? The Deal ?
Written by Idara Kingsley
? Chapter 25 ?
? Charlotte ?
Zoey jumped into my wardrobe immediately. She was shaking in fear already.
Please God, it shouldn’t be her mum.
God, please.
I prayed in my mind as I proceeded to go check who it was. I shut my eyes tightly as I pulled the door open, waiting to see the angry face of Zoey’s mum.
No one spoke as I opened the door. It almost felt like I was being slap mutiple times to stop day dreaming as I saw who stood at the door, hands shoved in his pocket, face cap almost covering his face.
“What the hell are you doing here?” I asked in annoyance.
His face irritated me. His presence disgusted the shit out of me.
I should’ve been excited it wasn’t Zoey’s mum, but I couldn’t help but be disgusted at the shameless figure standing by the door.
“Please Char, don’t close the door on me.” He begged, using his legs to wedge the door as I was about to shut it in his face.
I looked down at his legs. He was wearing the pair of shoes I had gotten for him for his birthday. Ugh, can’t this man be ashamed of himself for Christ sake!! “Yo! I don’t know what you playing at, but you should leave already.” I clic-ked my tongue in annoyance.
“At least, hear what I have to say.” He begged. I ignored his pleading and snorted.
I chuckled softly. “This isn’t the right time to hear you out. You should’ve done this a long time ago. Please, leave.”
He didn’t look like he was gonna leave anytime soon, neither was he gonna move his stinky legs away so I could shut the door.
“Make it fast and leave.” I spat out.
“Can I come in?”
“Bro, don’t play with me.”
I watched him rap on, spiting so much lies just to have me run into his arms. How petty could I be if I ran into his arms.
“I knew you were in that relationship to spite me. I’m here now please take me back.” He begged.
Anger rose to my throat. It took everything in me to not punch him. Everything in me to not call the cops to carry him away and Sue him for stepping on my property.
Noah.
The devil in a sheep clothing.
The one who had tried to ruin my life all in the name of marriage.
I hated his guts. I despised everything that had to do with him.
He was a piece of shit who I never wanted to have anything to do with anymore.
I couldn’t believe I had that deal with Brian to have the a.sshole back into my life.
“You knew? Bro, you’re crazy. Please leave before I call the cops on you.” I gritted my teeth in irritation.
He had the audacity to drive all the way from his house, over to mine to tell me about my relationship—fake relationship. It was the audacity to even show his face at my house and started spewing unreasonable, insane words.
“I’m sorry.” He begged.
“If I hadn’t gone into a relationship with your favourite basketball player, would you have had it in your mind to come back to me? Would you?” I asked him.
He was quiet, his head facing the floor.
I let out a bitter laughter. “Just what I thought. F.uck off.” I slammed the door shut before he had the chance to use his leg as a wedge.
Plopping my angry self on the couch, I let out a shaky breath.
A tool.
An object.
That was what I was. That was my use in men’s life. They never seemed to value me, not one bit.
They all wanted to use me for their own selfish interest..
Noah coming back to my life would be the end of it. I was sure he was back to crush the remaining heart that wasn’t crushed yet. I knew he was back to gain more fame, to meet Brian.
He was back to show the world how easy I was to get.
The continuous knocking on the door retrieved me back to earth. I groa-ned, marching to the door to yell at Noah for disturbing my peace.
“I swear to God, Noah, I’m gonna get you arrested if you hit my door one more f.ucking time.” I yelled.
I paused, when I perceived a familiar deodorant. The one that intoxicated me whenever. I looked up to meet Brian’s wide eyes on me. He looked like he was trying to stifle a laughter.
I shrugged. “What do you want?” I asked calmly, unlike the first time that I was angry to see Noah.
The difference.
“You look upset, what’s the issue?”
I rolled my eyes. “Just the son of a bit.ch, showing up at my house. It’s irritating to see him.”
He laughed, shaking his head sideways. “Here.” He stretched his hands towards me, handing over the bouquet of flowers and a transparent box filled with what looked like chocolates?
I took it from him, with a smile lingering on my face. I brou-ght the flower close to my nose, and inhaled the sweet smell.
“That’s for my apology. I’m sorry, Charlotte.” He said softly.
I looked up at him, a bit confused. Why was he apologizing? He never did anything wrong to me. We had a deal and broke it off.
“Why?”
“Isn’t it obvious?”
I shook my head.
“You Know…” He began, rubb-ing the back of his ne-ck. “I… No, Ashton kind of said hurtful things to you, so I thought this would make you feel better.”
I titled my head to the side, watching him closely. Why did it seem like he just told me a lie. I sensed it. The way he spoke, like he was out of words, or he was trying to fix his words without sounding off.
“I don’t believe you.” I said, tearing the box open. I picked out the box of chocolates, opened it and threw it inside of my mouth. “Ashton did say hurtful things to me, so he’s supposed to be apologising, not you.” I stated, throwing more chocolate bar into my mouth.
He lic-ked his li-ps nervously. He stepped forward, pinning me to the closed door. “I’m not sure you would want to hear the truth.” His eyes had darkened now. His eyes watched me closely.
Our li-ps was just two inches apart. One more step forward and we would be ki-ssing each other.
“I want to hear the truth. I love the truth.” I replied, trying to not look intimidated by his height or built body. I was a bit intimidated but didn’t show it.
Instead of replying, he took one more step closer, bent down a little and have our li-ps locked together.
A gasp had involuntarily rolled off my li-ps as he ki-ssed me.
I leaned forward, and ki-ssed him back, pa-ssionately.
The ki-ss did not last for long.
He pulled away, stepping back a little.
A slight blus-h appeared on my face. I used my hair to cover it. He noticed before I did cover it up. “What was that for?” I asked with a smile.
“I love you, Charlotte Hudson.”
His confession threw me off balance. Brian Nicholas, loves me?
Hell no, that wasn’t true.
Instead of standing there, looking all lost and speechless, I ran inside and slammed the door behind me.
His words kept replying in my head.
I love you, Charlotte Hudson.
I love you, Charlotte Hudson.
? The Deal ?
Written by Idara Kingsley
? Chapter 26 — Finale ?
? Brian ?
“Did she see you?” Ashton ran to me the moment I walked in.
I plopped myself down on the couch. Letting out a sigh of relief, I turned to look at Ashton. “Yes. She took the flowers. I ki-ssed her. She got scared and ran away.” I let out a frustrated breath as everything came rushing into my head.
Was she supposed to be that scared? Did I hurt her so badly that she didn’t want to look at me anymore?
Everything was frustrating.
I love that girl. I could do anything to get her back into my life. She was and is still the only one closet to my house.
When I did go over to her house, she had mentioned her ex fiance had been there before me. If she didn’t speak with so much anger, then I would have pa-ssed out, out of fear.
The reason we had that huge deal was to have our exes run back to us. Crawling, begging, crying. In Charlotte’s words, definitely not mine.
So, when I heard her mention his name, my heart skipped. Not until I heard her aggressive tone. At that point, I couldn’t hold in the laughter that wanted to escape my throat.
She stopped, looked up at me. Her once stone cold angry face, softened. She looked happy to see….. Me?
Her eyes did not move away from my face. It took everything in me to not slam her back on the closed door and ki-ssed her senselessly.
I still ki-ssed her. And she ran away, after I said those three words.
I clearly und-erstood her. For someone who had a disastrous wedding b-arely two months, she had the right to rebuke every love coming forth her way.
Truly, I was scared. Scared for myself. I never wanted to say those words to her. I wanted those feelings to wash away before I got really de-ep in loving her.
Charlotte was extraordinary. She was a girl you wouldn’t want to loose. She was everything. Loosing Charlotte, was like loosing a precious gem. She was and shes still is, a one in a million.
“Ran away? I thought she liked you back?” He furrowed his brows in confusion.
“Your a-ssumption. Bro, I messed up real bad. I shouldn’t have scared her,” I lamented, running my hand throu-ghmy hair.
“Maybe you should try again. Don’t give up already.”
On cue, I snapped my head towards his direction. “I can’t believe you’re asking me not to give up, when it was clearly your fault that I’m going throu-ghthis shit right now.”
He swallowed and took a seat beside me. His head, bent low, staring at the floor. “I’ll go talk to her if you want. I’m sorry for interfering. I should’ve spoken to you about it instead.”
At first, I felt pitied him, just slightly. But the thought of Charlotte running away from me, made me cast him a look. “Don’t talk to her. I’ll handle it.”
If Ashton had not said hurtful things to her, maybe I wouldn’t be going throu-ghso much stress, wanting her in my life. It would have been easier.
I’ll handle it. I kept muttering to myself as I walked away.
The next morning, I pulled into the clubhouse. The place was mainly opened at night. Just few people came to have a drink during mid-day.
“Good morning sir.” My manager rushed up to me, the moment she saw me walking in. I did not stop walking. She followed me, regardless. “A package was sent to you in the late hours of yesterday.”
I did not stop walking. “Why am I being told right now?” I asked, pushing the VIP section door open. The place was empty, it was just the sound of Drake new album, playing to my hearing. I was pretty sure the bartender might have stepped out.
“It was late at night after you left.”
I stopped walking and faced her. She almost crashed into me. “Sorry.” I muttered. She composed herself, and kept that serious looking face. It reminded me of Charlotte. How she switched was just something I couldn’t wrap my head around.
“Who is the package from?”
She paused. Looked over at her book. Confusion written all over her face as she stared de-eply into the book. “I’m sorry sir, it had no name. It only stated that it was for you.”
“Bring it over.” I walked to take a seat in the booth.
She came over quickly, almost looking like she had a quick run. “Here.” She handed it over.” Instead of leaving, she stood there, smiling at me.
It was so obvious that almost all my employees, excluding the guys, had a huge crush on me. Who wouldn’t?
“Leave.”
She scurried out of the place, and back to her office.
I held the package in my hands. It wasn’t much of a large box. The top had nothing written on it.
Easing the worry off me, I sli-pped it open.
The first thing that I saw was a fluffy white material, at the top. “Huh?” I took it off, and my eyes met with the most beautiful picture I had ever seen.
It was a picture of Charlotte and I. The very first picture we posted on our Instagram page. We were smiling so happily. We looked so in love.
A wide smile spread across my face.
The package was definitely from Charlotte.
When I took off the frame, I met with a tiny folded piece of paper.
Out of curiosity, I picked it up and opened it.
It read.
Hey, Brian Nicholas.
First off, am I supposed to be writing a letter, staring with Hey? Oh well, I guess I could be dumb most of the times.
Jokes apart.
I really want to thank you for the little, yet the most cherishable moments I spent with you. Trust me, I loved every bit of it, inside out.
It’s sad we have to go our separate ways, but I really hope you find it in your heart to forgive me.
Being alone is boring, but I’m loving the new me. I want a life where I don’t have to worry too much. I want to smile again, be myself.
Hearing you say those words, broke my heart. You love me? Hell, l love you too. I mean every written word here. I love you.
I’m not the best decision right now. I’m not the one for you. I still have you at heart. I truly do. I hope you find someone who would love you, regardless of your flaw.
It’s so ha-rd to let go, but I have absolutely no choice.
I’ll miss you. Your laughter. Your jokes. Your body. Your li-ps. Everything.
Please do have a nice life, without me.
I love you.
Yours sincerely, Charlotte Hudson.
In as much as I was so in love with her, I had to let her go. Not everyone end up with the ones they love. They still push throu-gh, regardless.
A huge smile was plastered on my face as I re-read the letter.
“I still have you at heart, Char.” I smiled at myself.
One more look at the framed picture, I shoved it back into the box and picked it up.
We made a deal. The deal was done.
WRITER’S POV
After Brian had read the letter, he sto-red it at his home, in a enclosed area. He cherished it.
Charlotte on the other hand, had moved to stay on her own. She was living her new life. A life off social media. A life that excluded people’s opinion. A life that made her smile. She took the right decision by the trying to heal.
After all, not all love stories have happy endings.
Zoey, got married to Jack two months later, despite her mother’s rants. They moved to Phili-ppines, where they bore children.
Brian and Charlotte not being together was still sad, but them having to find themselves while away from each other, was one of the best decisions they had ever made.
Most love, truly did not have happy endings.
(THE END)