Picture on the side is of Gregg Sulkin, character inspiration for Gale. His dimples are so freaking cute! ^_^
Enjoy reading! :)
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Chapter Five
The emotion of anger made me disregard all reasoning and ignited a fire to spread throughout my body. I could feel my rationality leave me as my stormy eyes met Gale's outraged ones, and his words from before echoed in my ears.
"Oh! Would you look at that?" Gale asked rhetorically, turning his head to glance at Natalie once before looking back at me. "Mere fifteen minutes inside this apartment, and she is already spying on me. Natalie, do you really expect me to tolerate this nuisance?" he waved his hand over the length of my body as if he wasn't just referring to my action but to myself in general.
"Gale-" Natalie began to say, but lost in my rage, I cut her short with my own growling words.
"What do you mean by spying? If I wanted to spy, trust me, you wouldn't have found out. But as it turns out, I am just not interested, not in spying on you, and not in living with you in this apartment. If you don't want me here, or have a problem with me, have the balls to say it to my face." The words just came tumbling out of my mouth, and I didn't regret a single one of them. Gale looked shocked for a second before his enraged expression returned, now fueled even more by my words.
I took a step closer to him and looked up to meet his eyes. He was a good few inches taller than me, but neither his height nor his broad exterior intimidated me in that moment. "How dare you call me a bitch? How dare you question my character?" I spat the words at him before a slow, arrogant smirk formed on my lips. "Making so many judgments about me after seeing me for the first time just fifteen minutes back says a lot about your character, and it's even worse than your assumptions about me."
Gale barked out a sarcastic laugh, rolling his eyes at me. "Meeting you for the first time, huh? Oh, but bitches like you aren't all that unique. Meet one, and it's like you've met them all." He, too, took a daring step forward and I could feel fury emanating from his body. "I don't care enough to defend myself in front of you, so just get out."
"With pleasure. I hadn't planned on living with trash anyway." After glaring at each other for a second too long, I finally made a move to get out of that place, pushing against his shoulder with mine and sending him off balance for a short moment.
"Damn it, Gale! What the hell is wrong with you?" I could hear Natalie exclaim in frustration, but my inflated ego didn't let me turn around to look at her. "Raelyn, please stop? We can talk it out like mature people. I apologize for what Gale said, he shouldn't have," she said, her hand resting on my shoulder, desperation clear in her voice.
I took a deep breath to release some of the anger, trying my hardest to be calm while talking to Natalie. "Natalie, it wasn't your fault, and it's alright. I'm sure we can find some other place, and till we do, we will stay at a hotel."
"Raelyn, just come back, and let Natalie work out whatever issue Gale has, yeah?" Daniel said, coming to stand next to us. He gave me an encouraging nod, making me sigh in defeat. I only gave them a nod when Gale spoke again.
"Wow. You guys do know this is my house, right? I don't want her living here," Gale said, his tone was much calmer than before, but a hint of frustration could still be detected in his voice. What was his problem with me anyway? No one reacts to a stranger like he did; there must be some explanation behind it.
"Gale, stop being a child for a second, would you? You know dad won't like it very much if he heard about your behavior," Natalie said, her own voice had become steadier now. Natalie didn't let her emotions take control of her. It almost seemed opposite to Gale's inability in handling his own emotions.
Gale scoffed and turned his head in other direction, clenching his jaw. "When has Uncle Robert ever cared about what I did or wanted to do anyway? And I'm sure this time wouldn't be any different." Gale's hostility towards Robert was clear in his utterance of just two words - uncle Robert.
"Gale, please," Natalie sighed, and looked at Daniel. Something seemed to pass between the two of them in that one look they shared, and it was as if Daniel's presence was all that Natalie needed to face the situation in front of her. She walked towards Gale and pulled him back inside the room where they had come from earlier.
"Come on," Daniel said, gesturing towards the living room couch. For a small moment, my eyes fell on Reece, Leah, and Ethan. Reece's sportive attitude from before was now replaced by a tight-lipped, pensive look, Leah sat hugging Ethan's side, and Ethan was looking at me, his eyes supportive and understanding.
It was only then that the guilt settled in my chest. Leah was just a child who had already gone through so much, she didn't deserve to witness this, and Ethan was left to look after her when it should have been me. I took the responsibility for the both of them when I asked Robert to let them stay with me. I had promised my parents that I'd take care of my siblings just this morning, and I was already doing a bad job at it. In that moment, I reconsidered my decision of keeping Ethan and Leah with me instead of letting them go with Robert.
"Hey, it's going to be alright. Natalie will sort it out," Daniel said, drawing my attention back to him.
"Even if she does, Dan, do you think it would be the best decision to stay here? If he is going to have problems with me, and if we are going to loose our temper like this often, I don't think it'd be the kind of place I want my siblings to stay at," I told him with sincerity, feeling exhaustion from the day's events catching up to me.
"Maybe it wouldn't be like that. You're both eighteen, you're both adults. I'm sure you can discuss the problem and handle it in the best possible way, if not solve it," Daniel said, giving me a small smile. "And may be when Gale finds out about your recent past, he would be more considerate. He's usually a nice guy, Raelyn."
His words struck a thought in my head. Gale may be a nice guy, he may even become more considerate once he finds out, but there was also a chance that he could use it against me, to hurt me. I didn't really trust him enough to tell him about my condition and my parents' death. I was sure that we hadn't met before, Natalie had confirmed that herself, so he didn't need to know about my amnesia. I didn't want his pity once he found out about my parents' death, and neither did my siblings.
Without thinking twice about what I was going to do, I walked towards Gale's door and knocked on it. I knew Daniel was behind me, curious to know what I was up to. Natalie was the one who opened the door, and I was grateful for it.
"Can I talk to you for a second?" I asked her, and she complied by stepping out and closing the door behind her.
"What's up?" she asked, looking from me to Daniel, who just shrugged his shoulders.
"Um, I know what I am about to ask of you guys is going to be difficult, but please, I'd really appreciate it if you could do it for me." Their expressions turned more serious and wary, making me sigh. Ethan had also come to stand next to us, waiting in silence for me to explain further. "I don't want people finding out about our parents' death or about my condition."
The only response I got from them was an expression of confusion from Natalie, understanding from Ethan and a mix of both from Daniel. It was Ethan who broke the silence. "I agree. I think we can do without having people pity us even in this new city. We could use some normalcy in our lives. I will even talk to Leah about it," he offered.
I gave Ethan a grateful smile to which he responded by squeezing my hand, and a smile of his own. Daniel, and Natalie seemed to have their silent eye-to-eye conversation once again before Natalie nodded, and went back inside the room.
Ethan, Daniel, and I walked back into the living room and sat down on the two couches where Leah, and Reece had already been sitting. All of us watched whatever was playing on the TV in complete silence.
It was a little over half an hour later than Natalie and Gale made their way back into the living room. I stood up from my seat on the couch, Daniel and Ethan followed suit. It was awkward to say the least. Gale wasn't making eye contact, Ethan was looking at me with raised eyebrows, looking as unsettled as I was, and Natalie and Daniel were looking at each other. I wondered if all couples were like that when they were so in love, reading each other's minds through their eyes.
I stuffed my hands in the back pockets of my jeans, passively realizing that I did it every time I felt uncomfortable. Natalie cleared her throat, directing the sound towards Gale to gain his attention, and when she did, she nodded her head in my direction, raising her eyebrows at him. "Well?" she asked, not necessarily expecting an answer.
"I am sorry," Gale muttered, granting me a small glance before looking away again. It was clear that he was only saying it because of Natalie, otherwise he had better things to do than to feel sorry for what he had said to me.
"When you say it like that, I totally believe you," I said sarcastically. My voice wasn't angry or defensive, it was rather calm, with a hint of disbelief in it. From the corner of my eyes I saw Reece smirking amusedly at us, his eyes filled with unexpressed laughter.
"Don't push it," Gale snarled at me. I thought it better than to respond with words because that would only lead to another sparring match between us, and no one here needed that. So I simply rolled my eyes at him and turned to Natalie.
Natalie sighed and Daniel wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her closer to his body. "It's seven already. Let's just bring your stuff upstairs, and order some take out?" she asked, and we all nodded our heads in consent.
We all went down to the car park to get our boxes out of my car and up the eighth floor to Gale's apartment—or should it be our apartment—except for Gale. He didn't want to help, and we didn't feel the need to coerce him.
"Damn it, woman! How much stuff did you bring from home?" Reece asked as we both were in the elevator taking the last few boxes to the apartment.
I only chuckled at him. It was probably the sixth time that we were travelling up the elevator, and we couldn't be more relieved that it was also the last, for now anyway.
"Can I ask you something?" Reece asked, as the elevator stopped on the fifth floor for a man with a baby stroller to get off.
"Sure. Though, I'm not sure if I'll answer," I winked at Reece, making him chuckle and shake his head at me. In this short time, I found that Reece was a goofy person, and not the flirtatious player that I had taken him for at first.
"You can choose to not answer if you wish to," Reece said giving me a genuine smile. "I was just curious why your siblings came to live with you? Shouldn't they be back at home with your parents?"
I turned to look straight ahead as the elevator doors began to close, and licked my lips in an attempt to prolong giving him an answer while I formed an infallible one in my head.
"My parents went away on a business trip together. They had to be gone for a while, we didn't know for how long, so they decided to send Ethan, and Leah with me while they are away," I retold him the story that Natalie informed me she had outlined to give Gale a convincing answer as to why I was here with my siblings. I hoped that I made Reece believe me just as Natalie did to Gale.
Reece seemed to buy it, but his next question threw me off. I hadn't prepared an answer for that. "Oh, so your parents go on these business trips frequently?" he asked, his expression telling me that he was just curious, and didn't mean to pry.
"Uh... not frequently, but sometimes. I..." I stuttered out a weak response, transparent enough to tell Reece that I was lying.
"Hey, you don't have to talk about it if you don't want to," he said with a comforting smile on his lips, bumping his shoulder with mine before walking out of the elevator as it stopped on our floor.
"Thanks," I murmured as I followed him out and walked beside him to the apartment.
"No sweat," Reece said, his smile still in place. As we moved closer to the apartment, Reece took a deep breath, taking in the tempting scent that was coming from the apartment's open door. "Chinese! But how did that delivery guy reach before we did? Did the poor guy take the stairs? I hope they tipped him good then," Reece said, not waiting for me to reply. He looked like an excited little kid who after getting his favorite toy kept on talking about it, not caring if anyone was listening to him or not.
I giggled as he rushed inside the apartment, dropping the boxes he was carrying on the kitchen counter before making his way towards the living room where everyone was already digging in the food.
"You guys started without me!" Reece accused them, snatching a container from the table before Gale could stop him.
"You chowhound, at least don't eat from the container!" Gale made a disgusted face at him but a ghost of a smile could be seen on his lips. This Gale appeared to be very different from the one that I had argued with before which made me think why he was being a jerk to me. We hadn't known each other from before, so the difference in his demeanor with me just didn't add up.
Gale turned cold again just as Daniel called out to me, asking me to join them. I simply nodded at him, putting the boxes that I was carrying on the ground before going to sit on the floor beside the table. I pulled Reece along with me, as he had been so busy eating as much food as he could that he forgot he wasn't even sitting down.
Gale regarded me with incredulous eyes, as if he couldn't believe me, as if I had done something wrong again, before turning his head away, and ignoring me completely. I guess that's how it will be between us; we will either quarrel or refuse to acknowledge each other's existence. 'He is going to make the best roommate anyone could ever ask for,' I thought to myself while rolling my eyes at him.
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A/N: Hi, you! It's so nice to see you again, but why are you so silent? Come on, go ahead and let me know what you thought of the chapter in the comments below! ;)
Dedication of the Chapter: Dedication for this chapter goes to my amazing book editor Rachel (crystaltmlinson.) She has been a great help to me, correcting all my errors and making my writing to flow better. And she is just as amazing a writer as she is an editor. I am currently reading two of her books called "Shelter" and "Pretend." If you're a Luke Hemmings or Calum Hood fan, I strongly recommend you to go read her stories, and even if you aren't, still give her books a chance. I bet you'll fall in love with her plot and writing. :)
My Highlight of the Chapter: To be honest, there was none really. But, if I still had to pick, I would pick the eye-to-eye conversations between Daniel and Natalie. It amazes me how sometimes you don't need words to convey your feelings and thoughts to the other person, and it doesn't always happen between two lovers only, but between any two people who share a strong bond and understand each other. Don't you agree? :)
What was your highlight of the chapter, if any?
Questions of the Chapter: Well, this is going to be a simple one. Have we got any ships yet? If yes, whom are you shipping, why and what's the name of your ship? :D
adu2106 has already told me about her ships. Apparently, she ships Rae with everyone.
#Daelyn, #Gaelyn and a good ship name that she couldn't come up with for Reece and Raelyn. Which of her ships do you guys support? And did you like the names she gave to these ships or do you have more suggestions? Comment below to let me know! ;)
Don't forget to show your support through comments and votes, so that I'd know whether you're enjoying the story or not and can also thank you for reading it! Follow me to get updates on this book and on any other works that I write in the future! :⦆
Hugs & Kisses,
Shagun