The Perfect Lie

Chapter 24

January, 2008, NYU

Chanty watched as Cameron jumped out of bed and started dressing up.

“Where are you going?” she asked.

“I need to do something.”

“It’s a Sunday. What could you be doing on a Sunday?” she whined.

“Just stuff.”

Just stuff.

That was what he had always been telling her.

Just stuff.

When he was gone, Chanty dressed up and started cleaning the apartment.

She was in the middle of washing the dishes when Zach’s call came in.

“Hey! Chanty! Angelica and Liam and I are going out tonight. Wanna come along?”

She looked at the clock. It was nearly midnight and Cameron had not sent her any messages.

“Okay, fine. Tell Ange to pick me up.”

 

2013

Chanty’s confidence to go on with her plans was slowly ebbing away as Liam continued to ignore her presence even after they arrived at the lodge.

The lodge was owned by Angelica and Henry and they would often go there for a few days if they wanted some time alone from the city. Most of the time, it was Henry’s choice and Angelica would just tag along knowing her husband would make a big fuss if she would suggest anything extravagant.

Willie had been there once and he had always begged Chanty to go back, claiming he had not collected enough bugs for his collection.

The place did not offer much space for two people such as herself and Liam to roam around and not bump into each other. It was a one-bedroom lodge with a small living room with a fireplace and a kitchen all rolled into one. It was made up of wood and large stones, located just outside the town where Angelica and Henry once spent days for a short getaway.

There was a small backyard that connected to a nearby stream. It was where Liam decided to spend the rest of the afternoon before the sun began to set behind the distant mountains.

Willie had gone to bed earlier than expected after roaming around the backyard looking for bugs with Liam’s help.

She expected her son to wake up soon for dinner which she had not planned for, which was another problem.

She took a step toward the picnic table Liam was sitting on beside the stream. He was facing away from her, bent on his computer.

But she thought making a fantastic dinner would be a good idea to somehow get Liam’s attention. He would not surely ignore her fairly good cooking skills.

So Chanty stepped back and started her own work in the kitchen and as she did so, she wished she had taken Liam here weeks ago, when everything was still okay.

Regret should be out of the picture, she thought.

Now that she had driven Liam away, she had to face the consequences and make it up to him not just because she made a mistake, but because she finally realized she wanted to know what they could be together without the lies and the reservations. She wanted to know if another chance would give her the chance she had always wanted to be happy.

Yes, stupid of her to realize it quite too late. If she could just turn back time and return to NYU, she would have given Liam more attention. She should have dumped Cameron sooner and she might probably be having the best time of her life right now.