Chapter 7 Chapter 6:
Arya:
“This isn’t fair; I wish college and my job wasn’t so hard on me.” My younger brother, Colin says on the phone as I shove a box of pasta into the shopping cart.
I nod my head, my hands trailing along the shelf to grab Vera’s favorite box of chocolate. “Sorry, dude. But, sometimes we don’t always get what we want.” I tell him, and his muffled groan comes out as a response.
Colin is my younger brother and is studying in a college across the world; he lives with my parents, while Samantha and I live here, in New York. Colin and I are close, I don’t know why but I have always felt a need to protect him, even though he acts like he’s the older one.
When I called off the wedding with Kevin, Colin had wanted to book a flight to New York and give him hell of a beating, but I convinced him not to.
“I really wish you could make it for Thanksgiving,” I say with a sigh, every thanksgiving, Samantha and I plan a family gathering, we recount stories, stuff our face with food and have the best time of our lives. But, it’s impossible since Colin is busy with exams, and my mother needs to close a deal with one of her business partners.
“I know,” Silence reigns from the other end, and it’s as though I can feel my twenty-year old brother thinking of an initial plan, “Wait, why don’t you fly here instead? Mom and Dad will be thrilled to have you guys, Samantha will be cool with it. Can you make it?”
“I don’t know, Colin. Vera is just a little girl.” My daughter’s needs always come first. I don’t think I am ready to let her fly yet.
“Oh, okay.” I can tell how disappointed he is, and I immediately feel bad, guilt churning my insides. “How’s Vera?” He asks.
I don’t tell him that her father- a freaking billionaire wants to spend time with her, hell I didn’t even tell Samantha, just Emma and Nicole knows; I guess I am not ready to tell them yet. They love and adore Vera; they never judged me when I became pregnant. But, I don’t know how I will feel if they know that her father is a billionaire.
“Can I call you later?” I ask, “I have to get back home, Vera’s waiting.”
“Send her love from her favorite uncle in the world,” His tone turns bubbly and the call disconnects. Staring at my phone, I shove it into my pocket and resume pushing my cart down the shelf. I just need a few ingredients before I head back home. Even though I left Vera in the care of her papers and her crayons, I still feel the need to rush back to her.
“Arya?” A feminine voice calls out to me and I freeze, bag of chips in my hands, horror crosses across my features, but I quickly gulp it down and plaster a frown to my face.
“Anna.” I say lamely, “Hi.” Honestly, I don’t even know whether talking to your ex-best friend counts as a thing. Sometimes, I want to forgive her, falling in love is not a crime, but then I see the huge wedding band on her finger, and then I hate them so much. They tried to steal my estate; they had been sleeping together even when Kevin and I were in a relationship!
“Arya!” She rushes over to me, and takes me into her arms, her perfume wafts into my nostrils, and my stomach recoils in disgust. She releases me, staring at my face. “You look good,” she’s wearing a tank top over skinny jeans, her blonde hair cropped perfectly with a significant amount of make-up while I am wearing a baggy woolen sweater over sweatpants, my hair jagged across my face.
So, who looks good?
I just stare at her, wanting for her to get the hell away from me so I can go home, instead, I tighten my hands around the handle of my cart and stare at her blankly.
“Guess what?” She says, with that bright smile that I now dislike. “Kevin and I are expecting.” She places a hand over her ridiculously flat stomach and grins at me.
“Congratulations.” I force myself to say, my body is racking with something cold, they got married two years ago and since then, I have tried not to cross paths with them. Anytime I see them, I feel like this should be me holding his hands. This should be me kissing him, but I guess fate has different ways of playing with us.
“I know right?” She looks around eagerly, “We are shopping for baby items, this is actually great. Kevin and I had been thinking of expanding our family, we had proper planning, we didn't just magically get a mysterious baby magically.” She eyes me innocently.
The fake smile slips away from my face and what I shoot at her is a hard glare, she could talk about me all she likes, insult me about how broke I am, or how I never married Kevin, but I won’t dare stand and look as she insults my daughter.
“Well at least, I didn’t score a husband by sleeping around with people’s fiancé.” I give her a big smile in return, watching how the line in her forehead deepens into a frown.
“Let’s chat next time, okay? I will do well to invite you to our baby shower.” She says. I see Kevin up ahead and he waves to her, clutching a white plastic bag, my heart deflates as I stare at him, my highschool sweet-heart is right there, with another woman. She gives me another frown as she jogs over to him.
I breathe heavily as I watch with my eyes blurry as he pulls her into his arms, my body pricks with an unknown feeling. It always happens when I see them together, the heart-wrenching gut that punches me deep into the soul.
Calm down, Arya, they aren’t worth it. Shaking, I turn around only to meet a pair of darkened green eyes watching me intently, my knees buckle and I almost fall, but my hands clutch the cart handle more furiously.
What in the hell is Devon freaking Brookes doing here?
“Oh. Hey!” I falter in my sentence, “What are you doing here?”
Except he isn’t looking at me, his gaze is concentrated in the spot that Kevin and Anna had been standing.
“Is that them?” He asks with a tick in his jaw, confusion racks within me, but I remembered that night in the cruise, I had told him about them.
I gulp down, “Yeah,” I try to sound like I don’t care, “It’s no big deal.”
His brows are still firmly narrowed around that area, but then I think back to this afternoon in his meeting room, the way he had called me and my co-workers incapable of delivering a speech. This man is arrogant inside out.
I shouldn’t take note of what he’s wearing, but I do. A light threadbare gray t-shirt that expands round his broad shoulders, at least it makes him look normal and human like. Not like I care, I don’t.
I go to the counter and the salesperson wraps my goods into a white nylon bag. Coming out of the store, Devon trails right beside me, I look around, hoping that this doesn’t result in some kind of weird situation.
Like, how can Arya Morris be seen with Devon Brookes? Who am I? Just a designer that works in a rising brand, and who is he? Google him and check.
“Do you want this?” I ask awkwardly, this man is so taller than me; at least I barely reach his shoulder level. “I mean, wouldn’t it be weird getting seen with me? Won’t it result in some sort of scandal?”
He hunches his shoulder, so that our eyes meet, there’s something deep and dark in his emerald orbs, a strong magnetic pull. “I am a very honest person, Arya. This does not affect me.” He says, his deep raspy voice coming out tiredly.
Yeah, no joke in the honesty part, he delivers his honesty like cruel bittersweet insults. Are we just going to ignore the fact that I was in his office and my team got rejected?
I breathe in, as we walk towards the street together. I really should lay this down, Nicole said it is better if I draw a distance between us.
“Look, Devon.” Even his name sounds so weird on the tip of my tongue, “We are Vera’s parents, and I really don’t want her growing up without love, so as co-parent. I don’t want us to have any form of business together, no relationship. You can come and visit Vera and go.” His eyes darken around the edges, and I gulp.
“And, so we can totally date other people. This is just a deal between me and you, so we have totally different lives when Vera isn’t concerned, is that okay with you?” I want to find love again after Kevin.
Goodness, it seems cliché but I miss that feeling of warmth, I want it back.
He stares straight ahead, nodding his tensed jaw; his face is completely blank, no expression washing over his features.
I rub my palms together, I feel good letting that out.
We reach the penthouse and I step in, Vera’s sprawled on the floor exactly where I left her, her face lit into a warm smile when she sees me and Devon.
“Da-dd-y!” She clearly remembers him. I feel a pang of something cold, am I being replaced by this man?
“You can have some fun with her while I prepare dinner.” I tell him, before dashing towards the kitchen, dropping the groceries bag on the counter, I sigh, massaging my forehead. From here, I can see the view of the living room; Devon hunches himself on the floor, adjusting his long legs on the tile floor.
He is watching her draw with so much concentration, my stomach recoils heavily within me as I stare at them. In between her drawing, she will glance up and give him a tiny smile.
The moment feels so precious, an intimate father and daughter moment. Of course, I want them to bond, I still have the best relationship with my father, I don’t want her to grow up so lonely.
However, I can’t trust Devon Brookes, I trusted my ex-fiancé and my former best-friend, and what did that get me?
A broken heart. And, I am not sure if I am ready to gamble that again.