Muna
As Nicklaus lowered into the seat beside me, the weight of the past days fell heavy on my shoulder. Even though I was mad at him, a part of me felt bad for avoiding him.
It was the same part of me that wanted to believe Julia. It might have been all Ashley and I went days ignoring Nicklaus, not giving him even a chance for us to talk.
It was not fully my fault, especially when all that had been on my mind, was the day I walked in on Carl. That was what walking in on Nicklaus kissing Ashley reminded me. It reminded me of Carl and Amelia.
There was tension in the air as my body heated beside his. Even Julia could feel it, except for Andrew who was now chuckling at what was on his phone.
Julia pressed her lips together, glancing between me and Nicklaus. Meanwhile, realizing that at any slightest movement, Nicklaus’s arm would brush against mine had the inside of me heated. And for some reason, I yearned for that.
“Why the fuck is it quiet in here?” Andrew, who seemed to have pulled back to the present, asked, glancing at all of our faces. “It’s the weekend guys, not a funeral.”
“It’s Thursday, asshole,” Julia spat back at him.
“Well, my weekend starts from Thursdays, pussy-hole.” He said, and reaching for the wine, he poured it into Julia’s glass, which he had been using ever since he walked in. He turned to Julia, “We need more glass—’ but before he could finish, I abruptly rose to my feet.
“I will get them,” I said, smiling to make my action less awkward than it was.
Andrew narrowed his eyes suspiciously at me, but before he could say anything. Julia also rose to her feet.
“I will help,” she said and Andrew shifted his gaze to her.
“Am I missing something?”He asked, glancing at Nicklaus, who didn’t say a word to him. ‘It’s just two more glasses, ladies—”
“Shut up, Drew,” Julia said, taking my hand and we strode away from the boys.
We heard Andrew ask Nicklaus if he thought we were hiding something. Nicklaus probably didn’t say any words, because it was dead quiet as we disappeared into the kitchen space.
“Okay,” Julia started as we walked towards where the glasses were safely placed. “Once we’re out there, I’ll come up with anything and take Andrew with me and you…” she said, grabbing the glasses. “You will have to talk to Nick—”
“What— no— no,” I stuttered. “I can’t— I mean—”
“Muna?” Julia moved to stand in front of me. “You guys need to talk. I mean, it was you who walked in here to talk after what happened between us at the club, which I’m apologizing for yet again.” She said the last line, placing her hand on her chest. “All I’m saying is that you’re never scared to talk, so just be that Muna I know. The Muna that will always wanna talk it out, you know.” she shrugged.
“I— I know, I’m just, I don’t know. I feel bad for— I feel like Nicklaus had not been okay. I mean, did you see his face?”
“Of course, he wouldn’t be okay and that—’
“Do you need a hand, ladies?” Andrew yelled, cutting Julia off.
Julia groaned, “Sometimes, I just wanna kill him,” she said, rolling her eyes, and I muffled out a soft chuckle. “Let’s head back.” she started walking and I followed behind her.
Immediately we got back to the table, Andrew took a glass from Julia and poured some wine into it. When he shifted it to Nicklaus, he pushed it back to him, rejecting it right away, and that made Andrew whine about him being all grumpy and angry since the week. In Andrew’s words, Nicklaus had been acting like a grumpy old lady. This caused Nicklaus to glare at him and when he faked being scared, I couldn’t help but chuckle.
Then, Julia suggested they go buy more drinks and some food for everyone. Andrew at first whined about being on a diet and shouldn’t be eating fast food but vegetables. But when Julia reminded him about the photos which he sent her. Photos of various foods Simon made for him, the type of foods which didn’t look like what someone on a diet should have. He groaned and rolled his eyes, causing me to laugh again.
Julia successfully dragged him out with her and on their way out, she gave me a nod that said, I should go for it. At first, I thought I could do it but watching the door close after them, piled up a sudden anxiety in me.
I was never the one to be scared of confrontation or communication. It was never me but right now, I was confused about what to say. We hadn’t spoken for some days and now, I didn’t know if I should start by voicing out how I felt walking into him and Ashley, or maybe wait for him to talk.
Well, the nervous me blurted out the first thing that came to my mind. “I guess we would have to wait here,” I breathed out an awkward chuckle and after those words settled in the air, I cringed.
Why did it all of a sudden feel like I didn’t know what to do? This was Nicklaus. The Nicklaus who would listen to me talk all day over a pack of pizza and some wine. But then, this Nicklaus hurt me, so wasn’t I supposed to be the one scowling?
It was dead quiet in here, in the sense that a drop of the pin would blow up like a bomb. The air was filled with awkward tension and I was searching my brain for words, when all of a sudden, his voice broke through the silence.
“Muna,” he called out, his tone deep and calm. Even though his face wasn’t holding much emotion, his eyes were screaming what he was feeling.
I bit the inside of my lips, forcing my brain not to think about the image I saw of him and Ashley.
But before he could say any more words, his ringtone suddenly filled the air causing me to jerk. A jerk that almost had my wine glass falling, but thanks to my reflex, I saved the wine which I hadn’t bothered to finish.
As I steadied the glass, my eyes shifted to Nicklaus, whose gaze was cast on his phone. And before I could look away, his eyes met mine.
“It’s work,” He said.
I nodded, “Take it.”
Nicklaus stared at me for some passing seconds, before rising to his feet and without glancing at me, he walked towards the door. When the door swung closed behind him, I released a breath I didn’t know I was holding.
I picked up my phone from the table, but I was unaware of what to do with it. At this point, all I was thinking in my head was how we were going to talk about what happened, and then what? Do we go back to kissing or being just friends? What was I going to say? That I was jealous? That seemed embarrassing.
But then, I was beginning to acknowledge an emptiness I had ignored for the past few days. The emptiness that came with Nicklaus not being part of my life. It felt foreign and ugly.
I clicked in and out of my favourite socials, until I decided to settle on Instagram but that was cut short by the door, which was pushed open.
I snapped my face up, and everything came to an abrupt halt, including my heart. Slowly, my phone escaped my numb fingers and landed on the table.
He was here.
I blinked. It was him.
I blinked again, releasing the air that got stuck in my throat.
One last blink. I slowly rose from the seat, a slight screeching sound filling the air.
What was going on? Was I dreaming? Was this an illusion? I mean, if it was, he wouldn’t be standing here this long with his hands in his pockets while staring at me with a mix of guilt and longing. He would be smirking. It would be the very face he had on, the day he told me he didn’t regret doing what he did.
Against my will, my legs moved towards where he was standing.
“Carl?” It was close to a whisper, hoping for the illusion to disappear but he was there. It was him. “Carl?” I repeated and he gave me a tight lips smile. A very quick one before moving two steps closer to me.
“Whoever the person was, they were right, they said I would meet you here.” He halted a few steps away from me.
“T— they?” The tremble of my voice was loud. “Who was it?” I asked.
The corner of his lips turned up in a smirk as he closed the distance between us, forcing me to take one step back, the wobbliness of my legs travelling up to my stomach. My stomach rumbled in fear as I glanced at the door where there was no sight of Nicklaus, and back to Carl, whose eyes had that look I could recognize.
It was the ‘gotcha’ look. That look his eyes always held, anytime he was exhibiting the side of him I hated.
He raised his brows at me, “Oh so now, you scared of me huh? He mocked. “I told you, baby. I was going to find you. You can run but not hide.”
I swallowed, and looking at his face right now, I wondered why I fell for him. What was it that attracted him to me? Was it the freckles that I liked so much? But why were they looking ugly on him right now? “How did you find me?” This time I tried to hide the fear in me.
He released a breath, smiling widely as he glanced at a spot and back to me. “Why did you run off like that baby girl? You left me back there alone? Oh my God.” He mumbled the last line, glancing up. “Baby, the thing with Amelia wasn’t even that serious. We would have talked about it and everything would be fine.” He said, reaching out to my arm and when I quickly shrugged off his hold, his gaze flickered to my arm and back to my face. “What? I can’t touch you now?”
I decided to ignore the nonsense he said about how cheating on me wasn’t serious. “What are you doing here?” There was no trace of fear in my voice, rather it was gradually being filled with anger. “How the hell did you find out about this place?”
He smirked, “How I found you isn’t important right now, baby. I wanna talk and then, take you home. That’s what matters, let’s go home to our family.” He said glancing around the space.
My chest was already pumping up and down as a result of being filled with rage which like a fire had sparked inside of me. I needed answers. I needed him to give me answers and not a smirk like it was a gotcha moment.
“You selling coffee now? Are you broke baby?” He asked, and I sucked in a shaky breath, shutting my eyes closed. He should stop calling me that.
“I am not your baby, Carl! And please leave before I call the police.” I swallowed, forcing myself to stay calm.
I was angry, the inside of me was boiling to the highest degree. Carl had found me and I didn’t know how. My heart was beating faster than normal.
Instead of Carl leaving, he stood there towering over me and right now, his face was etched with a frown. Like was he seriously expecting to show up and I follow him?
“Leave now, Carl,” I repeated. “Don’t force me to call the police—”
“What the fuck, Muna. What are you calling the cops for?” He barked, tilting his face to my level. He was taller than me but not as tall as Nicklaus. “I’m just here to make things right—”
“Leave Carl!” I yelled, and like a bomb, the emotions exploded in me and each breath I took was shaky. “You don’t cheat on me and walk in here, talking about making things right you asshole. If you don’t get the fuck out of—”
“What you gone do, huh?” He moved, covering every space between us.
“Watch me,” I said, but as I turned to get my phone, he held onto my arm, stopping me.
His tight grip had my heart sinking to my stomach. “Why do you always have to be stubborn? This was why I fucked your best friend in the first place. To teach you a lesson. Why do you always gotta act headstrong—”
“Leave me alone!” I yelled, struggling to get off his hold but his grip grew tighter and stronger. I felt tears sting in my eyes as I continued to struggle but to no avail.
“I know you still love me, Muna.” He said and I paused. Love him? Remind me again what was amazing about this man. It had always been like this, the rotten relationship had always been like this, why did I even stay in it? “Let’s get back—”
“Leave me alone!” This time, I yelled at the top of my voice, struggling as my life depended on it while tears fully coated my eyes, threatening to roll down my cheeks. “Get away from me you psycho,” I cried out as a drop of tear ran down my cheek. “Ple—” Before I could finish saying the word I never wanted to say to Carl, there was a rush of an event happening in the blink of an eye.
Carl’s grip was forcefully taken away from my arm, causing me to fall to the floor. The next thing was his body flying into the seats and tables, Julia and I had arranged earlier with a loud grunt escaping his lips.
With my knees and hands on the floor, I snapped my face up and there, Nicklaus was standing. My clouded gaze met his eyes, and they looked like a shadow had fallen over them.
The heat of anger poured out of them like a flowing river as he charged towards Carl, who hadn’t had the chance to recover from the throw, and descended on him. He grabbed the collar of his shirt and slammed him on one of the tables, obviously choking him to death.
“Nicklaus!” I cried out and wiping tears off my cheeks, I managed to get on my feet and rushed towards them. “Nicklaus stop, please.” I cried but failed to get his attention as he continued to choke Carl, who some unsettling sounds rumbled out of his throat. “Nicklaus,” My voice trembled and with his grip still tightly holding his shirt, he slowly turned his gaze to me. “You’re going to kill him. Just let him go, okay? We can call the cops,” I pleaded.
He continued to stare at me, not attempting to loosen his grip on Carl, who was struggling to free himself from his grip. I couldn’t let him die in here.
“Nicklaus!” I snapped my face at the direction it came and it was Andrew. “What the fuck!” he yelled. Dropping the bags he was holding, he overlapped Julia and rushed towards us. Thankfully, he was able to pull Nicklaus off Carl.
Just as I was about to slump to the floor, Julia rushed and held me in her arms, asking, “What the hell is going on? What…” She paused when I let it all out, sobbing in her arms.
Without them, I didn’t know what I could have done. I didn’t want to call the cops because a part of me felt like Carl deserved what he was getting. But the other part of me was scared that he might die if I didn’t stop Nicklaus. I knew that he had saved me once, but the Nicklaus I witnessed just now was something I couldn’t explain. Something I didn’t want to see ever again.
He was raging. And it hurt so much that I couldn’t control my tears. I was soaking Julia’s outfit. I had turned him into what I saw just now, I made him that way. I ignored him all through the week, and then, turned him into a raging monster.
“It’s okay, Muna.” Julia continued to pat the back of my shoulder. “It’s going to be alright.” She added.
Andrew was yelling at Nicklaus, asking if he wanted to kill someone and lose his right to be a free man. I wasn’t looking but it seemed like Carl was on his feet because right now, he was calling out to me, mixing it up with some cuss words. He started adding some threats, saying he wasn’t going to leave New York unless I was leaving with him. Andrew yelled for him to shut up and leave before he would be the one throwing punches at his face. Carl yelled back for him to shut up, and that was when Andrew told him to leave.
“Let’s get you to sit down,” Julia led me to a seat, away from the commotion.
And as I lowered into the seat, my gaze met with Nicklaus’s and for some passing seconds, we held each other gazes. I could hear him loud and hear, even though he wasn’t saying a word.
He was sorry.
Just like I said, I'm back!
Please do not forget to vote if you're enjoying the story.