I slowly entered the house and looked around. I could hear some faint sounds from the kitchen. I searched for something and found a sea-green scarf on the coat stand. I pulled the scarf and wrapped up my upper arm to cover the purple hickeys all over my revealed arm and neck.
I inhaled sharply and slowly made my way to the kitchen. Everyone was sitting leisurely around the table, chatting and eating breakfast.
"Good morning." I greeted everyone with a fake cherry tone and smiled forcefully. Everyone looked up at me.
"Liza!" Mom said frantically, "Where have you been? What happened?"
"Nothing, mom," I said calmly as I carefully took a seat beside dad. "Last night, I was a little drunk." I cleared my throat. "So, we just stayed over."
"Yeah?" Mom squinted her eyes suspiciously.
"Yeah, mom." I felt uncomfortable under mom's eye, so I slowly got up from the chair.
"Did you have that scarf with you last night?" Arthur inquired me suddenly while chewing his mushroom.
I felt a cold sweat on my palms. "Yeah, why?"
"Nothing, it just doesn't fit with your dress." Arthur shrugged his broad shoulders.
"She always has zero sense about dressing." Mom mocked me smilingly.
I smiled thinly and secretly released a relieved sigh. I excused myself and headed upstairs. When I reached my room, I threw my belongings on my bed along with the scarf on my bed. I slowly entered the bathroom and removed the dress from my body. I stand in front of the sink and look at myself in the mirror thoroughly. I sighed tiredly. I had to use my turtleneck sweater, because of these prominent marks.
Suddenly, something caught my attention.
The necklace, which Ron gave me last night.
The necklace was wrapped around my neck, that whole time. I squinted my eyes. When I took a shower at the hotel, It didn't catch my attention at that time. Maybe because my mind was messed up at that time.
"Why do I still have it?" I took it off. Then I flung it away in the trash can. I didn't even care to look at whether it safely landed in the trash can or not. I wore a turtleneck sweater after putting on a simple t-shirt and wide-leg pants.
I slowly climbed on the bed and lied tiredly. I put a pillow between my legs and hugged it tightly. Rose and Oli would reach home by afternoon. I shouldn't disturb them just after their return. I would tell them everything the next day, at college. I closed my eyes, but my eyebrows were knotted with deep thoughts.
**********
"Wake up! Wake up! Wake uppppppp!"
I didn't know when I fell asleep. I woke up, by some shouting and furious shaking. I slowly got up and rubbed my eyes to clear the blur state of my eyes. I squinted my eyes and drowsily tried to see what was going on.
Thump!
I was startled when I saw Rose and Oli were sitting on my bed with a broad smile on their faces. My stomach instantly felt uneasy.
"Wha....wai....whe.....ho....I mea...." I tried to produce words, but couldn't.
"Ok, ok, calm down, calm down." Oli tried to soothe me and handed me the water bottle from my bedside table. I grasped the bottle from her and gulped down some water.
"Better?" Rose asked me merrily. I nodded my head.
"When did you guys come back ?" I asked them with a forced smile as I cleared my throat cautiously.
"We come here straight from the airport," Rose answered me promptly with glittering eyes.
"And we missed you, soooo much," Oli told me while engulfing me in her hug.
"And look." Rose slightly turned and leaned off the bed to get her backpack from the floor. "We brought some beautiful souvenirs for you."
Rose opened her yellow backpack and excitedly took out some precious gifts for me from her backpack. I carelessly looked at those things, a tartan collection with a kilt skirt, jacket, and shoe.
"Thank you." I forced a smile for her.
"You don't like them?" Rose asked me with a down tone. Oli also looked a little down by my reaction.
"What are you saying?" I forced myself from the core of my heart and laughed unnecessarily very loud. "They are gorgeous. Oh, I love the skirt. It is so sexy. Oh my god, this jacket is perfect with my new white t-shirt."
"Yeah?" Oli looked unsure.
"Of course." I gave them a 'duh' look. "Tell me everything about your trip."
They both released a relieved sigh and smiled brightly. I felt so ashamed when I saw Rose's smiling face.
"First we went to visit Edinburgh castle. It looked so beautiful covered by snow. We also visited the Camera obscura. Then we went to visit the Palace of Holyrood castle. The next day we went to Loch Ness to hunt the monster and......."
I was listening to her with an absent mind as I was picking up the corner of the kilt skirt. Everything passed through between my ears.
Should I tell them everything now?
But, how?
I was still not ready for the outcome. But if it took too much time, then maybe....
"..za, Liza....." I snapped back from my jumbled thoughts by Rose's calling.
"Huh! What?" I looked at them dumbfounded.
"Are you listening?" Oli squinted her eyes at me. "You are weird today. Where is the Liza we know, who spends eighty words per second? Are you alright? What happened? Are you angry with us?"
I clenched and unclenched my fists to ease the cold sweat. There was no meaning of taking the time and keeping that grave mistake made by me from them. It would only make the weight heavier on my heart. I couldn't take it much longer. My heart and mind felt so heavy that I couldn't breathe. As if something was clogging up in my throat. I should tell them everything, then and there. I inhaled deeply as I finally made up my mind and looked straight at them.
"Guys," I let go a shaky breath as I prepared myself to reveal everything to them, "I need to...."
"Who wants some hot salted caramel latte with butter bread cookies?" Suddenly mom appeared with a big tray with lattes and cookies. She had a cherry expression on her face.
"Me, me, me." Rose and Oli excitedly chirped out.
"Here you go." Mom placed the loaded tray at the centre of my small bed carefully. They took the drink and food and started to savour them. I looked at mom. She was still standing with a bright smile on her face.
"Mom. Thank you." I tried to make my mom go away.
"How was your trip?" Mom flopped down on the bed beside me.
I looked at my mom with disbelief. "What are you doing?"
"Let me join you to hear about their trip." Mom looked at me with puppy eyes.
"No!" I angrily said. "We are going to talk dirty things about boys."
"Don't worry." Mom made herself more comfortable. "I know much dirtier things."
"Mom!"
"Come on, it's fine." Oli smiled tenderly at mom. She promptly reached out her hand for her light blue backpack. "We brought something for you as well." She dug inside her backpack and took out a packet box. She carefully handed it to my mom. "For you."
"How sweet. But you really don't have to..." Mom told her as she took the heavy gift and instantly started to open the box and left her sentence midway. "OH MY GOD! This is so beautiful." Mom's eyes started to glitter when she saw her gift. A crystal bowl.
"Do you like it?"
"I love it." Mom said happily.
They also bought a single malt whisky for dad from some distillery which they visited and a kilt scarf for Arthur. They talked non-stop about their trip, and I just sat there quietly, between them, biting my nails with anxiety. After spending some time, they took their leave, and I couldn't manage to tell them anything, because of mom. I didn't want to tell them everything in front of my mom.
I decided I would tell them everything at college, for sure...
....no matter what.
After Rose and Oli left, I also got up and intended to get ready for my job. With a heavy heart. Holidays are finished already.
I parked my car at the parking lot and gradually made my way to the staff room. I half heartedly opened my locker and pulled out my green uniform.
"How was your holiday?" Anna asked me gleefully as she slapped my shoulder lightly with a smile on her face.
"Yeah, it was fine," I told her grimly as I was stepping in my green uniform pants quietly.
"Are you alright?" She inquired me with a worried tone and knotted brows.
My hand stopped midway which was closing the locker door. I sucked a deep breath and closed the door quietly. I glanced uneasily at her and forced a smile. "Yeah. Why?"
She stared at me for a good five seconds. "You forced out that fake smile."
"Oh, stop it!" I strongly maintained that fake smile on my face and passed by her. "It's just.....I am feeling tired, you know, after a long holiday. That's all."
"Yeah?" She was still staring at me.
"Stop staring at me," I told her, a little irritated. She rolled her eyes and closed her locker.
After a long holiday, the store was a little crowded. We all got busy with work. We didn't have much proper time to gossip or breathe.
"Psst. Hey, Liza." Alex, one of my co-workers, who was managing the cash register called me with a loud whisper. I was taking out the nearly out of date products from shelves to transfer them into the reduce-section. I put down the cotton chew ball for the dogs and walked towards him casually.
"What?" I asked him.
"Can you please, manage here for a few minutes." He pleaded with a poor face. "I really need to use the washroom."
"Ok." I smile at him. He blew a kiss to me and frantically rushed to the staff room. I quickly took the customer, whom he left in my care.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
I started to scan those items mechanically because my mind was not with me. It was somewhere else.
Suddenly there was a buzzing commotion in the store. I looked up from the fish food bottle, which I was scanning. A group of people, I assumed they were reporters because they had those reporting mike and camera shit in their hands. They were looking desperately inside the store for something.
"What are they doing?" Sam, my other co-worker, who was also working on the cash counter with me, whispered to me.
"I have no idea." I shook my head as I answered him.
Suddenly those reporter's eyes turned to our direction and they rushed towards us.
"Why are they coming to us?" I panicked at him. "What did you do?"
"I...I..didn't do anything." He also panicked with me.
"Miss. Davies, there's news that you and Mr Ronald Ryan, who is the new CEO of Ryan clouds, are dating. Is that true?"
"Miss. Davies, how long are you guys dating? How did you two first meet and where? Can you please share the information with us?"
"Miss. Davies, what is the next step of your secret relationship? Are you two going to get married soon?"
"What the hell are you saying?" I protested immediately. "No, we are not dating."
"Miss Davies, there's no point denying that. We have strong proof. We also have some evidence of yours and Mr Ryan's intimate private moments."
W.H.A.T.T.H.E.A.C.T.U.A.L.F.U.C.K.
My eyes got covered with a red bloody layer.
I slammed the fish food bottle on the counter, climbed up a little, leaned over the counter and yanked the collar of the very first reporter who was standing enthusiastically at the front of that shitty group.
"What the fuck did you just say?" I spat angrily. "Try to repeat that again. I will break your jaw, right here, right now."
Sam quickly got a hold of me and tried hard to peel me off from that reporter. My manager Mr Scott quickly came out and instantly started to help Sam in rescuing that reporter. Those two succeed, and Sam dragged me to the staff room with force.
"I am very sorry, but you are disturbing our work and other people." I can hear Mr Scott was talking gently to those aggressive reporters as Sam was forcibly dragging me to the staff room. Sam closed the door after we had entered the room. I wobbled to a chair and flopped down. I buried my face into my palms.
What was all that???
The door creaked open and Mr Scott entered. He stood in front of me silently with crossed arms on his chest. There was a pin drop silence.
"Please, don't fire me." I broke the silence as I looked up at him. "I really need this job."
He stared at me starkly, then sighed. He pulled a chair, placed it in front of me and sat down on it.
"I won't ask you anything about your personal life," He quietly said. "But, please, don't bring them here." He looked straight at me. "I know you are a nice girl. But I don't want a next time. Can you promise that?"
"Yes." I croaked. "I promise."
"I think you better go home, for now." Mr Scott stood up. "Don't use the back door. I am sure they are waiting for you there. There is a big window just beside the storeroom, which is hidden by those heavy racks. Use that way." He stared at me, then let out a big sigh as he took off.
I didn't even remember how I managed to get out of there. Mr Scott was right. Those damn reporters were desperately waiting for me at the back door. When I started my car's engine and hit the road, I didn't understand why I was running.
What the hell were they saying?
Why were they talking about Ron and me?
What dating?
What proof?
I don't have any fucking idea. I angrily slammed my fist on the steering wheel with a loud bang.
When I reached home, I froze on my car seat. The pedestrian entrance of our house was all covered by reporters. I gripped on the steering wheel tightly. Suddenly I felt numb, I felt cold, I felt....
...scared.
Very scared.
****************
Author's Note:-
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