Chapter 56: Chapter 56

Chapter 56.

‘’Hey, stop being this cracked, Alvin. I am a new mother you know?’’ he chuckles and I wonder why he would do that.

‘’I am not crazy. I wanted you to concentrate and not start sleeping. You know what that means?’’ I shake my head. ‘’That you were going to leave me alone and I will get extremely bored driving on this deserted road with no one to talk with.’’ He says sadly and I smile at him.

‘’Like you did to me before?’’ I tease him.

‘’No, baby. Like I will never do. You are the most beautiful woman I know. You know me and I know you, you have a good heart and you will forever be stuck in my heart. Forever.’’

I smack him on the shoulder. He is being silly and that’s not gonna work with me.

‘’Are you trying to seduce me?’’

‘’Am I trying to? No! I am doing it. I am telling you that I love you and if you decide to stick to Harry then I will step aside and if you decide to give me a chance, I will take it with both hands.’’

‘’I knew you were puerile but I didn’t know you were this trivial!’’ we both burst out a laughter. Alvin and I are just good friends. I know for a fact that I had feelings for him in the past before he went to wherever but that was then. He never made any moves and I didn’t either. Right now, I feel so warm, protected cared for, and all but I don’t think I love him. In fact, I am just not sure.

‘’Hey,’’ he holds my shoulder softly and I realize that he has stopped driving. He brings his warm and very soft palms to my cheeks and I warm up inwardly. He is literally confusing my life. I bring up my gaze to meet his, his eyes are not as brown as Harry’s but he is just handsome. I mean in a contest, if he becomes number two then I would think someone has been bribed. ‘’you literally have no idea what I went through when I left for my studies. I wasn’t willing to go but I had to. I didn’t want to disrespect my parents and I never wanted to lose the scholarship.’’

‘’What are you saying?’’ I ask him quietly.

‘’I want you to know that I love you.’’

‘’You told me that, right?’’

‘’I did but I don’t mind saying it again.’’ I don’t know what to tell him I don’t want to mix up issues. I want to understand things here and I don’t want to crush his ego either. If he loves me then he will have to fight his way through my heart. Anyway, am I not single?

I thought so.

‘’Hey, what happened to your girlfriend?’’ he shakes his head at me.

‘’I don’t wanna talk about it.’’

‘’You think so?’’

‘’I know so.’’ He says strictly but smiles brightening the moment when he realizes that I am not exactly happy with his response.

His phone picks the moment to reverberate and I smile inwardly because I know how that’s gonna save me from this awkward discussion. I wonder what to do with him.

He puts the phone on speaker.

‘’If you dare do shit to my sister, you will not be happy with me,’’ Luke says from the other end and I battle the urge to laugh at Alvin.

Alvin and Luke met through me. Luke was always driving me to the hospital for my appointments and for the longest time possible, He really would treat me with lots of formalities. He literally had this idea that Luke was my boyfriend and I didn’t tell him anything until one day, he heard Luke and I discussing Harrison.

‘’Idiot! Who the hell told you that you can teach me how to leave with Clara? She is someone I know so well, in fact better than you do so, bolt yourself!’’ I hear chuckles from the end and I know this is factually a joke.

‘’Brother, can you guys move? You two have stopped and we’ve been waiting here for like forever! When are you even going to step on the gas?’’

‘’None of your business! We will be there shortly though.’’ Alvin says and smiles at me.

‘’We are waiting for you at the Kayak,’’ Luke says jovially and he nods forgetting that Luke cannot see him.

‘’We’ll be there shortly.’’ He says and terminates the call.

‘’What are we doing at the Kayak?’’ I ask Alvin who obviously seems not to know what those two crazy love birds are doing there.

‘’We got only one way to find out.’’

‘’I am listening.’’

‘’We drive there. Do you want to take the wheels?’’

‘’Me? Take the wheels? Which part of I can crash us both into unidentifiable pieces don’t you understand? Or do you have a death wish or something? What is your …’’

‘’Motive? It is to see the woman I love drive me. So romantic. Anyway, I want this.’’ I swear I have no idea what he does, I don’t know how he does it but he is kissing me. I take a long second before making a mental note that I haven’t been kissed for a while now. I love it when I get kissed so, yes, your guess is right. I kiss Alvin back passionately and I actually enjoy the kiss.

He pulls back way too soon and steps on the gas without another word. I think he wanted me to stop double-talking and I hope he doesn’t talk again until we get to the Kayak.

On second thoughts, maybe he didn’t like my kiss so, I opt for the most dreadful way of finding out ever. I tap his shoulder just a little and when he looks at me, I notice a gleam in his eyes. He smiles sweetly and pulls up again.

‘’This is the last time I am pulling up. Thank you. I have been dying to kiss you for so long. You have granted me my wish and I feel good having done it. I don’t know if you are hurt or not but I know that you have made me a happy man. I will not ask you to forgive me for doing the right thing. Can you …’’

‘’Are you okay?’’ I cut him off and he nods at me. ‘’You are talking too much.’’

He looks at me surprised. It seems like he expected me to be mad at him or something. He literally did that on purpose because he has always wanted to do it according to him.

‘’I am excited. I am happy and I am feeling fulfilled. I have always wanted an opportunity to kiss you so deep inside and I know I will achieve that.’’

‘’To what end, Alvin?’’

‘’I love you, Clara. I will always do.’’

‘’Good luck. Now, what happened to your girlfriend? I don’t believe that all this while you were just there seated and waiting for me. I know you had a girl.

‘’And who told you that I did?’’

‘’You just confirmed it to me,’’ I say jovially. ‘’So, did you?’’

‘’I did,’’

‘’And?’’

‘’She played me with my roommate.’’ He says starting the car in speed. ‘’I know I didn’t love her that much because I kept thinking about you all the damn time. You were always in my mind and even in our conversations, I could shout at her asking her why she can’t be like you. I compared her with you lots of time and even though there were things that I literally didn’t know how they’d feel on you, I still felt you were way better than her. I feel like I was way too harsh with my judgment towards her.’’

‘’Why would you do that?’’ I ask seriously. ‘’You know there is no human being ever who wants to be judged? Judging someone like that can take their ego to a pit latrine. You should learn to understand other people just the way they are, give them some benefits of doubt and just ensure that she doesn’t know you love someone else while with her.’’

‘’I …’’

‘’This idea of thinking that someone or something else is better than what or who you already have doesn’t make sense. Everyone is good to their level best and everyone else has their merits and demerits. I have no business being with you if all I am going to do is to disregard your worth. You get it?’’

He nods at me.‘’Hey, you talk as if you don’t wanna be with me.’’

I laugh despite myself. ‘’Am I supposed to be with you?’’ I ask and he shakes his head in disbelief. His jaws nicely set and his focus straight ahead. I take a few minutes staring at his perfect face and I know that this son of a woman was created perfectly.

He clears his throat startling me and I turn away. ‘’You are staring.’’ He states politely. ‘’Do you want to pick something from my face?’’ he asks and I swear I sense something funny with that.

I don’t respond to him.

‘’How did she cheat? Or rather what made you realize that she was cheating on you?’’

‘’I caught them pants down and you can imagine how embarrassed they were. My roommate who was also my friend didn’t even bother to apologize. He told me before Caren that a woman and any woman for that matter deserved to be treated better and with a lot of respect. He also mentioned that comparing two people makes one of them feel low and develop poor self-esteem.’’

‘’The latter is true but who on earth gave him the audacity to sleep around with your girl? That’s gross if you ask me.’’

‘’Tell me about it. Anyway, he said the girl divulged in him. That the girl told him how much I loved you and was still with her. He also knew your story and had urged me to speak to you sooner.’’

‘’And what did you do about this?’’

I tried reaching you but every effort I made was rendered futile because I couldn’t get in touch. Your dad was very furious, he said he didn’t know where you were and I was left wondering why.’’

‘’But you had been away for too long and not even once did you try contacting me. I tried so much to look for you, I went to your home occasionally but was never lucky to find you. Did you ever try calling me at some point?’’

‘’On several occasions, I wanted to know how you were doing. I wanted to tell you on the phone what I couldn’t tell you while I was still here with you and I wanted to put my cowardice act away and tell you that I love you. That I always did but was way too fraidy-cat to talk about it. I never managed to do that because of your dad.’’

‘’Wow!’’ I comment carelessly.

‘’Anyway, we are here today and now you know how I feel about you. That kiss that I just gave you also has confirmed something.’’

‘’What?’’

‘’That I love you. I felt it deep within me. I don’t have any doubts about that.’’

Well, I feel it too. I don’t want to say I love him because I am running away from Harry. I want to do when I am sure that I do love him. He has made it clear to me how he feels and I appreciate it.

Alvin was there for me all through my pregnancy and that made me feel loved. He was always by my side, apart from him being my doctor, he is a personal friend and he understands me better than anyone else. Luke’s mum, Luke, and Emily never abandoned me too.

I wish Alvin well.

We are at the Kayak after a few minutes’ drive and I am glad when I spot my eminent cousin and newly found brother. They are talking close to each other and the concentration is on another level.

They are seated at a corner and we join them there.