Chapter 35
900words
That was how I felt right now. I couldn't let him know that he made me nervous. Nothing good could come of it.
"Of course," was all he said, and I managed to drag my eyes away from his green ones long enough to glance around. All the others had left and it was remaining just me and Alex—and a sleek black sedan parked several feet away from us.
My instincts told me that the sedan was his ride. I didn't know much about cars—I definitely wasn't a car freak—but if cars could match with people, then this was the perfect one for him. He'd also look hot as hell driving a Range Rover.
I blinked. When had I suddenly developed a car fetish?
Tightening my grip on the handle of my luggage, I looked up at him. My breath hitched when I saw that he'd been watching me this entire time. "So, I'll see you?"
In that moment, I wished I had the ability to fast forward the hands of time to when I was safely in the car, on my way home.
When he just kept on staring at me, a glazed look settling over his eyes that had me wondering if he'd even heard me at all, I hiked my clutch higher on the shoulder of my left hand and turned, prepared to walk away.
Alex was starting to give me stalker vibes. Okay, maybe stalker was pushing it a bit too far. The word, crazy, was more fitting.
I didn't believe in false humility. I knew that I was pretty—I saw myself almost everyday in the mirror and I got a lot of compliments—but I wasn't that pretty. Pretty enough to render a man speechless, I mean.
Before I could slip away, his hand snagged around mine, stopping me. I turned to him with raised brows.
"I don't have your number."
I opened my mouth. Then closed it again because, shit. He didn't have my number.
I groaned inwardly, recalling how I'd casually said 'I'll see you' and turned to walk away. How had I planned on us communicating? Sending a pigeon back and forth with handwritten letters?
He pulled out his cell and I rattled off my digits to him. He dialled it immediately so that I'd be able to save his number, and only then did he let me go.
I made sure to tip the driver and give him five stars for his patience before dragging my luggage into the building and the elevator. Maybe it was because I just saw him less than an hour ago, but standing in an elevator suddenly reminded me of how Alex and I met. It had been lust at first sight, and seeing how the sexual tension between us hadn't dulled at all, I realised there was no way we would have been able to walk away from each other that night. The pull between us was just too strong. Near impossible to fight.
Janice, my next door neighbour, was just coming out of her apartment by the time I stepped out of the elevator.
Her eyes widened in surprise when she saw me, her smile warm and welcoming. "Laura, you're back!" She hurried over to hug me. "I don't even have to ask how your vacation went because you're basically glowing. How are the newly wedded couple?"
She knew who Balery was because the latter visited me a lot, and she also knew about the wedding that had taken place last month.
"They're great. How's Will?"
"He's doing great." She tilted her head in the direction of the elevator. "I was just about to go pick him up from school actually."
"Oh, don't let me keep you then."
Janice was a single mom, and Will, a chubby cute little thing with his mom's eyes and a head full of curly hair, was her son.
She smiled, squeezing me in a hug once more before hurrying down the hallway. "So glad you're back, Laura!"
I dumped my bag in my living room and instantly sighed, breathing in the familiar smell of the place—and maybe also dust. I was going to have to do a lot of cleaning and unpacking, but I backed out of the house still, locked it and took the elevator down.
There was somewhere I needed to be first.
The white and cream coloured bungalow I stood in front of would probably always give me mixed feelings for as long as I lived. At first, it bathed my stomach in warmth, like a ray of sunlight had touched my insides, then the feeling of warmth would disappear and my stomach would twist and turn, like it was filled with acid instead.
And why wouldn't the sight of the house make me feel conflicting emotions when I'd seen the only person I loved at their happiest, only for that happiness to be snatched away, taking the victim's soul and in its place, the shell of the woman I once knew.
The shell of Elena Heartfield, also known as my mother.
