SILAS HARRISON
Maria passed out soon after I kissed her. I smiled as she slept while our lips were still on each other. I didn't back away immediately – I stayed still for a few minutes before I held her in my arms and took her to her room. I couldn't help but stare at her beautiful face. Even while sleeping, the frown on her face indicated the hardships she faced because of me. I sighed and gently put her on the bed and covered her with the blanket. I didn't leave – I stayed by her side while I watched her sleep. I chuckled softly when she knitted her brows in her sleep. I put my index finger between her brows and lightly pressed it till she relaxed. What she said before kept ringing in my mind and I couldn't shake the fact off that she was so unhappy with her life. It breaks my heart to even think about what she went through.
"Maria," I whispered as I kneed beside her side of the bed and lightly brushed her hair with my fingers, "You are not pathetic," I told her. "What you are feeling is natural," I told her. I know she can't hear me now, but still, I want her to know this. "I am ashamed, Maria. Please forgive me for the pain I have given you." I told her. "But, here – I am asking you to give me a chance to take that pain away," I asked her while she slept. What I didn't expect from her was to open her eyes and stare directly at me. I gasped and fell back on the floor. I gaped, "You are awake." I said to her. I thought she was asleep. "You can't take my pain away, Silas. It is permanent." She spoke softly. I blinked. She looked back at me with her drowsy eyes, "I am sleepy." She said with a sigh.
"Then let me share it with you," I spoke without thinking. I didn't have to think about it – that's what I want. She chuckled sleepily, "You think it will be easy living with me?" She asked. "I am a mess." She added. I snickered and kissed her nose, "I love this mess." Next, I kissed her forehead, "This is my mess, so it is only fair if I take care of it." I added. A tear fell from her eye as she chuckled. She sighed, "Silas, I love you." She spoke softly. I smiled, "I love you too, Maria." I replied. "You are going to stay with me tonight?" She asked.
I smiled, "Do you want me to stay?" I asked her. She just nodded, "Yes." She whispered. I smiled and took my shoes off before lying beside her on the bed. Since she was facing the other side – as soon as I lay beside her she tossed to her right side to face me. It has been so long since I slept beside her yet it doesn't feel foreign. It feels so good to be beside her.
I pushed the string of her hair behind her ear as she closed her eyes for that moment. I got a little closer to her and bit my lip, "Maria, if I ask you something, will you answer honestly?" I asked her. She chuckled, "I am drunk and sleepy – what do you think?" She answered. I remember when we were together – we used to talk our hearts out in the middle of the night – she always used to say that a person is completely honest when either he or she is drunk or when they are sleepy. I held her hand in mine and kissed it softly, "If I ask you to marry me again – will you agree?" I whispered and looked at her now-closed eyes. I knitted my eyebrows, "Maria?" I called her out but she didn't respond. Did she fall asleep or is she pretending to be? I moved closer to her to hear her even breathing. I looked at her face closely before blowing my cheeks out – she fell asleep. "Ah, this girl." I chuckled and watched her sleep.
The next morning I woke up before Maria. It was quite late, but she drank after a long time – she should recover by sleeping more. I made sure that she was covered before I went to the bathroom and looked for the spare toothbrush. I found it in the cabinet. After washing my face and brushing my teeth – I decided to prepare Maria breakfast before I go back to my penthouse to take a shower and change into fresh clothes. I came out of the bathroom to see Maria still sleeping soundly. I walked nearer to her and placed a kiss on her forehead before I left the room.
As soon as I stepped out of the room, I was welcomed by noises. I followed the noise and ended up in the kitchen. There, Charlie was already making breakfast. She lifts her head to look at me before passing me a smile, "Good morning, Silas." She greeted. I was surprised to see that she wasn't surprised to see me at all. I scratched my neck and shifted from one leg to another uncomfortably, "Uh – morning," I greeted back. "What are you doing here?" I asked her. She flipped the pancake and chuckled, "The last thing I know it was my apartment. I should be the one asking you that question." She grinned and put her hands on the slab. "So, Mr. Silas Harrison – what are you doing here?" She smirked.
I raised my eyebrow, "Nothing happened," I said. She laughed, "Did I say something happened?" she questioned and I twisted my lips, "I was just letting you know before you presume anything." I tried to reason. She chuckled and took the pancake from the pan and onto the plate. I slowly walked towards the refrigerator and took a water bottle out. I turned around to look at her, "How come you weren't surprised to see me here?" I asked as I twist open the cap of the bottle. She looked at me and smiled, "I saw your car keys on the coffee table." She answered. "Oh," I must have left them there. If she saw the keys – it means she saw the empty beer bottles as well. It was like she read my mind and asked, "It is good that you both emptied most of that beer's bottles. I hate them. They are so bitter – I don't know why Marcus bought them in the first place."
I chuckled, "I didn't drink them." I replied. She knitted her eyebrows and put the spatula on the counter, "Wait. Are you telling me that Maria drank them all?" She gaped. I snickered and nodded my head. She chuckled unbelievably, "What made her drink so much? Is she okay?" Charlie asked. My smile slipped when she asked me that. I don't know what to tell her. I am not supposed to tell her anything – Maria will tell her herself. I smiled at her before she could notice the change in my mood and shrugged, "She is okay. She didn't look troubled. Maybe she just wanted to enjoy some drinks." I answered and gulped down the cold water.
She tilted her head, "So if you didn't drink – why did you come here?" She wiggled her eyebrows playfully. I rolled my eyes, "It isn't like that. She called me when she was drunk and asked me to come to help her open beer bottle," I chuckled as I remembered. I took another sip straight from the bottle. "So, you are telling me that you came here in the middle of the night just to open her bottles?" Charlie asked. I stopped and looked at her to see her looking at me with her eyes wide open.
Her cheeks turned crimson, "It didn't come out right, did it?" She asked. I chuckled, "It certainly didn't." I answered before we both burst out laughing.
It didn't look like Maria was going to wake up anytime soon. I already got two calls from Marcus telling me that Dad is waiting for me in the office. Charlie told me to leave and promised me that she will look after Maria. No matter how much I wanted to stay by Maria's side – I had to leave. I left a message on her phone – telling her to text me back when she sees the message and also told her that I will see her after work. After seeing Kathie and making sure that Maria was okay – I left. I first stopped at my penthouse to take a shower and change before I went to the office to see Dad and Marcus already waiting for me. I grinned as soon as I saw dad and walked towards him, "Always late," He said with a big smile on his face. I chuckled and embraced him in a hug – it sucks that he has to live in London when we are here. I miss him.
"How are you, dad?" I asked as I patted his back and pulled away from him. He chuckled and put his hand on my arm, "I have been good, son. Just miss my kids a lot." He said as he glanced at Marcus who was smiling as well. I gulped and bowed my head, "Uh – and how his mom?" I asked him. He sighed and smiled, "She is okay," He answered shortly. I smiled and nodded my head, "Did you two have breakfast?" I asked them. Both of them nodded and I sighed – I am the only one that didn't eat. "But, I think you should eat something since you didn't have breakfast," Marcus said with a smile. I furrowed, "How did you know?" I asked him. He chuckled, "I talked to Charlie – she told me that you were with Maria last night and left without breakfast this morning. She asked me to get something for you to eat." He explained while pointing towards a wrapped sandwich.
Dad chuckled, "Oh, I love Charlie. She is such a good spirit." He said and looked at Marcus, "I am so happy you brought her to our family, Marcus." Dad said and couldn't agree more. She might be annoying but I think we are blessed to have such a caring girl in our family. I chuckled and picked the sandwich from the table. "I will thank her later," I said and took a bite from the sandwich. I said beside dad who turned towards me, "He brought Charlie to the family – when are you going bring Maria back?" He said unexpectedly causing me to choke on the sandwich. I stood up and walked to the fridge and took the water bottle out before drinking from it. While I was gulping down the water Marcus was enjoying it while dad chuckled, "What? What wrong did I say to make you choke like that?" He asked.
I cleared my throat, "I didn't say that you said something wrong." I shrugged and put the water bottle back in the fridge, "I just didn't expect it from you right now." I added. He sighed, "We did so wrong with her and Marcus, that –" Dad tried to continue but Marcus interrupted, "Tsk, dad." He said. "Stop with this. You didn't do anything wrong to me. You made my life. You gave me your name, educate me, called me your son, raised me – loved me. What else could I ask from you?" He asked. I smiled. No matter what he says – we didn't wrong to him and Maria – no one could deny that fact. For four years I hated my brother for the misdeed he never committed. We were blinded by our mother.
The three of us talked for hours. We talked about life for a while before we were back in business. We were suing David for defamation – I wasn't going to let him go. I will make sure that he gets what he asked for. He wanted to make money and fame by using Maria – I was going to take it away from him. Call me evil, but I wasn't going to let him toy with my woman.
The three of us spent an almost complete day with each other but not even once Marcus brought up about Charlie's pregnancy – I was curious – didn't Charlie tell him yet? No matter how curious I was – I wasn't going to push him or Charlie to tell me anything. "So, how are the wedding preparations coming along?" Dad asked Marcus as he sipped from his cup of coffee. Marcus nodded and smiled, "Good, but we were thinking about changing the location since every little detail about the wedding has been leaked. We both have decided to have a private ceremony with just family and close friends around." He nodded.
I furrowed, "But, the wedding is in less than two months – are you sure you want to change the location? Is Charlie okay with it?" I asked him. He nodded, "Actually she is the one who asked to change the location and keep it simple." He said. Dad just chuckled while I only nodded my head – if they are happy with it then they should go for it. I was going to help them as much as I could.
Around two at noon I received a message from Maria saying that she woke up and was feeling better. I was disappointed when she didn't say that she will be waiting for me, but– I was going to see her. Dad went to stay at my penthouse where Elizabeth was, while Marcus went to his earlier, and I – after completing some important work and buying Maria some of her favorite ice creams went to see her to Charlie's apartment. I made sure that my hair looked fine before I rang the doorbell. I smiled when I heard muffled voices and finally Charlie opened the door. I already had it in my mind that I will ask Charlie to take Kathie to Marcus's place as I want to spend some time with Maria alone.
Charlie had a mischievous smile on her face when she opened the door, "Oh, Silas – I was just waiting for you." She said. I raised my eyebrow at her devilry tone but chose to ignore it, "Hey, listen – can you please do me a favor and leave Maria and I alone for a few hours – please?" I asked her. She chuckled, "Are you kidding me? Why should I leave and miss the fun?" She asked. I furrowed, "What do you mean by that?" I asked her. She grinned, "Why don't you come in and see it yourself?" She asked.
I gave her a bewildered glance before I walked in. I could hear Maria's laughter – I was already curious to know who she was talking to. I walked in the lounge with a paper with two ice cream containers in it to see a man sitting while facing his back to me. Maria saw me walking and soon her smile slipped a little. She chuckled nervously, "Oh look, Silas is here." She announced. The guy sitting beside her turned around to look at me.
Igulped. I don't usually get scared of people in my life, but there is one guythat scares the living daylights out of me and he was staring at me with hiseyes narrowed. I could already feel beads of sweat on my forehead, "Oh – uh –hey, Leo."