Only You

Chapter 49

Alexey

By day ten after my fallout with Elora, I've decided that I can't let this go. Can't let her go. Not like this. Not without one more talk. I almost regret sending her over her purse with her phone because if I had kept it, I could use it as an excuse to see her now.

I'm not used to getting things the easy way, though, so it might be best that life is forcing me to stop being a coward.

I pace the length of my living room again, trying to calm my nerves and get my feet to move me to the bus station so I can get to Elora's place before the evening bleeds into night. A look out the window confirms that it's still raining heavily. Just like it has been all day. It's what I've been using as an excuse not to get out since it started yesterday at noon.

I can't wait any longer though. With every night I put this off, Elora gets closer to marrying another man, and call me selfish, but I have to at least try to tell her what she means to me. Unless I've been imagining things, my attraction isn't one-sided. If there's the slightest chance of me and her being something real, I have to explore it.

Even if it means I have to miraculously find a way to get my act together fast to be somewhere close to boyfriend-material. Yeah, I'll be honest, I haven't fully thought this through but it would all be for nothing if Elora decides I'm not worth hearing out in the first place so I'm trying to figure it out as I go.

The doorbell rings, interrupting my frantic train of thought. I stop pacing, freezing on the spot as I wonder who the hell could be at my door. I briefly entertain the thought of my mother having forgotten the key and finding herself locked out, but quickly discard the idea. She's at work. So is Cai. My stepfather and siblings only recently left to eat at our restaurant so it's not them either.

I stand still in my living room like a doofus until the bell rings again. Finally, I get to the door and open it, only to freeze again once I come face-to-face with my unexpected guest. My arms drop at my side. My lungs stop working. My heart trips over itself. My mouth refuses to function. I'm unable to do anything but gape at Elora.

"Um, hi. Can I maybe come in or is this a bad time?" her sweet voice registers slowly. Like an idiot, I wordlessly step aside. Once the door is shut behind her, I clear my throat and force myself to act like a normal person. It's been less than two weeks since I've seen her but in that short amount of time, I seem to have forgotten what she looks like. Seeing her now in all her glory gives my brain some trouble catching up.

"Hey. What are you doing here?" I ask like an utter moron. Elora turns to me, having just taken her shoes off, and her cheeks burn up. I curse myself for making her uncomfortable instead of asking her inside and being polite first.

"I thought we should talk. I have some news," she says, hugging her trembling arms rightly. My eyes zero in on the motion and I see the goosebumps adorning her smooth skin.

"You're cold. Let's go to my room, I can give you something to change into," I propose, seeing as her clothes are drenched. Yay me for having let her wait out for so damn long.

"How's your ankle, by the way?" I ask as I rummage through my closet for a shirt or a hoodie. Elora takes what I offer her gratefully and turns around to change, all the while answering.

"All good again. It was only sore for a few days," she says right as her wet shirt drops to my floor, leaving me staring at her back. I get that I should probably turn around to give her some privacy but again, my body and my brain don't seem to be connected right now and my eyes proceed to drink her back in. She's quick to block my view by throwing on my oversized hoodie, which practically swallows her whole. She turns back around with a smile, snuggling into the thick fabric.

"Thank you," she sighs. I don't know what possesses me, but before I know it, I close the distance between us and pull her hood over her head. Then I stay like that, my eyes locked on hers and my hands on each side of the hood.

"I'm sorry," I break the thick silence. Elora sighs so I go on. "About telling Cai and for what you heard later. I'm ashamed to admit that I've said those exact words many times before, trying desperately to remind my heart not to fall for you since that was never part of our agreement. In the end, they were always meaningless, no matter how hard I tried to cling to them. I knew that. Hell, Cai knew that too. I'm sorry that you didn't know it and got hurt because of it."

Well, so much for easing into this conversation. I just went ahead and poured my heart out. Elora is silently staring at me, looking slightly scared and mightily cute. I clear my throat.

"But you said you had news," I ask, trying to change the subject.

"Yes, right." She shakes herself but doesn't step away from me. I take it as a good sign. "I'm sorry too. For running like that and for keeping things from you all along. I was overwhelmed when I heard you two fight and needed to cool off first but I know you didn't mean what you said. Or, I think I know it," she says slowly.

Deciding not to focus on the keeping-things-from-me part, I nod to confirm she's right. She goes on. "By now I'm guessing you figured out what I meant the last time. About my husband." I wince and she pulls a grimace. I nod again and her next words come out in quick succession.

"It was an arranged marriage and I was told a few weeks before we went on our first date. It's all a crazy story but I was told the man I was supposed to marry wanted an experienced wife and I panicked because I was anything but. My hairdresser sent me the link to your agency and after some long mental debate, I sent out a request for you. I hadn't even met Leander by then.

"I didn't tell you about my engagement on that first date because I thought I was never going to see you again and hoped it didn't matter. Then one thing led to another and I was suddenly too scared to backtrack and come out with the truth. It also didn't help that I found myself thinking a lot more than I ever did about the man I was supposed to marry."

She takes a breath while my heart does a somersault at how she keeps saying the man she was supposed to marry. As in, no longer is going to.

"I know none of that makes what I did right. I guess my only defense is that I really liked you and I was scared of losing you. I didn't want to tarnish what we had by mentioning him, or think about what I was going to have to do when I was with you." My chest constricts. The way she's talking about it makes me figure that Cai was right and she wasn't on board with the whole thing.

"Long story short, I spoke to my sisters a few days ago and it turns out Iris is a lot more interested in my ex-fiancé than I ever was. She's also a lot more excited about getting married so we went to our father and asked him to speak to Leander again. The two men talked again and it turns out my ex-fiancé was very forthcoming about the change.

"I guess what I'm saying is I'm a free woman. A very sorry, free woman." She can't seem to meet my eyes as she finishes that speech and I think I'm glad for it. My brain is still catching up with all the new information and I don't want to ruin anything by speaking before my thoughts can get in line.

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Love the next chapter... just saying👀

I slept in but here u go w today's chapter:)

Have a fantastic dayy