"Hey, you're up already."Antonia said with a smile as he covered the distance between them. Setting the tray on the bed, she sat beside him.
When she woke up that morning, she decided to go to the gym as usual but since they didn't get to talk about what had happened at the dining table the previous night, she felt she had to stay back just in case he had something to say to her.
Even when she went to make breakfast in the morning, she met Alexa on the way but she refused to look in her direction so as not to bring a recurrence of the issue the previous day.
Laura was on her way out when she saw it, she felt bad about it but she couldn't blame her for her actions, rather she blamed herself for overreacting the previous day.
Walking up to her, she placed her hand on Antonia's shoulder, startling her in the process.
"Sorry to startle you."Wiping her brow, she said, "I'm sorry about what had happened."
"Come on, we already settled that difference last night. Why are you bringing it up again?"Antonia asked, trying to act normal around when in the real sense, she wanted to scurry off.
She didn't want to get involved with Laura anymore, lest she make a repeat of her statement and make mockery of her. She also feared that she might have infused the same into her children and so she felt it was best she avoided them at all cost.
"You haven't forgiven me yet."Laura pressed on while Antonia pressed her lips into a thin line.
That morning, Antonia tried all the different strategies she could think of to make Laura believe her and it finally paid off when she decided to engage Alexa in a conversation.
Now leaning against Christian who was still lying on the bed, she went ahead to tell him all that had ensued between them that morning.
She had done this because she feared Laura was going to tell on her and she didn't want him to be hearing it from her.
At least, now that she had confessed to Christian, he wouldn't be mad at her if Laura turned out to be the one who had drawn his attention to it.
"You apologized to her already."He said, staring at her whilst she bit her lips trying to remain focused as she fiddled with her fingers.
"Hey, why are you taking this too far? You both talked things out last night, let's close it up, okay."He said, giving her hand a soft squeeze.
Nodding, she proceeded to clean her face and then with a little smile she pushed the tray in his direction.
"It is a new recipe so be ready to give me a sincere verdict."She said.
"Why don't you venture into catering since you seemed so interested in creating new meals."
"I'm not ready for that."She replied with a light chuckle.
After taking a few more bites of the pancakes he gave her a thumbs up before saying, "It's perfect."
"Glad you like it."Shs replied and then turned around to leave. Since she still had a lot of time in her hands, she decided to still go to the gym since she didn't have anything to do that morning and she didn't want to stay idle.
When she stepped out of the bathroom where she had gone to clean up, she grabbed her duffel bag and then turned towards Christian who was scrolling through his phone at that time.
"I'm heading to the gym."She said, holding onto the bag as if her life depends on it.
"Sure."He nodded. Before she could take a step he added, "I will be going for a jog too before heading to work."
"Someone finally decided to think of getting fit, congratulations."She chuckled while Christian flashed her a smile.
"Alright, see you."She waved at him and then the next minute she was out.
After breakfast, Christian changed his clothing and then stepped out of the bedroom. The first person he saw was Laura who was walking past, pretending not to have seen him.
He tried to call her but before he could even part his lips, she pulled her headphones on. She was going for a run that morning.
Shrugging, he pushed her attitude aside and then began to jog, keeping a considerable distance between the both of them.
After running for a while, Laura halted and then pulled out her phone to take her call. It was from Rian and so she quickly swiped to receive it.
Their conversation didn't last long but it was enough for Christian to catch up with her. Now standing in front of her, he grabbed her shoulder, making her turn in his direction.
"Why are you ignoring me?"He asked, looking her over.
"Ignoring you, how is that?"Wrapping her hands across her chest, she said, "I don't want any situation where your wife would feel insecure and so I have to be on guard at all times."
"What are you talking about?"
"Do you want your wife to find out that we had sex? Please let's forget about that day and tag it as a mistake. We shouldn't be dragging this further, it's sickening."She scoffed.
"I never said I wanted… you're the one making things difficult here. If Antonia finds out that we are at loggerheads, she will start thinking things and I will be the one to be answering all her questions."He groaned.
"It's best if we act like we are at loggerheads, she wouldn't think we shared anything."she replied only to answer her ringing phone.
The next second, a car blared its horn and Christian swirled around only to see Rian waving at Laura who was grinning at him.
Turning towards him, she said, "I have to go now, see you around."
"Wa…"the rest of his words died in his throat when she ran off, leaving him behind.
Pissed with her attitude, he resumed jogging in a bid to clear his head but the scene kept playing in his head. While she was chattering light-heartedly with Rian, she spoke coldly to him, thereby sparking his wrath.
When he returned from his run, he saw Rian's car still parked across the road and he wondered what the issue was.
For a moment, he wanted to make enquiries from him but since he didn't know how Laura was going to react to it, he headed for the door.
The clinking of heels attracted him and when he raised his head he saw Laura was dressed up. It seems like she was going on a date with Rian and it drove Christian to the edge.
"I'm heading out now."She said, brushing past him but he pulled her back.
Wearing a scowl, she pushed her hair behind her ears before saying, "What is the issue this time around?"
"Why is Rian outside?"He asked not bothering to hide the anger that was threatening to tear him apart.
"Isn't it evident, he came to pick me up."She replied with a scowl as her phone buzzed in her hand.
"He is the one right?"He asked but she didn't give him a response.
"I don't encourage this, if he wants to see you, he should go out there and not hover around."He snapped.
"Are you being serious here?"She asked with surprise written all over her face. If anything she never thought that Christian was going to make a statement of this sort.
"You heard me."He snarled."Just tell him."He snapped and then brushed past her and for the next few minutes she stood there rooted to a spot with her phone ringing in her hand.
After a while she received the call, telling Rian that one of the twins suddenly started running a temperature and so she couldn't go with him and fortunately, he didn't make a fuss about it.
Sulking, she returned to her part of the apartment, trying not to explode in anger.
"I should have known what I was getting myself into when I agreed to come live with him."He muttered, kicking off her heels.
****
The following day at work, she didn't want to discuss the issue with Riley but when she wouldn't stop bugging her because of her facial expression, she told her everything that had happened.
"Tell me you're kidding."Riley replied, wide eyed.
"Kidding? How would you even say that?"Laura scoffed. Right now I'm pissed with everything that is happening and at this rate I might lose it."
"Hey calm down, things like this are bound to happen."She said with a casual tone earning herself a glare from Laura who was still nursing her anger from the previous day.
"So what do you intend to do now?"Riley asked.
"Nothing."
"Well, if you ask me, I'd say, Christian still has a thing for you that's why he is acting this way."