Chapter twenty-three
I hurried down the corridor in attempt to catch up with Jacob. He was already in the car when I got to him, his both hands stretched out on the steering wheel and his eyes looking ahead.
“How can you be so mean? All she wanted was for you to spend the night and you said no!” I complained, taking my seat beside him.
“She wanted?” He turned to glance at me.
“I mean… well yeah, if it brings any sympathy in you to know that it was what she wanted.” I didn’t realize I had mentioned that she wanted it, but there was nothing wrong with her expressing herself anyways. It’s only painful that he doesn’t feel the same way.
I wasn’t in the mood to speak for the rest of the journey back to the castle. I leaned on the window watching as night slowly enveloped the town. The street lights shone brightly, eliminating the signpost of stores and offices.
My bones felt weak from the day stress, that it didn’t take long before I was soundly asleep. I only stired awake when I was been led up the stairs by Jacob, he hadn’t bother to wake me up. He carried me gently to my room, laying me on the bed that looked neatly arranged. Someone must have done a general cleanup around here, I observed with sleepy eyes. It hadn’t been so arranged when I left earlier.
“Have you seen Antonio?” I asked drowsily.
“No. I would check on him on my way out,” he stood at the foot of my bed.
“Where are you going to?”
“To keep your friend company for the night.” He answered bluntly. His respond sparked away a considerable amount of the sleep from my eyes. I hadn’t really expected a change of my mind.
“Really?” I wanted to be sure I wasn’t still sleeping and dreaming.
“Yeah. If that would make me more humane in your eyes. And to think of it, I put her in that condition. You are right, I should show some sympathy.”All content is property © NôvelDrama.Org.
“Thank you so much Jay. It would mean a whole lot to her,” I offered a weak smile.
“You welcome. And I love the way you call my name. If you go on that way, I might never be able to say no to your request,” I took his flattering and smiled wider in appreciation.
“Now if you don’t mind, I’d love to take my leave. Try to take a shower, I would ask for dinner to be brought up to your room,” he added, before turning to the door.
“One more thing. I might not be able to come home early enough to take you to school, but Jasper or whoever else the boss appoints would do that.” He stopped to inform.
“Thanks Jay. My regard to Debbie. Tell her not to worry, if she can’t make it to school tomorrow…” I was trying to say.
“She will,” he cut me off.
“What?” I asked, not really sure about what he meant.
“She will make it to school and I will make sure of that.” He assured me.
I nodded in gratitude, watching as he disappeared through the door. I fell back on the bed, listening attentively to the quietness that descended on the room upon his departure. I was aware when the door to Antonio’s room at the far end of the corridor was opened.
I thought of what he could be doing at the moment. Had he just lay on his bed the whole day after our little misunderstanding in the morning? Was he angry at me? I was tempted to sneak out of my room and tiptoe to the locked door of his room. What would he say to Jacob about Debbie? Well, what if I get to the door and get caught by either Jacob or Antonio? What would i tell them? That I became so nosy all of a sudden and couldn’t contain my curiosity?
It was disturbing how this Antonio of a man was frequenting my thoughts. He was the first person I thought of at dawn and the last person on my mind when I lay to sleep. Why did it seem like my relationship with Charlie was becoming less realistic with the distance that had been created.
I was consoled out of my guilt, remembering that this was all his suggestion. It was all his idea for me to come live with Antonio. If he wasn’t so bent on revenge, this wouldn’t be happening to us. To think that he had given his consent for me to have sex with another man without even thinking about it. He had left me with very little choices.
I wished hoplessy that Antonio would wander out of his room into mine. But with the way I had shut him out in the morning, telling him to leave me alone, I doubted that he would be here tonight or tomorrow morning when I wake.
I dragged myself out of the inviting bed into the bathroom, taking my time to scrub off any layer of dirt that might have clung to my skin from the hospital environment. I had successfully changed into my nightwear, when dinner came in. It was a light meal of sea food.
***
I yawned lazily, opening my eyes slowly, hoping to see Antonio seated on the couch with his phone or the magazine in his hands, in the usual manner. But hope was far from me and disappoint lurked around, even if it was still very early in the morning.
I remembered it was a school day and I had to get ready and be downstairs to meet whoever it was that was appointed to drive me to school in the absence of Jacob. I suddenly missed that he was not there. Aside from the constant arguments and fights we usually had, I had come to terms with the fact that he was a good person.
There was no sign of Antonio in the sitting room when I went downstairs. The dinning room was clear as well. It was relieving and heartbreaking at the same time, to know that he had taken my words to heart.
There was a guard standing beside a white Lexus car parked in the compound when I stepped out. Intuition suggested to me that he was my driver for the day, so I walked up to him.
“Hi, i guess you are riding me to school today?”
“Yes please,” he held out the door.
A smile touched my lips remembering that Jacob, wouldn’t have done this for me. We would have probably used the first five minutes of my arrival to argue about something not worthing the time. Now I missed him again.
I wasn’t dressed in my usual hoodie or sweatpants or glasses. I decided to look different. I wore a short skirt on long socks, a heeled sandals and a collared-neck top, neatly tucked into the skirt. My hair was curved over my shoulder in a bob style. I had used the hair stretcher on the dressing table to produce the desired curl. If only Antonio was downstairs to see me, I wished.
“Have you seen the boss this morning?” I asked the guard at the driver seat, as he reversed the car, facing the gate.
“No. He should be in his gym by now,” the guard responded.
I was glad he kept quiet after his respond, because I had asked the question out of my egarness to see Antonio rather than a medium to start up a conversation. Unlike Jacob, the guard at the front seat didn’t bother looking out until I was in the class. He reversed the car, hitting the road as soon as I alighted.
There stares from the other student was the same as the other day. There was no Debbie to talk to today, so I was solely focused on the teacher that stood before the class. It was shortly after the first class that my phone beeped from inside my locker. It was a text from Charlie.
“Meet me at the gent,” the message read.
I was stunned, trying to believe that Charlie was at the school’s gent. He was probably playing a game on me, but then, there was only one way to find out. I roved out of the class, taking the way that led to the school gent.
As disbelieving as it sounded, it was true. Charlie was standing at the sink, starring at the large sets of mirror in the toilet area. From his position at the morror, he had seen me the moment I got there.
“Hi Charlie,” I waved at him, clearly a aware that he was watching me from the mirror.
“Eve how could you,” his voice came out quietly in the silence if the room.
“Charlie I can explain, look I was sending Debbie to you with an explanation as to why we couldn’t talk on phone, but she had an accident and is present at the hospital. I wouldn’t intentionally ignore you and you know that,” I pleaded, watching his back that was turned to me.
“Do I know that, Eve?” He asked, turning slowly to face me, with eyes that sent goose bumps over my arms.