The Choice

5. 'STAY WITH ME'

The thing I had missed the most after my mom died was comfort, being told that everything will fall in a right place someday and my life will be better soon. Yes, Nora did calm my nerves down when ever she thought that I had lost my mind, but, the way I felt when I was closed to Darren with his arms tightened around me was something I had never discovered in my past before.

I closed my eyes and held him tight, not wanting him to let go of me. He held me close in response and I loved it. "Lily.. you must be exhausted, come on you should sleep." He said and let go of my arm, helping me to walk towards the bed. I laid down and felt secretly disappointed when he put the warm blanket over me and began to leave the room.

"Darren?" I called and he turned around in response, his eyes gave me a kind look and his lips were slightly apart, making him look handsome.
"Stay with me?" I asked slowly.

"You sure?" He asked and I could tell by his face that he was surprised by my request.

"Please.."

"Alright. " he said and laid with me on the bed, his one arm wrapped around my back while the other one was behind his head. He was looking at the ceiling and I was staring at his beautiful features. More than five minutes passed in silence when he finally decided to speak.

"I thought you hated me." He said, still looking at the ceiling.

"I think I do." I replied.

"Is this how you react with the people you hate?" He asked and looked at me with his shiny brown eyes.

"Not really." I said, " I'm just a little confused about you, I think." I replied and shook my shoulders.

"So what's the confusion?" He asked being concerned.

"First of all, you are a cousin of the woman I hate so much, secondly, I don't even know why you guys just moved in here? I mean Sarah has a nice house then why would she choose to live in a house like this? Thirdly, my boyfriend broke up with me because of my dad and I am super angry about it, and fourth, I really need a shoulder to cry on and you were right there with me which lead us to a situation like this. " I told him all the reasons without any hesitation, and I was surprised by it too.

"Hmm." He said, still looking at the ceiling and I was looking at his beautiful features. More than five minutes passed in silence when he finally decided to speak.

"My parents died three years ago in an accident,  that's when I decided to stay with Sarah. She's my closest aunt or you can call us best friends. I do counselling service in my own clinic during the day and study online psychology." He paused and exhaled, "I was so lost in my own life I didn't notice her getting in a wrong way. Few weeks back she lost all her money in casino, she was only left with her house but she decided to give that away too. I don't know why she did so, she was never that careless. She began to change after meeting.... your dad." He was telling me and then suddenly looked at me. The last sentence really made my chest ache but there was nothing I could do about it.

" Oh my God,  Lily I'm so sorry. I shouldn't be saying all this to you. He's your dad and I don't know how you'll feel about it." He was saying.

"He's not my dad."

"You may not admit it but technically Yes, he is your dad." He replied. Darren had every right to be worried, anyone would feel the same in that situation. Instead I tried to defend my dad.

"Well, Sarah is old enough to know what's right and wrong for her. " I said.

"Love is blind, lily. Haven't you heard of it? Sarah loves your dad. Like, really loves your dad." He said, " And I would never stop her from doing that but believe me when I found out that he killed your mom, I'm really worried about my aunt."