Lila stopped over at a flower shop and got two bouquets of flowers on her way to Rosa's place. She stood by the door her sweaty palms making it difficult for her to ring the bell.She pressed her hand against her clothes and raised her hand again. As if she was being watched she looked around to make sure that there were no eyes on her. As she raised her hand the door flung open and Rosa stood in front of her with a big smile across her face. "Hi, I was just about to ring the bell" she said taking a deep breath. "I know" Rosa said pushing the door wider and then stepped out. She pointed to the camera that Lila seemed to have missed and then she raised her phone and waved it to her. "I have been watching you for a while now" she added. "I am sorry, I am a bit nervous" Lila said licking her lips. She had licked it so much that all of the lip gloss she had put to prevent her lips from drying out was gone by now. "I can understand. My husband is a bit intimidating but once you get to
By the time Rosa had made sure they had enough cookies that their tooth hurt, Kevin retired to his room and then they went to the grave site. Kevin had stayed down not because he wanted to but because Rosa was suddenly herself and was now bossing him around as she used to do before. "It is going to be a long ride to the grave. Are you sure you do not want me to get anything for you?" "Anything to eat?" Lila asked, shocked. She had never been filled with cookies before; they say that there is a first time for everything and this was truly a first for her. "Yes, maybe some bread or just anything," Rosa replied and Lila shook her head. "Don't be shy and tell me; even if we don't have it at home, I will stop over at the store and get it for you." Rosa's offer sounded sweet but Lila was sure that she did not need to eat anything again. "I am fine," Lila said and then they left for the car. Lila helped Rosa into the car before turning around and getting in by herself. "We can go now," s
Lila and Rosa sat under the tree. At first they both chatted away, talking loudly with Amber as if she were really there. Lila was sure that if anyone saw them, they would turn their noses at them and wonder what madness they were trying to portray, but she did not mind doing it if it made the woman sitting in front of her feel better.After a while of chatting, Rosa pulled out a small bottle of wine; it was not a popular brand and it was a strange bottle to her. Lila had never seen any wine that came in such a small bottle. "This was her favourite," she murmured as she set three plastic cups on the ground and began pouring inside them. "Amber, I finally brought you a drink because I believe that soon you can finally rest up," she said, pouring the drink at the base of the tree. "You have to drink every single drop; it was a hassle to get this," Rosa added as if she was scolding the girl."Here," she gave another cup to Lila, who took it. "You have no excuse not to drink; I will make
Lila did not know what came over her but she did not have time to think because Rosa had dropped her off at Damien's house with nothing but luck. She was not sure if she had enough money to bail out of that place if she changed her mind halfway. She took out her phone to see if she could call her driver to come get her but it was dead. She sighed and then walked to the gate. "Since I am here, I might as well get this over with." "Hello, ma'am," Grey said before she could press on the doorbell. The gate was sectioned in such a way that one could see inside from outside and vice versa. "Is Damien in?" she asked, trying to act as cool as possible. "I want to see him," she added when he stood there looking at her as if she had said nonsense. "Yes," Grey said, shaking his head and going to open the gate for her. Her eyes had cleared a bit but she knew that she was brave because of the intoxication. She cleared her throat and waited for him to say something. "Come on in; I will go get h
"You do not like honey water?" "It's not that I don't like it; it's just that I do not want to drink it.""But you are drunk." "Not anymore," she whispered, closing her eyes and shaking her head as if that was supposed to prove something to him. "I am definitely not drunk," she added and he made a sound.He walked to her and then held her hand tightly by her wrist, so tightly that she could not wiggle her way out of it, so she just gave up. "Take this," he said, pushing the cup into her hand. "What are you doing?" "Drink this," he said. She knew that expression all too well; that was the same one that her mother carried. It was simple and all it meant was don't argue with me. She wanted to protest but to what end? She knew that she would still drink the water so why did she need to stall?"I am not drinking this because you said so," she murmured, taking the cup to her mouth; the liquid filled her mouth as she drank it. "Happy now?" she murmured, dropping the cup on the table. Sil
"I needed this," Lila said in a slur as she pressed the empty beer can. Damien was careful to prevent what had happened before from happening again. He was not trying to get her drunk, but it seemed like she was drinking to get herself drunk instead. "Why don't you slow down?" He murmured, trying his best not to look at her but to stare at the wall directly ahead. "What?" "You drank wine and now you have drunk three cans of beer." He pointed to the crushed-up cans in front of her as her hand lingered forward to get another can. "Why are you trying so hard to get drunk?" he asked. She took the can and opened it as if she was not hearing all he was saying at that moment. When she swallowed the liquid in her mouth, she turned to him."I need it for courage." "Courage," he said as if he was testing out the new word he had found out. "Courage for what?" he added immediately."To talk to you" "What do you want to talk about that needs so much courage?" he asked. She liked how responsiv
"Are you not going to say anything?" Lila asked when they sat in silence for a long time. She had said she was not asking him for a response but it would feel good to hear what he had to say.She did not know what his reaction was going to be but she had braced herself for anything. She was not going to deceive herself and it did not hurt but one thing she was going to try and live with was the fact that she could not control him or his reaction. "Is that the way you feel?" "Yes, and I know it is wrong but...""What makes it wrong?" he asked, cutting her squeaky voice. Her voice was already betraying her and showing that she was afraid and wanted to sneak away. "What?" "What makes your feelings wrong?" "I mean, if I had not killed Amber, then you would be in a very loving relationship with her now but since she died because of me, it feels like I am taking candy from a baby," she replied with her head bent down as she stared at her legs crossed underneath her. She did not know h
"More than..." Her sentence stopped midway with his lips grazing against hers. Her eyes widened in shock as she took a sharp breath. "What are you..." As her mouth opened to talk, his lips touched hers again, this time kissing her and not stopping.She was lost; she had confessed to him; this was something she wanted but still, it felt wrong. She took her head back and created space between them. Damien could not understand why."Why?" he asked. He was supposed to string together a coherent sentence but he could not."I know we both just confessed to each other now but it still feels wrong." She was too proud of herself at that moment; she knew she was drunk yet she was able to hold herself together. "Why is it wrong? After we have bared out our hearts to each other?" he asked."Because I am in a relationship with Gavin." "I thought it was fake." "It is but... Wait, you knew it was fake? How did you know this? Was I that bad at acting?" "I had a long conversation with your mom," h
"Do you really have to go?" Damien hated that Lila was whining over the phone. "Am I whining again? Why am I acting like this?" she muttered to herself and before he could say anything, she was speaking again. "When are you going to be back?" she asked."In two days and once I am back, I am going to run to you.""Okay then, you want me to go in the evening to check on Daisy?" she asked. Daisy was a dog that he had adopted and she hoped that soon she would join them at the house. Although staff were allowed in the house now, she wanted to still go over to his place; if she could not see him, then at least she could see the dog."Yes, can you do that?" he asked."Of course I can," she said and he took a deep breath."I gotta go down. I will call you as soon as we get there but it might take a while," he said and she nodded. She had to be understanding; as much as she wanted to cling to him, he had to have a life or else she would be known as the woman who sucked the life out of her boyf
Lila stood in front of Damien's office; surprisingly, since Gavin was put behind bars and they had publicly declared their relationship, he felt free and began to go to work. Lila wondered what he had done to her; she wasn't the kind of person who would randomly show up at his office on a Monday morning but he had been out of town all weekend, meaning they didn't get to spend time together and since he was so busy with a product launch, he came to the office straight from the airport. She was supposed to be at work but should go to work after seeing him.She cleared her throat and walked into the office. The lobby was littered with people going in and out and some small groups of people talking. She tried to look at them; ignorance is bliss; if she did not check them, she wouldn't know if they were looking at her or even talking about her. She stood by the elevator with some other people and got in as soon as it stopped. She was going to the last floor so she made herself comfortable
"Do you really have to go?" Lila was standing at the airport as they were seeing her mom off; she could not understand the reason her mom was in such a hurry to leave them. She stayed until the end of the wedding ceremony and then began to talk about leaving to continue her world tour.Lila and Tessa were just getting close but Tessa knew it would be short-lived; if she stayed a bit longer, then both of them would be at each other's throats in no time."Yes, if I don't go, then we will fight Tessa replied with a blank expression on her face."Spo why don't we make conscious efforts to make sure we don't fight?" To Lila, the question made sense because if they were to make an effort, then maybe they could stay together."I would like to try but I...""You don't want to try, you just want to make excuses" Lila understood and she was sure not to try and bring me up again. Her mother was not willing to try; she had better things to do and that was okay. Even if she would miss her, she at
FIVE MONTHS LATER"I know I was happy that you were joining my family but I still can't believe you are marrying my brother," Lila murmured as they waited to be called in."I would have you know...""You love my brother." Lila cut Arietta off before she could complete the sentence. "I know you do; I understand that you do but I still cannot...""If you can't understand it, then I suggest that you let it be." Arietta knew it was playful banter but she was getting nervous; she wondered what was going on in the hall and why it was taking so long for her to get called in. She wanted to tell Lila to go check what was going on but she knew if she showed fear, Lila, who was far more nervous than her, would freak out.She opened her mouth to continue the banter when someone came to tell her that her father would be there any moment to walk her in. Matteo came in almost immediately and it had Arietta wondering why they had to send someone when he was right behind her."Oh my goodness!" he excl
Lila waited for her mom to be out of the room before she said a word. She could not believe that she had just stood up to her mom and it had worked. It made her begin to think of all the times she could have done the same and maybe it would have worked too. She was still trying to process what had happened when she felt her feet leave the ground and dangle in the air. Alarmed, she looked down to see Damien holding her up. She looked down at him with wide eyes."What are you doing?" she asked with shock all over her face."I have missed you so much. I can't believe we began dating and we had to stay away for so long," he said, not answering her question. She felt butterflies swell in her stomach. It felt good hearing a man say words like that. It was never that way with Gavin for her, at least the side of him he decided to show her."I missed you too," she replied. She could not help but say, looking down at his face after hearing such words was enough to make her blurt them out withou
Damien spent the next few days shuffling between his office and the police station; somehow getting Gavin behind bars made him feel like a huge burden had been lifted off his shoulders. He could finally stand face to face with Kevin and Rosa without feeling bad. He and Lila had been communicating via text messages only and the words sounded as formal as they could be. She had told him that she was going to wait but first Gavin had to be securely behind bars because she feared what he might do.Even though Damien swore to protect her, he could still understand her paranoia. Every time he went to see Gavin with a lawyer, he was screaming in his voice and breaking out in a sweat, demanding Lila. Of course, Tessa was never going to allow Lila to show up there; it was still scary to see how much Gavin was not willing to give up even though he saw that there was no hope for him again.Gavin was glad that at last, it was the final hearing; he wondered why the court was dragging out the trial
Damien sat across from Oliver, wondering what he wanted to say; it was not like he was completely oblivious to whatever he was going to say; it was just that he had expected that all of this would blow over and Gvain would be safely behind bars before they talked about anything."You deceived me," Oliver said at once; there was no time for him to be beating around the bush. Damien had not thought too much about it before he decided to deceive him."I did," Damien replied with a head nod. It was not a false accusation after all and he thought that the faster he admitted to doing it, the faster they got to stop talking about it. "I wanted revenge and since I did not have the facts, I ran with what I had.""So all the while I was helping you get revenge against my sister and even after spending time with her, you did not realise that you were wrong about her?" Oliver asked. Lila was the kind of girl you would not believe would ever hurt a fly, even as her brother he had to say that nothi
Lila stood behind a glass watching Gavin get questioned; she wanted to run in there and scream in his face now that she was sure there was no way he would escape from there. She watched him get flustered even though he tried to act cocky. They were yet to bring up Amber and the evidence they had gotten. She knew he would lose his mind once he saw the evidence because that would point directly to her. She was the only one who had that evidence so he would know immediately that this was her doing but she did not care. There was no escaping for him for this one.She turned to Oliver, who was standing beside her. Tessa had said that she did not have a need to stand in the room and watch him get interrogated and the chief of police had taken her to his office so she could sit and get some coffee to drink. "I think I have seen enough; I want to go home," she announced, turning slowly to Oliver."I told you there was nothing to see here but you wanted to see," Oliver replied, his voice devoi
It took a while before the officers came to release all civilians from the room they kept them safe, the criminal was found and even transferred from their station to a more secure one. It was then that Lila knew that her mother and brother were standing outside the entire time. By the time they came in, Kevin was already speaking with the officers about how he would like to keep Gavin in there until there was evidence.Tessa did not pay any heed to Lila but walked straight to Kevin, who was arguing with the officer he was speaking to. "Mr. Voss," Tessa said as she approached him. Kevin turned around to see her and smiled with the base of his lips."Mrs. Carson, it has really been a while since I saw you," he said, turning to her."Can we talk a bit?" Tessa asked and he nodded. "Can we have some privacy, please?" she asked the officer who was still standing by them. The man looked flustered but his expression changed to gratitude because he was happy that he had found a way to escape.