Running from Leo

CHAPTER 26: Undercooked chicken

"Rylie, get lost!"

"Rylie, give that to me!"

"You bitch, leave me alone and let me go!"

Rylie threw my apron out and quickly locked the door.

"Stop acting like a child!"

Then she threw her notepad on my face.

'YOU ARE NOT GOING TO WORK! THAT'S FINAL!'

"You cannot decide for me. I want to do the duties so I will do them."

She furiously motioned me to turn the page.

'You will rest and you will...'

My eyes diluted in confusion. "I will what?"

"Mouu...n." She whispered, her eyes slowly softening up.

I laughed bitterly. "There's no point in doing that. I am alive, aren't I? I am not mourning for my life."

It's been a few days since I came back from my ruined home and argued with capo. When the capo said that I would have to live in the room beside his again, I walked away without saying any other word. No arguments. No comments. No last looks. I was already tired of everything and was getting tired of his so-called promises and clauses.

I went straight to my quarters, knocked on the door and waited for Rylie to wake up and open the door. When she did, she wasn't surprised to see me. She was just shocked.

I cried for the rest of the night, feeling alone and lost.

The next few days were... confusing.

Rylie force fed me my meals, pushed me to take a shower, stayed awake with me till I passed out due to excessive crying, took care of me when I woke up in the middle of the night, gasping for air and sobbing when I started suffering from nightmares after years and took as many breaks as she could only to stay with me while I kept staring into space, broken and dead to my loved ones.

If this isn't true friendship, then I don't know what it is. 

I realised that I am not that alone in my life. I have Rylie. Even though she still refuses to open her bottled up frustration or anger or whatever she feels about her lost voice (she can still speak a few words) and ruined taste buds, she looked after me. When I finally had the courage to speak about what exactly happened, she cried with me.

Rylie writes that I should take my time to get over it, mourn for my old life and think on the positive side. Even after finding certain things in my bedroom, they did continue to search for me. They gave up soon after that, but they did thought about themselves and carried on with their lives... leaving me behind.

I laughed at myself after reading that.

Silly me. Thought about myself instead of them and what they must have gone through.

"Ry, don't give me that look." I muttered, "I don't like it. Give me my apron and let's go to work."

She shook her head, puffing her cheeks.

"For a twenty six year old woman, you sure know how to act like a six year old." She giggled in response and quickly scribbled something in her notepad.

'And you know how to act as if you are fine.'

I scoffed. "I am fine."

'You are not. Take another day off.'

"I don't want to." I confessed. "At least not anymore. I am tired of doing nothing for the past few days. Maybe doing those household duties will help me as a distraction?"