Chapter 10

It was Felix. I was right at the sliding doors and froze there. When I came back to my senses, I thought of my options. I could always just walk back and head to a different store, or I could head in. Nope, I didn’t want to see him at all. Just as I made my decision, Felix made eye contact with me. Now I didn’t want to give him the pride of knowing I left the store just because he was there. I looked away, picked up a basket, then went to the candy aisle. I walked down slowly and looked at all my options. Sadly, I had no idea what I wanted so I had to check every option and see which I wanted the most.

“I see we meet again, dear,” I heard a male’s voice say. I didn’t need to look over to see who it was, I knew that voice so well, sadly. It was no one other than Felix.

“Hello, Felix,” I replied without looking at him and had most of my attention fixed on the options of sandwich cookies I had in front of me.

“I hope you’re happy,” he said. I looked at him through my peripheral view and saw he was looking at me.

“Always have been.” I faked a preppy smile and picked up the birthday cake flavored cookies. “And you?” I looked over at him finally. I noticed he shaved his beard or the thing on his face that was meant to be a beard. I mentioned to him once how I loved a man with a beard, and ever since, he had been trying to grow one out but struggled in a few places. I did appreciate him taking it into consideration.

“You ruined my fucking relationship,” Felix whisper-scolded me, and I just walked onto the next options of candies which were rock candy.

“That’s what you get for acting like an asshole,” I said calmly and took my two favorite flavors. I moved on to the hard candies—those I went through so quickly during studying so I had to get two small multi-flavored packets.

“I’m just happy you’re out of a job now,” Felix smirked, reaching over to grab the sour ropes, his favorite. “Wow, you must be so low on cash right now having to pay so much rent by yourself,” he spoke smugly. Now, he was right to some degree; however, soon, I’d be making money again. I had enough for gas, groceries, and rent at Madi’s. Plus, if the apartment has no damage, I’d be getting back some money.

“I wasn’t dependent on that job. I easily got a new one, dear,” I looked over at him and smirked back at him as I spoke. “Life’s all about improvement and pushing forward.”

“Mm-hmm, I just can’t wait to have my apartment back,” Felix sighed lovingly, taking a step closer to me. “Sooner or later, you will be gone, and it will be all mine.” He had a disgusting smile on his face. “Tell me, do you still keep the spare key under the vase by the elevator?” His question sent chills down my spine. Suddenly, I was looking forward to moving out asap.

“Like I said, Felix. Life’s all about improvement.” I cleared my throat and turned around. “That apartment will soon be old news.” I walked over to get some gummy bears.

“Yeah, right,” he scoffed. “Your only other option is on campus,” He knew what my options were before we decided to move in together. He knew how I’d struggle to get a place by myself, but of course, that was all different now.

“Oh, by the way, did you finally learn to use public transport? You know, to head to work or did you have to quit as well,” I smirked looking at him. I knew he never bought his own car and was so against public transport, hence why I had given him my car and took the bus to school and work—what an idiot I was.

“Have a good day, dear,” he said, sounding quite pissed off. Mission accomplished.

“I hope you have a day as pleasant as you are, deary.” I smiled and waved at him.

I walked to the drink aisle and picked up two fruit smoothies. I read those can be good for pregnancy then went to check out and headed straight home. When I got into the building, I checked under the vase to take the key but realized it wasn’t there. I took a deep breath and slowly went to my apartment. I noticed the door wasn’t open or anything and went inside. I checked every room—not that there’s many. Once I was sure I was the only one in the house, I went back to the front door and used the chain locks from within.

All of the sudden, I didn’t feel too safe in my own place anymore. I tried to focus on studying; however, it ate me alive knowing he had the key to my place, and I felt like he had threatened me, but it was very subtle. I decided to text in the group chat and told them everything.

“I don’t want you living there all alone,” Madi texted.

“We have exams at the same time tomorrow. I’ll come over and sleep at your place, and we can head out together,” Ines texted. “I also don’t have work tomorrow, so afterwards, I’ll go to your place to make sure he doesn’t come around to snoop or something,” she sent right after. Now, normally, I wouldn’t want her to do so much, but this time, I was willing to accept all the help offered to help me feel safe.

“I’m getting some boxes and such,” Andre texted. “We should’ve started packing like yesterday already,” he added, which made me sigh. He was right. I looked around the room. I didn’t have that much to pack. Just the bedroom furniture, desk, and couch for the furniture.

“Madi, are you sure I can move in already?” I then began to wonder.

“Girl, I have your room ready,” she was quick to send. “I can come over right now and help you pack,” she even added.

“Me too,” Andre added.

“Me too, and I’ll stay over,” Ines sent as well. “Also, you might have to help me study for tomorrow,” she then texted too, which made me laugh.

“Please, yes, and thank you all so much,” I replied with many hearts.

“Also, I forgot to tell you guys. I called my parents,” I remembered.

“Oh my god, how did that go?” Andre asked.

“Really well!” I texted them then began to explain everything that had happened. After around a half hour, we stopped chatting. They’d come over later to help me pack up and leave. I then went back to studying. This time, my mind was a little at ease knowing very, very soon I’d be moving away from here, and hopefully, I’d never come across Felix ever again.

Around 6:30 PM, everyone was present at my apartment, and we all began to pack up. Madison had a cousin who would do us a favor and move my furniture tomorrow night. Though we would’ve loved to pick a different time, the man was already doing us a favor by giving me a discount, plus he was helping me after business hours. My boxes of stuff would be moved by car. I didn’t have that much to take with me. We only left some toiletries and a few clothes for me to last till the next night. To thank my friends, I decided to make them all some dinner. It wasn’t anything fancy—just some spaghetti, which was the one thing I knew how to make very well.

We all sat down and began to enjoy our dinner. Right after dinner, Andre and Madison had to leave. Andre had an early class the next day, and although Madison dropped out of college, she still had a lot on her plate with the start up of her business.

I finished getting ready for the night and decided to lay down in bed. I had studied enough for tomorrow’s exam and just needed to mentally prepare for the job. I began to do some research on children again like I would do when I was still a teacher.

“I’m here,” Ines joined me on the bed. I wouldn’t let her sleep on the couch, and she wouldn’t let me sleep on the couch, so we’d both sleep on the bed.

“Had a good shower?” I asked, closing the laptop and putting it on the nightstand.

“Mm-hmm,” she hummed and stretched out her arms.

“Goodnight, Ines,” I wished her and dimmed the lights, so it wouldn’t bother her.

“Goodnight, Lils.” She yawned and rolled over onto her side, tugging her blanket with her over her body.