𝚂𝚞𝚖𝚖𝚎𝚛𝚝𝚒𝚖𝚎 𝚂𝚊𝚍𝚗𝚎𝚜𝚜

Chapter-28

The reality of what had just happened started sinking in, my heart felt like it was slowing down, it was going to come to a grinding halt really soon. I looked around, my eyes finally met with Charles's eyes.

He was wearing a worried expression, almost out of instinct I reached out for him. But at the same time, being held by him made me feel weird. I was numb, I didn't know what to feel.

"Do you want to sit down? Drink some water?" He looked at me, still holding the small of my back. Almost as if I was fragile and would fall apart if he let me go. I felt so weak.

He watched over me cautiously, I couldn't stop my brain from going over everything that went down in the past few moments. I really burned bridges over him, I kept asking myself- Will he be worth all of it?

I looked at him, he was walking around the living room, with someone on the phone. His expression was unreadable, I got up to see why he was pacing around without any expression on his face.

He noticed me entering the place and ended the call with a polite little thanks, he walked closer, again giving me his hand as in invitation to wrap around him. "What's going on in your bright little brain?" He asked, gazing into my eyes.

"A lot of things." I looked up at his eyes, I shifted my head to rest on his chest. His heartbeat was soothing, I closed my eyes for a while, just to stay there.

"Do you want to talk about it?" He asked pulling me closer.

"Yeah I do, but first I want to know who were you with on the phone?"

"My friends, I said I'll join them another time."

"Wait are you cancelling your New Year's Eve plans? Don't do that! I feel bad." I pursed my lips. Well, I did feel bad but I was glad he wanted to stick around.

"Don't feel bad, I'd rather be with you right now." He smiled.

He was slowly becoming my comfort person, everything about his presence gave me butterflies. At the same time, his bright eyes radiated warmth and his smile filled my whole heart joy. He was just, so many things in one person- I don't blame my brain for not being able to ever stop thinking about him.

But almost always, this horrible thought of what would happen if we weren't meant to be came back. He had his own things going on and I had mine, not to add there would be seas between us, will we survive even then?

His presence right now was so soothing, I didn't want to bring any of this up and catch him off guard. Too much had already happened, this day didn't need to be anymore heavier.

"I've got to go buy groceries, do you want to come?" He asked me.

"Yes Charles, I want to spend my New Year buying fresh greens with you." I laughed.

"Okay, go wash up. I'll wait here, maybe clean up a little too." He said, already on his way to the sink with our plates.

I didn't want to keep him waiting, but at the same time I didn't want to leave home in the clothes I went to bed in. I took a quick shower and pulled on sweats and his hoodie.

By the time I was done getting ready in the middle of the day, Baba was back from her outing. She was scolding him for basically picking up the whole house.

"She takes so long to get dressed I thought I might as well make myself useful." He laughed.

"Next time just sit down! Don't clean the house, are you her boyfriend or part of a cleaning agency?" She joked.

"Maybe both, she's messy without even realising it. But it's part of her charm."

"That she is. Where are both of you off to?" Baba asked.

"He's taking me grocery shopping." I entered the living room. "I know, how romantic."

"He's dragging you out of the house! That's all that matters, spend your day at the store. Just keep her out of the house!" She laughed.

We said goodbye to her and left, I wasn't ever going to get used to how luxurious his car was. I slid in and before I could even properly sit we were already dashing through the streets.

"Please give me a warning!"

"Where would be the fun it? I love seeing the strange faces you make." He teased me.

In a matter of minutes we were at the grocery store, I was ready to lecture him about how Casino was an overpriced supermarket. And I did, I kept telling him about how everything he was placing in the cart was just not a reasonable price.

"Will you stop stressing about how much I spend on food if I buy you something to eat?"

"Are you politely asking the price of getting me to shut up?"

"Well, you said it not me." He shrugged.

"You are mean!" I shoved his shoulder.

After shopping, we loaded the bags and were off to his place. He was smiling, from ear to ear. I was a little confused about why a trip to the supermarket could make someone so happy.

"Are you alright?" I asked him.

"Huh?" He asked momentarily looking at me before turning back to the road ahead.

"You're really happy, about going to a grocer."

"I don't really get to enjoy simple things as often. I don't know, just- this was fun." He smiled.

"You're such a simple little human being." I giggled.

"I'm not little!" He flexed his arm, "I've actually worked quite to be this muscle-y."

"You're never going to let that go are you?" I covered my face in embarrassment.

He called me messy, but his apartment was worse. It reminded me very much of his hotel room, things were all over the place. Not one thing where it's actually supposed to be.

"You can't judge me. I can't see the floor of your room."

"I can't see the floor anywhere in your WHOLE APARTMENT." I laughed.

"Remind me why I'm being so nice to you again?" He arched his eyebrows.

"Because you made me lose all my friends." I shot back.

The smirk on his face instantly dropped, okay, my bad. It was clearly too soon to make jokes about it. "I'm kidding!" I kissed his cheek.

"That reminds me, we've got eight hours until midnight. Let's talk about how you're feeling, cook a meal and then kill some more time."

In all honesty, the sadness had kind of faded. He had kept me so busy doing things with him, that the blow I had just experienced didn't feel like much. Please be worth all of it, I prayed looking at him.