Xyrra's POV
"Hey, Miles, thank you for getting me home."
"Nah, don't mention it." Miles smiled and then took off his seatbelt. "Come on. Let me walk you to the door."
His chivalry made me roll my eyes. "It's fine. I got it. Trust me, even though he sent gazillion texts to me, Ryker will ignore me and pretend I don't exist."
Miles let out a chuckle. "Gosh. What did you do?" He got his keys, opened the door, and stepped out.
I followed suit and walked towards him. "That's the thing. I didn't know what I did. Everything was fine — he was even kind at one point, and then the next day he became a completely quiet person. He acted like I wasn't there." I shrugged it off as though it didn't hurt. "But that's okay. I'll get my own money and pay him monthly for staying here, so it'll be like a hostel. We would be just like housemates or a landlord and a tenant."
"That's a bad idea." Miles shook his head and looked at me as we stopped at the front porch. "He won't take that lightly."
"I'm sure he wouldn't care." I sighed. "I could just give the money to Dmitry. That would help his effort at ignoring me."
I pulled out the spare key from my backpack. Dmitry rarely locked the door until midnight, but just in case he had. "Hey, I mean it. Thank you," I said and added, 'I'm sorry for lying and possibly erasing your memory.'
"Don't fret." He waved his hand, still smiling. "I've told you before, I like you."
Right. His feelings towards me could complicate things. "Look, I don't think you should—"
"I know what you mean. Don't worry, I won't pursue you or try to do anything funny," he tried to assure me.
With a smile on my face, I looked at him and tilted my head. "So friends?"
"Yes." Miles's smile turned into a grin. "Besides, you know what they said, friendship is the best foundation of a relationship."
"Geez." I rolled my eyes, shaking my head. I tried the door and sure enough, Dmitry hadn't locked it. "Hey, why don't you go in for a bit? I'm going to make some tea."
"Sure."
I stepped inside after opening the door. Miles was trailing behind.
"Hey, Xy, do you have a sandwich or something?" he asked. "I'm kinda hungry."
"Me too. I'm pretty sure we have something in the fridge." I waited for him to close the door before we walked down the spacious hall towards the kitchen. "Dmitry also stored those pastries he baked and I can assure you, they're so good. Sometimes I wonder if—" I stopped. Miles nearly knocked me over from behind as he stumbled upon me.
"Oops, sorry, you shouldn't suddenly stop like—" Miles too had abruptly stopped mid-sentence, which could only mean that he had been following my line of sight and was currently seeing the same thing that I was seeing.
Alana was hovering on top of Ryker on the couch. Due to the obstruction caused by her back, I couldn't see clearly from this distance, but I could perceive their activity. I'd seen it a lot back at the party. They were making out. I was too speechless to say anything, which was a good thing, because the last thing I wanted to do was to interrupt them. I turned around and was about to tell Miles that we both should go to the kitchen through the back door when he suddenly opened his mouth and practically yelled, "Seriously, you two? Stop torturing us with the horrific view and get a room. Better yet, maybe you should stay in the dungeon."
Alana straightened up and turned around. Her hands were on her waist. It was evident that she was angry because we had interrupted them. "Miles, where have you been?" Her tone was a bit chastising, almost as if she had any authority over him. "You're not supposed to go to parties on weekends. The weekend is family time."
"So what, was I supposed to go to parties on school nights then?" he scoffed. I actually agreed with him, Alana didn't make sense. "You gotta use something better than that to argue, Al." Miles actually laughed, shaking his head and clearly ignoring his sister's murdering glare on purpose. "But again, I suppose my brain wouldn't work properly if I just had my tongue down my ex's throat."
Oh, wow, he was good. I must confess, I was impressed.
"Don't act cocky, Miles. I've caught you with dozen of bitc—"
"Nothing happened," said Ryker, who'd been quiet this whole time. "Alana, you should go home."
The person who seemed shocked was Miles. "You released her? I thought you said you're gonna lock her up for at least a week. It has only been five days."
"Maybe because I'm a nice person and I actually have a huge remorse for what happened." With that, she turned her gaze to me. "I am really sorry for what happened. I shouldn't have done that." She glanced at Ryker for a split second but his eyes were on me — which was very unsettling. Then she added, "Especially since you're our future Luna."
Was she trying to be funny or sarcastic? She knew she was the future Luna. She clearly had Ryker wrapped around her fingers. He even used me to get his fortune back from his family by trying to charm me — which made him ignoring me sounded a bit odd, but what do I know? He could be playing hard to get, testing to make me miss him, or whatever his mind could surmise.
"I'm not your future Luna," I said, giving her a hard look.
Alana gave Ryker a look and I could see a hint of a smile on her lips. They were clearly thinking this whole thing was funny, and I hated it.
"That's enough," said Ryker. "Miles, bring your sister home with you."
"I would prefer she walks. The last thing I want was to have her taint my car," said Miles. He turned to me and surprised me by grabbing my wrist and pulling me into his hug. He was barely taller than me, and when he leaned down, his lips were next to my left ear. "Don't think too much about what my bitch sister did here or what she said, Xy. Ryker is just confused. He likes you but Alana being here doesn't make it easy," Miles whispered. I felt his lips moving against my ear and tried my best not to laugh. It tickled a little.
I put my arms around him and pressed my mouth against his shoulder so that Alana and Ryker wouldn't be able to know that Miles and I were actually communicating, although I could feel his eyes making a hole in the side of my head. "He doesn't like me," I whispered back. "And don't worry."
"I'll pick you up tomorrow?" asked Miles. His volume was normal right now. No doubt he purposely wanted both his sister and Ryker to hear it.
I withdrew and smiled at him. "Yeah. Text me first though so I could get ready."
"I will." Miles gave me his charming, lopsided smile. He lifted his hand and his knuckle brushed my cheek lightly before he stepped back and walked towards the front door. "If you're not coming with me in five seconds, Al, I am serious about you walking."
At that note, Alana gave a quick "I'll see you later" to Ryker, then strutted her way to the front door, following her brother. "Miles, wait. Do you know what Mum would say if she knows you're being childish like this?"
I could faintly hear Miles replying to her with, "I think she would be understanding considering you're being a bitch."
Then the door was closed and whatever conversation they had was no longer audible. Without looking at Ryker, I walked toward the kitchen. I didn't want to run upstairs and lock myself in my bedroom like a coward. I'd said that I wanted to brew the tea, so I would do that right now.
I chose a chrysanthemum to help me relax and fifteen minutes later, I was sipping my tea, sitting on the wooden chair on the back porch and staring at the trees at the back. Despite my efforts, I couldn't stop thinking about what I had witnessed - the sight of Ryker and Alana in the living room kept replaying in my mind. The way she'd been leaning toward him and the expression on her face when Miles and I had interrupted them.
"Goodness," I breathed out and closed my eyes. I clutched the mug with both hands, hoping to soak up its warmth on this chilly, blustery night.
I wasn't sure how long I'd been doing that, but my eyes fluttered open when I realized the feeling of fabric against my hands. Glancing down, I noticed a blanket being put on my lap. As I looked up, I saw Ryker standing a few feet away. His back was on me and his hands were holding the wooden railing tightly and the muscles in his back were taut. His posture was too rigid.
Without saying anything, I held the mug with one hand and slid the blanket off me to the handle of the wooden chair. I rose from my seat and walked over to the door. My hand was on the handle when I heard him saying, "Nothing happened." I would've thought he was talking to himself except that he then added, "I know it's hard to believe, Xy, but there's nothing between me and Alana."
Though I felt a strong urge to ignore him and barge in, I knew it was cowardly and turned around instead. As I did, I saw him do the same and face me. "I don't know why you feel the need to tell me," I said, giving him a convincing shrug that showed I didn't care. "It's none of my business."
His expression hardened and for a second, I thought I saw the hurt in his eyes, almost as if I had slapped him. But he quickly recovered, concealing his feelings until there was hardly any trace left. "But it is." He strolled towards me and I fought the urge to step back. "Look, my relationship with Alana is complicated. We have been through a lot."
"I really don't want to hear about this," I muttered to myself.
He seemed to hear it as his tone became a little defensive. "Well, I don't expect you to understand, but trust me when I say that it takes time. I thought I'd been in love with her my whole life and we were going to get married."
"And I really don't need to hear about this," I said, this time louder. "You can go back with Alana for all you want. I don't give a flip." I tried to open the door, but he held it with his hand. His silver eyes were locked on mine and that was when I exploded. "Okay, fine. My longest relationship is 3 months. So yes, I am not the best person to judge a relationship. But even I know that there are boundaries not to be crossed. If you want her — if Alana is the one for you and that's the reason it is so hard for you to move on, then go for her for all I care, but leave me the fuck alone." I took a sharp breath and continued to look him in the eye while trying hard not to get drowned in those beautiful eyes that darkened every passing second. "Don't kiss me and keep your distance. Treat me like you would treat any other guest that comes to your house. No need to go over the top."
"I can't," he said through gritted teeth. "I like you."
"Oh, please," I scoffed and gave out a dry laugh. Right at this moment, I didn't give a damn about revenge or payback. "Stop with the act already. I am here, aren't I? You've done all the trouble of making my friends bully me at school, so I would come to you for solace and I did. If all you need is for me to talk to your family and convince them that we are attached, then I would do that too. Not because I like you or anything, but because I'm sick of you." His eyes turned hard, but I didn't care as I kept going on and on, pouring my heart out, hoping that he would at least feel half of my pain. "I'll do it to repay your kindness by letting me stay here although I'm pretty sure you'd rather have Alana here and you only do that so you could easily make me fall for you so I'd be easily manipulated to help you get you to be the heir of your family companies or whatever. Well, you don't have to pretend or act like you give a damn about me anymore. I'll help you and then I'm done." I took a deep breath and breathed it out. "Anyway, I'm tired. I'm gonna sleep. Let me get inside."
He dropped his hand that had been holding the door closed. But when I opened the door and got inside, he followed me in. His hand caught my arm. "I don't know what you just said. Are you playing with me?"
"You are playing on your own. I'm done with your mind games or whatever." I pulled my arm and he let go. "Just leave me be."
"Xyrra, I didn't ask your friends to bully you just so I could get you here," he said, and there was something in his voice that made me turn to face him. "I did talk to that girl, Cindy, or whatever her name is, but I told her to leave you alone."
I shook my head. "Don't think I'm stupid. I heard you talking to someone on the phone and you said that I wouldn't want to stay after. Whoever the person you're calling, which I assumed was Cindy, had scared me off like that."
"When was this?" His voice was tight, but his eyes burned with anger.
"On the day you went to my school."
He remained quiet, but I knew he was thinking. A faint frown line appeared on his forehead. Then he blinked, seemingly able to recollect that memory. "I remember that day. That phone call."
"Great!" I poured some tea into the mug, then brought it with me as I went back to the living room and headed towards the stairs. "I'm glad you do. Good night now."
With long strides, he managed to catch up with me on the stairs. I sighed, "What now?"
"That call was to Dmitry," he explained. "I was praising him for scaring Alana off this property because I'd asked her to leave since the wedding, but she simply wouldn't do it."
I looked into his eyes and wished I could see a lie there, but all I saw beneath all the confusion was the truth.
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Dear Readers, what's you've been waiting for is finally here! ;))