Chapter 128: Chapter 128

It was a warm, sunny, and bright day, but it was also a slow one. Carol sat in the tiny bookshop in which she had gotten a job the very day she got here, waiting for customers to come in and fighting sleep. She was the only one in the shop, as the owner had dashed off to prepare for her birthday party, leaving Carol all alone in the shop.

"Don't worry. You'll be able to handle it. Price tags are on every book, so you don't need to worry about not knowing the prices. If you need anything, my number is pasted on the wall over there, so you can call me. Bye now." The middle-aged woman had said, sailing out the door before Carol could even say anything else, so here she was, bored beyond measure and counting the seconds as the time ticked slowly by. She had managed to sell two books, but it seemed that the shop did not get any customers, because, for the remainder of the time, she just sat there alone, staring into space ... and missing Sebastian, the old Sebastian.

She was finally losing the battle to sleep and dozing off when her phone rang shrilly in the silent shop. It was her father who was calling. Carol had to smile. He drove himself sick with worry about her all the time, especially now that she was pregnant. Feeling very lethargic, she rummaged in her bag for the phone, finally getting it out of her bag and answering the call just before it would have stopped ringing.

"Hello, dad." She said into the phone but was met with silence.

"Dad?" She said again, and finally, someone answered. It was a voice she knew all too well.

"Hello, Carol," Sebastian said. Carol heard his voice as though from far away. Her heart immediately began to beat faster, as she heard the voice that tormented her day and night speak over the phone, but she had to steel herself to face him.

"If you think you can bully me into taking my child..." She began hotly, all traces of sleep vanishing from her eyes.

"Carol. I'd never do that to you in a million years. Please, that is not what this is about." He told her.

"I don't believe you. What are you doing with my dad's phone and where is he?" She asked, deliberately changing the subject.

"He's here."

"Okay. What do you want? Make it snappy because I don't have all day. Some of us need to work, you know." She said.

"I want to see and talk to you in person, Carol. Please."

"What for?"

"Please. I was a jerk and I deserve everything that I've been through in the past month, but please I to see you and I need you to forgive me."

"Okay. You're forgiven. There's no need for you to see me, though." Carol said bitterly, still unable to get over the picture of him and Jessica together.

"Carol, please. Just give me about twenty minutes of your time, okay? Where are you?" Sebastian pleaded.

"Look, I don't know why you keep bothering yourself. The thing is that I don't believe a single word that comes out of your mouth. I know you're only trying to lure me out so that you can do what you want. In case you forgot, the baby won't be here for another four months or thereabouts, so there is no need for you to start acting all sweet to me, okay. Don't worry. I have no plans of denying you from seeing your child if you want to, even though in my opinion, you do not deserve it, but the child is not here yet, so there is no need for you to see me."

"Carol. How are you doing?" Mrs. James asked when it was clear that Sebastian was not going to get anywhere with Carol. Carol and Sebastian could be very stubborn when they made up their mind to be.

"Mrs. James?"

"Yes, my dear. It is me. How are you doing?" Mrs. James asked again.

"I'm fine and you?"

"I'm okay. You just left without even saying goodbye." The woman said accusingly.

"Well, your nephew is to blame for that. I was not in a good frame of mind when I left. I'm sorry about that." Carol said, tears beginning to well up in her eyes as she remembered that awful day. She could not wait for this pregnancy to be over, as her hormones kept making her cry at every little thing.

"I know that Carol, but you could have come straight over to my place and I would have talked sense into his head. All that is in the past now. You don't have to apologize at all. I understand very well. So, why have you been ignoring our calls? I mean, if Sebastian had offended you as he did, it is understandable that you will not want to talk to him, but you were not picking up my calls too." Mrs. James said.

"I'm sorry, ma'am, but I forgot my phone in Sebastian's house and did not bother to retrieve the line."

"That's okay, my dear. Please permit him to come to see you, and if after he does that, you still want nothing to do with him, I promise I'll make sure he does not contact you again, at least not until you're ready, okay? Can you please do that?" Mrs. James asked in a pleading tone.

"Well..." Carol began, thinking of how best she could refuse this plea, but Mrs. James did not give her a chance to come up with an excuse.

"Come on Carol. Do it as my compensation for you not attending my husband's burial." Mrs. James said, knowing that Carol would not be able to refuse that.

"Alright, fine. He can come." Carol said, at last, giving them her address and staring into space unseeingly while she waited for them to come. Where she was was only about a thirty to forty minutes drive from where her father was staying, but he did not know that before now.

Thirty-five minutes later, she heard the bell that rang each time someone opened the door ring, and then Sebastian was standing in the doorway, looking around until their eyes met. Carol felt her heart jump into her throat at the sight of him. He looked as handsome as ever, except that he was a little leaner, and immediately he saw her, he smiled self-deprecatingly and unsurely, coming towards where she was still seating on her chair and watching him. They stared at each other silently for what seemed like an eternity and then he opened his mouth to speak.