Chapter 52: Chapter 52
The atmosphere at the house the next morning was a strained one. Carol had to wake up early to pack her stuff, otherwise, she would have just stayed in her room and slept until her family left. As it was, she had to come face to face with them. Belinda averted her gaze and refused to look at Carol or speak to her the whole time, not that Carol wanted to speak to her either. Aunt Alice did her best to pretend that everything was normal and that none of what had happened yesterday happened. It was still a marvel to Carol that someone like her, who was such a tattletale knew about all this and had been able to keep her mouth shut all these years.
As her father had promised, they did leave somewhat early, so all she had to do was bid them a forced goodbye and they were on their way. However, they turned up thirty minutes later saying that they had missed their flight due to traffic on the road and that it would have to be the next day that they would leave. Her father looked apologetic about the whole thing, while Belinda looked angry, although whether it was because of the missed flights, or because of the events of the previous night, Carol couldn't tell, and she did not care one way or the other. In fact, she was glad that she had decided to leave on the vacation after all because she could not stand one more second of Belinda glaring at her as though she was the one who was wronged. She and Sebastian had already called his uncle to inform him that they would be leaving on vacation today. They finished with their preparations before twelve in the afternoon and were ready to go to the airport. Caol bid her family a stiff farewell before they left. It was only her aunt and her father who were there to bid them goodbye. Belinda had since disappeared out of the house for some more shopping with some money that Sebastian gave her father that morning.
"I hope you're feeling better," Sebastian stated now as they walked into the airport, his bodyguard, and driver following discreetly with some of their luggage.
"I am, thanks. I really appreciate you putting up with my shit last night and comforting me. It means a lot to me."
"You're welcome. No one should be treated the way you are in your family. I'm glad we decided to leave today after all. The atmosphere in the house is too tense."
"Nonsense. It's our house and we can boot them out and tell them to go stay in a hotel if we want." Carol said hotly belatedly remembering that it was in fact not their house, but rather Sebastian's house and she was only living there temporarily. She slammed her mouth shut immediately, her cheeks a flaming pink, and averted her gaze from his own, but he did not say anything or act like he heard what she had said. Carol cursed her big mouth inwardly, feeling beyond embarrassed. Already, she was beginning to feel too comfortable in Sebastian's house and could not even think of where she would like to live after now. She had to remind herself that it would not do for her to get very comfortable in Sebastian's house and start feeling like it was for both of them at all.
They walked in companionable silence to where the plane was and they were just about to get on it when Sebastian's phone rang. He excused himself and moved to the corner to answer it while Carol got on the plane, marveling to herself at how frequently she now got on private planes. She made herself comfortable and was waiting for Sebastian to come on board, thinking how great it was not to have to bother with the hassles of airport security and all that when Sebastian got on the plane, an apologetic look on his face.
"I'm so sorry Carol, but something has come up urgently at work and I have to go there. It's actually a good thing that I'm still in the city otherwise, I don't know what I would have done."
"Oh," Carol muttered, sorely disappointed. The thought of having to spend another day with her parents in the same house with the tension between them was not something that she relished at all. Maybe she would stay at a hotel instead. She became aware that Sebastian was still speaking and raised her gaze to his.
"...and I'll just come over tomorrow."
"Excuse me? I didn't get the last thing you said."
"I was saying that you can just leave by yourself and wait for me there. I'll finish up with what I have to do and come over tomorrow."
"Oh. I don't think I can... I mean, I don't even know the first thing about booking a hotel or anything of the sort."
"Everything is already prepared, remember? All you have to do is go there and enjoy yourself. I'll be there as soon as I can. Here, Tom will go with you and I'll just come over immediately I'm done." Sebastian told her, swearing when his phone began to ring insistently again. He picked it up and waved at her apologetically as he walked briskly away, telling the person on the other end that he was on his way. Carol watched him go, feeling like a child whose favorite toy had been stolen right before its very eyes. She would have preferred to stay in a hotel and go with Sebastian when he was ready as she had no wish to be alone on such a trip, but he had not given her a choice to even voice out that opinion. Anyway, it was only for a day and then he would be there with her. She steadfastly refused to acknowledge the little voice within her head that kept asking her why it was so important to her that Sebastian come with her. She was not yet ready to face the answer to that question yet.