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2.7% Acceptance - The Conscious Awakening / Chapter 4: A Gift at Her Door

Chương 4: A Gift at Her Door

Ayden sipped the hot tea brought by Kiara in silence. As he lowered the cup and stared at the liquid, a small smile automatically crept over his lips.

"You liked that?"

He looked up and nodded at Kiara who had just come back in the hall after finishing her work. The tea surely lessened his throbbing headache. "Thank you." He flashed a grateful smile, slightly bowing his head.

"I am glad you did." Kiara sat across him. "So, you want to talk about it?"

"Talk about what?" Ayden raised a brow at her while putting the cup on the tea table.

"What has got you this disturbed?"

"I am not disturbed, Kiara." He instantly shifted his gaze to the floor, suddenly growing conscious of the surrounding. Getting caught for the stuff that he desperately wanted to hide certainly wasn't a good feeling.

"I think I should leave now." That was the best escape he could come up with, he thought but he forgot that it wasn't going to get her away from him.

"Yeah, sure. Come, I'll drop you."

Clearly, he forgot that she was to drop him home and looking at the past twenty minutes that he had spent with her, she didn't seem like she was going to drop the topic.

'Damn it.' He had never felt so trapped lately. It wasn't his day. It just wasn't.

"Of course," he said, forcing a smile. Where was he stuck?

<>

"Why did it have to happen to us?" She sobbed clutching the photo-frame in her hand closer to her heart. The photo-frame that held the most precious moment of their relationship. His proposal and her acceptance!

Destiny had always been mean to her. What a fool she had been to believe that it was finally having mercy on her and letting her be in peace! What an absolute fool! Destiny had never stopped playing its cunning games. The small break that it had taken was only to create a more harsh and painful time for her.

Her mother, her father, her sister... her childhood best friend and finally Ayden!

She accepted that she was the weakest player in the game for regardless of the situation, it was she who was defeated and left alone to suffer. Always!

It was past midnight. Her throat felt dry but she wasn't willing to get out of the bed. From the corner of her eye, she looked at the empty jug on the table. Keeping the photo-frame aside, she blinked her heavy eyelids while pushing the duvet aside. She picked up the empty jug and made it to the kitchen.

She had just filled her jug after gulping down a whole glass of water when she heard the doorbell ring. Her eyes quickly went to the wall-clock.

Who could it be at that hour? She wondered before she let the jug stay there and proceeded to check before the sound could disturb Melissa's slumber.

Just as she opened the door, she was surprised to see a pizza delivery boy in front of her.

'Pizza for Foodies.' She read on his T-shirt. Where was this place? She had never heard of it earlier.

"Ma'am, your order," he said while forwarding the pizza to her.

"Uh, I think you are on the wrong address. We haven't ordered this," she said, "oh, wait a moment."

Did Melissa order it? That sure was a possibility she had to consider. She asked him to wait while she locked the door and went to Melissa's room. To her surprise, Melissa was still awake.

"Hey, Angel. Did you order the pizza?"

Melissa removed her spectacles as she put aside the book that she was reading. "No, I didn't. Why?"

"Oh, nothing much. There is a pizza delivery boy here. I told him that we haven't ordered anything but then I thought maybe you have but now it's confirmed that he has got the wrong address. I'll just let him know." Irene turned around to leave but stopped at Melissa's call.

"Irene. Are you feeling better?"

'Damn it.' Irene felt guilty, realizing the anxiety in Melissa's voice. Did she make her that worried? 'I should have talked to her.' She rushed up to Melissa to hug her. "I am so sorry for scaring you. I am okay."

Melissa caressed Irene's hair. "You know that you can talk to me about anything, right?"

Irene pulled herself apart, nodding. "Of course. Okay, he is waiting. I'll just let him know. Good night."

"Do that. Good night."

Irene waved at Melissa for one last time before rushing out.

"I am sorry to have kept you waiting but no, we really haven't ordered this. You must take it to the one who has ordered it," she uttered, hoping that he would go. Her heavy heart was making it tough to pretend and stand there for longer. She needed to go back to her room and cry a bit more.

"Ma'am, I can't. I am sorry but take a look at this," he pulled out his phone and showed her the message from his company, "this is the address that I was given. This is a gift as we were told and we have already been paid. I can't take this back."

Advancing a little, she stared at the address. It was indeed her address. "I admit that you are at the right place given to you but there has to be some confusion in the address that was given to you people." She was beginning to get a little annoyed. Who the heck was it to mess up the address, and that too when it was a gift like the delivery boy had just mentioned?

"Again, I am sorry but I have to leave this at the given address that is... here. Please sign here." He handed over a printed sheet to her and pointed to her address there.

What the...

How was she supposed to receive someone else's order? And the order that wasn't just a normal order but a gift?

"Ma'am, please. I would lose my job if I fail to deliver the order. My owner is strict."

She sighed, giving in when he brought up the job point. What else could she really do? Having someone losing his job because of her wasn't certainly something that she would be okay with. She took the paper bag from him and shut the door.

"I am sorry," she apologized to the one for whom that gift actually was and at the same time, let out a few mild curses at the one who had messed up the address.


SUY NGHĨ CỦA NGƯỜI SÁNG TẠO
LostInFictions LostInFictions

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Chương 5: Remorse and Shame

It had been a quiet ride throughout until Kiara halted the car in front of Ayden's house. Ayden had expected Kiara to keep probing him for getting everything out of his mouth that he didn't want to say but she hadn't asked him a thing.

For some odd reason, the soft music that had been playing in the car felt noisy and her silence, uneasy.

"Shit. I am so sorry," he blurted out a quick apology for colliding with her. He was a bit too absent-minded to notice that she had already reached to his side when he stepped out and turned around. He apologetically looked at her fallen figure.

"Give me your hand." He stretched out his hand, bending a little. As he pulled her up, he was filled with deep shame. What was he doing?

"Ah, it's okay." Her hand quickly tried rubbing her back but she had to take it off right at that moment. 'Seems like a strain.' She thought to herself before gazing at him. Her smile never left her face. It might have momentarily, but she was quick enough to conceal her pain.

Ayden could see how okay it was. "Why do I have to end up hurting people in some way or the other?" His eyes shone with a thin layer of tears in them. "I am really sorry, Kiara. I didn't mean to hurt you." His lips quivered as he began to apologize again and that was when his hand tremors were back as well. He was so consumed by the guilt that he didn't realize that he was letting Kiara see what he probably was going to regret later.

Kiara was stunned to witness the vulnerable Ayden. She had no clue what was wrong with him but something… terribly was. Ignoring her awfully aching back, she moved a step closer to him. She placed her hand on his shoulder as she whispered, "Hey. It's okay. I am fine."

Her voice was so soft and she sounded so compassionate that he didn't even know when he put his arms around her.

The moment his hands touched her back, she pressed her lips together to not let the insane pain that was shooting inside her find a voice. His hold just got tighter… so much that it began to suffocate her along with the pain… that was radiating from her back into her legs. Squeezing her eyes shut, she struggled hard not to leave him any hint that the hug… was killing her.

She pushed herself more to bear the pain and gently rubbed his back. Somewhere, she felt that he desperately needed that hug. She didn't have the heart to tell him to back off for the sake of the pain that it was causing her.

"It's going to be okay." She regretted opening her mouth right at the next instant. Her voice betrayed her, giving away the amount of severe pain that she was in.

He stilled for a moment before he hastily pulled himself back, while he held on to her hands. "Shit." He was terrified upon watching her pained expression. If she was hurting that much even when he no longer was pressing her back, then he couldn't imagine how much it must have hurt her when he had hugged her. "I am sorry." He hung his head down in shame, bowed beneath the burden of his ridiculous mistakes.

He was so deep in his woes that he didn't even hear her, repeating that she was okay. It wasn't until she squeezed his hands, that he was snapped out of his zone.

"Stop doing that to yourself. I admit having got a bit hurt but you did not do it intentionally, so it's okay. It really is. I think you should take some rest." Kiara blinked, assuring him that he didn't have to blame himself.

"Are you going to be fine?" he asked, letting go of her hands.

She readily nodded and got inside her car. Waving bye at him, she waited until he was in his home.

"Ah," she winced in pain as she tried leaning back. Her pretense ended once he was out of her sight. "What is wrong with you, Ayden?" Her mind couldn't stop thinking about him.

She hadn't seen him that distressed earlier. Having known him for two years, she could just see something had gone terribly wrong with him. Could it be about Irene? She wondered.

"I wish I could be of some help," she muttered while getting her hands on the steering. She made her way toward the hospital near her home. Her back needed to be checked, she knew.

"We need to talk."

Ayden heard Grace as soon as he stepped in. She was sitting on the couch. Perhaps, was waiting for him, he concluded.

He could tell from her tone that she knew about his and Irene's breakup. "Later, Oddball." He was mentally too exhausted to have a conversation.

"Oh… later? Why? You most certainly didn't think before doing that sick thing that I still can't believe that you actually did. Why do you need time now, Bro? "

"Don't talk about it if you don't know about it," Ayden warned. He hadn't been getting along too well with his sister lately and at that particular night… he really did want to keep away from her to avoid all sorts of arguments for they had their cousins staying with them for a week.

Grace darted a glare at him. How did he seem all cool after doing what he did? She was infuriated and not getting to confront him made her madder. She was about to rant when she heard the sound of footsteps coming from the kitchen.

"What's up, guys?"

"Nothing, Ryan. Why haven't you slept yet?" Ayden smiled at his thirteen-year-old cousin. "Do you need anything?"

"I was hungry so I came to have some ice-cream." Ryan grinned, as he brought his hands that were behind his back at the front and showed the bowl of the ice-cream that he was carrying.

"Do you want me to make something for you to eat?" Grace offered but Ryan denied.

"Good night," Ayden said and went straight to his room without waiting for a reply.


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LostInFictions LostInFictions

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