Love At Last

CHAPTER 56Têxt © NôvelDrama.Org.

LILY’S RETURN

The next morning, thoughts about Lily’s whereabouts brought to an abrupt end, the few hours of sleep I could barely get. Thinking about Lily all through last night until the early hours of the morning deprived me of my beauty sleep and any peace of mind. I sprung out of bed to get the day started again on searching for my supposed ‘date’. In the space of an instant, I mapped out in my head areas she could have possibly been if she was in fact missing but if she wasn’t, and chose to stay away on purpose, finding her would be a bit more tedious.

I picked up my phone to check if I had missed any calls from Lily but to no astonishment of mine, there wasn’t any. I sat down on the couch and rested my leg on the table in front of it, my back against the couch with my eyes closed thinking about the next line of action to take; I had to find Lily. I was worried sick and angry at Lily at the same time. She completely derailed from the initial plan and almost ruined everything, and on top of that, she acted up and left me in the middle of nowhere. I felt not only hurt, but also disappointed; I had absolute trust in her.

I went into the bathroom to take my bath and just as I was about derobing myself, my door bell rang. ‘Could it be Lily?’ I thought and raced out to get the door. On getting to the door, I opened it and it was in fact Lily.

Like what she did the previous night came flashing back to my mind spontaneously, I forgot the feeling of anxiety I felt due to her absence completely, and ignored the brief moment of relief I felt when my eyes met hers. The only feeling I felt welling in me towards her then was anger.

“Lily how could you be this insensitive?!” I barked at the very person I spent my entire night thinking of, the very moment I saw her. “Like the drama you displayed at the party wasn’t enough, you also chose to place unnecessary burdens on me and decided to go missing last night,” I lashed out further.

“You completely derailed off the plan, Lily. Completely!! We had an agreement, Lily. You had no right whatsoever to place me in such a sticky situation as the one from last night,” I scolded. “Why did you do that, Lily? Why did you have to stand me up the way you did? If there was something wrong, why didn’t you just call my attention to it?” I asked almost at once but noticed Lily wasn’t even paying any attention to me.

She walked past me, went straight to the wardrobe and took out her small box. ‘What’s this lady trying to pull right now?’

“Lily,” I held her by the arm and stood between her and the bed. She forcefully rid herself of my grip and made her way past me, to the bed to place her box and pack her things properly.

“Lily?” I reduced the pitch of my voice on seeing the look on Lily’s face. “Can you cut it out already and talk to me?” I decided to stop with the yelling and rub minds with her instead.

Lily paid me no attention as she was completely focused on packing her things. I took a closer look at her face and noticed that just like I did, she also had dark circles around her eyes. ‘Did she not get enough night’s rest?’ I wondered. “Didn’t you get enough night’s rest?” I voiced with compassion swelling in my tone but she didn’t even glance at me.

“Lily please listen to me okay?” I tried to get her to look at me as I waved my hands continuously to her face. She didn’t even budge; she walked past me again to the table behind me to get her deodorants. I stood in her way again and got her to look at me, finally!

“Can we talk?” I asked mildly.

“So you can actually speak gently, huh?” she fired.

“We need to iron this out.”

“There’s absolutely nothing left to iron out, Cayden. Whatever happened yesterday has passed, but the feeling it brought with itself still remains!”

“You’re not entirely faultless here, you know?” I defended.

“Oh really?” she asked with sarcasm enveloping each word she voiced. “Now tell me, what exactly did I do wrong?” she folded her arms and pouted her lips. “All you ever care about is you and you alone. What others think and how they feel…” she paused, staring deep into my soul, “is none of your concern,” she concluded slowly. She heaved a deep sigh and tried to calm down as I had let her rant continuously without cutting her off.

“Why do you keep calling me selfish?”

“Because that’s exactly what you are,” she retorted. “That’s…exactly…what…you…are, Mister,” she emphasized.

“Really? I’m selfish?” I felt a bit hurt each time implied I was selfish.

“I wasn’t stuttering when I said it,” she affirmed strongly.

“Listen,” I touched her by the arm.

“Don’t touch me please,” she moved further away from me to get my hand off her.

I heaved a sigh, suppressing the urge to retaliate. “If we both calm down and see things from the same perspective, we could prevent it from escalating,” I said mildly.

“There’s nothing else I want to see from your…,” she poked my chest, “perspective, Mister,” she paused. “I sincerely regret coming here with you in the first place. And to think I abandoned my duties and my competition to be here with you right now and you’re not even the least grateful,” she scoffed.

“Can you just!…,” I exclaimed and paused abruptly. I held myself back from starting another brawl with her. I immediately turned to her box and started unpacking it. “Can you just be calm and explain to me in details why you felt the way you did and what spurred you to act out the way you did? I’d appreciate it if you do so,” I continued unpacking her clothes. “Why do you keep calling me selfish an ungrateful, Lily?”