ISABEL (Unedited)

Chapter 22

Chapter 22

POV: Aaron
I had gotten home from work around 3 AM. I was exhausted and drained. Once I got into the house, I took off my tie and opened my t-shirt as I fell back onto the sofa.

I was deep in my thoughts when I heard footsteps from behind. Who was in my house? Firstly, how had he/she even make it past my security and my house alarm? For a moment, my eyes remained closed and I heard slow footsteps again. I quickly got up from the sofa and pulled out a gun from my back.

Isabel.

“Hi,” she said.

I lowered my gun in astonishment. Of course! She was the only one apart from James who knew their way into my house. She knew the password to my house alarm and she was friendly with my security. But I knew that James had played a part in it. But back to what really mattered, what was she doing in my house?

“Hey, what are you doing here?”
“Am I no more invited into your house?”
“You are, I’m just surprised. Why the unexpected visit?”
“I wanted to say hi,” she said as she was walking over to my side.

I was walking away from her. We were encircling the sofa that was between us.

“Hey.”
“It’s been long, don’t you think? 4 months is a long time.”
“What do you want, Isabel?”
“Do I look like I want something?”
“Unfortunately, so.”

She stopped walking and sat down on the sofa. There was something about a woman’s silence that was never good. Why was she behaving so weird? “You never came back after you went to call the doctor,” she revealed. “Why?”
“Is that your reason for coming to my house?”
“If you have a problem with me, I can leave your house, but only if you answer my question.”

POV: Isabel
“I thought you needed some time alone,” he lied.

I looked at him in disappointment. Really?

“If you’re going to lie to me, I prefer you rather not utter a word. I hate lies.”

Silence.

“What do you want me to say?”
“Anything but lies.”
“It didn’t feel right for me to be there.”
“You have been avoiding me for about 6 months. What have I done to you, that you had even refused to come visit me? What?”
“Why did you leave my house?”

I frowned at his question. I couldn’t understand Aaron at that point. He was impossible to reach out to. “Hadn’t we agreed that once I was healed, I would leave?”

“You left without a word. What if you got hurt?”
“It would’ve been better than staying in your house.”

He went numb after what I had said. It was an awkward moment but I was just being truthful. “Why would you say that? Had I hurt you in any way? Had I mistreated you? I don’t get it. Please, make me understand.”
“Don’t you think you’re being selfish?”
“How?” he frowned at me.
“You want me to answer all your questions yet, you don’t want to answer mine.”
“I will answer yours honestly if you finish mine.”

Aaron was hard headed. I didn’t have a lot of time to waste so, I accepted his offer. It’s not always that you get everything you want in life. “What was the real reason for leaving the house?”