17. JEOPARDY.
The sound of the jeering neighbors went through his ears as Alli sat on his bed, wedging his back against the wooden stand. His eyes went to the phone that was in his hand—
—the phone he’d unknowingly held for the past ten minutes, scrolling through the million photos Olivia had sent, and without a single text message. He bit into his fingers just before his door opened. Aaliyah was hesitant but she walked in, on seeing he was awake. “Hey” Came a whisper and Alli looked up to her.
“Slept well?”
She sat next to him on the bed, already dressed in a purple and black saree, and henna across the back of her palms. She stretched her neck into his phone and he turned it away. Rolling her eyes, she asked. “What is it this time?”
“Nothing, i swear” He almost choked and Aal brought her feet into the bed. She could tell something was wrong and she usually wouldn’t leave until he comes clean.
“You know the deal” She added and Alli just shrugged his shoulders. “Why are you all dressed up?” He asked, an attempt to change the course of the conversation and Aaliyah let a sigh out of her lips. “I asked the first question” She had a childish smile on her lips and Alli resisted the urge to roll his eyes.
“I said i’m fine” He switched off his phone, before his lips fell. “It’s just that sometimes i miss her” He added in a low voice. “Olivia?” Aal echoed and he nodded back at her.
“Aw i get the feeling” She added and he just scoffed. “And i guess some part of me is mad at the fact that i actually do. Because she didn’t even think twice when it was time to go. I know i’m the one that convinced her to but sometimes i still think she was going to go right ahead. I guess i just didn’t think how much it was going to affect us—“ Alli replied and she arched her brows. “What do you mean?” She asked.
“I mean everything happened so fast, there was no space for us in the dying minute and i didn’t even see her the day she was to travel and she was just fine with it. It’s like this massive change that no one warned me about” His voice cracked. “Don’t get me wrong, i am happy for her but it’s just now, i have to swing each day at the office by myself, and sometimes it’s hard” He said, somewhere in that sentence being about avoiding Omar.
“She’s engaged, i saw the news now, of course things were going to change. It’s Damien Archer for fucks sakes. Do you know how many conversations i overheard in the market about the both of them and even ma and pa aren’t buying it. You know they always knew Liv” Aal scoffed, and so did Alli.
“That’s not what i’m talking about”
“This is the first time, all our lives that we’re separated. Kindergarten, we were together up until high school. Summer camp, we always went together, college came, we schooled in the States together and even when it was time to get a job, we knew it would be best at the same firm and everything was okay”
“Everything was normal”
“Then maybe items time for some change, Alli” Aal patted his back. “Perhaps she’s trying to find herself outside of you and work. Perhaps you should do the same thing. Now you know it was only a matter of time because you as well, at some point will meet someone worthy of bringing home to ma and pa” She bumped slyly into his shoulders. Turning back to her, he scoffed.
“Of course”
A smirk crept to the side of his lips. “You’re probably right” He lied and then looked back to his phone. “It’s probably just me overreacting” Cane a shrug and she stood from his bed. “I’m always right” She morphed a smile on her lips and Alli scoffed.
“You still haven’t told me what the occasion is” His eyes went down her dress and exposed arms. “We’re preparing, Alli” She whispered. “And if you weren’t so carried away by Olivia, you would know my introduction is tomorrow—“
“Tomorrow?” He echoed.
“Yes, Alli. I’m going to meet my perfect match tomorrow” She scoffed yet again and Alli brought himself to stand from the bed.
“And you’re okay?” He had to make sure. “You’re okay with this and everything?” He further asked and her hands found his shoulders. “I trust ma and pa. And i trust they made the right decision—“
“This is more than a right decision, this is who you’re going to spend the rest of your life with, it has to be the perfect decision” She squeezed his shoulders with a smile on her lips. “It’s not as if i have a say, Alli. I just have to hope for the best” They locked eyes and he placed his hands on her shoulders as well, like they were little kids all over again. “I’ll always be here for you” He said in a whisper and she smiled. “And i for you, even though Liv never comes back. I’m not going away” He chuckled, pulling away.
“You’re literally in the exact situation” He yelled and she burst out laughing. “No i’m not. I won’t get married until months later. This is merely an introduction before courting so i stand by what i said. You know what” She threw her head over her shoulders.
“Maybe you should get engaged too”
“Because if you had someone, you actually wouldn’t worry about people leaving you” He scoffed, looking up at her. “She’s always be with you” He shrugged, turning away. And his heart fell because he was sick of everyone assuming he was ever interested in a woman. He never corrected anyone though, because that would mean he came out. And looking at his cousin in that moment, he wanted to so badly. But he settled on three words—
“Maybe i will.”
There was a lasting gaze between them before the door broke it, slamming right into it’s hinges and he blinked.
-
Just as she did, startled.
“Where are you coming from?” Olivia clutched her chest like a teenager being caught sneaking back in and she turned around to the direction of his voice.
Damien was shirtless, and she gasped, on seeing him behind the counter. Her hair was a mess, and her clothes were too. The moment she parted her lips, a stench of booze oozed into the air and Damien looked down on her.
He steppes from behind the counter in nothing but a white towel around his waist, his v line, visible above it. She didn’t hide the fact that her eyes fell to his happy trail. And she gripped the chair beside her for balance. It was the first time she’d seen him in such little clothing and he wasn’t bothered.
Rather, he was enraged.
“All night!” His voice filled the room. “Where were you all night?” She pushed a lump down her throat as he slammed the glass of water against the table. “I told you i had a date”
“You never said you were spending the night with him” He raised his voice at her and her patience spiked. “Is that why you sent Davis to spy on me?” She turned back at him and she scoffed.
“You think this is so funny. You think this is hilarious. What if something happens to you, in a town that you’re not even familiar with. What if you got hurt?” A vein protruded his neck as he inched closer. Immediately, Olivia quieted, taking a step back. She pushed a lump down her throat, seeing worry in his usually emotionless eyes. “Relax, i didn’t go anywhere with him. We just stayed up late at the bar talking, not that i owe you any explanation”
“You do” Came a husky tone.
“I’m not a child, Damien” Olivia exclaimed. “But you are my wife” He said with so much levity that she was taken aback. “Only for a mere arrangement” She whispered, and he was already close enough to her. She was wedged against the fridge door and she could feel his heated breathes against her soft skin.
“A mere arrangement you almost ruined for the both of us” He gritted. “You do realize what people are going to say if anyone ever saw you with a man that isn’t me?”
“Besides friendship?” She said in a low voice, and his fists began to fold up. “You can’t ruin this for me, you can’t ruin this for the both of us” His tone matched hers, but with more emotion to it.
“I don’t want you seeing Sam or whoever anymore”
He pulled away from her, but she scoffed, drawing him back. “I hate being told what to do” She pushed against his bare chest, looking him directly in his eyes and his hands fell to her waist. She sniffed, tension smearing in the air between them. And once he gripped her closer, she wedged her hand between them.
“Admit it” She yelled.
“Admit that you’re jealous. Admit that you’re never going to let me be happy, even if it’s a mere date with someone else. Someone other than you” He held unto her still, letting out a scoff. “You flatter yourself, Ophelia” He groaned and she pushed him away. He held her hands, pulling her back.
“You think this is about me?”
She could make out the drops of water that clung to the hair on his chest and he pushed against her. She swallowed a lump down her throat. “This is about our plan, and i won’t let you ruin it over something you know damn well would never last” He replied and she looked up at him, fluttering her lashes.
“Excuse me”
He let go of off, dusting off his palms like she was a peasant. “I said what i said, and that includes breaking off any twelve hour ties you have with Sam or whatever random stranger you hooked up with last night” She gasped, her voice falling in her throat.
“You can’t let me have anything, can you?” He halted.
“You can have all the fun you want, in the airplane, by yourself but the moment i do something for myself, the moment i have a shot at being happy with someone other than you, i’m ruining this?” She almost had tears fall from her eyes and Damien turned to her. “By weekend, we meet Raznak. This isn’t about me, after we’ve done enough convincing and the deal is sealed, hopefully by then, then we can break this off and you could call Sam” He said.
“All i ask now, is that you stay away from the public”
“You care” She whispered under her breath. “And it wouldn’t hurt to say that” He scoffed, letting his veined palms fall next to him, alongside her eyes. She could see it, his member through the silk towel around his waist and she looked back at him.
“I don’t care.”
“I never have, and i never will” Those words pierced more than a bullet, sounding alot like the words he’d said to her on summer camp. It was the first time since then that she’d heard that voice.
That same, emotionless, dead voice of his.
And once he pulled away into his room, those tears fell from her eyes and she gasped, wedging her chin with her soft arms. Now, he wasn’t sure why he said the things he said, infact he was mad that he did—mad that he saw the way her face fell as he did.
Mad that she was hurt, and he was the cause of it.
It was never what he wanted to say, but she had pushed him. His hands balled up in a fist as he paced his office. “Fuck” He cussed at the wall in front of him before slamming his knuckles right into it. “Fuck” He yelled all by himself through the soundproof door.
What had she done to him?
And why was he mad at himself for hurting her? Why was he then, hurting himself?
Blood dripped from his hands, and to the ground as he sat into his chair. He was fuming, from his mouth and nose, unbeknownst to Olivia who’d fallen to floor, against his door, in tears of her own. He stood, contemplating whether or not to go back to her.
To perhaps tell her that he did care.
But the moment he went up to the door, he could feel her presence behind it. And she stood, wiping her tears—feeling his as well. They face each other, although the door between them. And their fingers drew closer to the knob on opposite sides.
Olivia closed her eyes, as it clicked. “Hey.”
To be continued…