Chapter 46 Elevator
The next day, Arthur went to his office feeling so much better. He felt relieved that Aurora now knew how he truly felt, and he didn’t have to deceive himself, pretending to reciprocate her feelings.
She was right, he had to work on himself, and that was exactly what he was going to do. Work on himself, get rid of Anita totally from his life, then he could heal, forgive and then fall in love.
This seemed like so many ladders for Arthur to climb, and the thought of it wore him out. ‘All these because of that manipulative woman.’
Getting to his office, he met Anita sitting in front of his office again. ‘Is she this jobless?’ He wondered, staring at her from afar.
She wore a short pink dress, her flowy long hair dropped down her shoulders, and her canvas shoes were white. In her bag was a bag which she placed on her legs as she waited.
Arthur let out a sigh and walked to his office door, alerting Anita. She sprang to her feet immediately she saw him, holding onto the bag firmly.
“Arthur, good morning.” She greeted with a wide smile, but Arthur ignored her and walked into the office.
“I’m calling security.” He uttered, but before he could get to his desk, Anita ran past him, and grabbed the landline. She raised it in the air with her two hands, causing Arthur’s eyes to widen.
“What the hell are you doing?”
“Promise me you won’t call them or I’ll totally get rid of this right now.” Anita uttered, ready to smash it on the floor.
“Hey, are you crazy? What is wrong with you?!” Arthur stared at her in disbelief.
“You know you always drive me crazy. Don’t act like you’re new to this.” She answered, still holding the landline in the air.
“Anita, put down the telephone, okay?” Arthur uttered, rolling his eyes in frustration.
“Do you know how happy I always feel when you call my name? No matter how angry you are, I still feel that softness, that warmth when you call my name.” She uttered, holding the landline to her chest.
“I’ll hold onto this, okay? I need to be sure you won’t force me away because I won’t let you this time. Now when I prepared something very nice for you.”
She moved away from his desk, letting him finally move closer to his table. He removed his suit, hung it on his chair before proceeding to sit.
He raised his head and saw her stretching the bag she’d brought to me.
“Here.” She uttered happily.
“Go away.” I muttered with a cold voice, turning on my laptop.
“C’mon, baby. It’s your favorite! Angel biscuits.” She uttered, and Arthur’s heart skipped a beat. He hadn’t heard name since he was in college. They were his favorite snacks and he bought them almost everyday.
He even got so close to the grandma that owned the shop, and sometimes, she would give him some free pieces. But when grandma died, he never got to buy it anymore.
‘She remembers.’ He thought, staring at the bag.
Anita’s smile widened as she realized she caught Arthur’s attention a little by saying that name.
“You remember how much you were obsessed with these? How happy you felt when we ate together?” Anita asked, opening the bowl of angel biscuits she had prepared for him.
The captivating aroma filled the air and Arthur’s nostrils, causing a wave of nostalgia to sweep over him. It had the same aroma it used to have back then.
There were so many memories tied to it and this caused him to walk down memory lane again.
“Here… have a taste. I asked my grandma to teach me how to make it. It’s her recipe but it tastes exactly like that of Mama Fiona.”
“You made this?” Arthur scoffed, shifting his gaze from the delicious-looking biscuits to her face.
“Of course, I did.”
“You don’t even know how to cook. I’m not stupid.”
“No, you’re not. I don’t know how to cook, but I had to learn to make this. I was up throughout the night making this, please have a bite.”
She took a piece of it and moved it closer to Arthur’s mouth, giving him a reassuring nod.
He threw his face to the side and pushed her hand away from him.
“What do you think you’re doing? You think this will move me into accepting you?”
“We can start from you ceasing to hate me. See…” She took a bite from the biscuit. “I didn’t do anything stupid. This is the sincere me, making efforts here. So please, have a taste and tell me how I did.”
She moved the bitten biscuit to his mouth, but Arthur wasn’t having it at all.
“I never asked you to do any of these. Leave.” He answered coldly, shifting his attention to his laptop.
“No, you didn’t.” She answered and heaved a deep sigh. She placed the biscuit back in the bowl and covered it.
“I’ll leave this here, okay? You can do whatever you please with it.” She added, moving away from his desk.
“You seem quite busy today, so I’m going to go. But know this… I’ll be back again.”
She placed the landline on the table and picked up her bag.
“Bye, handsome.” She uttered, finally making her way out of the office.
When he heard his office door open and close, he finally raised his head from his laptop. He stared at the door for a short while, before looking at the bowl of biscuits on his table again.
The aroma couldn’t stop escaping the bowl’s cover and penetrating his nostrils. ‘How come she made it smell the exact same way?’ He wondered, refusing to move his eyes off the bowl.
Just then, his stomach growled loudly, causing him to groan. He knew hunger was what made him so close to eating her biscuits.
‘I should get rid of it.’ He said to himself.
‘But she stayed up all night to make you these. Why would you want to waste it? What if it actually tastes good? You will never get the chance to know if you throw it away.’ Another part of him convinced him, making it impossible for him to resist any longer.
Without thinking further, he reached for the bowl and picked one piece of the biscuit. He hastily took a bite and dropped the rest in the bowl.
He began to chew and chew, and when the taste fully melted into his taste buds, his eyes widened in awe.
‘Delicious.’
It didn’t taste like Mama Fiona’s but it wasn’t so different. It was light, fluffy and milky.
“When did she become so good at cooking?” He thought out loud, picking the piece he had dropped so he could have another bite.
According to Carter, it was best for Aurora to completely leave the city if she wanted to get over Arthur easily.
Though she was reluctant to do this because of the boys, he convinced her that she could easily travel from the next city to see them.
Carter and Aurora started their journey to the next city to look for an apartment for her to live in.
While they went, Carter kept engaging her in interesting conversations so that she wouldn’t have to think about Arthur or pay attention to her heart ache.
They got to the first apartment and they were led inside to check it out.
“What do you think?” Carter asked, looking at her. The apartment was on the third floor, the living room was well furnished and it had large windows that made almost the whole city visible to her.
“The view is beautiful.” She uttered, staring out of the window.
“Will you get this then? Or should we check out more?” Carter asked, and she shook her head.
“I don’t think I want to stress myself over this. I should settle for this one. You like it too, don’t you?” Carter asked, and he smiled.
“Whether I like it or not doesn’t matter. This is about you, not anyone else. Your feelings should come first.” Carter answered.
She forced on a smile and nodded. “We’ll take this.” She said, turning to look at the agent that brought them.
After doing the necessary things, the Agent left. “Do you want me to stay with you longer? I wouldn’t want you to be alone now.” Carter uttered worriedly.
“Don’t worry about me, Carter. I’m an adult. Moreover, your boyfriend is waiting for you at home. I’ll be fine, trust me.”
Aurora embraced him and he planted a kiss on her forehead. “I love you, baby girl. Please be happy.” He uttered.
Aurora nodded as tears threatened to break out, but she fought it back. The last thing she wanted was to toe Carter down with her vulnerability.
“Won’t you get groceries though? The fridge is so empty.” Carter teased, causing her to laugh.
“Food doesn’t come with the house. I’ll go out to get groceries.” She answered him.
In the evening, Aurora headed to the elevator with bags of groceries in her hands. Hitting the hallway, she saw a man entering the elevator, and when he entered, he proceeded to press its button.
“Wait!” She yelled, running to the elevator. She was too exhausted to wait for the elevator to return.
The man heard her yell but he had pressed the button already. He hastily stopped the elevator with his hand, long enough for her to catch up.
She ran into the elevator panting very hard.
“Are you alright?” He asked worriedly, and she nodded, still breathing hard.
“Thank you so much.” She uttered, trying to catch her breath. He nodded slowly, still staring at her.
“Sorry. Are you the new neighbor? I haven’t seen you around before.” He answered.
“Yes, I just moved in here.” She responded, looking at him.
“That’s great. I’m Jack. Nice to meet you.” He uttered with a soft smile, stretching his hand out to her.
Aurora lifted her hand to give him a handshake, forgetting she was carrying grocery bags.
They both looked at the hand she raised up and broke into laughter.
“I’m sorry, I…”
“Let me help you with that.” He butted in, collecting all the bags from her.
Aurora let him have them, smiling shyly as he carried them elegantly and effortlessly.
“Aurora.” She said, making him look at her. “My name is Aurora.”