Red Princess

71. Act of True Love

It's strange.

He turned his wrist over and read the time. "It's five already. Do you want to get some breakfast?"

"What healthy food outlet would be open right now?"

"My Dad's kitchen. I wouldn't call it food, but whatever he makes should be healthy. It sure isn't tasty."

"Is that where you learned your culinary arts?"

"Bleh bleh bleh bleh bleh." He made a silly, distorted face at me as he tapped his fingers together against his thumb in the air, making my gut wrench with the laughter that followed. I found tears collecting in the corner of my eyes as I gasped for air while he frowned. He reminded me so much of Griffin. "Do you want it or not? I would be super delighted to leave you behind."

"I am coming!" I hopped back into the car with him, and he took off.

Now that I had sobered up a little, I could enjoy the scenery on the way back. Something still throbbed in the back of my head, but the cool and fresh morning air was enough to make me ignore it. My thoughts wandered off to Kaidon, and as if on cue, my phone lit up with his face.

I got that picture with him on an earlier mission together where I had pretended to be a pregnant woman. I took pictures with him on my phone while we tried to keep an eye on Iredov. Kaidon seemed to have forgotten everything about it, but I kept one of them. It was the only picture he was smiling in. His face was turned to me while I posed to the camera with a victory sign. His lips didn't exactly curl up into a smile, but the gaze he held was a happy one. His eyes were devoid of any scowl, and his face looked relaxed.

Perhaps that was how he had looked at Alice before. Perhaps she was who he saw when looking at me back then.

I still cherished that picture for some reason and added it to his contact name on my phone. I stared at his face for a moment, absentmindedly hearing my ringtone.

"You're not gonna pick it up?" Only when he opened his mouth did I realise I was together with Alex. Kaidon and I hadn't talked since that day- since Sey broke up with me. Even though I moved into his place, we avoided each other. Perhaps I was just feeding myself a lie, but I still believed I was important enough for him to avoid me. That's the thing about being significant in someone's life, for the better or worse. When you don't matter to someone, they won't acknowledge your presence. But when you become a part of someone's life, they'll make every effort to either come to you or run away from you.

We seemed to be doing the latter earlier, but something about this phone call seemed unusual. If I decided to pick up, I couldn't avoid him any longer. The dynamic of our relationship would shift.

I slid my finger on the screen to receive the call and put it to my ear. Neither did he greet me, nor did I open my mouth. The world passed me by, but everything seemed to be blurring. All I could hear was the soft sound of his breathing. I craved listening to his voice. I wanted him to apologise to me. I yearned for him to look in my way again like that.

I needed him. I needed him to take the first step. So I continued my protest in silence.

After a long pause that seemed to stretch out forever, I finally heard him sigh on the line, and I waited.

"Where are you?"

It was five in the morning. The party disbanded like two hours ago. We had the day off later. He'd had as many drinks as I had the night before. There was no reason for him to be awake. Yet, here he was, eyes wide open, asking me about my whereabouts.

"With Alex."

It wasn't an apology. So, I didn't give him more than he asked for.

"When will you be coming back?"