Take Two

17. Hailey

I was back in my old apartment. I didn't particularly want to torture myself by staying right beside his restaurant, but I just wanted to catch a glimpse of him. I took the week off. I didn't want to see or speak to anyone. I just wanted to drown in my misery all alone.

The doorbell rang. I decided to ignore it. It rang again, and then again a second later, and it started getting annoying. I wanted to cut the wire off. I looked through the peek hole and noticed August.

Something looked off. He looked troubled. So I yanked open the door to him.

"Hailey, please come with me. We need to discuss something with you. Everyone is waiting down at the restaurant."

Before I could process his words, he had already grasped my hand and was pulling me down the hallway towards the elevator.

"Is Noah going to be there?" I asked hesitantly.

"That's the problem!" He cried as he pushed the close button in the elevator. "He is leaving."

***

"What do you mean he is leaving?" I snapped as soon as Brandon broke the news to me.

"Apparently they want to start a travelling show with him. He will be going on trips and cruises around the world showcasing the different cuisines and-"

"He's leaving the country then?" I asked incredulously.

Landon pushed forward a contract towards me. "It says he'll be travelling for at least two years."

I browsed through the contract and turned the pages. He had signed on every single one of them.

"What about you guys?"

"He's sending me to a boarding school!" Carwyn cried with tears in her eyes.

What the hell? Is he just going to leave everyone behind?

"Hailey, we wouldn't have come to you if we had any other alternative. He'll only ever listen to you and no one else. Please make him stay."

"That's not true," I mumbled. "He definitely wouldn't like me interfering."

We left things on bad terms.

"Hailey, we want you to meet someone," June said and went back inside the kitchen.

"Carwyn, do you want some ice cream?" The twins asked her and then swung her between their arms and walked outside.

As soon as they were gone, the lady from a few days back emerged out of the kitchen. She looked soberer now, and civil.

"Carwyn's mother...," I muttered.

"Hi Hailey, I am Natasha Clifford. You may know me as Carwyn's birth mother, but I am also Noah's elder sister."

Huh? What?

Sister? SISTER!

Oh, my God! She is his sister! Then by family, he meant-

"I am really sorry about that day. I have no excuses for my actions, but please understand it was the alcohol acting that day and not me." She spoke as she took a seat opposite me. "I fell into a bad depression after our mother passed away. I didn't act like the elder sister I should have been, and Noah ended up becoming an adult way too early in his life."

"That day, he brought me back home and enrolled me into a rehabilitation program the next day," she continued. "He still acted like the responsible adult he always was. You see, my little Noah is a very kindhearted person. He is responsible, caring, and would go to great lengths to take care of the people he loves."