Chapter 25 Nothing Like I Imagined

Chapter 25 Nothing Like I Imagined
Malik kept staring at us. He didn’t say a thing but his silence said so much and it scared me. It really did.

Joseph noticed him and said "Hello son, it’s good to see you again. Come give me a hug."

Malik didn’t even glance at him, his eyes were solely on me as if I was the reason of his anger.

His eyes stayed on me for a while, for almost a minute as if he was thinking of something. Maybe punishing me in his mind. 

Before I could say anything or even do anything, he suddenly turned around and stormed into the room. 

I thought to follow him behind and calm him down my something in me tells him he’ll be too upset to even look at my face.

When Malik was completely out of sight, Joseph spoke "Do you want to go after him?"

"Do I have to?"

He chuckled "Of course, I mean he seems really upset. Maybe something happened, you might want to check on him."

Deep down I know nothing happened. He’s probably just upset because Joseph is here. He’s been this way since yesterday so I’m not surprised that he’s fuming now that Joseph is here and even talking to me. 

I wonder why he acts like he hates Joseph so much when Joseph is nothing but a really nice person. Even better than himself.

"Are you sure?" I asked uncertain 

"Yes. You don’t have to worry, Malik won’t do anything to you. Just talk to him." He said placing his hand on my shoulder to reassure me 

His saying that only made things worse. Now I wasn’t just scared, I was terrified that Malik would do something to me. 

I quietly nodded and stood up. Joseph kept his smile on his face as he watched me walk up the stairs.

When I got to the room. I said a silent prayer before I stepped in. I found Malik looking out the window. I couldn’t tell if he was still upset or not but the silence between us tells me that he was.

I took a step forward. Debating if I should speak to him or just let him be. For a second I wanted to say something, but at the same time, I didn’t know what to say.

Maybe I should ask him why he left? Or maybe I should ask him what’s going on with him? Or maybe I should tell him his father gave me a necklace or maybe I should tell him how much of a nice person his father was…

As I thought of what to tell him, I couldn’t bring myself to say anything exactly. I know for sure that no matter what I say, he’ll be upset and somehow in all of this I might just be caught between the whole thing. 

I stood there for a moment and then decided to just let him be. I don’t think he’s in the mood to talk. 

I turned to the other door to head to the bathroom but as I neared him, he suddenly clasped my hand and pinned me to the wall.

His eyes were daring on mine with anger. He growled, "What the fuck was going on?"

My brows furrowed in confusion "What do you mean?"

"I fucking saw you two." He growled, pinning me harder as he crowded me, the heat from his body radiating between the two of us. "The way he was close to you… looking at you… the way you were looking at him.."

I got even more confused "Are you talking about Joseph?" I asked

"I see you’re familiar with him now."

"Of course. He’s my father-in-law and he’s YOUR father." I emphasized on that point in case he had forgotten. 

He pressed harder, his body now pressed against mine. "I don’t want you anywhere near him, Eli. I don’t want you saying his name, talking to him, or being close to him. I want you far away from him."

I didn’t understand where that was coming from. Joseph is his father, why does he suddenly want me away from him? 

"Are you even hearing yourself?" I questioned in disbelief "He’s your father!" I reminded again 

Still, it didn’t click with him like it was supposed to. "I’m not going to repeat myself, Eli. Just stay away from him."

I rolled my eyes "Well, that’s going to be hard because he’s here and he’s very nice to me," I said.

"He’s not fucking nice!" He yelled.

"Oh please, he’s much nicer than you. Much better than you are, so maybe instead of being scared of him, you should learn from him and admit that he’s nothing like you were acting like he was."

His eyes darkened. I could tell I said too much. He moved closer as if there was any more room to step forward. "You don’t mean that." He shook his head. "You have no idea what you are saying." Disbelief stung over his face

"I know exactly what I’m saying."

He scoffed. "Just do as I say. Stay away from him."

"You’re not the one to tell me what to do, Malik," I said.

When I pushed him to leave, he immediately dragged me back, his eyes falling on the necklace I was wearing. His mood darkened. "Where did you get this?" He asked.

"It’s a gift from Joseph."

He glanced at my face, then at the necklace again. Without warning, he yanked it off my neck.

I opened my mouth to speak, but he quickly interjected. "Don’t take anything from him anymore. Do you understand me?"

I didn’t respond.

He repeated, this time yelling, "I said do you understand me!"

I flinched at the sound of his voice and quickly nodded. "Yes." My voice came out low, almost a whisper.

"Good." He harshly let go of me.

I hurried to leave the room, but before I could walk out, the sentence he made caught my attention. "I’m only doing this because I want to protect you. You have no idea what my father is capable of."

I didn’t bother responding. I didn’t believe him anymore, so I just walked away.