Chapter 95: Chapter 95

(Dmitri’s Thoughts)

My head is still pounding when I receive a call early in the morning. And since it is from someone closes to me, I answer it while my eyes are still closed.

“Dee, Dee, Dee,” a high-pitchy, little feminine voice is excited when it calls my name.

I groan when it feels like somebody’s screwing my temple, and imaptiently answer the one on the phone, “Better be important, you already ruined my sleep now.”

“I think I just found the perfect apartment in Seattle, you do know that I’ll be settling in Seattle soon, right?” the voice even mocks my intelligence.

“Of course, you mention it countless of times. So, do you want me to yell and scream out of happiness?” I sarcastically give off a remark.

I hear the voice scoffs, “Tsk, don’t you dare use your sarcasm at me, dear. Remember, you owe me big time! And how long are you going to fool around in Germany anyway? Come back to me!” the voice demandingly utters.

“Why do you care? And who says I am fooling around? She’s here and I am try-”, I haven’t finished my sentence when the voice blocks me,

“Dee, she’s getting married, don’t you forget that? Don’t you think it’s time for you to move on? You always do, anyway, I am sure you can find someone other than-”, I feel tremendously irritated so even if the other person hasn’t finished talking, I drop the call.

I throw the phone on my bed and goes back to sleep. Then I receive a link from the person I just talked to, and when I open it, a familiar name and place appear on my screen.

I quickly get up, “What the fuck is this?”

I see Seid’s posting in one of our real estate subsidiaries’ homepage. But when I click it, I see the layout of her apartment in Seattle.

“Why is Avery’s apartment on sale?” my face couldn’t contain more frowning.

Damn that Seid, I don’t even know they are still in contact, is he a masochist or just fool?

I get off from bed and quickly change my clothes.

“Damn it, Avery!” I curse. “You brace yourself, Avery. You can’t get away from me. I’ll make you mine tonight,” and declares these words with strong conviction in mind.

***

Without any delays, I ride the elevator and go straight to her room, but to my dismay, some room service staff have been cleaning it up.

There are no signs of Avery, just people chattering in their own language are inside the room. So I barge in and impatiently askt them, “Where are the guests here?” I vent out.

They are surprised by my appearance, and one of them stutters as she explains to me, “Uh, sir, we were just called to clean this up. You may ask to the receptionist,” her voice is still quivering.

After hearing it, I rushed to the front desk only to find out that they were gone.

I approach one of the receptionist, she greets me with a wide smile, “Good morning, Sir Sullivan, how can I help you?”

But I ignore her provocative stares and just blurts out the question, “Where’s Avery Anderson?”

Her eyebrows slightly raise out of confusion. When the manager notices me, he walks towards me, “Sir? You are looking for Miss Anderson and her group, right?”

“Finally, someone I can talk to,” I rudely blurt out. I face him and stand tall, “Yes, do you know where they went?”

He takes a deep breath, “They actually check out at dawn since they have a plane to catch.”

I am surprised by what I heard, “A flight? To where? And, did they mention where they are going? How about their professor? Did he leave a not for me or something?”

The manager looks at the receptionist, and the girl shakes off her head, then he faces me again with disappointment traces all over his face, “I am afraid, no, sir.”

“Damn him, how could he betray me? After all the upgrades, he didn’t even leave a note? Fuck!” I curse, and then storm out off the lobby leaving the confused and frightened employees at the lobby.

I went straight to the promised street but found nothing.

I went to the airport, but I didn’t even know which flight they took or which country they were bound for, and it got me even more frustrated.

I tried bribing the airport staff to give me some information, but I got kicked out, well, I forgot to mention who I was anyway.

I should have used my identity to get what I wanted.

Once again, I feel distraught, left behind, lost, and hopeless. She left me again, without saying goodbye, and the fear of not seeing her again is the same as it was the first time.

I went back at the hotel, exhausted and defeated. I lie down on my bed and find myself crying all alone.

It has been two hours since they left.

“This month was so fun, Avery. This was, by far, the happiest month I had in two years, but why? Why’d you have to leave again? You are always leaving me behind,” I grab the pillow and cover it to my face.

***

A MONTH HAS PASSED

(Avery’s Thoughts)

I stretch my arms up in the air as I feel the fresh air here in Rome. “God, how I love to stay here!” I announce while looking at the ruins of ‘The Eternal City’ here in Rome.

The peaceful month of our Rome Tour has finally come to its end. Today is the last day of ou European Tour, and we were advised to sightsee before leaving this beautiful city which has a lot to offer.

Peach’s arms wraps over my shoulders, “So, how was the view? Isn’t it magnificent?” she says and giggles.

Then I face her and express my agreement, “Yeah, it’s so nice. Should we extend here?” I tease.

“Can we?” she answers back, then we both laugh knowing it’s impossible.

First, we are running out of budget, second of all, we have a lot of reportings to do once we get back to France.

Last but not the least, I have an important matter to do after this tour.

Speaking of which, I think I haven’t called Jeff for today. So I take my phone out, try to dial his number, and search his social media account once again, but expectantly, to no avail. It has been like this for the past month. We haven’t even had a single talk after that fight.

“I see that he still ignores your call. Are you still getting married?” Peach says as she stares at my phone screen.

I hide it away and smile, “Well, apparently, he is still angry at me. But yes, of course, we are still together and definitely getting married,” I answer defensively.

I look at my engagement ring with full of hopes. Then Peach comforts me, “Don’t worry, I know Jeff will get around, soon.”

“Thanks, Peach, for always making me feel better, and for being my roomie,” I seriously utter, then comically ends with a jest.

Then Peach’s voice gets serious, too, “So, how about that hottie billionaire?” she looks at me as if she’s a predator. “Is he still bothering you?”

I shake my head off, “No, he doesn’t even know where we are. Thank God, our professor heed my request not to leave him any note. You know, he was a fan of that man,” I sarcastically say.

But Peach just scoffs and leaves a figurative remark, “I wouldn’t be so sure about him not knowing where you are,” she says suspiciously.

The hint on what she says strikes me, “What are you trying to say?” I confirm.

“Well, he already knew where you’ve been a year ago, but he never approached you. He just observed you from afar.”

Taken aback, I unknowingly squeeze her arm, “That’s not a good joke, Peach. You know how I easily get swayed by that man,” I plead her.

“More likely smithen by him,” she laughs at me.

Then she adds an even shocking question out of the blue, “You know, he is a persistent one, and his ways may be odd, but he loves you dearly. So, do you still love him?”

I scoff and tries to avoid her gaze and say, “Hell, no!” I told her the truth, the truth that I wan’t to believe in, or is it just me denying the true feelings I have for him?

She just shakes her head ans says nothing. But I know that look, a look saying, “How foolish of you, Avery…”

***

Our airplane finally touches to the airport, and it takes sometime before we successfully get off board and collect our luggages.

At the exit, all of us bid goodbye to one another. I wait a little longer to see if Jeff has seen my messages. Somehow, I was hopeful he would show up at the airport to pick me up.

But I guess, his anger is far deeper than I expected, an hour has passed and yet, Jeff is still nowhere to be seen.

So I disappointedly take a taxi, instead and ask to drop me to the nearest dropping point to our busy street.

I go straight to the cafe where he’s working, and I was able to have a chat with his Uncle, and I just found out that Jeff’s been skipping his work days most of the times.

I try to explain the situation and mention that we are having a bit of a problem. Luckily his feedback was positive. He told me that it was normal to feel the wedding blues months before the edding date.

Little did he know that the reason was far deeper than that. I bid my goodbye and go straight home, hoping to find him there.

When I come home, the superintendent greets me in French, “Miss Anderson, long time no see. How’s your European tour?”

“Hi, thank you. It was great. By the way, is Jeff there?” I ask him.

Then he point upstairs and mimics a movement of a person chugging a can of beer. THere, I understood that what he’s trying to tell me is that Jeff has been drinking a lot lately.

“He seems lonely, he must have missed you a lot,” he even says. I smile and bids my goodbye.

I slowly carry my luggage upstairs, and finally I reach my unit door.

Before going in, I take a deep sigh, wipe my sweat and fix myself. I wear a smile and slowly enters the place.

I feel so nervous. For the first time in two years, I haven’t felt so nervous being with Jeff.

Is it fear, or is it guilt? Knowing that I truly did something wrong made me hold my breath.

Once I get in, I could smell the reek of alcohol around which makes me nauseous.

I hear the sound of the television running, and the lights are all on.

“Is this Jeff’s brokenhearted habits?” I even say to myself. It is the very opposite of him. Now I feel so guilty.

I look at the bedroom and he isn’t there, and once again, I found him on the floor, sleeping, and wasted.

I pick the cans of beer, tiptoeing so he won’t wake up yet. I tie my hair up, and start cleaning up the whole apartment.

Probably because of the clattering and kitchen noises, he finally wakes up. And when he sees me at the kitchen, he stands froze with bewilderment in his eyes.

He doesn’t look happy to see me, but his eyes isn’t filled with rage either.

So I walk straight to him and hug him tight. And then I whisper to his ear,

“Sober up, babe. We are going back to the States.”

He doesn’t question what I said, in fact he doesn’t utter even a single word, but he eventually follows my decision.

The next day, we found ourselves back into the States, our homecountry where we met.