Chapter Thirty-four

Gwen sat on one of the benches at the park, feeling a lump in her throat as she blinked rapidly and tilted her head backward in a bid to keep the tears from rolling down her eyes. The walls of her chest compressed, choking her heart and causing more pain to stream down her veins as she brought her head to its normal position, facing a couple who carried out a public display of affection, causing a pang of irritation to prick at her heart.

Gwen blinked her gaze away from them, letting it lay on her nude sandals that matched the very lipstick on her lips. Suddenly, her phone vibrated in the pocket of her jean jacket, and she pulled it out, only glancing at the screen for a split second–it was Armani, and her lips cracked into a weak smile of appreciation at how her friend had been checking up on her and making sure she was fine.

She tapped on the answer button and held the phone to her ear, "Hey."

"Baby, how are you?" Armani asked, a shuffling sound almost rendering Gwen deaf.

"What the heck is that sound?" Gwen winced, pulling the phone away from her ear for a second before plastering it back.

"Oh, just a bag of chips." Armani sucked in a breath, sounding a little stuffy in the nose. "Where are you?"

"Well," Gwen started, pushing a ball of saliva down her throat and tittering because the name of the park brought memories she wanted to forget. "Regina park."

"Oh, my gosh!" Armani gasped. "Isn't that the name-"

"Don't mention his name, please." Gwen blinked away her tears. It wasn't like there weren't other parks around, her body unconsciously brought her here so she could immerse herself in the pain till she became emotionless and numb to the pain.

"Sorry, I'll be right there." Armani hung up and Gwen tucked the phone into her pocket before staring into nothingness.

Thirty minutes were gone, and Armani was nowhere to be found, Gwen sighed, getting in an entanglement with depression as she got lost in the void her head created.

"Hey." His voice led to the rising of the hair on her nape, and she snapped out of her trance, flitting her gaze to the person, whose arms were slightly brushing against hers and she locked gazes with him.

"Hi!" She jerked, rubbing her sweaty palms on her thighs.

"Hey, I didn't mean to startle you." He chuckled, putting a white plastic bag between them.

Gwen nodded with a tight-lipped smile as she said, "It's fine. Where's Marni?" She craned her neck, scanning behind Paris for her friend.

"Oh, she had an important call, she had to leave but she gave me this to give to you." He pushed the plastic so it could make contact with the side of her thigh and her eyes followed it.

"What is it?" Gwen inquired, feeling less lonely than she did a few minutes ago.

"Check." Paris shrugged, drumming his fingers on the bench as his vibrant eyes, which were behind thick lashes twinkled.

Gwen fished out a bucket of chicken wings and a small smile played at the corners of her lips.

"Thank you," Gwen said and he shook his head, telling her not to bother.

"It's a beautiful evening, right?" Paris asked, inclining his head so he could feast his eyes on the clouds as he traced lines on the bench and studied the setting sun that left the sky ablaze with red.

"Yes." Gwen looked up, watching as the horizon lured the sun to sink deeper and hide away from humans. She sighed, seeing as a set of white birds flapped their wings accordingly and tailed closely behind each other. Having seen enough of them, she let her gaze fall to the bucket on her laps and she blinked away the memory of feeding Mihai some wings and rubbing the peppered sauce all over his face. Wendy felt her heart twist in pain as her vision became blurry with heavy balls of tears that lingered on her eyelashes.

"Are you okay?" Paris asked, placing a wide palm on her shoulder, and she nodded, letting locks of hair fall to her face to hide her teary eyes. "Are you sure?"

She nodded again, avoiding his gaze as she blinked hastily, unconsciously setting her gaze on two love birds who couldn't keep their hands to themselves. Gwen ticked her jaw and rumpled her nose in disgust as she watched them play around like early birds in love. The teenage boy pinched the nose of his girlfriend and Gwen remembered the day Mihai tickled her because she refused to give him an answer to his question, prompting a smile until his last words played in her head and pierced her heart like a dagger, slitting the organ into eight pieces.

She held her breath, hoping the tears wouldn't roll down but they did, and she sniffled.

"He used to dislike garlic sauce in his chicken wings just like you." Gwen croaked, feeling a terrible headache, spreading all over her head. "I loved him so much, I never listened to my friends whenever they asked me not to love with my whole heart and everything here keeps reminding me of him."

Paris didn't utter a word, he moved closer to her and snaked his arm around her shoulder as he listened attentively, stroking her arm in a bid to ease her nerves.

"The last thing I saw was his face, stone-cold at first till it changed to a mix of emotions that was hard to read. His eyes..." She drawled, pausing to catch her breath. "They held remorse and I could see his demons, tormenting him to unleash them. They follow him like a shadow."

Paris frowned, looking down on her with confusion.

"You see his demons?" He inquired and she simpered.

"No, but I feel them at times, and I wanted to sound poetic."

Paris chuckled, earning Gwen's skeptical gaze; saying, "You wanted to sound poetic?"

Gwen nodded and Paris' face was highlighted with the brightest of colors as he grinned with crinkles on both sides of his eyes. She couldn't help but return his contagious smile with red-rimmed eyes, looking away shyly when his gaze never faltered from her beautiful face. Gwen stole a glimpse of his face and quickly looked away, slightly getting uncomfortable at his intensive stare.

"What?" Her lips were pinched into an inquisitive frown and her face flushed with heat when their eyes locked on like a pair of magnets.

"You know," he stretched his hand, brushing chocolate tresses of her hair that were used as a shield earlier when she was crying behind her ear. "For someone suffering from heartbreak, you look beautiful."

The sides of her lips involuntarily twitched into a sheepish smile.

"Thank you." She muttered.

"You even have some lipstick on," he said between laughs, and she knitted her eyebrows into a scowl.

"What's funny?" Wendy asked, attempting to raise a brow but failing because the two went up.

"Trying to be poetic and wearing make-up." He listed–counting his fingers, and soon, Gwen was laughing.

They spent the rest of the evening talking about their lives and sharing laughs till darkness crept in. Gwen, who knew it would be dangerous to return home, followed Paris back home and spent the night at Armani's.

******

Wendy sat behind her office desk and massaged her forehead, trying to drive the headache that was on the verge of splitting her head into two. She closed her laptop and plastered her head on the table, waiting for time to run so she could pack her bag and head home. It had been three weeks since she saw Mihai, and this was eating her up like acid. Wendy promised herself to get him off her mind because she feared the thinking and the stress would soon awaken her migraine.

It would be nice, maybe it would bring Mihai back to-

Gwen's eyes widened when she realized she was thinking about Mihai again. She face-palmed, regretting instantly when her action aggravated her headache.

"Why?" She whined when the notification sound of a message entering her phone sounded like a death call as it made her ears bleed.

Lazily, she grabbed the phone from the table and saw that it was a message from Paris, earning a warm feeling that spread throughout her chest and she read the contents out loud, "Hey, I'm driving to your office... I have something that'll help with your headache."

Gwen smoldered at the screen, having a once over at the words before tucking it into her bag and striding out of her office to Armani's.

"Did you tell Paris I have a headache, bi-" Gwen paused mid-sentence and also in her tracks when she pushed the door open without knocking and beheld an unholy scene–Armani had her mouth filled with meat, the type that hung in between the legs of the gender that broke her heart three weeks ago, while the expression on his face showed nothing but utmost pleasure–it was cut short by Gwen's interruption.

Quickly, Wendy banged the door shut and scrunched up her face in irritation as what she saw played in her head–the man was comfortably seated on the chair with his head thrown back and mouth wide open as stifled groans escaped from his thin lips, while Armani looked funny, trying to deepthroat his rod with glossy eyes.

"Nyak!" Gwen gagged, rubbing her eyes multiple times in a bid to flush out the profane images in her head.

"Gwen!" Armani pulled the door open and poked her head out with her body behind the door.

Wendy's mouth curled upwards in disapproval as she turned to meet the mischievous gaze of her friend.

"Oh, hey." Armani smoldered, blowing away the tufts of hair that laid haphazardly on her face and obstructed her view.

"What are you doing giving a man head in your office without locking the door?!" Gwen whisper-yelled with wide-open eyes as she raised her hands in frustration, glancing around to make sure they were alone in the passage.

"I forgot to lock the door." Gwen face-palmed, finally stepping into the hallway and gently closing the door.

"Whatever," Gwen sighed. "Be careful, what if it was our boss?" Wendy asked, sighting a white liquid in form of a teardrop, resting on her chin.

"The boss can't possibly walk in." Armani shrugged and Gwen rolled her eyes, channeling all her weight on one leg.

"What do you mean?" Gwen asked, darting her gaze from the liquid to Armani's face.

"Because he'll be too busy releasing in my mouth." The side of her lips was pulled into a devilish grin and Gwen could sense the malicious aura that hovered over her. "That's the boss, bitch."

Gwen's jaw dropped to the floor as her brain tried to process the new information and she asked, "Do you mean he owns-"

"Yes," Marni whispered, glancing back at the door just in case he was there. "He's putting on his pants so he could leave. He might just send his boys to slit your throat since you saw what you weren't supposed to." Armani held her waist and stared at her fingers as if they were the most interesting things in the world.

"What?!" Gwen exclaimed then peeked around before looking back at her friend with horror lines on her forehead then whispered, "what?"

"Just kidding." Armani stifled a small laugh and Gwen smacked her arm.

"What's that white fluid on your chin?" Gwen finally asked, trying to feed her curiosity.

Armani frowned then poked out her tongue with which she used to slurp up the liquid, wearing a look of satisfaction once she swallowed it down.

"It's sweet cum." Armani winked, and Gwen gagged for the second time.

"I didn't need that information!" Gwen squinted. "I'm leaving. Did you tell Paris I had a headache?"

"Oh, yeah. You should let him take you home and please, sleep with me tonight... I have a lot to tell you about Mr. Brandon..m" She drawled, lingering on the R sound with an Italian accent. Gwen chuckled in amazement at the fake accent and shook her head, accepting her proposal.

Gwen stepped out of the office and stopped just to suck in a lungful of oxygen, enjoying the sweet smell of freshly trimmed shrubs. She looked around and sported a black Mercedes, parked few meters away from the office and an unwilling smile crawled up her face, highlighting her honey brown eyes.

He got out of the car and opened the passenger door for her. She walked to the car and got a brief embrace from the man who practiced chivalry, earning a little space in her heart. Gwen hopped into the car and wore her seat belt, while Paris shut the door and went around to the driver's seat.

They sat in comfortable silence for a while before Paris glued his eyes on her flushed countenance.

"How are you, my poetess?" He bowed his head a little and Gwen simpered, having a twisty feeling in her heart.

"Poetic." She joked. Paris chuckled, turning the ignition and the car rumbled to life. "Where are we going?"

"My favorite place, hang on." Paris flashed a soft smile at her before hitting the road.