"Making a connection?" she murmured, taking a bite from the pizza and gulping down the remnant of food in her mouth."Is that not what you want?" he asked, and the room fell silent. Lila silently munched on her food, not because she did not have a thousand thoughts running around in her mind but because she did not know how to put them into words that would make sense. "You are awfully quiet," Damien said, breaking off the silence. He had broken the silence, so it felt weird that she was not talking again."Can I ask you some questions?" she said suddenly. "Strangely, you want to ask me questions, but I guess you can," he said, dropping the pizza back into the box. "You should not do that," she said, looking around. "I forgot to bring plates," she said, unfolding her legs and standing up. She shook them to get the blood flowing through them again. "I can go get the plates instead," he volunteered, trying to stand up. She bent so she could reach his shoulders, and she pushed him dow
"You want to know?" She said she was turning so she could look at his face, and no matter how she looked at him, she could not understand the expression on his face or what it meant. "You want to know?" she said, picking each word as if she were about to tear it apart. He picked up the cup and gulped half of the content before clenching his mouth and turning to her. "What I meant was..." He trailed off because he did not know how to tell her that the only reason he was sitting in her living room acting like they were close was just because he had to get closer with her so he could distract her. "Was?" she urged him when the silence lingered for longer than she was expecting; even if he was trying to make a dramatic silence stall for longer than necessary, it was not going to make him seem special. "I thought you were interesting," he said, pressing his heels together. "Was? Did I now seem boring to you when you got to know me? Just boring plain Lila who likes eating pizza and drin
"That was fast," Lila murmured when he walked back into the room. "Did you want me to sleep on the call?" he asked, and she shook her head. "I said that because I thought it was a convenience call and that it might take you a long time to sort it out," she said, pressing down the can of beer in hand and dropping it to the table. She looked at the pizza and wondered if he bought too much; even if Oliver was to join them, she was a hundred per cent sure that he was not going to turn their offer down and tell them that they were destroying their perfectly good bodies. "It was a personal call," he said, sitting beside her."Ohh," she said, nodding. He expected her to ask more questions. He narrowed his eyes at her side, and she sat silently munching on her pizza slice."You know the people that called me just now," he said when she did not say anything for a long time and they sat in silence. "I do? I do not think so.""But you know them.""Well, I highly doubt it; I do not know anyon
"See how easy that was?" Gavin said with a boastful smile on his face. "Woah, I have to say Damien shocked me." "All men are the same; I am sure he wants to know more about the woman who is desperately laughing herself to him, he said, chugging down his beer. "And who better to tell him than her ex?""Be careful not to get on his bad side though; we all know what kind of nasty temper he has." "I have got all of this under control," he said with pride. When he decided to call Damien, he was not sure what the outcome was going to be. He feared that Damien may not take him seriously, but seeing how he did not hesitate to meet, he was sure that he had some doubts about Lila and wanted some clarification."I better get." "Already? I thought you came here to get better. Are you telling me you feel better already?" Daniel asked."Of course I do," Gavin said, standing up and walking out of the bar.Daniel watched his friend go and wondered what kind of person he was. It was obvious that
"Gray, I will be having a visitor today, so find a way to fit that into my schedule," Damien said as they walked from the elevator to his office. "A visitor?" Gray asked, taking notes on the electronic tablet he had in his hands. The question of who was bubbling in his mind, but he could ask that because he knew that he would have mentioned it if he wanted"Also bring me some black hot coffee; I think I might need it.""Coffee?" Gray asked shocked because his boss rarely asked for coffee and hearing he was asking for dark and hot coffee so early in the morning.Damien did not know how it made sense, but he had stayed up all night thinking about Lila and her reaction. He did not know much about relationships since he had only ever dated one person in his life, but for some reason, he could not shake the feeling of how sad and alone she must have been to be able to react the way she did. Everytime, he shook his head and closed his eyes, trying to remind himself that it was not his bus
“You do not look shocked,” Gavin said. He had expected that Damien would have been so shaken that it would have shown on his face. “Because I already knew," Damien said and shrugged, bending back to his meal and eating like nothing had just happened. "You know, and yet you are still with her?" "With her? What do you mean that I am with her?" Damien asked. He had truly thought that this man sitting away from him was going to come up with something he did not already know about Lila. He had spent enough time researching to be able to know all that there is to know. But seeing that Lila and Gavin had spent six years together, it only made sense that he was supposed to know more than any other person. "Arent you tigetehr?" Gavin asked, wondering if he had got the wrong idea about the two of them. "What does that have to do with you?" Damien asked. He still could not see where Gavin was going with any of these. "I mean, I just thought that the other day after seeing you, you might be
"Mr. Carson, you have a call from Mr. Calloway." His assistant's voice rang through the intercom and then beeped dead. He looked at his phone, beeping a red light back at him to indicate that the phone was waiting for him to pick it up. He picked up the receiver and put it to his ears, wondering if this was some kind of joke on him because Damien never cried out first."Damien?" Oliver was shocked to get a call from Damien. He had tried for years to get close to him, but all that Damien had done was raise a wall between them, and no matter how much he tried, he was blocked every single time. "Oliver," Damien said back. Damien had been surprising himself in these recent times. He had been the one to reach out to Oliver to ask to be steered up with his sister, and now he was getting worried about Lila. He was trying to convince himself that the reason for him crying out to Oliver was not that he was worried but because he did not like to think that a small fry like Gavin was trying to
"I am so glad that you thought of me," Arietta squealed as they walked through the mall. "I needed help, and I did not have anyone else to call," Lila said in a low voice. She had reached out to Arietta, asking if she could take her shopping. She needed new clothes if she was going to be able to live her life. "I am still glad that you thought of me even after the way I embarrassed you the other day." "Embrassed me?" Lila said in a dismissive tone. "You did not embarrass me; you just got the wrong idea, and I mean, anyone can do that," she added. She did not want to have a bad history with the girl just because of one example mistake. They could grow to be a bunch of friends and may not even know it just because she decided to keep a grudge. "You ate so nice, and I am going to make sure you have a very nice time as well," Arietta promised, latching onto her hand and pulling her away. Lila felt her phone vibrating in her pocket; she took it out and looked at it. "Oliver is calling
"Look what we got in the mail," Evangeline said, waving the card in hand in the air happily. It was one of those rare mornings when they both sat at the table and ate together. Gavin always rushed out in the morning, while Evangeline stayed in bed longer than she should. "What is it?" Gavin asked, not impressed by the paper in her hand. For all he could know, that could be their bills or a bank statement on one of her numerous credit cards. He wondered if having a crippling debt on her card was a flex for her. "Your credit card bill?" "Of course not," she said, furrowing her eyebrow as she sat down in the chair opposite him. "That is exciting, but not as exciting as this news I am about to share with you." "Gee, what could be more exciting than your wonderful debt?" He said it in a dry tone. "Keep on being stupid; I will still tell you anyway," she murmured angrily, raking out the card from the envelope, dropping the envelope to the table, and turning to him as she began to read.
"You are back early," Lila said when she saw her brother walk in. She was going to talk to him the next morning since she thought he would probably be out late since he had a date with Arietta. It was strange to her that he was already at home. "The date finished early," he said, and she frowned with her lip running downwards. "What is that supposed to mean? What do you mean by the date finished early?" She asked, getting from the couch, to go meet him by the door. "Arietta gave me good news, and I wanted to come hear from you about it.""She told you already?" Lila gasped in disbelief. "So how did this happen?" "I ran into Gavin's new wife, and she pushed me to the wall—the wall I did not know that I had built up. It was not a good feeling, but I know that if I let her continue with me like that, I would like it.""I think you have made the right decision," Oliver said proudly. "And I am glad that you made the decision all by yourself." "What does that mean?""Damien called me
"I am so sorry, ma'am I was not aware that you came into our store; if I had known, I would have come out to attend to you by myself." "It's okay," Lila said. She did not want them to make a fuss overanythingg; she had made her point to Evangeline, so now she could relax."The present staff do not know any better." Lila could remember coming into the store with her mom when she was younger, and she could remember how members of the staff fussed over her. Her mom did buy a lot, so maybe their actions in themselves were not entirely bad, but it already made her feel self-conscious about it all."It is fine; I am fine." "How is Mrs. Carson? It's been a while since I heard from her," the manager said, trying to make small talk."Having the time of her life," Lila said a bit only because she genuinely did not know how her mother was. She was convincing herself that no news was good news and that if anything had gone wrong, they would have heard about it."How can I serve you today?" The
Evangeline stood outside, looking at the store. After the security men had pulled her outside, one staff member followed and told her that her membership had been revoked. She screamed, but nothing was changed. After all of the money she spent on the store, how could they revoke her membership just like that? Who on earth was Lila assassinated with that you think to do something like this to her?"Gavin," she said in a sad tone over the phone. "Gavin boo," she said again. She had been mean to him over the past few weeks, but she had to tell him what she had just experienced. "Evangeline? Darling? Why do you sound so sad?" He asked in a panicked tone. "I was just kicked out of my favourite store." Gavin relaxed; he had feared that she was in danger, but he thought that this was just a little trouble over clothes, and he felt better. "Kicked you out? Why would they do that?" "I saw Lila in the store, and I knew that she could not afford the things in it, so I just asked that she be
Evangeline watched Jane scramble away; she began to think under what name Lila was registered that made her act like that. She had known her before Gvain decided to do away with Lila and marry her; she knew how she clinged to Gavin without money of her own; she knew how she had to meet Gavin to give her everything that she could possibly need in life. She basically relied on him, so how could she have let up so fast that she already had a suagr daddy ready to take care of her expenses?"Oh, I see what is going on here," Evanegline said, sounding like he knew it all. She closed the gap between them and held her shoulder lightly. "You must have latched yourself to a rich man who ought membership for you." Lila had the urge to tell her off, but she held herself to avoid blowing things out of proportion. She had a godstore credit because she was using her mom's membership, and it was valid for them both. "If you get on your high horse, should we wait for the manager to get here first so
"Don't you think this is too flashy?" Lila asked, stepping out of the changing room. She was in a red sequin dress flowing down to the ground; the neck was deeply cut to show a bit of her cleavage and highlighted her silhouette and curves. "You look too good," Arietta squealed as she went to hold Lila's hand."Where am I supposed to wear this to? To have breakfast or watch my favourite series?" Lila asked, turning to the mirror. It was not a lie; the dress looked too good on her, and she wanted to get it. But how could she think of getting something as expensive as this without any reason? "I have no place to wear it, so why should I buy it?" she murmured. "Who knows, you might need to attend an event soon, and wearing this would make everyone look at you." "If everyone is looking at me, then I will feel very uncomfortable," Lila replied, shaking her head.As much as she loved the dress, it was impractical for her to wear. How could she think of buying something that she might nev
"A thousand dollars?" Lila gasped as she picked up the tag of the dress that Arietta had pushed into her hand. "That is quite affordable," Areitta said. They had spent about ten minutes going around the store with Arietta taking out clothes from the display rack and pushing them into her hands. Lila had been taking a peek at the clothes, and they were not the types she could afford. Even though Arietta had told her that she was going to have to pay and that she should not worry, Lila could not help but feel weirded out by the experience. Aruetta had said that this was her way of apologizing for the mistake that she had made, and Lila had said that a simple apology would have sufficed for it. Arietta decided to help Oliver out even though she did not fully understand the concept of it all. That was the best she could do for them. Oliver obviously had a plan, and the least she could do was help him. "Affordable?" Lila gasped.Arietta gave her a glance and muttered to her, "Do not wo
"I am so glad that you thought of me," Arietta squealed as they walked through the mall. "I needed help, and I did not have anyone else to call," Lila said in a low voice. She had reached out to Arietta, asking if she could take her shopping. She needed new clothes if she was going to be able to live her life. "I am still glad that you thought of me even after the way I embarrassed you the other day." "Embrassed me?" Lila said in a dismissive tone. "You did not embarrass me; you just got the wrong idea, and I mean, anyone can do that," she added. She did not want to have a bad history with the girl just because of one example mistake. They could grow to be a bunch of friends and may not even know it just because she decided to keep a grudge. "You ate so nice, and I am going to make sure you have a very nice time as well," Arietta promised, latching onto her hand and pulling her away. Lila felt her phone vibrating in her pocket; she took it out and looked at it. "Oliver is calling
"Mr. Carson, you have a call from Mr. Calloway." His assistant's voice rang through the intercom and then beeped dead. He looked at his phone, beeping a red light back at him to indicate that the phone was waiting for him to pick it up. He picked up the receiver and put it to his ears, wondering if this was some kind of joke on him because Damien never cried out first."Damien?" Oliver was shocked to get a call from Damien. He had tried for years to get close to him, but all that Damien had done was raise a wall between them, and no matter how much he tried, he was blocked every single time. "Oliver," Damien said back. Damien had been surprising himself in these recent times. He had been the one to reach out to Oliver to ask to be steered up with his sister, and now he was getting worried about Lila. He was trying to convince himself that the reason for him crying out to Oliver was not that he was worried but because he did not like to think that a small fry like Gavin was trying to