HOPE

Chapter 15

His blue eyes looks haunting when he stare at me, like he is doing right now. He looks depressed. With his eye bags, messed up hair and crumbled up clothes. No one who would see him like this, wouldn't think he own a BMW Z4. He is dressed in just casual jeans and a T-shirt, sleeplessness clouding all of his features. 

We both just stood there looking at each other, not saying anything.

 Oh! I'm not looking at him cause he looks hot or anything just cause he looks so beaten up. It's kinda sad. 

Finally, he breaks the silence. "You got fired." 

That was what this was all about. He first pretended like we just met coincidentally, but we both know he doesn't have any other reason to come into this neighborhood. I mean, no rich guy would even know this place exists. 

Maybe he was just caught off guard cause I ran into him instead of him coming up to me. 

He said that more like a statement than a question, that I don't say anything to that. 

"It was my mom right?" 

"Yes." I know that he knows the answer to that but I answer him anyways.

"Yea, she came home last night saying that she is so happy to because she fired that bitch's ass outta there." I look at him, raising my eyebrow in question. He shrugs. "What? Those were my mom's exact words." 

"Technically, I resigned before she could fire me. But hey! whatever floats her boat, right?" I resigned just because I didn't want to be fired. 

It really doesn't make much difference if she lied that she fired me or not. I don't think I care much about any of that now. 

He smiles sheepishly at me and I smile back at him. I never thought I would talk to him like this. Like two friends who met after along time. Awkwardness clearly stands between us right now. 

"Hope, how are you going to live now that you don't have a job?"

I look at him. It's not like I will be homeless and living in the streets, just cause I don't have a job now. I mean... I didn't spend much money even before when I had a job, so I have a lot of money saved up. It's enough to live a month maybe. But I know why he is asking me all that, I know what's going to come next. If he think that I will cry on his shoulder, saying that I don't have any money, he is so wrong. 

I can see that he is waiting for a reply so I just go with "I can."

"Well.. Hope. I know you are going to say no but at least hear me out, please. My dad gave me the guest house right outside of our house. A little far from the main house so you won't have any problem with our mother. It's in the middle of this huge garden and there isn't anyone around there so we can live on our own. We will have that entire place to ourselves. It will surely piss my mom off, but only if she found out that is. We don't have to tell her anything. I can tell Sam about this but no one else. So no one will bother you. And I could come up with something to take all of Ronica stuff off of my back. If we could just get pregnant..." He rambles on about everything that we could do if we live together.  He looks like a little kid who is playing with his favorite toy. So full of excitement and expectation. 

But in this case, the toy is me. 

I was just looking at him when suddenly, he stopped rambling long enough to say, "You're not even listening to me are you?"

"Nah. You lost me when you said "pregnant"." I shrug. 

He sighs. I feel bad for him but I can't do anything about it. 

"I thought we are okay now. I mean.. I know there's so much we should probably work out between ourselves, sure, but I thought this was a start. We finally had a conversation where no one was yelling." He looks at me, eyes filled with hope.