Chapter 21: Chapter 21

Lora heard the doorbell ring from where she was cleaning inside her dad’s study and came to get the door, wondering who must have come to see her at this hour. She has only two people who visits her and they are Catalina and Alfredo, the kids only have to come to her house when they have class and this was not the time. “Hi Catalina.” Lora said as she answered the door to see her friend Catalina standing there, feeling a little surprised to see her here especially since she did not call her before coming.

“Hi Lora.” Catalina said in return, leaning forward towards her and the both ladies gave each other a quick hug.

“It has been a while Catalina, I did not expect to see you here.” Lora said after she leaned backwards away from Catalina, wiping dust from her hair, looking a little surprised to see her here.

“I called your cell phone but you did not answer, so I decided to pay you a visit instead.” Catalina said in return, peering at her as she watched her wipe dust off her hair. She moved a few steps away from her as she wiped the dust off her hair in order not to have dust on her body as well. “What are you doing?” she asked, wondering what she was doing to have so much dust on her hair and body.

“Cleaning, Catalina, sorry I did not answer your call, I left my cell phone in my room.” Lora told her, she had forgotten that she was not with her phone when she went to clean in her dad’s study. “I wasn’t expecting any calls that was why, come in...” she added, and gestured for Catalina to follow her into her house.

“This way, Catalina...” Lora pointed, gesturing to Catalina who was walking in front of her. Catalina turned to her immediately and followed Lora into a big room filled with lots of books, some are on the floor and others on the book shelve.

“What is this?” Catalina asked, gazing around the big room, her lips slightly parted afterwards as she was amazed by what she was beholding. She had been friends with Lora for some years now but has not been to this room before, she never knew such a room existed in this house. “this is huge Lora, how come you have not brought me to this room before?” she added, still glancing around the huge room, her gaze wandering about from one bookshelf to the other.

“This used to be my Papa’s study Catalina and it has been locked away for so long.” Lora replied, seeing how taken she was by the room. “I decided to clean it up since I have lots of free time now.” She added, glancing around the huge room too, she bent down and picked up a book from the floor and dusted it before placing it on one of the book shelves near her.

“Wow Lora, there are so many books, this belonged to your papa?” Catalina asked, her pupils enlarged as she turned her gaze again at Lora.

“yes Catalina, this was my Papa’s favourite room,” Lora replied, nodding and smiling a little from the corner of her lips as she recalled how he had always stayed here, his attention focused on a book and he would read from one book to the other and would always plead with his mum to give him some time to finish when she would come and call him to have a meal.

“Wow Lora, now I know where you got your reading talent from.” Catalina said and started coughing from the amount of dust she just inhaled.

“Here, cover your nose with this.” Lora said giving her a handkerchief she produced from a corner of the bookshelf next to her. Catalina quickly took it and tied it from her nose across her neck making a nose mask. “Thanks, Lora,” she told her and turned her gaze away from her again almost immediately, even though she does not lover reading that much, she was still amazed by it.

”My Papa loves books you know, I began to read because it makes me feel close to him.” Lora said still dusting and placing the books on the bookshelves.

“What a wired choice.” Catalina said as she bends over some stack of books and began to assist Lora to clean the books and put them back up. “You can’t just adopt something because you missed a person you know, you should do a thing because you love it, not because it makes you closer to someone or something.” Catalina added, thinking that Lora has a very weird reason for liking to read so much books.

Lora lifted her gaze to Catalina from where she was and felt that she has a point in what she has just said but it did not make much difference now because even though she does not like to read before when she was very little she had come to love after her Papa made her read with him rather than sleeping she began to love book. “Well, I love books... I love to read now Catalina, and I feel close to my Papa whenever I read a book,” Lora said, now putting some books in the shelve. “Anyways, you must have a reason to visit me out of the blue. She said, peering at Catalina, wondering now why she had to come and see her like this, it did not look to her like she had a very important place to go to because of the way she was dressed, Lora thought, judging by how she was dressed even though she did not look very simple to her though.

“No reason at all, I just came by to see you, I have not seen you since graduation, I bet you don’t miss me.” Catalina said still dusting the books and handing them to Lora to put them on the bookshelf in front of her, she wanted to pay her a visit since she does not have anywhere reasonable to go to and also because of the information she wanted to get from her.

“Look at who is talking, I bet you have been having lots of fun with your friends from school, you do not even have the time to miss me at all.” Lora said, peering down at Catalina who was busy dusting a book that she bent over.

“Seriously, I have missed you, Lora.” Catalina said, trying to sound convincing even though she knew that it was not the truth. “How have you been? And have you seen Alfredo?” she asked still dusting the books and handing them over to Lora who placed them neatly on the bookshelves. She tried to concentrate on the book in her hand after she had asked the question which was the main reason why she had come to see Lora.

“I have been okay, Catalina, thanks for your concern.” Lora replied taking a book from her, turning to put it in on the bookshelf.

“Okay…” Catalina said, peering her with keen interest, waiting for her to respond to her other question about Alfredo because that was the main thing she wanted to hear from her.

“Oh my goodness, Catalina…” Lora said when she turned her gaze on Catalina again and saw her pupils widened and peering at her, she felt a little frightened by it.

“Go on…” Catalina said and gestured to her immediately and shrugging her shoulders a little too as she wanted her to go on and answer the remaining question she had asked and Lora understood immediately what she was referring to.

“Well, as for Alfredo came to see me some days ago.” She added, shrugging her shoulders and heaving out a short sigh after she recalled how their conversation went, especially how she had acted around him which she knew was not right at all and wondered how she was going to stop feeling that way around him and start to feel normal like a proper girlfriend should feel around her boyfriend.

“What’s wrong?” Catalina asked, looking at Lora closely, sensing the way she reacted just now and the sudden expression on her face. “Is there a problem?” she added, sounding like she was concerned in order to hear what her reason was to sigh the way she just did.

“No, there is no problem.” She replied after a brief silence,. “It’s just that my life is boring you know, Catalina I am a little tired of living this way.” She added and then shrugged her shoulders again, hating how she had turned out and feeling like her life was not interesting enough to have someone like Alfredo as a boyfriend, recalling again how her conversation with Alfredo went, she did not even offer him a sit or a drink she thought now that she thought of it.

Catalina stood up and held her right hand. “What is going on Lora is this about your parents again?” She asked, feeling a little concerned now, seeing and hearing about how she had talked about her life just now. She could sense something is bordering her, and thought that Alfredo could not be the only one who would have made her feeling this way.

Lora pressed her lips together and blinked at Catalina after she asked if it was her parents that made her say what she had just said, even though she did not think about them at the time she said what she said, she now remembered them, guessing that they were also part of the reason why her life was like this. “I should be used to living this way, isn’t it?” She asked in return and bit down her lower lips afterwards as tears began to gather in her eyes. She sniffed, trying to fight back the tears in her eyes and keep herself from crying.

Catalina unconsciously hugged her so tight this time, she could hear the pain in her voice as she spoke. Lora was her friend and she liked her, if not for Alfredo she does not think that she would have had any reason to betray her or doubt her feeling towards her.

“I am so tired Catalina, I am tired of being alone… and it’s killing me slowly inside.” Lora said as she hugged Catalina back, still sniffing a little to continue to fight her tears, she does not want to cry now and especially not in front of Catalina, besides, she had cried most part of her life and was tired of crying already.

“It is going to be alright Lora, everything is going to be alright.” Catalina said feeling guilty for having an affair with Alfredo, this is going to hurt Lora so much if she should find out she thought and wished that there was a way to make things different from the way it was right now, she was already getting attached to Alfredo and knew that this was going to be a problem because Lora too believed that she has a good thing going between she and Alfredo. “Have you been in touch with Alfredo?” she asked again as she slowly let go of Lora and went back to dusting the books.

“Yes, he came by the house some days ago, why do you ask?” Lora asked as she took a book from Catalina’s hands, and forcing herself to sound normal in order to go back to what she was doing before Catalina showed up.

“Well nothing, just asking.” Catalina replied, seeing how she did not break down yet at the mention of Alfredo. “Thanks goodness, that means he has not broken up with her yet.” She thought, heaving a rather quiet sigh of relief. She will see if she was going to try and fix things between them, she will do her best to keep the feelings she have for Alfredo and try bring them close to each other. She thought to herself, hoping that it works especially after she recalled the way Alfredo was all over her the last time he came to her house, the guy seemed to be hooked by her and doubt the possible of him agreeing to having something serious with Lora, also recalling how he had spoken of Lora before and there was her heart too which seemed to want Alfredo even more, but seeing Lora like this made her feel uneasy. She should not have come here she thought, biting down her lower lip.

“Why don’t you hang out often with him now that we have graduated, at least that would take your mind off things.” Catalina said peering at Lora, her heart fluttering a little as she was advancing her on how to get close to a man she thinks she was interested in.

“What?” Lora asked, lifting her brows a little, wondering how she was going to do that even when she could not bring herself to talk to the guy properly. “I would love to hang out with Alfredo but I doubt that he would want to do the same with me, you know how it is, I mean what if we run into a known person from school.” Lora said in a near husky tone, now fondling with her fingers. She cannot bring herself to tell Catalina how she truly acted around Alfredo.

“Come on Lora, you said you are tired of living like this, why not show Alfredo a new Lora, maybe things would become different from the way it used to be.” Catalina said, still trying to encourage her to go out with Alfredo while in the real sense she was trying to convince herself that allowing Lora to have Alfredo was the right thing to do. “Don’t worry Lora, I am going to help you with that.” She added, leaning forward to take Lora’s hands. “I am going to help fix you up so that you could start afresh with Alfredo,” Catalina added, as she felt the need for her to help her have a proper outfit to wear and a makeover.

“I do not think I can do this Catalina, it would seem like I am being too desperate you see and I do not want to look that way in the presence of Alfredo.” Lora said, shaking her head in disagreement as she felt that she would look desperate in front of Alfredo if she did not look like her usual self.

“So what if you are being desperate, Lora, like you said, you need to change the way you are living and first we are going to start with your clothes, you need to work on your appearance as that is the most important thing to make a man feel attracted to you.” Catalina said looking at Lora’s outfit. Knowing that even though she was cleaning, it was her kind of look.

Lora followed Catalina’s gaze as she scrutinized her outfit. “Hey Catalina, what is wrong with my clothes?” Lora asked, touching her clothes and taking a look at herself again, thinking that there was nothing wrong with what she was wearing and that it does not matter what she has on, a guy could still be with a girl regardless.

“Nothing, it is not your choice of clothes all the time, but also the way you match them.” Catalina replied. “Don’t get me wrong, you have beautiful clothes.” She added when she saw the look on Lora’s face as she doesn’t want to argue with her today.

She had imagined herself now in Lora’s shoes, and found out that she is going through a lot already. What happened at her house yesterday got her thinking just now, her parents had a fight with each other yesterday morning and up until today her house haven’t been peaceful like it used to be.

So for the first time, she felt how sad Lora must have been not living together with her parents and the pain she feels staying all alone, that was one of the reasons she called her in the first place and when she did not answer she decided to pay her a visit as well as find out from her whether Alfredo broke up with her already.

“How do you mean?” Lora asked narrowing her brows, at her friend, feeling a little confused as she wondered what Catalina meant exactly.

“Do not worry I will show you what I mean by what I just said, what are friends for?” Catalina replied as she took Lora’s hands and led her out of the study heading to her bedroom that she knew quite well.