Chapter 3: Chapter 3

When I landed in Atham City, I wasn’t sure what I was expecting. Actually, when I think about it, what I wanted was to find a way to be sure that I was making the right decision. A sign from the universe that Emrys and I will work out.

So, you can imagine how giddy I felt when Brielle took me to her house from the airport and told me that she was living with her cousin in their family house. I was shocked at first because I’d always thought she lived alone. Even with that, I still didn’t realize how that benefitted me until I got to her house and found out that said cousin was actually Emrys Cole.

“Emrys lives here?”

“It is our family house after all. It’s just we both prefer to stay here.”

That explained a lot because the house was freakishly large. It wasn’t a mansion but it wasn’t your average house. It screamed wealth but in a modest way. I didn’t even think that was possible.

“I don’t even care about the house. What I care about is that Emrys, the Emrys, is your cousin? Why are you just telling me this when I’m in his house? How am I meant to act?” I asked panicking and forgetting the sleep that had been on my mind after the flight.

“It was supposed to a surprise?” she weakly said.

“What kind of horrible surprise is this? I’m so scared,” I said and I started pacing up and down again. “I have a feeling I’m going to mess this up. I won’t even be able to sleep.”

“How didn’t you notice it? His surname is Cole, mine is Cole.”

I glared at her. “Do you know many millions have Cole as their surname? It could have been a goddamn coincidence.”

“I’m pretty sure I mentioned it to you during one of our talks,” she said looking up thoughtfully.

“You should know that I never listen to you when you ramble about unimportant things.” “Your problem not mine.”

I glared at her. “Don’t make me hate you anymore than I already do.”

“Look on the bright side,” she said with a smile that was too cheery for this awkward situation she got me into.

I narrowed my eyes at her. “What bright side?”

“He’s not always at home so it’s going to be you and I alone,” she said with a shrug as she dragged me by the arm. “Let’s get you to your room so you can get refreshed and then we can talk about this like civilized adults.”

I huffed but still allowed myself to be pulled in the direction she was taking me. After many turns and stairs, we arrived at a door. She opened it and as I walked in, I knew Brielle must have specially decorated it for me. It was just how I loved my room: purple with flowers. It even had the extra of glitters and it warmed my heart.

Everything was purple from the rugs to the walls to the bed and the sheets. Everything. I found it so sweet that Brielle remembered my obsession with flowers and purple. I was shocked she remembered because Brielle wasn’t the kind of person to remember things. I occasionally reminded her of her own birthday to show how bad her memory was.

“I think I have forgiven you for your misinformation,” I said as I turned to look at her.

She beamed. “I knew this would work. I’m so glad you haven’t changed because this would have been so awkward if you had.”

I laughed. “Well, you spent a month in my house. I’m surprised you didn’t run away after the first week.”

“To be honest, I was tempted to,” she said with a smile. “PB, have your bath and freshen up. I’ll order something for us to eat while you have your bath. Is that okay?” I nodded. “So, pizza or Chinese?”

“Definitely pizza,” I said with a grin.

“Still haven’t changed.” She laughed. “Toppings?” “Pepperoni and maybe a little mushroom.”

“Okay, captain. I’ll get that done.” With those words, she left me to my new and temporary room.

I thought of what Emrys’s room would look like and then, I thought of how he was Brielle’s cousin and it dawned on me how stupid I was to not have noticed they were related. I mean, they had similar looks.

The same adorable blue eyes, the same shade of blond hair, and the same pointed nose. It made sense how they would be related because when I thought about it, they looked too alike. Their fathers were probably twins. And the same surname had to be an obvious give away like she said. How was I stupid enough to miss that?

I frowned and sat on the queen-sized bed. This was honestly a mess. I wouldn’t be able to survive living with Emrys. And what if he had a girlfriend? How would I be able to go through that and be calm?

I shook my head in an attempt to clear all the Emrys related thoughts from my head all to no avail. I decided to take a shower first of all before doing anything else. I brought out my phone and thought of which song to play. I used it as a sort of alarm whenever I was about to shower. When the song ends, I have to come out.

I got in and, in a few minutes, I was out. Thanks to my drugs and my therapy, I wasn’t really having the symptoms. I just couldn’t spend too long in shower or swim for long periods of time and stuff like that. The last time I’d had an attack was a couple of years back and luckily, I had Leon with me.

I realized that I hadn’t called him since I arrived so I brought out my phone and saw that I already had 100 texts from him. How didn’t I notice that?

The first text I opened read:

Are you dead?

Typical him. He always assumed the worst so I decided to put him out of his misery and I called him. He picked almost immediately.

“Are you alright? Were you kidnapped? Do I need to track your phone? Is this a kidnapper on the phone? Release my best friend you…”

I laughed. “Leon, I’m fine. I was just overwhelmed by a lot of things so I forgot to call and check up on you.”

He heaved a sigh of relief. “I was so worried. I didn’t know what I’ll tell France when she comes over.”

“Since when are you and my mother on first name basis?” I asked snickering. “Since she hired me as your bodyguard.”

“You’re doing a poor job at that.” He laughed. “So, how’s the first day as the boss?”

“Horrible. I can’t believe you left me with Teagan. She’s trying to kill me,” he said and I could just imagine him searching around for her. I laughed at the thought. “It’s not funny, PB. She actually believes I’m in love with her and it is not cool.”

I continued laughing. “Take her out on a date.”

“That will ruin everything and you know that. It would make her feel too special,” he said and I knew he was frowning.

He was right, though. Leon didn’t date. The last time he did, it was for two days and he didn’t even think he was dating her. It was a one-sided thing. He was of the opinion that if he went on a date with Teagan, it would make her think she was that important and ruin the whole idea of pushing her away from him.

“I’m sorry,” I said still snickering, “but you have to survive. It’s just a year.”

“Are you hearing yourself? Just a year? I’m going to die,” he said with a panicked tone then I heard noise in the background. “Holy shit, Teagan is at my house. How does she even know my address? Did you give it to her?”

“No. Why would I?” “Good point.”

“Look I’m going to hide while Eve gets rid of her so I can’t talk. Bye.”

“Bye…” he’d already hung up but I was still laughing. Vanessa could be a stalker when she wanted to but I couldn’t lie and say she wasn’t good at her work.

“Who was that?” Brielle’s voice came from the door. I didn’t even notice her come in. “Leon,” was my simple reply.

“Your gay best friend?” she asked with a raised brow. “He’s not gay,” I said laughing.

She narrowed her eyes at me. “Don’t tell me you believe that.” “What?”

“He’s obviously gay. I don’t even know why you stay with him,” she said rolling her eyes. “I’m obviously the better best friend.”

I shook my head. “We’re not having this discussion again.”

“Fine. Whatever.” She rolled her eyes again. “How’s your roommate then?” “Why are you saying ‘roommate’ like he’s not that?”

“Because you’ve been living together for six years and we all know that no one sleeps in the second bedroom.”

“You literally just said he was gay.”

She shrugged. “Then you said he wasn’t and that means your relationship has to be more than platonic.”

“We are just friends, Brie. Just like you and I. Friends. Should I spell it?” “And you say he’s not gay? I honestly doubt that,” she said shaking her head.

“I’m pretty sure you came here for something other than analyzing my friendship with Leon.” “The pizza’s down.”

“Great. I’m starving,” I said as I stood up from my bed and followed her down the stairs while we chatted amiably about how our life had been so far.

I’d been expecting a lot of things since I’d left my home to Brielle’s but what I wasn’t expecting to see was Emrys since Brielle had said, and I quote, “he isn’t always home”. I wondered why I saw him standing there at that moment. Probably another misinformation.

“Brielle, you didn’t tell me you had a guest,” he said the moment he laid his eyes on me.

Great. He didn’t even recognize me. Why did I do this again? Oh yeah, for love. I was becoming exhausted with this mission and it’s only been the first day.

Brielle rolled her eyes as she pulled him into a quick side hug. “I’m pretty sure I told you my best friend was coming to live with me for a year. Where else do I live?”

He looked up thoughtfully as though he was racking his brain for any proof, they had talked about it. “We did?”

“Yes, we did asshole,” she said punching him as she took me by the arm. “Emrys this is my best friend, Paris. Paris this is Emrys. You already know him obviously. Hot actor and all.” She smiled at both of us but we just stared at her silently. “Go on. Socialize.”

“I just came back from a stressful day at work, Brie and…wait, Paris?” “Yeah why?” Brielle asked with an excited smile.

He looked at me now and God, those eyes. “I think I know you. We went to the same high school. Paris Boudoir, right? The one everyone called PB?” I nodded not trusting myself to

speak. “It’s been years. It’s so nice to see you again. Let’s catch up later, yeah?” I nodded again. “Cool.” He turned to Brielle. “I’ll be in my room if you need me.” He glanced at me again. “It was nice meeting you.” Then he left.

I had difficulty breathing as I watched him leave and Brielle walked up to me with a large grin. She used her hands to motion how to breathe. “In. Out. In. Out.”

I finally got the hang of it. “Thanks. Is that who I really think it is?” “I’m getting good at this cupid thing now,” Brielle said laughing.

“He only remembered me in high school with him. I don’t think that’s a sign of possible love,” I said rolling my eyes but not able to stop the smile that came through.

She leaned in and said in a hushed whisper, “He doesn’t talk to any of my friends. Even the ones he knows. That’s a start.”

We began to walk to the sitting room where she said the pizza was while her words and the conversation, I had with Emrys kept replaying in my mind. It wasn’t that big of a deal but the more I thought about it, the more I smiled and realized that all I could have done was talk to him sooner instead of waiting for him like a damsel in distress.

Brielle passed me the box of pizza and I took a slice, smiling at her. “Thank you for all this, Brie. It’s good that one of my friends is actually supporting my dream here.”

She waited until she was done chewing and asked, “Leon doesn’t support it?”

I shrugged. “He just thinks that it’s a waste of time and either Emrys might not like me or he’d turn out to be different from who I thought him to be.”

“That’s bullshit.”

“I know, right, but in a way, I get what he’s saying. He just doesn’t want me to get hurt after gambling it all on Emrys.”

Brielle seemed to think about it. ‘That sounds reasonable but Emrys wouldn’t hurt you. He’s a good guy. I should know. I’ve lived with him for years.”

I tilted my head. “You guys are really close, huh?”

“Sort of but you know how acting is. Sometimes he doesn’t have time for me and I don’t think he has time for himself. Then our family…” she sighed. “It’s taking a toll on him so I understand the slight changes. I think he needs a distraction. You might just be what he needs.”

I nodded in understanding but it felt weird talking about someone who was in the same house with us so I said, “How’s Kosara?”

That was enough to cause a dreamy look on her face. Kosara was her boyfriend of thirteen years and finally they were tying the knot. I was so happy for her and it was the kind of relationship I’d always wished for myself.

I also knew him because he had been a transfer student in our third year in high school. I wasn’t close to him but I guess we were friends due to the fact that we had mutual friends. I’d

always liked his name though. Kosarachi. It was beautiful and I remember asking him the meaning of his name when we first met. I think he said it was “tell it to God” or something like that.

“He’s getting more contracts these days so I hardly see him but we talk a lot,” she said with a smile. “I can’t wait to get married to him so I won’t be too bothered about living with him.”

“I still don’t get why you share a house with your cousin instead of your fiancé.”

“He’s living in his family house just like Emrys and I. The only difference is that his family is actually living with him and they don’t like me that much so it’s not going to be nice staying with them.”

I grimaced. “Oh. They still don’t approve?”

She shrugged. “Well, they actually know it’s Kosara’s decision but that doesn’t change how they see me.”

“It’s going to be tough being married to him then.” “The things we do for love.”

I laughed and echoed, “The things we do for love.”

That night, my mind was filled with a lot of things and the dreams I had were beautiful but something kept telling me things were about to become different. I wasn’t happy and I didn’t know why. I was reunited with my best friend, Leon and I still talked, and I finally had a chance at getting the man I really love.

Why wasn’t it enough?