Louisa's p.o.v;
Lucas dragged me to the cafeteria and made me sit across from him. He ordered food for both of us and stared at me like boring a hole inside my head.
When I tried to ask him, the food came and interrupted me.
He said, "Let's eat first."
"I'm not hungry."
He pushed the tray towards me saying, "You will eat." And smiled at me mischievously. He placed his phone on the table and asked me to look into it. When I took his phone, there was a picture of Ace and me standing close to each other under the rain. Who took this picture? How did he get it? Was he there while I was with Ace that day?
"What do you want with me?" I asked.
"Let's get back together."
"No."
"Aren't you afraid that everyone will come to know that you have an affair with the mafia? Do you want the college committee to know that? Do you want your parents to know that?"
Like I care about the people he mentioned. I don't know how much he knows about Ace but I can't give in. If i give in, he'll treat me like his slave.
"Do whatever you want to. I don't care. To be honest, i hate everyone who you just mentioned so i won't be bothered to be gossiped around by them too." I gave a smile while saying, "Since you know who's in that picture, be careful. He's really bad at handling people. Don't blame me, I warned you."
After the classes were over, I went to the library.
While I was collecting the books from the table, I saw Diego at the second table. When I took the books and tried to move away, Diego asked, "It's your friend sitting here. Aren't you going to say 'hi' to me?"
"Hi." And I walked away from him to place the books into the appropriate racks.
While I was arranging the books, Diego came to me and asked, "Why are you ignoring me? What happened?"
"Did I?"
"What got into you?"
"I have work to do."
"Okay. I need a book. Help me find that book."
"Name of the book?"
"I don't remember."
"Author name?"
" ******* ********* "
"It'll take some time. Can you wait?"
"Yeah, I can wait all day."
While I was looking for the book using the author's name, he said, "I don't know what happened to make you ignore me. But I'll make you talk to me like before soon."
I took all the books under the author name he mentioned and kept it on the table. He checked the book while speaking, "I heard that Bernardo moved out of your apartment. Did he move by himself or did you guys get into a fight? Are you upset about it? Are you ignoring me because you're upset? Tell me, is that it?"
"I'll check if there are other books under this author's name." And walked into the book section again.
While I was checking, he came asking, "I'm not going to let this go easily. You're my friend. I'm not going to give up on us. And, I took the book that I needed. I'm not going to disturb you anymore. You can get back to your work." And walked out with the books.
After finishing the work, I headed to the cafe.
At the cafe,
Nathaniel, "You're earlier than yesterday."
"I got off early at college." I took a look around the cafe, it was not crowded like yesterday. "Why does the cafe look empty by the way?"
"Cafe opens at 7. Didn't Ryan tell you the timings?"
"I think I forgot. Okay, I'll go and get changed before everyone arrives."
When I entered the changing room, I saw Danielle in the room. The environment became awkward suddenly. I took my steps carefully and walked towards my locker.
'Should I talk to her? How can I initiate the conversation?'
I opened the locker and took out my working clothes while thinking about a way to speak to her.
"Are you Heloisa?"
I can't believe she started the conversation out of nowhere. What should I reply? How should I reply? I should answer in a friendly way.
"I-I…"
Before I finished, Lily walked inside saying, "Yeah, she's the one I was talking about. You two will be taking care of the food from the counter to the table." And walked out of the changing room.
I lost the chance to speak with Danielle. What should I do now? I changed my outfit and looked at her. She was still changing.
When I was about to walk out of the changing room, she said, "Wait for me."
I stood beside the door and waited for her.
"Let's go." And she walked past me.
I walked after and came to the centre of the cafe.
Danielle passed me a cloth and said, "Let's clean the tables before the customers start coming."
I nodded and started cleaning the table by wiping it clean.
After a while, customers started coming in. She said, "Let's go to the kitchen."
I nodded and walked after her.
While we're waiting for the food, she asked, "How old are you, Heloisa?"
"23."
"You're older than me."
"What about you?" I asked back at her.
"19."
I nodded and continued waiting.
"You don't talk much?"
"Nah, I talk less to strangers."
"Stranger? Am I a stranger to you? We're co-worker. How can you call me a stranger?"
"Not anymore."
She nodded and said, "Which college are you in?"
"Johanneson uni."
"Wow. You must be smart to get into University like that."
I smiled at her since it's been years since I got compliments.
"Did anyone say that you have a pretty good smile? You should smile more. You look good when you smile."
Suddenly, Ace was the first person that popped into my mind after hearing it from her.
After the food arrived, we started doing our job, which is delivering the food from the counter to the table.
At the end of the day, I got off work and headed to the apartment. While I was on the way to my place, I thought, 'I didn't get much to talk after the customers started pouring in. All we talked about was about the foods after that introduction part. By the words, it's clear that she didn't know anything about the red stone. Who is that guy I saw with her? With his age, he couldn't be a father. Maybe it was her brother, cousin or partner.'
When I opened the door, I saw the lights on. Didn't I turn it off before leaving?
Ace walked out of the room while greeting, "Hi, did you do cleaning? Because your place kinda looks empty."
I let out a sigh and walked into the apartment, closing the door behind.
"How did you get in?"
"I made a spare key." Said while showing a key in his hand.
I walked into my room and placed my bag on the table.
"I heard that you took a job in a cafe. Are you running out of money?"
"It's boring to stay alone during holidays."
"Why? Won't your friend be here? If it's a holiday for you, he'll be on vacation too, right? Oh, is he planning to stay with his girlfriend during the holidays…"
Before he finished, I said, "He moved out."
"What?"
"He moved out of here saying that he feels uncomfortable around me. I don't know how I made uncomfortable for him. I stayed out many times leaving a space for him. I come late to the room considering that he'll be with everly…"
Ace walked to me and gave me a hug.
I continued while being in his embrace, "He's the only friend i got when i moved here. I never ever crossed my limits with him in any way. I never gave up on him at any time…"
He patted on my head while saying, "It's okay. Enough. It's enough."
He broke the embrace and looked at me. I turned away since I was crying. I don't want him to look at my ugly crying face. He made me look at him and wiped the tears saying, "You can be weak when you're with me." While looking at my eyes.
I leaned in and hugged him tightly and cried in his arms. He hugged me back and patted on my back while caressing my head.
He broke the embrace and asked, "Why are you still crying?" While wiping my tears.
"I don't know."
"Hold on. Since he moved out. I don't have to run before he comes, right?"
It made me break into laughter.
"I can't believe I made you smile. Are you really smiling?"
I wiped my tears and said while smiling, "That doesn't mean you can stay here. I'm the sole owner of this place so you can't come whenever you want. You need my permission before coming here."
He smiled while saying, "That's bad. It's difficult to please the owner."
I asked, "When did you come from your trip?"
"Few minutes ago."
"You came here from the airport?"
He nodded and said, "Using my telepathy, I found that someone is not feeling good so I came here to give comfort to that person. Looks like my mission is accomplished."
I smiled and said, "Stop talking nonsense and leave."
"Now? It's almost midnight. How can I go back?"
"You can call Mateo here."
"I lost my phone in the airport."
I let out a sigh and said, "You have a lot of excuses. Can I ask you something?"
"Go ahead."
"Why are you staying here? Don't you have a house like a mansion? You have a big house with a lot of rooms with all the needs. Why are you coming here?"
He walked out of the room after asking, "What do you want for dinner? I'm not a big cook though. So think before you ask."
I walked after him asking, "I didn't get an answer yet."
"You didn't say your menu yet."
"Will you answer me if I say what I want for dinner?" After he gave a nod, I answered, "Scrambled eggs with sugar syrup."
"Got it." And walked into the kitchen.
Did I just get tricked by him? I let out a sigh and walked into the room.
I got changed and came to the living room to see him setting up the dining table. I sniffed a sweet aroma in the air when I stepped closer to the food.
"Stop sniffing and go get the plates."
I placed the plates on the table and he started playing it. It looked like a yellow cloud on the plate. When he poured the sugar syrup over it, the syrup didn't get absorbed and spreaded to the other parts of the egg. I poked it with a fork and when I ate it, the egg melted in my mouth like the syrup.
"By looking at you, I can guess it's good."
"It's delicious. I love it."
"It's funny to see you excited for food. Since you always restrict yourself not to show many emotions, it's good to see it when you express yourself."
When I stopped smiling, he poked my cheeks and said, "Why did you stop smiling? You look good when you smile."
"Stop spouting nonsense."
"You call yourself nonsense?" And laughed at me.
I let out a sigh and continued eating the scrambled egg he cooked for me. After I'm done, I went to my room.
He walked in after a while and asked, "Can I turn off the lights?"
Suddenly, it felt lewd to me. I shook my thoughts away and asked, "Why are you asking me?"
He turned off the lights and laid on the bed beside me.
After a while, I asked, "Are you still awake?"
He turned towards me and asked, "Yeah?"
"I made someone upset by doing what Bernie did to me."
"Are you feeling bad?"
"Yeah."
"Then you should talk to them."
I turned away from him and thought, 'Should I tell him about what Lucas said to me? No, it'll only get worse. What if Ace beat him up? No, let's leave it like that. Let's wait and see what Lucas is up to then I'll think about it.'
Ace, "Louisa?"
I turned and asked, "What is it?"
"You responded more quickly than I expected."
When I tried to turn away, he held my shoulders from stopping me to turn and he came closer to me.
My heart started beating fast as I was breathing heavily since it felt like I was compressed by something around me. When he touched my cheeks, my lips parted on their own and stared at him.
He asked, "Can I be weak around you too?"
"Y-Yeah."
"When I come here, stay here… with you… I feel like I don't have anything to care about other than you."
A tear came out after hearing those words from him.
He wiped the tears and asked, "Why are you crying? Are you a crybaby? Why did you cry?"
I sat on the bed and said, "I heard those words before. It reminded me of that person."
He sat beside me and asked, "Can I ask?"
"It's my grandfather. I grew up in his house since childhood. After my grandmother passed away, I was the only happiness for him. And, he's for me as well. He was there for me when everyone abandoned me. He took me in and showered with all the happiness in the world. We had a lot of fun together in the past. He was the only best memory I've got."
Ace stared at me while I was talking to him.
"Why are you looking at me like that?"
"You look beautiful when you talk about the person you love."
"He passed away while I was in high school. It broke me real hard. It made me realise that I'm all alone in this world. The world looked so big and new to me. It was like I stepped into reality after living in fantasy for a long time."
"How did you overcome that?"
"It was hard in the beginning but I got used to the world where he is not. I accepted it and started living with it."
"But it was hard for me when my mom passed away. And, I couldn't come out of it till now."
"Is that why you sleepwalk?"
He nodded and said, "It started after my mother died. They tease me that I walk in my sleep to find my mother." And let out a chuckle. "When I get back at them, I become the bad kid to everyone."
I moved closer and kissed him on his lips and said when I parted, "I'm sorry. I didn't…"
Before I finished, he pulled me into a deep kiss. The kiss felt warm, moist, and made me realise the guy who's infornt of me, who's kissing me right now is the man who abducted me, tortured me, it was painful but somehow it felt good. Why?