For a change I am going to be writing in no person's POV.
Ryxel listened carefully as Caramel stated her fear of relationships. But what was he going to do about it anyway? Despite his power and influential self this was beyond his power. And she did not stop at only that statement. She narrated further but when it seemed like Ryxel was not interested in her conversation she withdrew.
"I want to rest." She plainly said as if disappointed that he was not paying attention to her.
At this time, they were sitted on the floor. Caramel's back on the wall and Ryxel was sitted opposite her.
"Let's go rest." He said absent mindedly.
It was now confirmed that he was not interested and was not even paying attention at all. And Caramel felt her heart drop with disappointment.
"I was so stupid I expected him to listen to my boring messy life." Karmale thought to herself as Ryxel dragged her behind him their pinky fingers entwined.
She lay down and before he could lay down next to her, she turned to the other side. Nevertheless, he lay next to her and placed his hand around her waist. She turned to face him but that was only to remove his hand from around her waist. But he just tightened his grip and pulled her closer to his chest. She pulled away from his chest but didn't struggle with his hand.
" I guess he is waiting for me to sleep and he will leave. I will wake up when he has ran away. No one wants a person with a messed up life. A person who fears relationships. And most so not for silly reasons like mine." She thought to herself.
"What are you thinking about, Caramel?" Ryxel asked his eyes closed.
"You are not letting me sleep." He complained.
"Ryxel?"
"Mmm." He answered.
"How about you just leave now?" She suggested.
She was not shouting like earlier. She was calmly suggesting. But her suggestion was mean. It sounded like a polite way of saying ' Just leave already, Ryxel! I know you are pretending and hate my messy life. Run away already and save me from hoping that you are here for me." But she did not say it out loud.
"I told you earlier that I don't intend on leaving." He said his eyes still closed.
"So, Caramel can you fucking sleep?" He said impatiently.
Karmale shifted trying to loosen herself from his hold but he could not burge. She kept on turning in all sides but he couldn't let go.
"It's only three in the morning. So can you fucking sleep, Caramel?"
"I cannot sleep, Ryxel." Karmale said.
"Me neither and it's because you have fucking failed to choose which position you want to sleep in." He said his eyes now open.
"No, it's not that."
"Then choose your sleeping position."
"No, you choose for me."
"Come closer, Caramel."
She moved in a little.
"To my chest." He said pulling her closer and taking her by surprise her hands travelling to his bare chest.
"Now stop thinking about whatever it is that is fucking bothering you and go to sleep."
"By morning, he is going to be gone. So why the concern now."
"Don't think about it, Caramel. Just sleep." He said and peeked her hair taking in her vanilla scent.
A tear rolled down her left cheek falling on the sheets and being erased by them.
I wish you could not pretend and leave me right now while I am awake. Do not give me hope now and I wake up to an empty side in the morning, Ryxel. Just leave!
For the last time she struggled to get out of his strong hold.
"Come on, Caramel! We already fucking negotiated. Sleep 'cause i am not letting go. In the same way I am not leaving if that is what you are going to ask me to do."
He is lying. I could bet on it that at first cockcrow, he is not going to be in this bed. I can bet on it.
Another tear rolled down her left cheek.
After a while, Ryxel was fast asleep but Karmale was not. She was scared Ryxel was going to leave her. She would rather not sleep and keep him in her sight than sleep next to him and wake up when he is gone.
But no! I don't need him. I have been on my own for long enough. I am so used to it. I don't need anyone. Especially not Ryxel Grande Black. No! I don't need his company. I can be on my own. I can pick up my own broken pieces. No! Actually I am not broken. My so called family just doesn't deserve me. I am not going there. And for Ryxel, let him leave if he wants to. I don't care! But for now let me enjoy the moment while it lasts.
She said to her self and let her tears and Ryxel's cologne be her blanket.
9:00am (Christmas morning)
Karmale woke up to an empty side like she had betted it would be. But what she didn't expect was the great disappointment she felt.
Why didn't he prove me wrong?
She got up from bed after bargaining. She did her morning routine and got out of the bathroom.
Knock knock.
" I am not expecting anyone." She wondered to herself.
On opening the door, there stood a blonde pretty girl. She was fairly tall and plump. Her cheeks flashed red with adorable cuteness.
"Michelle?" She asked surprised.
"What's surprising?" Michelle asked as she walked in.
"Michelle--- Come here." Karmale pulled her young sister into a hug.
"Please don't kill me." Michelle pleaded in the hug.
"I am not going to kill you but your mother surely is going to kill the both of us."
"Our mother." She said emphasing the our.
"Whatever." Karmale said dismissively.
"So, how did you get here?" Karmale asked.
"By bus. You are quite famous here. So getting to your apartment was a piece of cake for me." Michelle answered.
"Okaaaay. Who paid for your bus fare?"
"I did. I have been saving up money for this day."
"If you knew that you would have to come over here for festive season then why were you trying so hard to convince me over the phone?" Karmale asked.
"Had I almost convinced YOU?" Michelle asked excitedly.
"No, hun." Karmale replied with a smirk.
"Then I am glad I came over." She shrugged.
"And I am happy to have you over." She smiled warmly hugging her young sister again.
"Am starving, K." Michelle said in the hug.
"I know but I have to first get dressed." She said looking at her bath robe.
"Okay, let's go." Michelle said enthusiastically.
"Are you going to follow me to the bathroom?" Karmale asked with raised brows.
"Nooooooo!" emphasised Michelle as if it was a despicable thing to do.
"Then sit in the living room and wait for me."
"No, K. I want to see your perfume collection. You smell of expensive masculine cologne and I love it."
"Ryxel." Karmale whispered.
"Did you say something, K?"
"No, just come with me."
They entered the bedroom and Michelle started looking for the perfume bottle but couldn't find it.
"K? Where is it?"
"Where is what, Michelle?" She asked from the bathroom.
"The expensive perfume!" She answered in a duh voice.
"Keep looking. You will find it." She called back with a light chuckle.
"Not funny, Karmale."
"K?"
"Have you found it?"
"No. But I found something better."
"What?"
"A sticky note."
That must be from the bears Ryxel gave me last time.
"Drop it in the can!" Karmale shouted.
"No, I won't. Especially if it talks about food."
Karmale came out of her bathroom in a pair of blue jeans, a cream sweater and bathroom slippers.
"Food?" She asked.
"Yeah! And it also explains the expensive masculine cologne." Michelle smiled in a devilish way as if asking her sister to tell her everything.
"Just bring it here, Michelle." Karmale tried to grab the sticky but Michelle was as fast as lightning when removing it.
*Michelle clears throat*
"Caramel, go to the kitchen and have breakfast. Ryxel Grande Black."
"Who is he, K? Your boyfriend?"
"Nooooooo!"
"Someone is in denial." Michelle teased.
"No, Michelle. He isn't."
"Then is he your daddy? His words look authoritative."
"The word is father not daddy, Michelle."
"Isn't their meaning the same? Michelle asked obviously ignorant.
"Never mind, Michelle."
"Okay." She shrugged leaving the topic.
"But how come you are not having problems with how authoritative this is?" She said raising the sticky note.
"Let's go to the kitchen." Karmale said dismissing the topic.
"He has a nice handwriting and dreamy perfume. I bet his cooking is just as perfect." Michelle complimented as they walked to the kitchen.
Karmale was quiet and lost in thought.
"Wow! This is too good." Michelle said already stuffing herself with food.
"K, why aren't you eating?" Michelle said with a mouthful.
"I am not hungry." She said still in thought.
Hmmn... so the gentleman had to cook in order to give his proper goodbyes. Okaaaay!
"You are not hungry? K, Stop lying. Every normal human being is hungry in the morning. So start eating before I finish the food."
"Leave my food alone, you food monster." Karmale said playfully pulling the plate away from Michelle.
"I thought you were not hungry." Michelle said laughing with her mouth wide open showing the food in her mouth.
"Eeeww, Michelle. Disgusting!" Karmale laughed.
Michelle laughed as well. Her laughter even louder than Karmale's. It was a distraction to get the plate of food from her but Karmale noticed. So they started fighting for the food. Michelle pulled the plate and Karmale did the same. Then Michelle pulled it again. Karmale also pulled again. They pulled and pulled. Till Michelle knocked the glass of juice which poured in the plate of food Karmale was holding to herself and due to anger, Karmale dropped the plate.
"What the hell is wrong with you, Michelle? Couldn't you understand a word as simple as 'my'? I told you that it was my food. But you just had to fight for it." Karmale was shouting with a lot of unexpected anger.
"I am sorry, K. You are the one who has always taught me to share." Michelle said almost crying.
Karmale just looked at her angrily as if she would slap her anytime.
"K, I guess I read the sticky but I did not realise how pretty specific it was. It was addressed to 'Caramel' not me. I am sorry, K." Michelle apologised.
The anger in Karmale's eyes became regret.
Why did I shout at my little sister? For food made by a man who means totally nothing to me and is probably gone from my life?
"I am sorry, Michelle. I am so sorry." I said pulling her into a hug.
"It's okay, Karmale. I forgive you. But I have one condition attached to the forgiveness. "
"What?"
"We go to Emmeline's Pizzeria and I take one of your cute bears in your living room."
"Emmeline's Pizzeria-yes. Bears-no!"
"Why, K? Where they also from Ryxel?"
"That doesn't matter, Michelle. You know how much I love bears and you still expect me to give you my bears?"
"Okay. Keep your bears. I am sure Ryxel is going to come around. I will complain about you to him." Michelle pouted.
"He is not coming." Karmale whispered but Michelle heard.
"Of course he is. Don't think you are going to manipulate my mind into forgetting to tell him."
"He is not coming, Michelle." Karmale said sadly.
"Let's go to the Pizzeria, K before I change my mind about telling my brother-in-law."
"Michelle, I said Ryxel is not going to come back and he isn't your brother-in-law." Karmale said trying so hard not to loose her temper again.
"Did you break up with him?" Michelle inquired.
"Michelle!"
"Let's go to the Pizzeria, K." Michelle said sounding as innocent as a dove as if she had not realised how she had annoyed Karmale.
*************************
Outside was not the usual winter. It had the sun shining though not the way it would shine in the summer. It was invitingly warm so Karmale didn't put on an overcoat and most certainly didn't drive. Even though she had not put on an overcoat, she encouraged her sister to put on one for fear of the unpredictable weather. They were dressed in matching outfits. Blue jeans and cream sweaters. The only difference was the overcoat Michelle put on and snickers. For Karmale put on boots. The two sisters footed to Emmeline's Pizzeria. It was just three blocks away from her apartment.
At Emmeline's...
"Excuse me!" Karmale called.
A skinny short triangular faced male with an apron around his neck who was the waiter came over.
"Can we have an extra large pizza with extra everything." Michelle ordered.
The guy nodded and noted down on a small pad. Before he could go away, Michelle called.
"Mister, extra peperoni and cheese." She added.
"Michelle--- he already got it when you said extra everything." Karmale scolded.
"Please go ahead, sir." Karmale said to the man who smiled and walked away.
Karmale turned to face Michelle with this look of 'that was not necessary' and Michelle just smiled giving her a 'you always do the same' look.
After thirty minutes, the waiter came with the pizza. With atmost respect to food, the Kane sisters dug in. They ate quietly and everyone else seemed to keep quiet. As if the holy spirit was present in place.
Then one fat man sitted at the corner of the room produced a noise from the back of his throat. He beleached and did not even courtesize. He didn't ask to be excused.
"OMG! that's disgusting." Michelle shouted in disbelief of the mature man's behaviour.
"How uncivilised!" Karmale spat.
Other people also commented negatively but the fat man ignored them. Funnily, he did not ignore Karmale and Michelle. He stood from his seat and damn! He wanted to attack them. If it was not for a boundary of waiters that stood between him and the girl's table who knows what the red infuriated beast in a man's body would have done to them? Probably jump on them and suffocate them to death.
Karmale and Michelle just sat fearlessly eating their remaining pizza as the angry man was yelling literally spitting saliva all over the waiters.
"Dude! Would like shut the fuck up!" A high school 'bad bitch type' girl shouted at the man.
"Yeah, man! Shut the fuck up!" Another person shouted from the same table where the girl sat.
"Shut the fuck up! We are trying to have a quiet Christmas breakfast." Another agreed.
"Dude, take this!" Michelle stood from her chair throwing a slice of ketchuped pizza on the man's pink face.
The man's face grew angrier and scary.
"Oh my God! Michelle, you just---" Karmale trailed off borrowing a leaf from her young sister's previous action. She also threw a slice of pizza at the man's face.
Then everyone in the room started doing the same.
Surprisingly, the man's anger died out and he also engaged in the food throwing. So it turned into a harmless food fight. People threw food at each other. And laughed when food fell on one's face. The atmosphere was a messy interesting Christmas morning. Even the waiters were part of the fun. I guess silently praying their employer doesn't pay them a visit at that moment.
Karmale and Michelle tried hard not to get food on their clothes but they did not stop throwing food at other people. Smart them. They did it while hiding under the table. After a while, they tiptoed out; careful enough not to get the attention of the other fighters.
When they got to the outside, they had the laugh of their life. Karmale and her sister laughed as they discussed the past events.
"K, you have ketchup on your cheek." Michelle said in a fit of giggles.
"Please clean it, Mitch." Karmale pouted behind slightly to her sister's height.
"Give me your handkerchief." Michelle said stretching out her hand.
"I only came with my phone. Just use yours." Karmale pouted even more.
"Okay, Miss 'move with a hankie everywhere you go' " Michelle said pulling out her handkerchief and cleaning the ketchup on her elder sister's cheek.
"K?" Michelle called.
"Mmmm." Karmale hummed in response.
"Do you smell that?" Michelle asked.
"Ketchup?"
"No, the perfume. It's just like the one in your house."
"What?" Karmale asked standing straight to her full height, her heart skipping a bit and her eyes searching the surroundings.
Her eyes landed on the finest Ryxel Grande Black who was leaning against his maserati.
"Ryxel." Her breath escaped her lungs.
"Ryxel?" Michelle asked her eyes following Karmale's gaze.
#MADAMLAWYER
HOW did you love it?
So Ryxel is back? Huh?
Seems like he is not going anywhere and anytime soon. He is here to stay.
So Michelle ran away from home. Let's wait for Mrs. Kane's(mum) reaction.
Leave a vote behind people! Your thoughts on this chapter as well.
Thanks for reading. XOXOXOX😚
Andria 💋