The Perfect Lie

Chapter 4

December 2004, NYU

Chanty almost jumped off the bench she was sitting on when Liam hopped out of nowhere and sat down beside her.

“Waiting for your loser boyfriend?”

“Cameron’s not a loser and please get out of my sight.”

“What are you doing?” he moved his head closer to take a look at what she was writing. “Is it a diary?” he asked with a laugh.

“No,” she lied.

“Anything about me?”

“Not a line,” she snapped, closed her diary, stood up and walked away, hearing his laughter behind her.

2013

Chanty walked around her table and to the door. Angelica’s mouth was hanging open in shock. Her friend was the only person left standing there outside her door.

“Not now, Ange,” she said before slamming the door. She whirled around and faced Liam. “Liam, let me explain--”

“I want to see my son now, Chanty.”

“No!” she cried out. “I mean, no, you can’t because--”

“Why? You think I am not worth it?” he asked, his expression hurt. “God, Chanty! What the hell got into you? You could have just told me years ago!”

Okay, so Liam was now pacing around her office and she couldn’t tell him she just told a freaking lie because he was not giving her the chance to finish a sentence.

“I can’t believe this…” he uttered as he walked back to the seat he vacated and sat down. Okay, this was probably the right timing. But before she could say the truth, something occurred to her and she hesitated.

She couldn’t let Cameron have Willie. If Liam would know that Willie’s not his son, he might not cooperate with her lie. Cameron was a lawyer. And he was freaking talking about tests! And if he found out she lied, it would be a bad case against her in court. Maybe, just maybe, if she could prove that Willie was Liam’s son, Cameron would be gone--forever.

But she couldn’t lie to Willie. What would she tell her son?

“You need to make this right, Chanty,” Liam uttered.

Before she could answer, Angelica’s voice spoke behind them, “You two have a lot of explaining to do.” Of course, she should know that her friend would never wait for the right moment.

“I’ll leave this one to you,” Liam still seemed to be in a daze as he said that and walked out without another word.

“Well?” Angelica was looking at her with a smile.

Chanty was still trying to formulate a statement in her mind about the lie but Angelica was already jumping with excitement.

“You wicked girl! Why didn’t you tell me?! Why the hell did you keep it a secret all this time?!” Angelica cried out and Chanty was lost for words.

Her friend did not even wait for her to answer because she was already attacking her phone saying, “We should do something about this, Chanty. This can get messy. Cameron is crazy to do that and…”

Chanty was no longer listening. Chanty was not sure how everything happened. She was in her own confused world, just watching Angelica start to talk on the phone in her rapid voice. Liam was nowhere in sight. She was also aware that Pete was gaping at here about fifteen meters away with Kara beside him. It was only when Angelica placed her phone back in her bag and pulled her out of her office that she became aware that everyone heard the commotion earlier. She was not just sure how much everyone heard.