Capítulo 48: Spare My Door

Ilyan was out of his chair after a minute of contemplation. "I will get going now."

"Where?" Irene's eyes shifted to him on their own. "The storm is still bad."

"It's alright." Ilyan's assurance sat well with neither Irene nor Melissa. Irene, however, could see things a little more clearly than Melissa could.

"You won't," Irene's stern voice boomed in the quiet room as she applied pressure on her feet. Her hand curled around the armrest of the couch to help her stand. She managed it without wincing. She had to. For the two people standing in front of her. "I am capable of handling my matters and this… is mine. This doesn't concern you, Ilyan. You don't need to clean up the mess in my life… at the cost of your well-being."

Melissa blinked. She (im)patiently waited for the two folks to explain the alien conversation happening. "Okay, I am clueless."

"Oh, nothing much, Angel. This fine gentleman over here thinks that he can play a superhero by rescuing my apparent ex-boyfriend," Irene stated in all seriousness as the matter of fact. As if it was obvious but it wasn't… at least not to Melissa.

"What? How do you know that?" Melissa turned to Ilyan. "Is she right?"

Ilyan's gaze struck on Irene said much more than his silence did. Perhaps, he wasn't taken aback but she did take him by surprise with the confidence flickering in her eyes.

"And how does," Melissa sat down, pointing at Ilyan with her eyes, "'he' knows where," she put her finger on the right side of her head, rotating it clockwise and anti-clockwise as the description of Ayden, "is?"

Irene acted indifferent, knowing Melissa's temper. She knew Melissa was mad at her going out at that hour and more, in that weather.

"Long story. I'll tell you after coming back." Irene dragged her tired feet toward the drawers. Tentatively opening one of the drawers, she moved her hand that held her phone to adjust the flashlight.

"What are you looking for?" Melissa asked, darting her exhausted eyes at the girl in front of her.

Irene pulled her hand out of the drawer and pushed it back. "Bicycle's key." She lifted the key in her hand as she proceeded to make her way to Ayden. She was burning in anger from inside. What was Ayden doing? Was he not going to let her breathe in peace?

Even after breaking up with Ayden, destiny didn't seem in the mood to let her keep away from him. Or perhaps, it wasn't destiny but Ayden who wasn't in the mood to let her be far from him.

The breakup was genuine, so was her hurt but regardless of all of it, she couldn't sit silent when Ayden was possibly doing something really stupid. She wasn't going to let him do anything that would put her in the guilt zone for a long time.

Ayden was being hopeless, she thought. What was he thinking? That everything was easy for her? That her heart held no pain? That she was happily moving on from him? 'Damn you, Ayden.' The guy had changed. Ayden had changed. He was doing things, knowing they would hurt her. He hated the same earlier.

Enough of it, she told herself. It wasn't the time to reflect on the past. If Ayden was indeed there, in the storm, for so long, then she needed to reach there soon.

Just as she opened the door to make her way to him, it was slammed shut. Irene's eyes followed the retreating hand that had just blocked her way of going out.

Ilyan silently put his hands in his pockets as if he was not the perpetrator, while he took a step aside still staying in the close range. In case she attempted again to pull open the door and escape, locking them behind. He did not need to say it aloud that he was not going to let her go out in that kind of weather and of course, with those injured feet. If she could stop him from going out, so could he.

Irene's first reaction was - what the hell? But she did not have time for a confrontation.

After a momentary roll of eyes, she got her hand again on the doorknob and just as she pulled it open, a gust of cold wind blew in, making the two people standing close to the door shiver.

That worked like an alarm for Ilyan. His hand reacted faster than his mind and it firmly pushed the door close for yet another time. Since Irene was stubbornly holding on to the knob, he had to slap his hand against the door and let it stay there, making it impossible for Irene to open it again.

Two pairs of eyes locked in an intense battle and none was ready to back down. Just then a figure rushed toward them, pushing both of them aside and there stood Melissa, in front of the door, with her, both hands stretched out as she started with her attempt to protect her poor door that neither Irene nor Ilyan was showing any mercy to.

"Stop it, you two. Spare my door, will you?" Melissa frowned, warning them with her hand that gestured them to keep the distance from the door. "Whatever disagreements you two have, keep them verbal, alright?" Her glare quickly toned down and her voice turned childlike. "Don't break my door, please. I can't afford to fix it in this storm. Besides, I have a little attachment to this one. The aggression you both are showing is scaring my door." She turned her face to the door, with her palm slowly caressing it.

Irene and Ilyan exchanged bewildered glances.

Irene, particularly, found it weird because that was not how Melissa usually reacted. She stepped toward her. "Angel, is everything okay?"

Melissa emitted a brief moment of silence. Damn, she made it obvious. Katy's words, Sam's smiling face and Kevin's intriguing stubborn self flashed before her eyes. Nothing had left her.

"Everything is okay with me. I am doubtful about you two." She swiftly covered up.

Ilyan intervened in the conversation. "Alright, I wasn't going to but let me put it in words. Yes, I am going to look for him and you," his eyes lingered on Irene for a second, "stay here."

That was enough to get Irene charged. "Why? You have no reason to. Like I said earlier as well, he is my -"

"He has an identity apart from being your ex-boyfriend. He is a human. So am I. I take it as my responsibility as a human to step up to help after knowing that another human probably needs it."