APARTMENT 143

02

I lift my head and stare into his sparkling blue eyes, his hands were wrapped around considering he caught me before hitting the floor. However, I immediately noticed that he ended up hitting his head. Running my fingers through his hair, I don't seem to find a bump and assume he's fine but that didn't change the awkward tension between us.

"VIOLET!"

We both turn our heads to a loud scream at the door, Chloe stands there with her eyes wide open caught by surprise. I then look back at the man and realize how this looked, pushing myself off and crawling backward. I sit on my knees as he sits up and rubs the back of his head, he then stands up brushing off his suit.

Chloe walks up to him completely mesmerized by him, she looks at him with intensity and I watch quietly.

"Riven..." she says touching the side of his face. "It's been a while."

His eyes widen at the sight of Chloe but doesn't say anything. Instead, he brushes her hand away from him and heads for the door. Chloe steps back saddened by his reaction and looks at me still sitting on the ground.

She walks over to me, helping me up, and pats my head with a smile.

She then turns around and goes out to the hallway, I decided to follow behind her. I stick my head out from the side of the door and walk as she begins talking to the man, it appears that she knew him well. When he speaks to her, he seems well mannered and dignified... almost as if Chloe was his mom, but his expression showed something completely different, there was a forced smile with a hint of sadness looming over him.

He enters the elevator saying goodbye when suddenly he makes eye contact with me, startled I pull my head back in until I hear the elevator doors close and peep outside again.

Chloe turns around letting out a disappointing sigh, when she looks up she notices me looking out the door. I pull myself back into the apartment and wait for Chloe to come back in closing the door behind her, she doesn't say anything and just begins unpacking.

I knew it wasn't my place to get involved, besides that guy didn't seem any different from those stuck-up rich guys father was always trying to set me up with. Obviously, his type wouldn't be of any interest to me, but he did seem very determined to assume I didn't live here.

"You want to know who he is, don't you?" Chloe says breaking awkward the silence. "You seem to have a few questions on your mind regarding Riven."

His name is Riven...

"I don't care about him," I state placing the dishes into cabinets. "But... I am curious about how you know him?"

"Let's just say his father and I had a unique relationship and I practically watched Riven grow up."

"In other words, he's one of your one-night stands?" I jokingly say looking at her. "You must have been serious about him if you know his kid."

"No, not necessarily," she spoke softly. "I met him when I was going through my divorce, it was the early stages when I thought true love still existed. When I first arrived here, I was in pursuit of my acting career, I was about your age at the time and had so many dreams. However, reality hit me in the face and I found out how disgusting some people are. I wasn't going to sell out in order to make it but it did hurt."

"That's fine and all, but what does this have to do with that guy?"

"Would you let me finish, I'm getting to that part," she says rolling her eyes and continuing with her story. "Anyway, after months of trying, I found myself sitting on a park bench on a random winter day debating if I should have gone back home. A place where I was miserable and everyone saw me as a disappointment, that was until I met his father."

"Wow a guy that you didn't randomly meet at a bar, that's a first," I chuckle.

"At that time he found out that the woman he once loved and had an affair with had secretly been raising their son, Riven, but knowing he was married and two kids with his actual wife... she didn't want him to be a part of Riven's life," Chloe continues as she pulls out a photo from her purse. "He didn't care for his wife, they were only together as a business deal so obviously stupid me decided to fall in love with and became his mistress."

"Seriously?" I shout. "But that doesn't sound like something you'd do..."

"Like I said I fell for him and I accepted whatever relationship we could have," Chloe says looking down sadly. "But that all changed when Riven's mother died in a car accident and his father needed to take care of him, I helped comfort him and even loved him like my son but then I had been offered my breakout role which required me to leave for a year. I knew their lives would move on so I broke things off."

Chloe puts the picture back in her purse and sets down the clothes she was folding on the couch, I could see in her eyes that she regretted that choice. Chloe had always been one to hide her feelings extremely well and nothing ever made her feel bad because she had a reason, but this time, this time seemed different.

I remember when I was around thirteen, she had returned from filming to visit me, she seemed upset and had told me how she gave up someone she loved because she just wasn't good enough and wanted to follow her dreams.

I had no idea this was the story.

"I thought he would wait for me you know? Maybe just maybe he cared about me enough to wait," she continues. "But when I returned he was still married to his wife and brought Riven into their family."

"You haven't seen him since then?"

"No, I had no idea he had grown up so much," she says softly. "He had gone away to boarding school but I had no idea what happened after that."

She pauses.

"He looks so much like his father," Chloe mumbles to herself. "I wonder why he's living here and not at home?"

"Who knows," I say, attempting to change the topic. "He just accused me of being a thief and didn't even apologize, he's a jerk in my book."

I filled a box with everything I needed to pack away in my room and headed up the stairs, trying my best to not continue the conversation. As much I loved Chloe's stories, this one seemed to hurt her way too much and I didn't want to force her to continue talking about it.

Chloe looked up at me as I walked up the stairs and out of her view, I noticed she had a slight smile on her face. However, that smile slowly turned to a frown and it was as if I could see the thoughts running through her head.

I could hear Chloe pick up her keys from the counter and headed out the door without saying a word. As soon as I heard the door slam shut, I decided to take a peek downstairs to see she was nowhere to be seen and went back to unpacking.

Wherever she needed to go, must have been very important.

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