Lyra

“Did you talk to him?” Penny asked me on the phone as I set my left foot inside the house.

“No.”

“What are you doing, McCoy? What are you waiting for? I am telling Veronica is going to steal your fiancé. You need to polish your game plan. Otherwise, Veronica would have the ultimate laugh while you standalone.” The woman was hyped-up all day, repeating the same song again and again and exasperating me to a point where very soon I was turning into a murderer. And she was my first victim.

I closed my eyes shut and bit my lips with my upper teeth. Penny was nagging for precisely twelve hours now. In the restaurants, she would come into the kitchen every thirty-minute and asked me if I called him or not. Whenever I shook my head or replied skeptically, she would gaze at me as if I was a criminal who was hiding from the law.

At this point, this woman was harassing me, and I was thinking about issuing a restriction letter against her.

“Penny, you need to stop,” I murmured. “You are annoying me now. If you asked me one more time this question or anything about Nathan Hall, I am going to block you.”

“Do you want to know something interesting?” she asked me, perfectly ignoring my frustration.

“Sure, if you have another topic to talk about, I am glad to take part in that.” I walk towards the kitchen to have a glass of water.

“All the videos and pictures of you and Nathan’s disappeared from the social media. Not a single one can be found. Nothing. It’s like those things never happened. Twitter, I*******m, F******k nowhere, not even a single one.”

Great, splendid, that was a shocking but great surprise. I meant to work for myself in a good way.

I was thinking about what I would say if anyone from my family got hold of those pictures and videos. Viola was my biggest concern. She might have changed, turned into a glorious businesswoman with a badass attitude, but inside she was still the same. She wouldn’t miss a point where she could nitpick me. The mean bone on her body was yet to disappear, and if it were me, it would delight her to feast on me in front of the world.

The time when all of my siblings sat with me to talk about Nathan and my relationship was scarcely a week ago, I told them the truth. The episode of that night was true.

My car broke, and I was waiting for my Uber to come when Nathan stopped the car and offered me a ride. I wanted to refuse, but it was late, and I was apprehensive of standing in the dark at that time by myself, so I took that. He dropped me home and went on his way.

And now if they saw all those pictures, they would believe I was fibbing to them all.

Even if Owen and Brian trusted me, the evidence was against me, and Viola’s sharp mouth was enough to scratch my life apart.

Viola would bury me alive if she found a hole in my story. Even if there were none, she would be happy to make one.

“Who did that?” I finished the water in a gulp. “That’s great. I mean, it saves me. No one will know now. If Viola sees those pictures, then you know I was in this life.”

“I know. That bitch would make your life a living hell. I am sure Nathan did that. The man has a Ph.D. in information and technology. Good looks with the brain. I am sure he used his education to save you. How romantic.” She sighed. “I wish someone did the same thing for me too.”

“You are hopeless, Penny.” I raised my head and saw uncle Josh in the doorway with a big smile. “I am calling you later, bye.”

“When did you come?” I ran towards him, and he enfolded me in a gentle hug.

Uncle Josh was what I had in my life. When no one was there for me, uncle Josh was. From a very young age, he always showered me with love and affection. Every time he came, he would bring toys, chocolates, clothes for me. He read stories to me in bed so many nights, fed me, took care of me just as a father would do.

I never blamed my father for anything. The night we lost our mother, he lost his wife too. I knew her for ten years, but dada was with her for twenty-five years. They hoisted from poverty to affluence; she was there when he needed her. The vow that had entwined them together was important to him more than anything. Unlike my mother, who toyed with his feelings for years and years and then one night everything was gone.

The past twenty-five years meant nothing. His wife crushed the twenty-five years marriage to the dust.

After my mother’s death, uncle Josh held me close when every other member forgot about me. He came to every teacher’s parents’ day, annual function, sports day, graduations. He was there with me. Aunt Rose sometimes came with him, but he was always there to celebrate my success and happiness. He was the first person whom I told about my passion for cooking. How badly I wanted to have a career in that industry. It didn’t matter to him that my education would be wasted or something; he gave me a thumbs up and told me to follow my heart, and he would be with me.

That was enough.

“I had something to discuss with Matthew.” He kissed the crown of my head. “Did you have your dinner?”

“Yep. Penny and I went out after I was done with my work. Are you leaving?” I asked him.

“Yeah. I was waiting to meet you. It’s getting late.” He looked outside. “Your aunt will lock me out if I am late, tonight. And this is for you.”

He took some snicker bars out of his coat pocket and gave them to me.

He didn’t forget my chocolates; he spoiled me every little chance he got and treated me with affection similarly as a father would do to his daughter.

After saying goodbye to uncle Josh, I went to the kitchen to pick up my chocolate, chips, and milk, and made my way towards my room.

The house was hushed, calm as classical music. The main reason was Viola. She was in New York for some unknown reason, and I couldn’t be more thankful for that. By this time, dada was in his room, maybe in sleep too, all the servants retired to their quarters. It was only me, and I loved this feeling.

I went to my room, played my favorite song, took a shower, got into my PJs, dried my hair, tried them on in a braid, and hopped onto the bed with my laptops and snacks.

This was my kind of Netflix and Chill.

When I opened my eyes to my phone’s caller tune, the first thing that came to my eyes was darkness. It was the darkest night I had ever seen. I checked the time with one eye and the other one didn’t reciprocate; the time was ticking at 2 am.

I received the call without checking the name as my eyes were protesting to open.

“Hello,” I murmured in sleep.

“Did you call him?”

“Who?”

“Nathan Hall.” Yours, fiancée.”

“Who are you?” I frowned.

“Ahu, I am Penelope, your friend. What’s wrong with you? Did you call him? Have you talked to him? What did he say? Are you guys meeting tomorrow? When is the wedding? Is he in your bed right now? Did you two sleep together? Did you make out yet?”

“Penny, I didn’t call him. Now shut up and let me sleep.”

I cut the call and, as a certified sleepy head, and I passed out instantly.

The phone rang again. I picked up this time without opening my eyes at all.

“Hello.”

“Did you call him?”

I cut the call and fell asleep again. My phone rang a few more times, but I didn’t pick that up knowing what would hear from Penny.

“Did you call him?” Penny asked me as soon as I arrived at the restaurant.

“Shut up. Shut up, shut the fuck up, Penelope Gibson.” I yelled at her. “I am going to kill you with a kitchen knife if you say this sentence one more time. Do you get that?” I was boiling with anger, and she was the one who put fire on it. It was time she sowed what she reaped. “You are making my life impossible for your useless curiosity when I told you there was nothing. I am telling you for the last time to listen to me carefully. Penelope, there is nothing between me and Nathan Hall. We are not engaged, and there is no wedding taking place. That was a lie he told that time. Do you get that? If you still have any problem understanding my speech, then notify me, I am going to use a knife or a gun to explain everything properly.” I was panting after giving her the monologue.

In my twenty-three years of life, I had never talked this much. I was an introverted person by nature; I liked to stay out of attention; I was terrible at handling this kind of situation when one individual gave all their attention to me. That kind of situation was always awkward, more like uncomfortable for me.

Right at this moment, I am in that situation, the one I hate the most. All the eyes were on me. Kavin was staring at me in astonishment. He never saw this side of me. God, I never knew I had such a violent protagonist inside my timid personality.

Margaret was smiling and gazing at me in such a horrid way that told she knew I was a violent person, or maybe she thought I was possessed with something. All the other staff at our restaurant were amazed too. Everyone was aware of our friendship, but we never really fought in front of everyone. We didn’t fight at all. However, everyone was shocked to see my fuming side.

The serene, shy, soft-spoken woman that these people were familiar with was replaced with an infuriated, rowdy, shouting woman.

“Okay. I get that. But did you call him?” she asked calmly.

She was truly hopeless at the last stage, and trust me, no one could help her now.

“No, for the love of God. Why would I? I don’t even have his number. And I will not call him even if I had his number, so you can stop asking this question to me.”

I turned around was ready to do a grand exit, but Penny spoiled everything.

“Hello, Nathan, this is Penelope Gibson.”

She smiled and paused at my place a few inches away from her. I fisted my hand in anger and was ready to kill this woman. Did she call him? How dare she? Over, our friendship was dead, I turned around intending to throw her phone away, she couldn’t talk to Nathan anymore, but when I turned around, my knees went weak as if they were jelly, and I fell on the floor with a thud noise.

Nathan was here. Penny wasn’t talking to him on the phone. He was here; she was talking to the one who was standing right in front of us.

Even before I could make any sense of what was happening, it all went pitch-black as I lost my consciousness.

I opened my eyes, and Penny’s anxious voice welcomed me to the dazzling sunny milieu.

“Are you okay?” she asked me in a quavering tone. I stared at her, and she gave me the impression of losing her mind any time soon.

“I saw a strange dream,” I whispered.

I examined the place; we were in the staff locker room, only Penny and I were there.

“What dream, dear?” she asked me sympathetically.

“I saw Nathan was here, in this place, at this restaurant, talking to you. Oh God, such a joke. Why would he be here, right? The whole thing looked so authentic that I almost lost my wits.”

“That sounds like a decent dream to me.” a male voice reached into my brain and slowly came to my ear, and I was able to recognize the voice from the second he pronounced the first letter.

It was Nathan.

That wasn’t a dream. Everything was the truth. And gradually I remember what happened earlier. I closed my eyes and covered my face with my hand.

This was embarrassing. The real one.

Nathan saw me a few times, and all these times I was in my worst situation. Like for the first time we met, a year ago, it was in a nightclub where I was for a birthday celebration with my boyfriend and friends. We had fun; I had fun the entire night until I discovered my boyfriend’s dick inside one of my friend’s pussy; they were in the filthy bathroom having sex like animals.

My heart dropped at that moment when I saw the scene, and it, and it naturally stopped beating. Hailey, my friend’s dress, was pulled down. Her boobs were hanging outside from her lacy red bra, her mid-length dress was up to her waist, the thong was shredded in two pieces carelessly resting on the floor.

While my boyfriend Brad’s white button-down shirt was half-open, his jeans were around his ankle with his boxer. Hailey’s red lipstick painted his face perfectly. His face was brighter than the red signal light. Anyone from 100 meters away could see the redness of his face.

I still didn’t know why that day I went to the bathroom. It wasn’t that I needed to use the toilet or something. But a whisper took me there. I was at the bar waiting for my drinks when a man in a black jacket and a black hat came to me and whispered in my ears. “Go to the ladies’ room. You will find your boyfriend and friend there.” After that he vanished, I waited thinking that was a prank, but when they didn’t come, I walked to the place and opened the door with a silent prayer, hoping to be wrong, but when I saw everything with my eyes, it broke all the dream I saw with Brad.

Brad and I had been dating for three years at that time. I didn’t know whether or not I loved him, but I cared for him a lot, liked everything he presented.

I met him through a mutual friend. Yes, Penny was that friend. We met, and the chemistry was there from the beginning, so we hit off after a glass of tequila on Penny’s birthday. The wildest night I had ever spent with a man, and I liked that a lot. By the dawn he asked me if we could meet again, I said yes, and we met again the very next day for dinner.

He took me out to a fancy place, wine and dined me, we laughed, cracked jokes together, and before going home, we kissed. The kiss was the emblem of our first date. After that, we were unseparated for three years.

Brad Watson was a doctor, his father was the owner of the Chicago Central Hospital. He worked there as a neurosurgeon and was famous for his work in the community. Even though we were not that public about our relationship, almost everyone close to our family and friends knew about us.

Our families met a few times during parties, the only time I attended such parties at Brad’s request. Watson and McCoy sounded pretty good, too.

Until he cheated on me.

“I can explain.” He said.

“Then explain,” I told him with a stone face after deciding I was going to slap him before breaking up with this cheater.

“You are against anal sex, and Hailey has no problem with that area, so we agreed only to have anal sex, nothing else. My heart belongs to you, baby.” He smiled at me.

I don’t know what the hell did he expect from me, but hearing his bullshit talk, I was burning. I wanted to take off my heels and thrashed him with that in the bathroom until I saw blood coming out from any part of his body. Maybe a kick or two on his ball would be perfect, too.

I was determining what I was going to do with the bastard, that’s when a male laugh swam on the heavy hot air of that dirty toilet.

“Dude, that’s the worst excuse anyone can ever give after being caught red-handed cheating on their partner.” Nathan was standing behind me, blocking the door from others with his massive height. “At least come with something good, that would make any sense.”

Then he turned to me and stared at me for a second. He came closer to my ear and whispered. “Sweetheart, trust me, you deserve way better than this dickhead.”

His whisper quivered my entire body. His gesture was intimate. Something about him felt comfortable and safe for me enough to trust his words. I didn’t feel this way for Brad, ever. Nathan felt familiar even when that night was the first time I met him.

I felt I had met him before, thousands of times, here and there. He was somewhere near me everywhere I went. I didn’t know why that sort of feeling came to me, but it was what it was.

“Do you want to go or do you prefer to finish the pornography that your boyfriend and friend are performing?” he asked me.

“I want to leave,” I whispered, lowering my head.

He seized my hand, and we excited the place together from the backdoor as I wanted to avoid the eyes of people.

I still remember what he did after he dropped me home. He kissed me, but we weren’t going there. I came back to reality, and it kicked me hard.

“Sure, she can take a day off,” Penny told Nathan.

I had no clue what she was telling; I was somewhere else; I was on that night with him again.

A few seconds later, Nathan carried me to his arm and made his way out of the restaurant. I didn’t make a sound as I felt too tired to talk. How funny that was. I did nothing, yet I was too tired to talk or ask him where he was taking me.

This man was the most enigma human being I had ever met in my life. He should be on the list of world wonders, inside his brain should be on the display of a museum and scientists should study every part of his body thoroughly.

People all over the world would come to say that for sure.

I had so many questions in my head, and only he was able to answer those as they were related to him.

Tonight was the D-Day.

I would get my answers and make everything alright. He told all the lie to his family, and Chicago is on him. It was his job to make things fine for me, as he lied without asking me. Tonight I was ready to get out of the maze, but then Brian changed the story with a loud command.