taken aback. It was unusual to see him so casual.
“What are you wearing?” I laughed. He looked just fine, but I had never seen him in anything other than jeans and shirts, suits, or pajama pants on rare occasions.
“I thought I would join you on your run today,” he said smiling. “Is that okay with you?”
“Rough day?”
“Rough two days,” he sighed.
“I'm sorry,” I said looking around my desk before closing my laptop. “Just let me run upstairs, change, and get my shoes, and I will be right back,” I said as I started to pass him. My hand accidently brushed past his and he grabbed it and pulled me back towards him. He placed his free hand on my face and rubbed my scar with his thumb.
I lost all train of thought. I forgot what I was supposed to be doing in that moment as my heart sped up to what felt like a hundred miles an hour. He just stood there and stared into my eyes for a few more moments. It was like he was trying to search for something, or maybe he was trying to tell me something. Then he leaned in, kissed my cheek, and let me go.
“Go,” he said. “I’m ready to get my ass kicked in running now.”
“Well, at least you’re man enough to admit you can’t handle this.” I used my hands to gesture from the top of my head to my hips, and then I laughed as I headed towards the stairs. Emilio shook his head and laughed to himself as he watched me.
I got dressed quickly, and before I knew it, we had stretched and were running. I started out at a slow jog to warm up, but mostly to let Emilio think this was the pace I usually chose. I slowly picked up the pace and he was doing a good job at keeping up until about thirty minutes in. He started slowing down and I kept my pace at a few strides in front of him. I periodically checked over my shoulder to see if he was still behind me, and he was. He would just smile and tell me he was fine and to keep going.
I usually sprinted the last lap around the property, but instead I slowed down until Emilio was beside me again.
“Hey,” I breathed out. “I usually sprint the last lap, so do you want me to not do that, or do you think the lights around the property are bright enough that you will be able to see me?” It was extremely dark outside and usually whoever was with me just sprinted beside me, but I didn’t know if Emilio was up for that.
“I will go with you,” he said grinning.
“Okay, it’s your funeral,” I laughed before I took off.
I could hear his feet pound the ground behind me. His breath was becoming shallower, but he kept up nicely. I didn’t look back to check on him this lap. This was my freedom sprint. I would run as fast as my legs would carry me. In that little span of time, whatever was bothering me, I would let it out in those few minutes. I was almost to the point to where I would stop, when Emilio passed me laughing.
“Hey!” I yelled as I pushed my body to go faster. We sprinted a little further before I caught him. He immediately turned on me and grabbed me. Our speed was faster than he thought and we both went tumbling to the ground. He pulled me close to his body at some point during our tumble. When we finally came to a stop, we were laughing. My back was to the ground and Emilio was facing me with his arms still around me.
“I can’t believe you did that,” I laughed. “Were you purposely holding out on me?”
“Hell yeah I was,” Emilio said as he smiled at me. “I wasn’t going to give up that view from behind.”
I slapped his arm. “I can’t believe you just said that!”
“It’s true,” he laughed before he leaned in and kissed me without hesitation. It was more than just our normal small pecks here and there. It was passionate and surprised us both.
“I'm sorry,” he said as he pulled away. “I didn’t mean to do that.”
I stared at him for a moment, instantly feeling rejected. He must have seen the hurt in my eyes.
“No, that wasn’t what I meant,” he said as I started to push him away, but he held me tighter.
“It’s okay Emilio. I got it. You can let me go.” My eyes rose to meet his gaze.
How was it so easy for him to kiss Elle, but when it came to me, it was a mistake? He kept telling me he wanted me and only me, so what was wrong with sharing a kiss like that?
“I’m really sorry Lily, that came out wrong,” he apologized.
“It’s fine,” I said as I pushed him away and stood. “Thanks for the run. I’ll just see you in the morning.” I turned quickly and headed towards the house.
I only made it a few feet before Emilio caught up to me.
“I’m sorry,” he said as he spun me arou
nd gently.
“It’s okay, I get it. This is a confusing time for you,” I replied.
“It’s not like that.”
“Oh, would you have meant to do it if I was Elle?” I asked.
“That isn’t fair. You forgave me for that,” he retorted.
“I did, but that doesn’t mean it still doesn’t hurt, and then you made me feel rejected like that.”
“That wasn’t what I meant! I just don’t exactly know what we are at this point. I’m not sure that you even want to be with me. That’s all I meant!”
“There is a part of me that wants to be with you, but under different circumstances. When all of this is over with and you’re not constantly worried about me, then maybe we will have a shot at actually being happy together.”
“I get it, and I’m looking forward to that day coming very soon, but until then just please don’t shut me out,” he said with worried eyes.
“I won’t. It’s just really hard to love you sometimes. You don’t make it easy,” I said.
“Well, I guess that is my new mission,” he said smiling. “To make it is easier for you to love me.”
***
The next two weeks went by in a blur. Emilio ran with me every night since. It was quickly becoming my most favorite part of the day. We would run side by side and talk about nothing in particular.
Emilio was trying really hard at being there for me. He surprised me almost every evening by coming home with something new. It was usually small, mostly a gesture, to let me know he was thinking about me during the day. He was holding up his end of the bargain. Loving him was becoming a lot easier.
He even asked me if he could take me out this Friday night, just me and him. He said he reserved a place for dinner and then we could go anywhere I wanted afterwards, but we had to stay in New Jersey and close to home.
I was completely fine with that. What made it even better was when he told me I didn’t have to wear a disguise. To say I was thrilled about that would be an understatement. I had wondered what had made him change his mind. It must be something special for him to allow me out of the house as myself.
