Chapter 13 Hesitation
The times passed by in a very slow motion, her smile had vanished and her face had been painted red with embarrassment. Yet Cara stood there in his arms a second longer before finally- slowly- pulling away from him.
The moments her hands were away from his beck, she hastily stepped back and cleared her throat. "Sorry... about that. I just got overly excited because... well the place is pretty amazing."
"Why are you sorry?" Romeo's honey and sweet voice stirred her stomach and caused her to redden when she found the courage to look up at him.
A few seconds more, and she would turn purple from holding her breath. So she looked away from him. "I didn't say... I mean I..." she scratched her forehead. "I touched you without your permission and I am sorry for doing that. I should have... have been more careful how I react when I-"
She gasped softly and fell quiet the moment she realized she was resting against his hard chest again.
Romeo had pulled her into his arms this time and hugged her for more than a few seconds. He placed a firm hand at the back of her head and the other on her back. "No one is stopping us from hugging each other." His voice was soft yet tormenting. "You don't need anyone's permission- not even mine! Before you touch me. Friends can do this much."
She swallowed. Her arms wanted to hug him back but the courage had disappeared and now they just hung in the air.
Her stomach knotted into complicated knots and her heart raced against her chest. Yet everything seemed to calm the moment she allowed the symphonic rhythm of his beating heart into her ears.
She listened to it and it soothed her like a magic soft beating and that alone kept her from flinching away from his hold.
A knock came on the door and Romeo finally let her go. A knock she hadn't heard as she was too busy listening to his calm heart beat. How could his heart be so calm with what they were doing? What were they doing?
She started asking herself.
He went to the door and opened it. A few young men walked in with Cara's belongings and placed them in the living room there.
A tall bearded man with strands of grey decorating the forest that hung on his face looked up and asked. "Mr Armani, is she okay with us leaving it here or she wishes for us to arrange them for her?"
Romeo turned to look at reddened Cara. "Which would you prefer?"
She cleared her throat. "Uhm no, no it's fine. You can leave them. They are basically clothes anyway and I can do that myself."
The bearded man nodded his head and rallied his boys out of the place.
"You should leave too." Cara stated.
Romeo, who had been looking around the place, turned to look at her. "Oh of course. You need your privacy. Just call me if you need anything. There's a manual of this place on the table over there if you need it." He pointed to the dining table and she followed his hand to get the direction before nodding her head.
"Okay," he said. "I'll uh... I'll see you."
"Bye." She said with a smile.
"Yeah. Uh also, i texted the passcode of the door to your phone. You can change it if you'd like. See you." He smiled softly and turned around.
As the door closed and locked behind him, she let out a heavy and weary sigh. Turning back to look at the place, her lips curved into a sad smile. "This is my life now..." she muttered weakly to herself.
Chris got up from bed with a tired yawn at six that morning. Usually, Cara would have gotten out of bed before that time to make breakfast before anyone was ready to eat. But Jessica snored softly on the bed without giving a care about whether they ate or not.
He sighed and rose to his feet. Changing into his jogging outfit, he picked up a bottle of water, phone and air pod before heading out.
He had a small gym put together in his place but he needed some fresh air so he decided to jog down the street.
All night, he could barely get a wink of sleep. His divorce was today, the day he would say his final goodbye to her. The woman he had loved for two years.
He thought he was well over her because of all the shameless things she had done but he found himself doubting if he could go through the divorce that day.
That was what pushed him out into the street and forced him to jog down the road. Hoping the fresh air could clear his head a little. Because every thought of leaving Cara seemed so absurd to him.
All through the jogging, his thoughts didn't change. He returned home an hour later after jogging for longer than he expected. Jessica had woken then. He found her in the kitchen with a cup of freshly brewed coffee in her hand.
She smiled as she saw him and went to hug him. "I was wondering where you were." She said with a broad smile. "Look at you all hot and sweaty." She bit down on her lower lip.
Chris looked at her with an expression she smelt to be fear and hesitation. Finally, he spat out. "I don't think I can do this."
Her eyes widened.