What came up?
What came up?
He had wanted to make it special, make a candlelight dinner and officially ask her to be his girlfriend before they went to meet his family this weekend (that's if she agreed) but he remembered he also had to remind her he would be traveling and he had to know whether Mia would be willing to wait for him.
Mia was an attractive lady. He had seen the way most men looked at her whenever he was out with her and nowadays, most men didn't bother to hide the fact that they were checking out a lady under the obvious eyes of a man who could possibly be her boyfriend. So there was every possiblity that there were already men who liked her and she wasn't telling him about. He had to be sure Mia would be willing to wait for him regardless of all those flies around her.
As he approached his door, he became even more nervous and tightened his grip around the bag he held.
He was just about to type in the passcode when he heard the soft sound of heels tapping the tiles. The sound became more audible with every passing second.
He turned to check who was behind him and it was none other than Cherry Anderson.
"Hi!" She greeted with a nervous smile.
He didn't have the time to check out whatever she was wearing. Knowing her style, he already knew it was a revealing gown with a coat draped over her shoulders and heels.
"What are you doing here?" He asked coldly. He was tired of having this same conversation over and over again.
He could have just opened the door and go in, totally ignoring her, but he knew Cherry. She wouldn't leave. She may end up knocking or ringing the doorbell until he came back out or worse, Mia may be the one to come check. And also, he wanted to clear up whatever she was thinking about the both of them so she would stop coming around since it was obvious all his warning wasn't working.
"Leo, I know you do not want to see me or talk to me, but please. I have tried reaching you every way I can..."
"Stop it." He interrupted harshly.
"I don't get why you are being so clingy right now. It's irritating. And you should leave now. If you keep lurking around, I'll call the cops. It's a promise."
"Leo wait! Please!" She cried when he turned to type in the passcode.
Leo stopped but he didn't turn around to look at her.
"I was wrong! I was! And I regret it. That was the first and last time, I promise. It was the only option I had back then. But I never stopped loving you, I loved you and I still do. The past two years without you felt like hell and I can't continue living like this with you hating me—"
She stopped talking when they both heard a sound, letting them know the door had been opened from inside.
Leo stood on the spot as he came face to face with Mia who had pulled the door open. There was a flash of surprise in her eyes as she looked at him and then at Cherry.
Mia was heading out, Leo noted as he looked at her outfit.
The weather was slightly cold so Mia was properly covered, wearing a fitted jean trousers, a red turtle neck and a leather jacket. Those were from the things he bought her the previous day.
They looked really great on her. Her face was bare and her hair was brushed and left to flow down freely.
She looked at the both of them again and bit her lower lip. These were one of those times Leo wished he could read her thought.
"Leo?" Cherry called behind him to get his attention since he had been looking at Mia the whole time. Cherry totally ignored Mia like she hadn't seen her at all and continued to fix her gaze on Leo.
"I meant it when I said I would call the cops on you." Leo turned to tell Cherry before facing Mia again.
"Going out?"
"Hmm. I may return late." Mia said before flashing him a smile then she walked past the both of them and left.
Leo realised when he went inside the house that he had made a mistake listening to Cherry in the first place. He would have just left her there and went inside. All his plans tonight were shattered and most of all, he didn't know what Mia was thinking.
He could only hope she wasn't thinking there was still something between himself and Cherry.
After waiting for a long time for her to return, she didn't come home. She had said she would return late so he didn't call.
He waited for a really long time until he dozed off on the couch in the living room. Tara's barks and the sound of the door opening woke him up so he sat up to look at her and noticed she looked stressed out.
"Hey!" She said with a rather forced smile.
He scratched the back of his head awkwardly.
Something told him all of these was related to what she had seen when she opened the door earlier.
"I'm sorry you had to see her there, I really didn't know she—"
"I know." Mia interrupted with a nod.
"Today has been a really long day.. let's talk tomorrow?" She asked quietly.
He scratched the back of his head again before nodding reluctantly. "Alright." He said and watched her walk into her room.
**********
The next morning, Mia had an early class so she left early which left Leo even more frustrated since they hadn't talked after Cherry's visit the previous evening.
A few minutes after she arrived at class and took her seat, Chloe entered.
Mia remembered she hadn't thanked her for indirectly letting Jeremy know the kind of person Benjamin was.
Speaking about Jeremy, he wasn't seated beside her and Chloe looked at his empty space in confusion before looking at Mia.
Chloe thought that if there was one thing Jeremy was good at aside from frustrating her, it was the fact that he was always early to class. Maybe because he was a scholarship student and wouldn't want a bad review on his file or strikes from the lecturers.
The entire lecture, Chloe's eyes kept darting towards his seat. He didn't show up at all until the class ended.
Was something wrong with him? She wondered.
She remembered the phone conversation with Ellie and shook her head. That had definitely been a prank.
She waited until the lecturer left the class before taking out her phone.
He hadn't called her the previous evening, neither had she called because she had spent most of the night thinking about her life and family.
She dialed his number but it was switched off. This made her begin to feel a bit troubled. She called his home phone which Ellie had used to call her but it didn't connect. She guessed Ellie was probably in school. So what about Jeremy?
"Where's your friend?" She suddenly heard Katie's voice ask Mia.
Katie Engels was the same girl who had asked for Jeremy's number and kissed his cheek the other day, how could she forget that?
Mia looked at Katie in confusion. Was the girl talking to her right now? The girls in her class always felt they were better than everyone and funnily enough, they thought same about her.
Mia didn't know when this Katie girl became friends with Jeremy. Strange, she thought.
"Something came up so he couldn't come to school." Mia answered dismissively.
"Tell him to give me a call once his phone comes on." Katie said before walking away to join her group of friends.
'Something came up? What could have probably come up?'
Chloe stood up when she could no longer hold in her curiosity and went to sit beside Mia, surprising her.
"What came up?" Chloe asked without bothering to beat around the bush
"What?" Mia looked at her in confusion. She didn't understand what Chloe was talking about.
"Jeremy, why isn't he in class?" She asked.
Mia looked at her before replying hesitantly. "He... is in the hospital."
Chloe couldn't help the light gasp that escaped her lips while her eyes shone.
Hospital? He had really been sick and she had thought it was a prank and turned off her phone when his sister called?
Her eyes blinked rapidly as she tried to remain calm..
"What... is wrong with him? Have you seen him?"
"Hmm... I was with him last night at the hospital."
Just then, the next lecturer came in. Chloe looked between Mia and the man before standing up with her bag.
"Text me the hospital's address." She said and left the class with everyone's curious gaze on her.