"I'm home." I said out loud into the dark and empty house.
I wasn't sure if Lily was home but my parents were still abroad, dealing with some issues that had come up with the business.
"In here!" Lily's voice came from the kitchen.
I dropped my keys on the counter by the door after taking off my shoes and walked past the dining room to get to the kitchen.
Lily was rummaging the fridge for something, a few pans and skillets laid out on the kitchen counter.
"You're home late." Lily commented.
"I was at Beth's." I told her.
"Ah, how's she? I haven't seen her since last week." Lily asked, head still stuck in the fridge.
"She's fine." I said absentmindedly.
"What are you planning to cook?" I asked her, setting my bag on the floor by the kitchen door.
"Just some carbonara. I feel like having something creamy." Lily answered, placing the ingredients on the kitchen counter.
As she sorted out the pans and skillet, storing what she didn't need back into the shelves, I moved around to the food cabinet and took out the pasta.
I placed the pasta by the other ingredients she had prepared, standing beside her as I helped her crack the eggs while she chopped the bacon.
I felt Lily pause after she moved away to place the pot and pan on top of the stove.
I looked up to see what made her stop, but Lily was staring at me.
"What's wrong with you?" She asked. "Did you have another fight?"
As you might have already guessed, Isaac and I have gotten into a number of fights ever since we started dating 4 months ago.
The first week was alright, he was sweet and there was nothing amiss as far as I was concerned. The following week, something went wrong with his family business and he started receiving some pressure from his work. He started feeling more stressed, more high-strung.
I shook my head, "I don't want to talk about it."
Hearing my response, Lily shook her head and sighed, lighting up the stove. "You're a dumbass."
I walked towards the sink, grabbing a water bottle, and filling the bottle up. "Look, he's just stressed from his work okay, it's been hectic and things just haven't been going right for him." I said out loud, not quite sure who I was saying it for.
I could feel Lily's eyeroll behind me as I shut the tap off.
I walked back to the stove and poured water into the pan while Lily took the pasta out of its plastic pack.
"And that justifies him treating you like shit, how?" Lily asked, challenging my earlier statement.
I bit my lip, knowing that I couldn't win this argument.
Lily sighed once more as she dumped the chopped bacon on top of the pan. "I don't like the way that he makes you an emotional punching bag."
I snorted, "Like how you don't?"
Lily glared at me, "That's besides the point. I'm your sister, I'm the only one allowed to do that."
"Even more than that, I don't like how you are letting him to." Lily added.
I pursed my lips. Why do I feel like I've had this conversation before?
"You won't understand." I replied simply, watching the water start to boil.
"You're right, I don't understand." Lily said, placing her hands on the kitchen counter before turning to me. "More importantly, I don't think even you understand why you're putting up with it."
I turned to look at her with a sharp glare. "What are you trying to say here?"
Lily rolled her eyes again, unfazed by the warning look I was sending her. "Oh, stop giving me that look. That shit doesn't work. Even if you're going to punch me for this, I'll still say it. That man is toxic."
I huffed out an annoyed breath as I got back to the task at hand, pouring the pasta into the boiling water and adding some salt into it.
"Look, he treats me better than any guy I have ever met. He showers me with gifts, he opens the door for me-" I started, listing the things I've memorized by heart to her.
Lily cut me off with a snarky laugh. "Yeah, don't forget about the occasional guilt tripping, emotional abuse and degradation."
Lily turned to look at me before adding, "and 'treats you better than any guy you have ever met'? What? The only guy you have ever had your eyes on ever since you took interest in the opposite gender is Alex; and let's be real here, no matter what Alex had done to you in the past, it can't be worse than what Isaac has been doing. Isaac's a shithead, admit it."
I banged my hands onto the counter to stop her from talking. "He's a great guy, Lil," I said, my voice rising before I closed my eyes and breathed deeply to calm myself down. "He just gets tired sometimes." I finished.
Lily rolled her eyes as she poured the milk into the pan and began to stir. "I really can't watch you fool yourself for the nth time. It's been 4 months, Em. Are you really going to waste even more time on this guy, letting him step all over you and your pride and dignity?"
I opened my mouth, about to reply with another stubborn response, when the bell suddenly rang.
We both looked at the direction of the front door, as if we could see who it was past the walls and doors in the way.
I looked at Lily, "Were you expecting anyone?"
Lily shook her head. "I take it that you didn't either?"
I shook my head.
I looked around and ended up grabbing the knife on the counter that Lily had used to cut the bacon strips.
Lily held the spatula that she had used to cook the bacon and stir the carbonara sauce as we both made our way to the front door.
I held a hand back to signal Lily to stay back as I approached the door.
"Who is it?" I called out, cursing my voice when it came out sounding meek.
"Em? You there?" Isaac's voice came from the other side.
Lily and I sighed, the tension leaving our body and the air around us as we relaxed.
"Speak about the devil," Lily muttered before taking the knife from my hand and turning around to go back to the kitchen.
I unlocked the door and opened it, revealing a huge bouquet of flowers.
My eyes widened in surprise, not expecting to see flowers instead of a familiar face.
"Uh," I stammered.
"Surprise." Isaac said, lowering the bouquet of flowers and revealing his smiling face.
"Isaac," I forced a smile, still looking at the flowers. "What are the flowers for?"
"For you, of course." Isaac replied, "An apology, for what happened earlier. I'm sorry, sweetheart. Work's really been stressful, I don't know what came over me."
I nodded slowly, taking the flowers from him. "I understand."
"So, forgiven?" Isaac asked with hopeful eyes as he took one of my hands.
I hesitantly nodded again.
Was I making it too easy for him?
Probably.
"Thanks, love, you're the best." He grinned, giving me a peck on the cheek.
"By the way, something smells good. Are you guys cooking something for dinner?" Isaac asked, sniffing the air as he stepped around me, letting himself into the house.
He took his shoes off, making his own way into the kitchen where Lily just finished making the carbonara sauce.
Lily turned around when she heard us walk in and saw the flowers in my hand. "Oh wow, more flowers." Lily said, sounding extremely unamused.
"Hey Lils." Isaac greeted.
"Hey," Lily said back, putting on an obvious fake smile.
"I'll hold on to those for you, babe, go ahead and help your sister. I'll wait in the dining room for you guys." Isaac said, taking the flowers from me. I nodded my head and watched him leave the kitchen.
I turned to Lily and poked her harshly. "Couldn't you have at least put on a better act? And don't say you can't. I've seen you faked shit before. That was your worst act ever."
Lily shrugged nonchalantly, "What can I say, he's not worth the fucks I give."
I sighed, knowing that there's no point arguing with her anymore.
I drained the pasta from the pot and moved it to a big bowl while Lily dealt with the sauce.
We brought the food to the dining table where Isaac was sitting, smiling whilst on his phone.
"Sorry that it isn't much, we weren't expecting company." I apologized, setting the table up for three as Lily went back to the kitchen to get some more parmesan.
Isaac looked up, still smiling from whatever he was looking at on his phone. "Oh no, that's alright. This looks delicious enough."
I smiled at the compliment, feeling better already.
"Go ahead and dig in," I told him, sitting down opposite of him as Lily came back with the parmesan and took the empty seat next to mine.
Isaac served himself and I let Lily took some for herself first in a small attempt to appease her.
"So how have you been, Lils?" Isaac asked in between mouthfuls.
"Better than Em, that's for sure." Lily muttered, earning a kick on her ankle under the table, from yours truly.
I cleared my throat, "She's been great. She's been busy preparing for her exams," I answered for her.
"Oh, yeah, I totally understand. This past week has been crazy for me too. There's this project that our investors want us to finish by the end of the month and everyone's been pulling all nighters and under a lot of stress." Isaac told us, waving his fork around as he spoke whenever it didn't have pasta stuck on it.
"No one asked." Lily muttered under her breath once more in a sing-song voice, causing me to kick her again, this time harder than the last. Lily winced and sent me a glare.
Isaac's gaze went back and forth between Lily and me before finally stopping at me. "Em, can I have a word with you?"
I turned to look at him, surprised at the sudden request. "Huh? Oh, yeah, okay."
I got up from my chair and led the way to the living room to give ourselves some privacy. Once we were in the living room, I turned to face Isaac, only to see his livid expression.
The second I noticed the rage in his eyes, I held my breath out of reflex and braced myself.
"Did you tell her about what happened this morning, Em?" Isaac asked, visibly trying to hold back his anger.
"No." I answered truthfully.
"Liar!" He spat, glaring at me. "Why was she making all that jabs at me if she doesn't know anything?"
I frowned, "Isaac, I don't know what you think I had told her but I swear I didn't tell her anything."
Isaac continued to glare, "Then, can you swear that you haven't started gossiping about this morning with a single soul?"
I looked at him, unable to say a word. I couldn't. I had told Beth about it.
"I knew it." Isaac laughed sardonically. "I knew it!" He yelled, as he glared at me once more.
"Em, you just never change, do you? We just had this same talk this morning. I even came to you tonight to make amends, thinking that you were serious when you said you were going to change. It hasn't even been a day, Em. Are you fucking serious right now?" He yelled, completely blinded by anger.
I opened and closed my mouth. I didn't know what to reply him with.
After all, he was right and I was wrong.
Before I could say anything, Lily barged into the living room.
"What the fuck do you think you're doing?" Lily yelled back at him, standing between us, facing Isaac and challenging him to say another word.
Isaac scoffed, a sarcastic look plastered on his face as his eyes looked past Lily and met mine. "And you say you didn't tell her jackshit? Do you think I'm dumb, Em?"
I opened my mouth to defend myself and try to calm the situation down, but Lily was a step ahead.
"I think you should leave, Isaac." She said, pointing to the door.
Isaac didn't take his eyes off my face as we all stood there in silence for a few moments.
Finally, Isaac nodded. "Fine, I'm leaving."
He turned around, grabbed his things from the dining room and stormed out the door without looking back.
The second that we heard his car drive away, my body dropped to the couch and slumped against it as I brought the back of my hand to my eyes, pressing them against my eyelids.
My eyes were already swollen enough from crying so much earlier today and it felt hot and tired from being so worn out by my emotions today.
"You alright?" Lily asked.
I nodded slowly.
"This can't continue, Em." Lily said.
"Not now, Lil." I sighed.
Lily shook her head. "No matter how much I disapproved of your obsession towards Alex, at least he wouldn't mistreat you like this."
I exhaled once before I let my hand drop from my face and got up from the couch.
"I'm going to go wash and rest early." I told her, going back to the dining room to take my things before retiring to my room.
I took the flowers Isaac left in the dining room with me and walked up the stairs to my room.
Once I got to my room, I placed everything on my desk and left to take a hot shower before going to bed.
Today had been exhausting enough. If I couldn't speed up time to make it end faster, I'd rest early to lessen the time that I had to be conscious.