Before Take Off

29. you haven't seen him?

I wasn't going to update this quick buttt tysm for all the comments on the 28th chapter! You made my day so I thought, why wait? Enjoy!

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A love never dies a natural death. It dies of misunderstandings and wrong timings and weariness. It dies in a few seconds; when you are finally there for her, but she has already given up on you.

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Ayla's POV:

After checking my appearance one last time at the mirror, I finally stepped outside of the flat, closing the front door shut behind me. I was dressed in a quite cozy sweatshirt and a pair of black shorts; I was ready to face the breezy summer day in London.

Taking a shower had done its trick and I wasn't feeling upset over Lewis's earlier ungracious behavior towards me. He wasn't the faulty one, but I was since I had been banking on him to cease my agony with his witty and humorous personality. But I had never thought that maybe he was also hurting deep down, maybe he was also fighting his own inner demons during the day and the night.

At the end of the day, I thought to myself as I leisurely strolled towards Lewis's café-pub, it's a good thing that I'm leaving tomorrow. I won't be subconsciously trying to replace Coen with Lewis anymore.

I entered the place without hesitation since I had become familiar with it by now. I darted my eyes around once I was inside to spot a familiar face but all I could see was strangers with flushed cheeks and long tipped noses, enjoying their brunch. I could also recognize Rosie in a far corner, rocking the perfect sweetheart waitress look as she served soup and bread to an elderly couple. But hers wasn't a friendly face either so after shotting her a feigned smile, I just walked past the customers and entered the kitchen.

"Orders of table two and six are almost up Ro-" Jaime started off but stopped abruptly when he noticed that it wasn't Rosie that was standing at the entrance of the kitchen. A surprised expression swept across his chiseled face once he set his eyes on me, but after a short while he replaced it with his usual loose grin. "Cheers," He nodded at me in acknowledgement. "Heard that you're leaving us tomorrow. Why so eager, I thought that we were going to be colleagues."

I returned his smile with a lopsided grin as he held his chest and groaned with exaggeration. "You're always welcome to join me Jaime. I could use a friendly face and goofiness in my life you know."

Jaime stepped forward before winking at me and reaching out to ruffle my hair. "You must be the worst traveler ever to push away the perfect opportunity of free food, free rides, a free roof over your head and a free, marvellous art piece in front of your eyes to enjoy." He smirked down at me, pointing at himself. "Right?"

I raised my eyebrows as I gave him the once-over, tilting my head slightly to my right and squinting my eyes in a judging manner. "Well..." I started but Jaime lightly punched at my shoulder, stopping me midsentence.

"I know that you prefer the slightly taller blondie over me, but I promise you," He leaned in closer and whispered in my ear, his Italian accent faintly perceivable. "Mine is bigger."

Ew! I pushed him away, gaping at his bluntness. "Gross! And here I was thinking that you were a much more decent human being Jaime!"

Jaime raised his eyebrows and blinked his chocolate brown eyes innocently for a couple of times, but a mischievous smirk was playing across his lips, giving him away. "Well, I'm talking about my big heart. Why, what did you understand?"

I rolled my eyes at him before pulling out the tickets of the comedy play from the back pocket of my shorts and handing them to him. "I've already told Rosie and Lewis about the play but haven't got the chance to mention it to you. Irene invites us to this play this evening. I suppose her boyfriend's colleagues are organizing the event. And they're going to celebrate-"

"Rachel's birthday afterwards," He cut in, completing my sentence. I nodded at him when our eyes met. "Lewis has already informed me this morning. But I think it's better if you keep the tickets since I'm a bit infamous for losing this kind of stuff."

"Fair enough," I told him and flashed a knowing grin before turning back on my heels to get on with the rest of the day. I was about to reach for the door handle when I couldn't get a hold of my curiosity and swivelled on my spot once again. I slightly craned my neck in order to stare directly into Jaime's eyes. "Have you seen uh...Lewis? He told me that he was coming here this morning."

Jaime scratched his head in an unusually tense manner. "Yeah, he dropped by, but left about half an hour ago. He's taking the day off. I thought that maybe he was heading back home to spend some more time with you." He replied, but it sounded more like a question than a statement. "You haven't seen him at the apartment?"

I couldn't help myself but feel a bit heartbroken after Jaime's words. Did he lie to me this morning? Just to get rid of me as quickly as possible after last night? I suddenly felt queasy and leaned against the door frame, grabbing the door handle firmly in my hand until my knuckles went white.

Jaime was watching my sudden mood shift with concerned eyes as he picked on his fingernails nervously. "How was he doing?" I questioned, forcing myself to compose words.

Jaime took a step forward to hold me since probably my emotions were fully noticeable on my face, but I extended my hand to stop him. I wasn't weak, I wasn't going to get affected by people any longer. It was impossible since I wouldn't let myself trust to someone else anymore. Right?

But a faint voice in my head kept on telling me otherwise. It kept on whispering to me that nobody could change over a week, that I was still the same old gullible, inexperienced girl who was anxiously thumping her foot up and down at the airport since she was too much of a coward to purchase a plane ticket out of her country.

Jaime scurried to the fridge and grabbed a cool, sparkling water bottle. "Ayla, all the color has drained from your face. Okay, I'm not touching you but for my sake, would you please sit down and drink some water?"

His voice was reaching to my ears from far, far away as my mind went back to last night.

Last night was still more than necessarily vivid on my mind. I could still feel his greedy lips pressing against mine, his compelling hazel eyes that were locked onto mine, imprisoning them, his dazzling crooked smile dangling at one corner of his mouth. I could still feel his cold, strong fingers pressing against my skin as he hungrily stripped off my hoodie and my shirt. I could still sense his warm breath brushing against my skin as he held my hair in his tenacious grip, slightly inclining my head to expose my delicate neck. I could still feel him on me, under me, inside of me.

But apparently, I was horribly mistaken about Lewis's true personality. I wanted to believe that he had the biggest heart that was terribly damaged somehow, shattered into pieces deep down somewhere. I wanted to believe that he resembled me somehow; alone, hurt, afraid. I had been such a fool, playing Polyanna, pretending as if I knew him as if everything off about him had a logical explanation.

However, at the end of the day, Lewis Hawthorne was a complete stranger to me. A foreigner that I met a couple of days ago, who managed to trick me into sleeping with him.

I felt a sudden longing of my native language, of my own home and my own bed which, when you lie down, you could watch the blue, cloudless sky from the skylight above it. My own bed that I used to doze off to sleep in his tight, reassuring embrace. I felt my heart sank with a sudden yearning of his golden hair and bright blue eyes. I will always remember Coen with his twinkling, joyful eyes. Not with the dull, blue emptiness that took away his radiant, contagious smile from his lips.

"I'm s-sorry," I stuttered before opening the door and almost colliding into Rosie, who was about to enter the kitchen, trying to balance a couple of plates in her hands.

"What's up with the Dutch girl?" I heard her question as I strode towards the entrance of the café and finally letting myself out into the street.

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I'm sorry guys this is a shorter chapter. I guess. Anyway, buckle up after this one! I'll be introducing a new character in the next chapter hehe! Let me know what you think of the story so far! (andpleasevotemaybe?) :) Love you -Cina