ISABEL (Unedited)

Chapter 23

Chapter 23

POV: Isabel
A month passed by with me heavily burying myself into my work. I didn’t want to think about Aaron. The more I worked hard, the less I thought of him. People at work were making fun of me. I had felt so stupid. Aaron had made it seem that I was too easy. There wasn’t a place in the company where I wasn’t being laughed at or pitied. I didn’t need people’s pity.

Every day I would go home late. At that time, my life was just focused on my work and James and Janet. One day I had come home really late because from work, I had stopped at James’s place. I had dinner there and had a shared a few laughs. James dropped me off at my house. At 2 AM, I could hear my doorbell going off. Who would be walking around at that hour, knocking at people’s doors?

I was so exhausted. I didn’t want to leave my bed but I had to. So, I got up and went downstairs. I looked out the window and saw Aaron. I cleaned my eyes and looked again.
Aaron.

What did he want at my house? Why was he even out there at that time? Had he come to sleep over again?

I so wanted to go back up to my room and sleep but I couldn’t. I wasn’t heartless. As much as it hurt me to have opened the door for him, I knew that I was doing the right thing. Maybe he had something important to say. Plus, it was raining outside and he wasn’t wearing a jacket or anything. I bet he felt cold.

Once I had opened the door to him, his head turned face me as his back was turned to me. Was he leaving? Both of us were quiet. I honestly didn’t have anything to say to him. Although, my heart was racing at the fact of seeing him again.

“Hi,” he said in a low tone but I heard it.
“Hey,” I swallowed hard.
“May I come inside?”
“Sure,” I replied as I got out of the way.

He entered and by his actions, I could tell that he had felt warmer. I closed the door and faced him. I crossed my hands at my chest as I waited for what he had to say.

He wasn’t drunk. He wasn’t in his formal attire so, I didn’t know where he was coming from. Maybe he just got into the country. I was still very sleepy. After enough silence, I spoke.

“If you came to sleep over, your room is ready,” I pointed out.

He just nodded. I guess, he had come to sleep over. I hoped that he could see how tired I was. I turned to the front door to lock it and turned back to go to my room. “Goodnight,” I said as I walked past him.

Unknowingly, he caught my arms and pulled me to him. He didn’t utter a word. It was just a moment of silence. I was shocked at his actions. Goodness, I could hear his breathing. It was so loud. Was he nervous?

It had then popped into my head of what had happened at his house. The way he caught me with so much strain that he hurt me. His eyes were dark and piercing. I didn’t know if I should pull out from his grip or remain there. If I tried to resist, what if he hurt? I didn’t want pain. I was in such a compromising position. I was really confused. “I missed you,” he finally said.

I froze. He missed me? I didn’t know how I got to pull out from his grip, but I just did. I was in a state of shock, whereby I didn’t know whether to be happy or angry. How many months had I waited for those words? I closed my eyes as I tried to fight back the memories that had kept on flooding my mind. He hurt me. He played me and he was here, in my house, telling me that he missed me?