Love At Last

‘DAD?’

I felt bad for walking out on Cayden the way I did but I had no other choice but to act that way.

On getting home, I met nana who was waiting patiently for me to come back and relate to her how well the dinner went as I had told her I was going out on a date.

“You’re not yet asleep?”

“I don’t feel sleepy yet. How did your date go?” she asked merrily.

“It went pretty well, nana. Everything went smoothly. I had fun!” I feigned a smile.

“Really?”

“Yes, nana. Can I go to bed now? I already had dinner.”

“Sure.”

I went in, freshened up, layed in bed and tried to sleep but it wasn’t forthcoming. My fears were proven to be true. I was indeed, in no time going to face my horrible past again. I closed my eyes and tried to force myself to sleep and that was when a call came in – Cayden.

Staring at the phone ring, I contemplated whether or not to take the call and what exactly to say to him. I made up my mind to bottle it all up and just feed Cayden with a lie I cooked in my head.

“Hey honey,” I cheered up instantly to aid my lie go through to him without hassles.

“I thought you weren’t going to pick up.”

“Fortunately, I’m still up so why will I ignore your call?”Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.

“I should be the one asking you that. Why did you run off like that?”

“I was being overly dramatic, right?” I chuckled.

“You haven’t answered my question.”

“Never mind me Cayden. I had once post a friend and I also worked there one time,” I let the lie flow effortlessly to minimize the chances of him getting suspicious.

“You worked there?”

“Yes. I never told you?”

“You never told me. Was that why you ran off?”

“Forgive my insolence, my love,” I cajoled. “Your story triggered some bitter memories I won’t want to talk about for now.” For the first time since I picked his call, I said something with an atom of truth in it.

“I was worried sick you know?”

“I’m sorry for making you worried,” I spoke sweetly.

“You sure you’re okay?”

“I am! Don’t worry too much about me,” I stated firmly.

“It’s okay then. Since you don’t want to talk about your predicament, I won’t force you. Now, I can sleep well. Goodnight, love.”

“Goodnight and sweet dreams.”

“Good night.” He hung up. The length of the grin I had on my face – so as to play the part properly – shortened instantly as there were no longer traces of smiles on my face anymore.

It’s been two days since the last perplexing incident and here I was again with Cayden in a restaurant, to have lunch. We sat at the porch outside to receive the cool breeze that grazed our skin.

“What would you like to have, milady?” he asked looking at the menu.

“Any…,”

“Please don’t say anything I’m having,” he cut in and had me giggling.

“How did you know I was gonna say that?”

“It has become a custom for you. You never want to have a choice of your own.”

“That’s not the case. I just feel lazy to make a choice,” I defended myself.

“We’re saying the same thing, Lily.”

“Fine!” I took the menu from him and while looking through, I asked myself, “what should I have?”

“You can order whatever you want, okay? We don’t need to pay a dime. Just feel free to pick whatever you want to,” he laid emphasis on ‘whatever’.

“We don’t need to pay a dime? Why?” I was confused.

“Apparently, I know who owns this place so it’s not a problem. Eat and eat away your sorrows. The bills are already taken care of by default.”

“By default? What are you saying? So we’re just going to eat and leave without paying?”

“Bingo!”

“Isn’t that absurd?”

“You worry too much, my love. Just be quiet and have fun!”

“Who owns this place?” I asked looking around.

“Someone I know.”

“That much is obvious. Who exactly?”

“A friend of mine.” “Oh okay.”

Remembering what he told me the last time, I was eager to hear more on that topic but I didn’t want to taint the atmosphere by bringing up a distressing conversation. My curiosity at that point outweighed my quest for peace so I was going to go for it anyway and start by asking him again who owned the company he worked for. “Ummm…Cayden?”

“Yeah?”

“I need to ask you something.”

“Okay, go ahead.” Just when I was pulling myself together to throw my question, a call came in for Cayden throwing me off balance.

“One minute,” he excused himself.

“Hello…” “What?!…” he exclaimed. “I’m obviously not ready right now…” “you should have informed me earlier…” those were the only words I heard escape Cayden’s lips. He looked troubled and anxious, invariably making me to feel the same way. “I need you to stall him for me. I need time!” he said and hung up immediately.

“What’s wrong Cayden?”

Just as he was about to give me a reply, another call came in making me feel very irritated. ‘Was I ever going to get a chance while I was at it?’

“Hello sir…” “very well sir…” “Okay sir…” “yes sir…” “yes sir!” He said and hung up again making me to feel more anxious.

“Shit!” he exclaimed furiously.

“Are you okay?” I asked bug-eyed. “You’re scaring me, Cayden. If there’s an issue, just say it,” I said.

Before I knew what was happening, fleet of assorted, exorbitant-looking cars drove into the premises and packed in a straight line in front of the small restaurant. “Shoot!” Cayden exclaimed but this time, I was more engrossed in the scene to ask him anything.

Men in all-black attire alighted the first, second and third vehicles and formed a circle in front of the backseat door – that faced where we sat down to eat – of the fourth vehicle in the convoy. I counted the number of men that stood there and they were twelve in total. The scene was just too overwhelming to behold but at the same time, I felt glued to it for some reason.

One of the men opened the door and the others bowed to greet the person – whose face hadn’t become clear yet – who came down from the car. Judging from the list of formalities it was easy to ascertain that that was their boss.

When he came down from the car, the others who blocked his way paved way for him making his face more visible to me. The sight I beheld sent shivers down my spine immediately. I felt a mixture of fear, anxiety and tension in me. The one who stood before me was the least person I ever envisaged of seeing at that time in that circumstance. I rubbed my eyes slowly in a bid to make sure I saw clearly, I pinched myself twice to make sure I wasn’t dreaming. After doing all that, the scene remained the same way. It was then It dawned on me that I was in fact in for some deep shit.

I stood up from my seat slowly, still fixated on the person wide-eyed. “Lily?” Cayden called out and stood up too.

“Dad?!” I called out slowly.