by Mel Ryle
“Have you talked to William after this morning?” she suddenly asked, breaking me from my trail of thoughts.
“Ah… Yes, we had talked a little…” I stuttered in reply, caught off guard by her question.
“And did he apologize?” she probed in interest, her eyes slightly brightening in anticipation.
“He apologized,” I replied curtly, feeling uncomfortable with the current flow of the conversation. I hope she won’t ask about what we talked about.
“So, what did you talk about besides that?” she asked, confirming my hunch.
My heart rate rose from her question as I started to get nervous all of a sudden. It felt like I was in an interrogation room, being asked whether I had stolen something. I opened my mouth as I tried to reply casually but no sound came out. With that, Alexandra chuckled at my expression.
“You don’t have to force yourself if you don’t want to talk about it,” she stated, releasing me from my internal agony. I didn’t want to recount what had happened in that short car ride, even though it wasn’t life changing. I felt drained from thinking about William himself.
Before Alexandra could think about taking back that offer, the waiter appeared to get my order. It didn’t take long for me to pick which one I would eat. I stuck to the classic sandwich and water. If I would eat anything heavy with how I was feeling, I might throw it all up.
After I gave out my order, I was saved when Alexandra’s phone rang with an incoming call. I had escaped the inevitability of being asked another William related question. I knew that she wasn’t doing it to torture me. I didn’t get her fascination on wanting to meddle with her brother’s private life.
When her call ended, I was saved yet again as the waiter came in with my food and drinks. Our conversation turned casual as I tried to eat my meal. Alexandra had also asked me about my father, which I didn’t entertain much. I’ve never been someone who easily divulges my personal life. I think she only asked about him out of courtesy.
In half an hour, I finished my meal. There was a short awkward silence after I took my last bite until Kevin suddenly entered the veranda, looking all businesslike with his stern, poker face.
“Ms. Maxwell, your next meeting will be starting in twenty minutes. If we don’t go now, you’ll be late, Ma’am,” he informed swiftly and concisely.
“Thank you for reminding me,” She nodded and quickly stood up from her seat.
“Are you ready to go? Kevin can drop you off after he drives me to my next meeting,” she offered, giving me a small, inviting smile.
“Sure. That wouldn’t be a problem,” I quickly got up from my seat and brushed my wrinkled blouse to hide my discomfort.
I silently trailed behind Alexandra as she walked towards the main entrance. While Kevin had quickly disappeared to get the car, there was a short moment when Alexandra and I stood by the entrance as we waited for the car. I had a feeling she was going to bring up another topic about William. I let out a sigh of relief as she had her back to me again as she got in the car.
I stood outside for a second in hesitation. I didn’t know if I could sit with Alexandra in a confined space filled with awkward silence. If she filled that silence with another William topic, I didn’t know whether I could hold myself up and not feel irritated, annoyed, or just plain speechless.
“Aren’t you going to get in?” Alexandra asked, her body leaning towards me to get me a better view of her confused face.
“Sorry,” I apologized and quickly got inside the car.
As we drove off towards the main road, silence had filled the car as I had predicted.
“Oh! I forgot to tell you. Some of the art works had already arrived this morning. If you want to start with your official job, Kevin could pick you up tomorrow to drive you to your new work place. You don’t have to worry about the moving thing for my office this week. I’ll hire someone to do it,” Alexandra suddenly said.
“Oh! Ah… Uhm… about that Ms. Maxwell…” I stuttered in reply, feeling another wave of nervousness hit me. “Can I not take that job anymore?” I asked in a low voice. “And, you can take back the apartment.” I added a little more softly.
“Wait. Are you telling me you are quitting?” she asked in shock, her eyebrows crunched together in confusion. “I thought you wanted this job.”
“I don’t think that I’m fit for that job anymore,” I stated swiftly without my voice quivering from the lie. This is it. I finally realized what I wanted to do about this entire situation.
“Are you doing all of this because of what happened?” she asked worriedly, her voice was filled with guilt and regret.
“No. It’s not like that…” I lied smoothly; though my voice trailed off as she raised her eyebrow at me.
“Please don’t lie to me. I won’t hold it against you, but William wouldn’t really like it,” she admitted silently as her face flushed in realization.
“It’s not really his concern, Ms. Maxwell. So, can I take this weekend’s event planning as my last job?” I asked with more confidence.
“Are you sure about this?”
“I think I am.” I mumbled softly in reply.
Thirty-Six
When the car slowed down and stopped in front of a tall building, a thought crossed my mind. I turned towards Alexandra and gave her a light pat on her arm.
“Ms. Maxwell, about the conversation we had on my resignation, can we keep it between us for now?” I asked.
She studied me with a stern face for a second before she nodded. “Sure, but you have to give me a formal resignation papers for formality sake. You can send it in tomorrow.” she replied in a business-like manner.
“Thank you, Ms. Maxwell. I shall have it on your desk by early morning. Have a good day.”
She gave me a small reassuring smile before she got out of the car. The car stayed for a little while longer until Alexandra entered the building safely. When I could no longer see her retreating figure, the car slowly turned to the main street, towards my father’s hospital.
I thought about my decision on declining the job that I actually wanted. After hearing the good news about my father, I felt like there wasn’t a point for me to find a job in this city. If he would be released soon, I knew he would want to go back even though there was nothing to come home to.
My thought was interrupted when Kevin suddenly slowed down towards the curb that led to the main entrance of the hospital. I quickly got out of the car and gave him brief yet sincere thanks before he hit the road. I watched him drive off before getting inside the hospital.
I felt tired as I walked back to my father’s room. I can’t really hide my gloominess from the man who raised me. I didn’t have the energy anymore to pretend that I wasn’t. I had been pretending for the past hour or so. It’s time to take a break.
“Where have you been?” my father asked after I entered his room.
“I had lunch with my boss, it’s for a job.” I replied without interest, letting out a small yawn.
“Are you okay?” he asked with worry, his eyebrow scrunched together in concentration as he studied me with watchful eyes.
“Oh, Dad. Why hasn’t anyone made any book for answering hard questions in life?” I whined as I slumped down on my usual chair and leaned my head down on the left side of father’s bed, right beside his upper arm.
“If they did, where is the fun in that?” he replied with a soft chuckle, though the worry in his voice was still evident.
Before I could divulge anything about what happened during lunch, the door suddenly opened. The doctor came in with his head down with a clipboard in hand. I watched him silently enter the room and slowly stop at the foot of my father’s bed. He glanced up, slightly startled when he saw me sitting beside my father’s bed.
“Andy, you’re here.” he stated in surprise, but he was about to cover up his expression. “How are you doing?”
“I’m well, Doc. So, how are things?” I asked, helping him get out of his sho
cked state. I didn’t want him to expose any information about this morning. I can’t believe so many things happened in just a day.
“Ah! Yes… I’m here to bring some good news,” he enthusiastically replied. “I can see that Mr. Peterson here is responding well to the treatment, and has a possibility of checking out early, but he still has to come to the hospital for monthly visits. Based on these results, he can go home with you next week,” he announced.
I didn’t really give the right reaction to this situation since I already knew about this before I met with Ms. Maxwell. So, I only gave a light shriek of excitement, which wasn’t my usual happy reaction. My father looked at me expectantly for a second after Logan gave the announcement. He raised his eyebrow when I didn’t do my happy dance.
“What? No dance or jumping around?” he asked teasingly and smiled.
“I already knew about it before I left for lunch…” I whispered in admission, but my happiness hasn’t died down. “When would be the specific day that he can be discharged?” I asked, turning my attention back to Logan with a serious expression, though I wasn’t really serious about it–mostly.
He chuckled and replied. “Maybe by the middle of the week, he can go but we have to do some more tests before that happens.”
“Got it,” I nodded in understanding, though I was confident that he would be discharged from the gleam on Logan’s eyes.
“I’ll get to see this place you’ve been living for the past few weeks,” my father suddenly stated in enthusiasm, making me turn to look at him in wonder.
“Oh, I don’t know about that… Don’t you want to go back home?” I asked all excitement had died down.
“Why would we go back when you’ve already settled down here? Besides, you have a job and a place. We have nothing for us back home. Maybe, in the future when we can buy back the old house,” he trailed off when he saw that my face stayed blank. “Is everything okay, peanut?” he asked worriedly.
“We’re staying here?” I asked in a whisper.
“Yes. Why wouldn’t we?” he countered in confusion as to be expected.
I didn’t expect this reaction from him. He had been missing home since we came here. But now, he was telling me that we weren’t going back home. “Dad, don’t you want to go home?” I asked, feeling a little angry for no reason.
In my peripheral vision, Logan slowly walked towards the door. He didn’t bother to excuse himself, understanding the atmosphere of the room. For that, I’m thankful.
“Yes. I would love to go back home, but I can’t overlook the fact that you have a life here and a possible future. I’m an old man, peanut. There is not much future for me to look forward to.” he replied softly, his words were like a caress.
“Thank you, Dad. Thank you for looking out for me until now…” I stood up and pulled him into a tight embrace as I felt tears slowly escape my guarded eyes.
It’s been a while since I had this kind of talk with my father. He might be tough, who lived by a rigorous code, but he never lost his soft side when he was with me and previously with my mother. Uncle Billy helped me understand this side of him when I was young and couldn’t grasp his tough parenting, but he had been more expressive with me when he got diagnosed. Everything had changed that day we received that bad news.
I stayed with him for most of the afternoon, and then excused myself before sunset. I walked to the bus stop, but I didn’t feel like going back to my apartment. I don’t feel like going anywhere that would make me feel alone. So, I jumped into a different bus route and got my phone out. I scanned my contact list until I found the name I wanted to call.
“Hey! Thank god you still have the time to answer my call…” I started when the other line picked up.
“What’s up, Andy? Why the sudden call?” Terry asked curiously, ignoring my words.
“Are you at work already? I’m coming over.” I asked, getting straight to the point.
“No. I’m still at my place. How long would it take you to get here?” He asked casually, not even surprised by my sudden visit.
“Fifteen minutes, more or less.”
“Okay. I’ll be here waiting.” He ended the call quickly, giving me no time to say a proper goodbye.
The bus ride to his place was short. When I reached his apartment, it was almost dark outside. I had a small sense of longing for the old place. I didn’t hesitate to knock on the door. It took a while for Terry to answer.
“So, what brings you here?” he greeted as he allowed me to enter.
“Can I crash here for a few days? I don’t feel like staying in my place at the moment,” I replied wearily.
I directly walked towards the couch and slumped down, sighing as I settled in. “I miss this couch,” I stated longingly, disrupting Terry on what he was about to say.
“And, you’re changing the subject because…?” He asked in wonder, his tone was filled with suspicion.
“Because it’s not a subject I want to talk about right now, though it’s quite obvious that it is about a certain someone,” I answered dejectedly as I slowly lay down on the sofa comfortably.
“So the fairy tale was a hoax?” he asked, stating it as a fact rather than an observation.
“And you already knew about it because of this facial expression, right?” I countered. I didn’t even point out whether he was wrong or not.
“Yes, and the aura also helped,” he admitted softly in worry. “What did Mr. Perfect, rich and handsome do?” he asked with thick sarcasm.
“Everything. That’s what he did,” I whispered sadly as I slowly sunk in back to the foul mood I had this morning when I found out about everything. I wasn’t about to tell Terry every detail. I can only give him the gist of the situation. One, I quit my job. Two, I only did number one knowing that my father would like to go home. Three, number two didn’t work in my favor at all. Four, I fell for William Maxwell and his lies.
Terry already knew that I had a thing for William, but he didn’t know how far I had fallen for the man. I don’t get why I was so attracted to him now that I’ve truly seen what he was like. And to be honest, he wasn’t really all that much as what people think, or perhaps I was only thinking of such things because of what he had said.
Terry allowed me to crash on his couch again for a few nights, and agreed to take me to my place when his work was done to get a few of my things. When he left for work, I took this time to sleep. Any sort of entertainment was bland in my sight at the moment.
The next thing I knew, after being drawn by a dark void as I closed my eyes, someone had lightly kicked my legs a few times. At first, I thought I was dreaming about someone kicking me until the hit becomes more prominent.
“Are we going to your place or not?” Terry asked monotonously as he repeatedly kicked my leg.
“Why are you kicking me? You should be kicking a certain prick instead.” I mumbled sleepily, slowly turning my body on my back and face the ceiling.
“Do you want to get your things tomorrow morning? You look beat. I only woke you up because I didn’t want you to be pissed about it in the morning.”
“Let’s do this now. I don’t want to cross paths with anyone tomorrow.” I slowly got up from the couch with my eyes still half closed.
“Your shoes are here.” Terry waved my shoes in front of me.
“Thank you.”
I didn’t know how I had walked all the way downstairs to Terry’s bike, but the next thing I knew I was gripping on his waist for dear life. He accelerated through the empty, dark streets towards my apartment. It took us less than ten minutes to get there rather than the usual twenty minutes. It makes you wonder how fast Terry drove that motorcycle.
“You can stay here. I’ll be quick.” I commanded softly as I jumped down the ride and took off my helmet.
I didn’t wait for his reply and quickly entered the apartment building with my purse in hand. As I entered the elevator, I pressed the button for my floor and on the close door button. While I
waited, I dug into my purse and looked for the keys. I planned on making this quick and silent, if I can. That plan was only possible because it was almost one in the morning.
In less than ten minutes, I had stashed my old backpack with some clothes and shoes for work, some casual shirts and pants and sleepwear, plus my toiletries. I pondered on bringing my other things with me, but I didn’t want to ride a bike with huge boxes on board. So with a discontented sigh, I made my way out of my apartment and down the lobby.
When I got out of the clear glass door, Terry had stood by the same place I left him. He took my command to heart. I leered at his stance and shook my head in amusement.
“Come on. Let’s go. I’m tired and I’m sure you are, too.”
“So, no one is staying at your place while you are staying at mine?” he asked as he handed me my helmet back.
“Yes. Why?” I asked, raising my eyebrow at the unexpected question.
“How about we make a deal?” He offered with a sly grin.
“I’m listening…”
“You can stay at my place while I stay at yours.” He stated with a smile.
“That is not deal. You’re making it sound like an exchange, but you get the upper hand with my gorgeous apartment.” I snorted.
“Hey! My place is awesome, too. You seem attached to it.” He smirked cheekily.
“Yeah, yeah.” I playfully pushed him towards his bike as I wore the helmet. “Let’s go already. I’ll think about it.”
Terry sighed but followed my orders and hopped in his ride.
I hoped that tomorrow would not be as eventful as today, but then I remembered I was going to be formally resigning.
Thirty-Seven
I was too lazy to get up the next morning. I felt like a heavy weight was being placed on my back as I tried to turn on the couch. When I sat up, I could feel a numb sensation from my neck down to the soles of my feet.
