STUCK 2

Chapter 18

"I kicked Venetia's ass yesterday"

Enzo spewed the coffee contents like a fountain, blessing the lively grass with caffeine mixed with his saliva. Tara watched amusingly as he struggled to find a handkerchief in his pocket, rubbing it on his mouth to make it up for the mess.

"Who starts a conversation like that?" He groaned in disbelief, coughing the last remnant, blaming her horrible sentence starters.

"I didn't know you'd be this shocked" she let a smile play, continuing to walk by his side, savouring Enzo's embarrassing moment. 

Their evening walks were fairly common. He sought some time to himself alone in the garden with a stick in between his fingers. And that privilege was snatched when she joined him. It wasn't exactly inconvenient that his precious time was stolen by cigarette-less walks with her. 

"Why? And does Don know?" he asked eagerly, pushing the handkerchief back in his pocket. 

"She thinks we are sleeping together.  and I don't know, may be he knows. I don't care" she kicked a small rock in her way, talking nonchalantly.

"But did you not..." he was hesitant, "sleep with him?" 

When Tara looked up to him, he regretted asking that question. It was none of his business and but he couldn't forget the day he had seen Don coming out of her room early in the morning, she looked disheveled, and he looked angry. It had to mean something, right?

"We did not" 

"Are you planning to?" Another question left before Enzo could hold it back.

"May be I should kick your ass too" 

It was his luck that she chose not to be offended, forgiving him with a threatening remark. From the looks of it, she didn't look like a woman who would easily attack someone until she had a good reason for it. 

"How do you feel about it?" Enzo asked, diverting attention from his needless intrigue. 

"About what? hitting her? I feel on top of the world!" She exclaimed with unusual excitement, "I really wanted to tell someone about it" Her cheery eyes found him smiling, satisfied that she chose the right person to share her 'accomplishment' with. 

"No, I wasn't asking about that. Of course you felt good after that, anyone would." 

"Oh, then what were you asking?"

He licked his lips, contemplating whether his curiosity would make her uncomfortable.

"About her...taking your place" He tried to make it sound casual, but as it fell out of his lips he realised the words were too heavy to ever land like feathers. 

She kept quiet, ousting whatever smile she had managed. A topic was dug out of its grave. 

"Forget about it." he muttered in an awkward silence, regretting ever opening his mouth.

"I don't like to think about it. It is not her fault that she is where she is right? I should have nothing against her"  She convinced herself, "And its not his fault either. I didn't expect him to stay single after I left." 

"He didn't marry anyone" Enzo added , knowing there was a solid reason behind the cause,

"And that's his problem. He should have. He always wanted a family" 

"With you" Enzo dared to look in her eyes as she kept her gaze away, afraid of betraying her true emotions. 

"He can dream all he want" she whispered under her breath, ending the torturous conversation. 

His phone rung like a reminder that he was needed back and when he started leaving he heard his name being called,

"Yes?" he asked as Tara slightly jogged behind him, as if she forgot to share something important. 

"You're invited tomorrow" she spoke, hardly affected by the jog. 

"For what?" he asked, confused. 

"A small party. Ina's bedroom, 7pm."

"Why?"

"It's her birthday tomorrow" she added nonchalantly. 

"What!"

"I know you don't like her. But don't be rude she loves you"

"Wait how do you-"

"I know everything. I hated children too" She added as a matter of factly,  throwing too much information at once. 

He took a breath, watching the woman in stance. Something was strange about this woman, something he couldn't grasp. 

"Then how do you survive with her?" his curiosity was taking a toll.

She smiled, hearing the question she had asked her herself thousand times in the mirror.

"I guess when you have no one, you learn to love the things you hate too", There it was, the well rehearsed answer her mind told her.

It left him struck. He watched her back as she walked, realising exactly why the woman was worth being obsessed for.

"Does Don know?" he asked loudly to her back, 

"NO!" he heard her yelling back

"I am going to tell him"

Her back turned, giving a slight approval with her eyes before disappearing back into the mansion, leaving him with himself. 

Little did he know Ina's birthday would be anything but just a 'birthday', that it would leave echoes of Tara's return. That with the celebration, there will be a declaration, of things that had remained unsaid.