WITH YOU- I Never Had A Choice ✔️

CHAPTER FIFTY SEVEN

"I think you are overreacting."

I stare at him perplexed at his choice of words. "What?! Dylan, she is my family, my sister. You are accusing my sister of doing something this disgusting. I can't even look at you right now." I say and turn around on my heels. Bear follows me as I enter the living room from the backyard.

"Where are you going? Olivia! Olivia! Avery!!!" Dylan shouts my name and storms into the room behind me. I grab my car keys from the centre table and pick up Bear in my arms.

I turn towards the door and without looking at him, I say, "Don't come after me. I need to go away from you for a while." With that, I exit. I hear Dylan calling my name but I ignore.

I get into my car. I see Rob and Jason getting into their car too. I pull out my phone and dial my uncle's number, he doesn't pick up, nor does my aunt. I silent the phone and grip the steering and let out a frustrated huff.

******

"This looks so good!" I exclaim, looking at the waterfall that Diana is painting. She looks much better now. Although she didn't gain back any pounds that she lost she doesn't seem to have lost more. Her cheeks aren't as sunken as they were. There is a mark of illness but everything fails to guard her because of her jolly, optimistic attitude.

"Thank you, honey, " she says and goes on to paint the luscious green cover around the blue sparkly water of the fall.

"I didn't know you painted. What do you paint usually?" I ask as I lean back against the pillars on the porch. I am sitting on the wooden railing facing Diana while she is facing the green yard while painting on her canvas. Bear is in the yard, playing with his ball and chasing the butterflies whenever he sees one.

"Landscapes, stationary objects, and my personal favourite, my husband, " she beams up at the mention of Jack.

"Wow!" I say, impressed.

"Do you want to see a picture of your father-in-law that I painted?" I nod eagerly. "Honey!" She calls loudly, twice.

He peeps his head through the glass doors and answers, "Yeah?"

"Can you bring that fruity picture I painted of you? I wanna show Avery, " Diana says.

He purses his lips and narrows his eyes then mutters, "Piss off!", and goes away. Diana bursts out into hysterical laughter. I let out a little giggle at his reaction and guessing what the picture might have been. Knowing Diana, I can assure myself that I don't want to see that painting.

Minutes later, Jack comes out onto the porch and towards us. Diana immediately takes the opportunity to mock him. "Aww, my teddy bear, " she says in a baby voice, making me giggle. Jack rolls his eyes at her but I don't miss the small smile tugging at the corner of his lips. He adores Diana.

Bringing his attention to me, he holds out the phone for me, "Avery, Dylan's on the phone." I fight back the urge to roll my eyes. He surely thinks calling me here would get me to talk to him. He knows very well I won't refuse to talk if he calls me in front of his parents. I am so done.

However, I smile warmly at Jack and take the phone from his hand. then muttering a little 'excuse me', I walk up to the far corner and press the phone to my ear. "Hello?" I say into the receiver.

"Why aren't you picking up your phone?" I hear Dylan's voice, filled with worry.

"Must be silent. Why did you call?" He was calling a lot of times. Although my phone was silent, I decided the put it away in the purse to avoid the disturbance. If I dodge his calls in front of Diana and Jack, they might get suspicious. And Diana doesn't even know about yesterday's attack.

"I am sorry, " he says making me sigh.

"Can you wait till I come back please?"

"Yes, sure. Are you coming right now?" he asks.

"Not now. I told you I need some time, " I tell him. I still can't get over the fact that he thinks my sister is the culprit even though I've assured him that she is not. I feel bad that he thinks so low about my family.

"It's been 2 hours."

"Still not enough. Don't worry I'll be back. I won't run away. I don't want you to call me a murderer or a druggist." I snap and disconnect the call. Dylan knows better than to call me up again and I prefer to stay as far away from him as possible right now.

I walk back to Diana. Jack has already gone back into the house. I keep the phone down and hop on the railing when she asks, "Is everything okay, honey?"

"Yeah, everything is fine."

"Honey, you don't have to hide anything from me."

"I promise it is nothing." I give her a reassuring not and the most realistic smile I could muster.

"Pinky promise on our friendship?" she says holding out her pinky finger. Diana being so childish explains many of Dylan's actions. I sigh heavily. she pulls down her hand and asks, "What happened?" with a serious expression on her face.

"We fought. Dylan kept some things from me that he shouldn't have. And we didn't agree on a few things" I shrug trying to make it look nonchalant and vague.

She purses her lips then smile a little. "Even after thirty years of marriage, Jack and I still do not agree on a lot of things. Arguments will happen, fights will happen. You will get mad, shout at each other but at the end of the day, it is about understanding and holding onto the person that you love." I look up at her thinking about what she just said. A small smile touches my lips. The person that I love, my husband, my Dylan.

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HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!!!

It is already past 12 here, so it's no more valentine's day but we can celebrate that every day, can't we?

So my sweet potatoes, always remember, I love you. You are my motivation and I can never thank you enough.

Nighty night 🌟