Chapter 76 The love that scares me
Axel's POV
As I drove to the school premises where I was meant to meet Red, I could barely contain my excitement because I'd get to see her after being away from each other for the past few days. I'd been in and out of meetings but I managed to make my schedule lighter today so that I'd be able to spare time to see her, I'd always make time for her because she was my everything.
In a way I couldn't phantom or explain, all my bad days and all the pressure I felt in my dangerous line of work were off my shoulders with every second I spent with her and that's a feeling I needed especially since I was preparing for a very important shipment which had stressed me out for the last few days.
In a few minutes, I'd arrived at the school premises and I began to find a place to park that was closest to the park where we'd agreed to meet. I was a few minutes later than the time we'd initially agreed to and knowing how Red kept to time no matter what, I was sure that she'd probably been waiting for me for the past few minutes.
After I'd parked my car, I walked towards the park where I was meant to meet up with her and immediately I spotted her seated on a bench with her beautiful hair framing her adorable face, I couldn't conceal the smile that grew on my face. Involuntarily, my heart picked up its pace as I walked closer to where she was seated. She looked so beautiful, I was completely and utterly enamored by her beauty as I took in her entire appearance.
I wondered how on earth I was so smitten by her because a long time ago I'd have never guessed that a day would come when I would be this deeply in love with her. In fact, I could've sworn on any deity that I would never let a woman bring me to my knees this way, talk less of Red who was from a rival mafia family and in a way that made me laugh a little at how fate had played a crazy trick on us both by making us fall fiercely in love with each other in a way we couldn't possibly explain.
As I kept my eyes locked on her perfect skin, I thought about how she had no idea the lengths I'd go to just to see her happy. Earlier on, I would've sworn that I hated her so much I could've killed her but surprisingly all that hatred and anger had morphed into a love that was unbelievably consuming and exhilarating, a love I'd never felt and would kill to keep for the rest of my life. In her pretty little hands, she somehow held my entire world and the source of my happiness and she had no idea just how much of a grip she had on me from the day I realized I loved her.
I kept walking towards her slowly because I enjoyed taking in her beauty gradually each step of the way, but as I got closer I noticed her expression and I started to worry about her. She seemed to be in a sour mood, she was slumped on the bench and her eyes were fixed on the sky as though she'd been staring into oblivion and that bothered me a lot. What could be going through her mind that she'd been so disconnected from her surroundings? I wondered.
She looked so dejected and torn from reality that I became more worried about her with every passing second. I finally reached her where she was seated and I noticed that she didn't flinch or even move to acknowledge my presence around her. Knowing Lisa for as long as I have, I knew that she had a keen ear for the littlest and faintest movements in her surroundings but she was so deep in thought that she didn't even notice I was standing right beside her. At that moment, I knew that whatever had made her this worried and disconnected from reality was extremely serious and my worry tripled as well.
"Red"
"Red?"
"Redd?!" I called her name thrice with each one being louder than the last and she didn't even move. Man, what the fuck was going on in her head? I said to myself.
I decided to tap her shoulder instead to get her attention since calling out to her yielded nothing. I placed my hand softly on her shoulder and I felt her shudder lightly before she moved quickly to tackle my ass like the perfectly trained assassin that she was. I understood that those were her instincts speaking so I didn't move to defend myself as I waited to see her next move.
She turned over to her side and just before she twisted my arm, she looked up and our eyes met briefly. She immediately let go of my arm and trained her sharp piercing eyes on me as though she was trying to read my expression after almost being tackled.
Instead of being alarmed by her defensive behavior after being touched, I was still deeply concerned about her well-being because she must've been truly startled to have tried to tackle anyone on the school premises in the first place.
Quietly, I walked away from where I'd hovered over her and took a seat beside her on the bench while her eyes followed my every move as she tried to gauge my mood. She looked confused and as though she needed to gather herself together, but after the mood, I'd caught her in I wouldn't be fooled by any excuse she could possibly throw my way. I needed to get to the bottom of whatever had been bothering her and nothing would stop me from doing so, not even her.
"Red, are you okay?" I broke the silence but I tried to speak to her calmly especially since I'd unintentionally startled her earlier while she was deep in thought.
"Yes, I'm fine. I've been waiting for you for a while now, I just got bored" She said and averted her gaze and I knew that her evasive look meant that she'd tried to make the situation seem lighter so that I would worry less, but there's no way I'd let that happen.
"You know, I've been calling your name repeatedly for a while but you didn't respond. That bothers me and I doubt you were just bored" I replied and watched her expression grow a tad serious as though she'd planned to throw another excuse my way rather than give up the truth, but she had no idea how determined I was to get to the bottom of things.
She took a few minutes to readjust her seating position before she faced me squarely, I sincerely hoped that she'd decide to tell me the truth if she looked this serious. I focused on every body movement she made and her facial expressions as well because I wanted to see through her body language whether what would leave her lips next would be the truth or not.
"I'm really worried about you Red, you looked really out of it. Tell me, what's wrong?" I spoke first because she seemed to have been overthinking things before she'd eventually respond and that only made me more worried.
"I'm okay baby, I just missed you soo000000 much and I'd been looking forward to seeing you so I was a little sad that you weren't here when I arrived which made me miserable, but you're here now so everything's perfectly fine" She'd tried her best to sound sincere but I knew she'd simply tried to cover things up.
"I don't believe that either. I was standing right beside you and calling your name but you didn't even flinch, what's got you so worked up? Please tell me I made sure that I was as calm as possible because I needed her to feel safe enough to open up to me especially considering how worried she'd looked earlier.
"I really don't want you to worry, I promise I'm fine and I'll take care of it okay? It's nothing serious" She said in a low tone as though she was on the brink of surrender. I needed her to surrender and open up to me so I decided to stand my ground on the matter. Now that I'd gotten her to admit that something was wrong, she'd have to get to the root of the issue.
"That won't do either, Red. You looked like you were carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders with the way you slouched into the bench and you were staring absentmindedly at the sky" I watched her face fall as she realized how to set on getting the right answers I was and I felt bad but I'd feel worse if I couldn't figure out what was wrong and ease her worries.
We sat in silence for a few minutes and I figured that she needed to think things through before she replied. I genuinely respected that so I didn't attempt to break the silence no matter how badly I wanted to.
"It's my family..." she began in a tone so low I would've missed what she said if I wasn't solely focused on her and instead of going any further, she collapsed into my chest and buried her face in it and my heart broke for her.
I protectively pulled her closer to me and held her tightly in my arms, I promised to protect her and I swore silently to myself to fix whatever had bothered her this much. She stayed in my arms for a few minutes as she struggled to regain her composure and I didn't bother her, in a way I loved, she knew that it was completely safe for her to lean on me in times like these.
"My family is constantly putting me under pressure, it's been driving me crazy for the past few days and I've become so unproductive and I'd much rather focus on my studies and my career as a programmer than be dragged into fulfilling their unreasonable standards," She said with a broken voice as she narrated everything she'd been put through.
"Red, you shouldn't have to do anything you don't want to, I'm so sorry you've been so stressed lately," I interjected softly while I hid the fact that I was fucking furious. "Angel keeps breathing down my neck day and night as though she can't lift her finger to do a thing without bothering me. I feel choked up every single day and it's messing with my focus in class and everything else. I didn't want to bother you of course, so I've been taking every day one step at a time" With every word that left her lips, I got angrier at the fact that her family had stressed her out so much, she looked sad and tired out emotionally and I hated seeing the woman I loved that way.
"Hey Red, I've got you okay? Whenever you need to de-stress and get anything off your mind, you can call me, you know I'd drop anything to be there for you." I offered her comfort instead of just expressing my anger because that wouldn't do any good.
"I'm sorry, I just didn't want to get you unnecessarily worked up. It's been giving me random panic attacks and constant crazy nightmares and it feels so good to finally speak to you about it." She seemed so dejected and it hurt me so much that she'd been in a lot of distress for so long and I had no idea what was going on.
"No, no you shouldn't have to apologize. What matters is that you're opening up to me now and I'll be here for you all the way, you'll never ever have to shoulder any of this stress alone." I tried to console her but her countenance still seemed bleak and tired.
"I've never felt more alone in my life, my family doesn't understand me and I didn't have a friend I could turn to since my life in the mafia must stay hidden. It's been hectic and horrible day after day, I don't know what to do" She confessed as tears brimmed in her eyes, I'd never been as fucking pissed at her family as I was despite having been enemies with them my whole life.
"What'd I say? We're in this together now, I've got you always and forever. If you ever need a friend to rely on, all you need to do is reach out to me and I'll be there. I'll make sure that I do everything in my power to make sure that we stay together okay?" I lifted her chin slightly so she'd get a peek at the determination in my eyes as I spoke to her.
"Are you sure you'll always be there for me no matter what? I need you to promise me that you'll never leave me no matter what happens, can you do that for me?" She raised her eyes to meet mine and I felt helpless under her stare, she was broken and she needed me more than ever and I would sure as hell do anything to let her know that I meant every word I'd spoken earlier.
"I'll always be there for you and I promise you that I'll never leave your side no matter what happens, Red" I promised her in a heartbeat and I watched as her eyes lightened up at that moment, I hated that she was upset and I was somewhat relieved that she felt better after I'd reassured her that I'd never leave her side.
"I love you so much, you have no idea Axel," She said softly and slowly placed a light kiss on my lips.