Darker And Devastated

5.

Iva Faith

He dragged me outside and then closed the door, letting go of my hand. As we come out of the apartment, I see Noah coming. He is reading a card in his hand and smiling. The shy smile of the teenager falling in love for the very first time. He is nowhere near the teenage, but his innocence from those years has not extinguished yet. And, That's a rare thing for people nowadays.

There is also a red bouquet in his hands. He smell them and close his eyes, letting the aroma get absorb in his memories.

"Let's go," Casper said, grabbing my hand again. He doesn't seem to be leaving me anytime soon, and it is ringing sirens of danger in my head.

His voice catches Noah's attention. He stops and narrows his eyes to see what is happening in front of him as the hallway is dark with only one faint light illuminate at the end of the passage.

Casper doesn't seem to recognize Noah or maybe he doesn't care as he walks me out of there. It takes a few moments and a little shortening of distance for Noah to recognize me but when he does, he runs towards me.

"Hey! Hey! Where are you taking her?" Noah says, freeing my arm from Casper's grasp and standing between us like a wall.

Casper scrutinises his gaze at him, staring him from head to toe. "Who the hell are you?" Casper asks, his sound rich in deep vibrating tone. It's like a hybrid sound of a human and an angry animal.

"I'm her boyfriend!" Noah retorts, not hesitating for a bit before lying with so much confidence.

Casper's expression changes from bored to angry. His eyebrows come closer as he narrows his eyes further. He is taller than Noah so he was able to look at me behind him. He clenches his jaw and a groaning kind of sound vibrated his throat and chest. He looks extremely displeased with Noah's statement.

"And why are you carrying my daughter? Give her to me." Noah says, extending his hands to grab Emma, and my heart almost drops into my stomach when he calls Emma his daughter.

Casper catches his wrist and bore holes in his head with his intense gaze. He twists Noah's arm, but Noah puts equal effort to resist so the end result is nill. 

"I am her father! Casper Lebron Bentley! And she is MY daughter Emma Bentley." Casper says through his clenched teeth.

Noah freezes upon hearing his name. He looks back at me and then at Casper and finally rests his gaze on me. "This guy?" He said. "What is he doing here?"

I have nothing to tell him so I stay quiet. "Iva? I'm asking you something." He says. "Is he hurting you?"

Casper pulls him away, grabbing his shirt. "She is still my wife and I won't allow you to come near to her."

Casper says.

Noah turns back, angrily. "Then, Where were you when she actually needed you, you bastard!"

My eyes grow wide hearing Noah cursing at Casper. I swear I anticipate a punch from Casper but surprisingly he stays relatively calm.

"Consider yourself lucky that I have my daughter resting on my shoulder, otherwise I would have told you how I treat people like you." Casper says, grabbing my hand.

Noah gets hold of my other hand and now I am being hold by both of them in the middle.

"Let go of her hand," Casper asks Noah in more like a threatening way.

"Make me." Noah challenges him. "I'm not giving up on her unlike you."

"Ask him to let you go in five seconds or else I will leave you here forever." Casper says to me and my mouth opens in terror. Noah seems content with it because he is unaware of the actual situation here.

"Let me go, Noah," I ask him, struggling to get my hand free from him.

"Do you want to go with him?" He asks with a sad look in his eyes.

"He is taking Emma with him. I have to go." I try to explain to him in the minimum words and time possible.

"3,"

Casper is counting the seconds.

"He can't. You are her mother." Noah argue.

"You are not understanding, Noah, please let go of me." I request him.

"2,"

"Ask me to leave you one more time if you really want to go and don't care if it breaks my heart or sends me back to the depression I have just recovered from." He says. I might have given it a thought or taken my time to make a decision but Casper is counting and it felt like a time bomb–one wrong decision and everything is ruined.

"1," Casper says, and without thinking for a moment I ask Noah to let me go.

A sad smile appears on his face as he let go of my hand and stepped back. I have never seen a man's eyes fill with tears faster than I saw Noah's. He gulps the lump in his throat and throw the bouquet in the trash bin, leaning back on the wall. Casper doesn't waste a moment there and walk out dragging me behind him. My eyes are on Noah. I never felt anything for him in a romantic way because I always considered him like a family, like a brother maybe. I neither flirted with him nor did I try to lead him into thinking of any such possibility.

But today I feel that he had an entirely different world built in his head and I crushed it just like how I do it with every beautiful thing.

I sit in the car like a dead person. Casper sat in the passenger seat, keeping Emma closer to his heart. Throughout the drive, I couldn't stop thinking about Noah and Grandma. They were the only people who helped me when I had none and see what I did to them in return.

I don't think anyone more horrific than me exists in the entire world.

The car stopped all of a sudden and I looked out. We were parked outside a huge entrance. I was so engrossed in my thoughts that I didn't even notice entering the driveway. Casper came out of the car and went inside, not even bothering to wait. The driver opened the door for me. I thanked him and went inside. I don't know if Casper lives here now or if he is here for a few days for business.

Clueless about where to go, I just followed where Casper went. The interior was blinding my eyes with the lights and shine. It gave me a headache. I saw the house and other people in uniform standing in front of Casper. They all looked happy.

"The princess's room is ready, sir." One of the ladies speaks.

"Good, but tonight she will sleep in my room," Casper said, walking past them.

"One more thing, sir." The same lady speaks.

Casper stops and looks at her. "What is it?"

"We couldn't set the other room as there were a–..."

"It's ok. You may go now." He cuts her off in the middle and dismisses them.

"You can sleep on the couch." He said to me, waving his hand in the direction of the couch.

"How can I? It's cold here." I tell him.

"So what? It's good that the cold will keep you awake, giving you an opportunity to ponder over the life choices that you made for yourself, giving no damn thought to how it would impact other people's lives." He said.

"Now try to have some sleep as you have to wake up early and there are a lot of things for you to do tomorrow. Rest is not going to be one of them. Also, peace and happiness are omitted."

"Welcome to hell, Iva Faith."
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Imma a generous writer when it comes to updating the chapters😌

Who is feeling bad for Noah?