Love Hates Me

THE LETTER

CHAPTER 9 : THE LETTER.

CEDRIC’S POV

I entered Brown Publishing house and was met with the receptionist, Kim. She gave me a huge smile and said, “Good Morning Mr. Wilson. How may I help you?” I returned her smile and said, “I wanted to see Emma.” I told her. “Ms. Brown is not here yet, would you please wait at her office.” I thanked her. “Sir, would you mind handing this to Ms. Brown,” she handed me a letter, “Ken told me that Ms. Brown would be really upset to see this letter and I am sure she won’t be thrilled that I am handing this letter to her.” I nodded and took the letter from her. I walked towards the elevator and then to Kathleen’s office. I was hesitant to open the door, yesterday was really awkward and I shouldn’t have said and done what I did but I couldn’t help it. I just thought of teasing her but it became really intense.

“Cedric? What are you doing here?” I heard Kathleen’s voice. I turned around and saw her standing in front of me. She was wearing a short white dress with red high heels and her hair was in a messy bun, with locks of hair falling on her eyes. The red lipstick highlighted her features making her skin glow and cheeks pink. She looked beautiful, she always does. “Good morning to you too, Kathleen.” I said with a smile. She forced a smile and walked past me into her office. I walked inside and saw her sitting at her desk. I walked towards her and handed her the letter Kim told me to. She gave me a questionable look.

“It’s for you.” I told her and she took the letter from me. She looked at the sender’s address and her eyes widened. She turned completely pale as if she had seen a ghost. She took a deep breath, tore the letter aggressively and tossed it in the bin. She took the glass of water and drank it in one go. “Are you okay?” She nodded. “Who gave you this letter?” She asked in a scary tone.

“What is the matter, Kathleen?” I softly asked. She gave me an irritated look. “Where did you get this letter from, Cedric?” She repeated in a tone which clearly stated how annoyed and angry she was. “Is everything okay?” I asked, my voice filled with concern. She huffed. “I’m sure the answer to my question is not another question. So, I’m once again going to ask, where the fuck did you get this letter from, Cedric?!” She shouted. I looked at her hands and she held the chair so tightly that her knuckles turned white. “From Kim.”

“Who the fuck is Kim now?” She asked. I gave her a look. She arched her eyebrows. “Your receptionist, god damn it.” I said, running a hand through my hair. She started walking towards the door. I went and stood in front of the door, blocking her way out. “You are not going anywhere.” I told her for which I received a deadly glare. “Excuse me? I don’t need your permission.” I kept quiet and just stood there. “Move Cedric.” I took a deep breath and said, “I won’t.”

“Cedric, please.” She was tired of arguing, I could feel that. She was not at all in the mood but I couldn’t let her just go there and shout at someone who is not at fault because that is not who Emma is so I just stood there without moving even an inch. “I’m not at all in the mood for this Cedric.”

“Just listen to me once, Kathleen. If you go out there, you will do something you regret and you don’t want that.” I told her but she straightened herself, looked directly at my eyes and said, “I will not regret anything and Kim-“

“Did Kim write the letter or did she send it to you?” I know she hates when someone interrupts her but I couldn’t help she needs to hear this, “Why will you punish her?” She looked at me. “Just sit down.” I told her and she turned around and walked towards the couch. I filled a glass of water and handed it to her. “Thank you.” She said and took a sip of water. Her hand went to her forehead and she seemed really irritated. “They are correct, everyone is, nothing can go right without Ken. If he was here, this letter would have never reached me.” She suddenly stopped talking and her eyes widened. “Shit. I uh I have to go. Oh my god, I can’t let that happen.” She started muttering to herself. I looked at her fingers and it was trembling. I held her hand and looked straight at her eyes. “Would you just relax and sit for a minute?” I told her.

“I can’t. I just can’t.” I started rubbing circles on her wrist with my fingers to calm her down. “You have to.” She held my hand tighter and I could feel her nails digging into my skin. “Cedric, you don’t understand. If I received this letter that means Taylor or Olivia might have also received it. And I can’t let that happen. I just can’t. I have to contact Ken.” She dropped my hand and went to her desk to take her phone. I went towards her and took the phone from him. “Don’t call Ken. I will handle everything.” She shook her head. “How will you handle everything? You don’t even know anything and you-“

“I will.” I said with assurance. “Cedric you won’t be able to.” I held her shoulders and walked towards the couch and made her sit there. I bent on my knees so that I was face to face with her. “Trust me, Kathleen. I will.” She had her thinking face on. “Okay but if something happens then-“

“I will take care of everything.” I said with confidence. I don’t even know what to do or how to do it but I will figure something out. “Thank you Cedric.” She said, genuinely. “Yes.” I gave her a small smile and started going towards the door. The first thing I did after getting out of the office was call Ken.

“Hello Ken. How is your mother now?” I asked him. “She’s fine now, Mr. Wilson. Thank you for asking.” He said. “I am so sorry for calling you at such a time but I need your help with something.” I told him everything that happened. “There is no need to worry about it, Mr. Wilson. When Kim called me this morning I already checked whether Mr Brown or Ms. Brown received any kind of communication from the said sender. And everything is clear. There was only one letter which was sent to the publishing house and that is it. So there is actually nothing to worry about. But I’ll check once again and get back to you.” I thanked him and went to get coffee for Emma. She will need it.

I reached the coffee shop and waited there to hear from Ken again. I don’t understand what happened. Who was this person that made Emma feel this way? I received a call from Ken around half an hour later and he told me that everything was clear. I took the coffee and drove back to the publishing house. I reached Emma’s office and knocked on the door. “Come in.” She said. I opened the door and entered.

“Hello again, Kathy.” I said with a huge smile on my face. She jumped up from her chair and walked towards me. “Did you check the mailbox? Was there any letter? And if there was did you tear it, burn it or misplaced it? Cedric, answer me!” I was just standing there, smiling at her. This girl is one in a million, I have never met someone like her.  “Geez, one question at a time. And I called Ken and he had already done everything that was necessary before I told him. And he also rechecked after my call. So everything is clear Ms. Brown.” I told her. Her body relaxed and the tension in her eyes vanished. “Thank you so much Cedric.” She said with a genuine smile and wrapped her arms around me. I stiffened, the smell of lavender reached my nostrils and it took me straight to that night. She took a step back and I took a deep breath, I could still smell the lavender, and the memories of that day cake flashing back. “Let’s go and eat something.” I told her.

“Can’t. I have a lot of work to do. I will just order something.” She told me, getting back to her desk. I went towards her. “No. You are taking a break. Let’s go.” I told her and she looked at me. “Well, I can manage a short break.” She said and we went to a small restaurant nearby, I have been here a number of times. I like the vibe of this place and I know what’s the best here so I ordered that for Emma.

After a while the food we ordered came. I took the serving spoon and was trying to serve Kathleen, but half of it fell on the table. Emma started laughing loudly. I missed this laugh, a smile automatically crept on my face. “Uh Cedric. I’ll do it.” She said, her laughter dying but I could still feel it ringing in my ears.

“I was waiting for you to say that.” I told her, she took the food from me and served it to us. “What is this?” She said, looking at the food on her plate. “Try it.” She shook her head. “I will just order noodles.” I took a bite. “Oh come on, Kathy.” I looked at her with my puppy dog eyes. She rolled her eyes and took a bite, her expression immediately changed. “Well?” She looked at me and said, “This really tastes amazing.” I just shrugged and she rolled her eyes at that. She took another bite and said, “I should really go and eat more often with you.” She picked up her phone and was looking at something when I snatched it from her. She gave me a look and said, “Give me my phone back, Cedric.” I just shook my head. “You shouldn’t use your phone when you are with someone.” I told her.

“Excuse me?” She said, snatching her phone from me. She kept the phone on the table. “I can do whatever I want to do.” she said.

“Live in the moment, sweetheart.” I told her for which I received a look which I completely ignored. “Okay so tell me. What was the first thing you noticed about me.” I asked her, I don’t know why. I guess it’s because I wanted to know if she remembers it at all. “What? Are we playing twenty questions shit, now.” She said, picking up the glass of water.

“No, we aren’t playing any games. It is just a simple question, answer it.” She looked at me and said, “Your eyes.” Your eyes are beautiful. Does she actually remember that day? But if she does why hasn’t she mentioned it. She snapped her fingers in front of me, “what are you thinking?” I shook my head. “What about you?”

“You can’t sing.” I said, remembering that day like it was yesterday. I can still remember every detail, all the things I felt that day and how those feelings resurfaced when I saw her at that party again. “Sing?” She asked, completely clueless. She doesn’t remember. “I have never sung in front of you.” I drank a sip of water and said, “I meant dance.” She can dance perfectly but I didn’t know what else to say. She raised her eyebrows “What? I can’t dance, you can’t dance. Ask Liam, I was a pro at dancing in my college.” I chuckled. “Well, I am sure I wouldn’t ask Liam. So you can lie as much as you want, sweetheart.” I’m shocked Liam didn’t even mention that night to her, maybe he didn’t want to. He never wanted any of his friends to know he had siblings. “I’m sorry, I didn’t realise.” She said, uncomfortably.

“It’s fine. Brothers fight sometimes. And for us the sometimes is replaced with always.” I told her with a huge smile. “I never knew that Liam had a brother.” She said, fidgeting with her rings. “Neither did I, Kathleen.” I said.

“Shut up, Cedric.” She said, rolling her eyes. I just laughed it off. “By the way, we are seeing The Notebook today.” I told her and she gave me a confused look. “What, why?”

“Because you haven’t. And Taylor and Rachel are going out-“

“Rach and Taylor are going out together?” I vigorously shook my head. “No! Why would they go together? Rachel is going somewhere else and Taylor is going somewhere completely else.”

“And how do you know that?”

“Are we playing twenty questions?” I said, mocking her, “We are watching the movie tonight.”