A lot of things I didn’t expect have been happening. Meeting Oliver, the David experience, however, what I didn’t expect to happen the most was meeting Oliver’s father. I stood still and watched as Oliver shook his father’s hand, thinking to myself how formal that was. Oliver was a spitting image of his father save for the hair. Oliver’s father was a graying brunette, so it was safe to assume that he got his blonde from his mother. Dressed in a pristine suit, he looked so out of place, and the way his eyes roamed Oliver’s room said he knew, and he couldn’t wait to remove himself.
“You look well,” he said, his eyes thoroughly surveying Oliver.
Oliver nodded. “Thanks, Dad…what are you doing here?”
He shrugged. “I heard what had happened and came to make sure that you’re doing fine.”
My brows furrowed in confusion. “Heard what happened?” I asked.
An older pair of blues flicked over to me, and then back to Oliver, as though in a split second, he had judged me and found me not worthy of his attention.
“What your uncle did is unimaginable,” he said to Oliver. “I’ll see to it that he’s duly punished.”
“Who told you about that? No one knows except us,” Oliver said, his index finger going around in a circular motion around the room.
His father shrugged. “I have my ways.”
Silence descended upon the room, the whirling of the ceiling fan above our heads the only sound to be heard. Oliver’s eyes appeared empty as he stood before his father. An emptiness I recognized…an emptiness I knew. I didn’t miss the way the muscles in his shoulders were tense, and how he cleaned and unclenched his palm.
I cleared my throat. “You should rest, Oliver. I’m sure whatever you two want to discuss can wait till tomorrow…”
Both pairs of eyes fell on me, one looking at me with love and the other looking at me with poorly concealed annoyance.
“Yeah…um…dad, this is Gabriel,” Oliver said, closing the short distance between us and wrapping his hand around my waist. “He’s a very close friend of mine. Gabriel, this is my father, Ryan.”
I felt a sudden pang of pain in my chest, as though my heart had suddenly imploded, and in the back of my mind, I could feel my wolf’s sadness. Friends? That’s what we were? I sidestepped Oliver, causing his hand to fall from my waist. I could feel his eyes on me, his bright blues begging me for understanding. Meanwhile, Oliver’s father…Ryan‘a eyes swept the length and breadth of my frame, every piece of my coming under strong scrutiny, and the downward clinch of his lips told me that he had found me wanting, he had found me not good enough.
Ryan barely acknowledged me and simply turned back to his son. “When are you coming back to New York? Amanda said you’ve been sending back art pieces. So you have enough for your exhibition?”
Oliver’s eyes never left me as he responded to his father. “Yes…but I’m not sure I’m ready to leave yet.”
“Why? You already have a set date, and I have invited everyone in the city, what do you mean you’re not ready?!”
Without being told, I knew that ‘everyone in the city’ referred to the people of power, the ones who called the shots. And it made me wonder if I had a place in Oliver’s life.
“I…I'm just not ready to go back.”
Ryan’s eyes strayed over to me again, and he scoffed. “I thought you were over…this…” his hand waved in my direction. “You’re grown man now, you know that?”
“Dad…”
“What about Samantha? I thought you loved her?”
My ears perked at the mention of this strange woman, and for the first time since his father stepped into the room, my eyes met Oliver’s. He immediately lowered his gaze but not before I caught the look of guilt hidden in its depths. The pain in my chest got more intense, and my breaths came in short, hard pants.
“Dad, please…”
Ryan laughed sardonically, the sound of his voice grating my nerves. “He doesn’t know about her, does he? Did you also tell him about…”
“Dad!!!”
Ryan’s eyes widened in shock but he quickly recovered. He smirked at me, his eyes reflecting the malice he felt. “You should invite him to the wedding.”
“You should leave,” Oliver said finally. “I’ll come see you at the hotel.”
Ryan opened his mouth to speak but Oliver shook his head firmly. I didn’t know when he left but his absence was duly registered in my brain by him slamming the door shut on his way out. The room went back to being silent…gravely silent. My mind tried hard to process everything that had just happened, everything that I had just heard. My heart was in disarray, my vision was blurry and the room was beginning to spin.
“Is it true?” I asked, begging him to answer in the negative, begging him to tell me that his hateful father was lying.
“Yes…” Oliver answered silently, his voice barely above a whisper.
All air seemed to vanish from the room. My eyes went to the window and open balcony and saw the curtains fluttering in the wind. I turned towards the door to leave, but Oliver grabbed me from behind, holding on to me so tight, I could feel my blood circulation cut off.
“Please…don’t leave…”
“What am I staying for, Oliver?” I asked, my voice barely sounding like mine. “What’s here for me?”
“Gabriel…”
“You’re getting married…to a woman…”
“I…”
“Do you love her?”
Oliver hesitated, and somehow that just made it worse for me. I tried to leave again, but he held on even tighter.
“No.”
“No, that you don’t love her, or No, that you don’t want me to leave?”
“I don’t want you to leave…”
My heart broke even more. “So you love her…”
“No…yes…no. There was a time when I was madly in love with her, Gabriel, but that time was before I met you. I love you.”
I had waited so long for him to say those words, but now that he said them, it only added to my pain. I sighed, and closed my eyes, willing the tears that were gathering in them to not fall.
“I don’t think we can do this, Oliver…” I said.
I could feel him shake his head violently against my back. “No. I can’t let you go. Please!!!”
“You’re getting married…you never saw me in your future…I was just a placeholder…”
“Gabriel…”
“A guilty pleasure…” my voice broke and a single tear rolled down my cheek. I angrily wiped it away.
“It’s not like that…come back with me. Come to New York with me.”
“And do what?” I asked. “Be your side piece?!”
The tears flowed freely now, and I did nothing to stop them. I felt my wolf regress to the farthest part of my mind, and it only compounded the pain.
“Let me go, Oliver.”
We both knew that that was not just me telling him to let me leave this room, it was a plea for him to move on and leave me alone to deal with the pain. To accept that he’s not sure what it is he wants, and to not hurt me in his indecision. Oliver held on tighter, a gesture I would have died for a week ago, but now…now, it just caused me more pain.
“I can’t…” Oliver said, his voice barely making it through the tears. “I can’t let you go…I love you…”
I closed my eyes against the onslaught of tears and pain. I had to be strong, and sometimes to be strong was to simply let go.
“Happy married life, Oliver.”
Without waiting for him to say anything else, I firmly broke away from his hold and walked out the door, past Martha and Ryan who sat in the common room and headed straight home.