Chapter 113
1332words
The air around us became tense. I could feel her irregular pulsating heartbeat being transmitted through my fingertips that were resting on her neck. Her lips that were initial slightly parted were now sealed as her eyes flitted down to look at my lips. I could sense how she swallowed back a globe of saliva down her neck and had to fight back a delighted grin from coming to expression as I know fully well what she was thinking right now.
And I didn't mind turning those thoughts into reality.
Her eyes slowly moved from my lips up to my eyes, her cheeks slowly getting filled with rouge as she realized that I had been watching her this whole time. The intensity in my eyes never waned not wanting to miss any of her cute reactions. She then quickly turned her head away from me, harrumphing as she bend down to pick her tea cup that now had been sufficiently cooled down up from the small table.
Bringing the cup to her lips she took a big gulp before looking back at me with a tittering smile. "Wow the tea isn't hot anymore, sorry Mark I have to decline your offer." She said, not sounding apologetic at all.
Merriment filled my body but I suppressed it behind a stoic expression. "What a pity, let me know when you change your mind."
I took my own tea and drunk it leisurely with my eyes shut to hear April sigh relieved at my side.
"Is everything okay?" I asked calmly.
She jolted surprised causing some of the tea content to spill over the edge of the cup. Stammering like a broken record she said, "Y-Yes I'm I'm okay! W-Why wouldn't I be okay?" Her face became so red you could basically compare her to a tomato.
"I am not talking about you refusing my kiss despite wanting it. I am asking if you're okay after meeting your mom." I explained taking another sip from my tea.
Her vibrant green eyes turned misty as her eyelids drooped. Her head changed direction making her look forward while her teacup that was cupped by her hands was lowered down on to her lap as she ushered in a quiet voice were you had to strain your ears to hear it, "Oh" and continued with an indifferent tone, bringing the teacup back to her lips, "I'm okay, I just didn't expect her to find out where I live."
I hummed between my sips, emptying the cup before placing it away. "You know how it is these days. With the help of the internet you can even find out where the lost city of Atlantis is located." I commented trying to reason with her despite knowing full well that I was the instigator.
With a sad smile towards my comment she placed her cup down, twirling it around on her lap between her hands as she peered down at the ripples that were being formed in the tea- watching her own forlorn reflection. "I know that you have been stalkin-"
"Loving you." I interrupted to correct her.
Shaking her head while smiling she rolled her eyes. "You have been watching me for a long time so you basically know everything about me," She paused letting out a heavy sigh. "But she wasn't always like that. She was the best mom in the world." She looked up heavenward with a smile that was coated with bitterness as her mind wistfully started to wander on the path of the remnants of the past.
I laid back on my side, my legs crossed over the knee as I stared at April, letting her words soak into my body while feeling internally giddy at the sound of April's heart being unlocked.
"She was nice, sweet, always there to catch me when I fall and was strict when she needed to be. My dad and I would always get ourselves into the craziest shit giving her multiples panic attacks." She closed her eyes as she chuckled, her shoulders shaking up and down. As quick as her chuckles came they disappeared, her face taken on a dejected expression. "But she became a whole different person after my dad died. She would cry day and night wallowing herself in despair- bottles of alcohol would pile up in the house making me wonder whether I ever had a sober conversation with her. Her mood would be sour most of the time, so sour that even a lemon tasted sweet. But then one day her mood suddenly got better. She almost reverted back to the old mom that I knew and that was because…" Her brows knitted together and her hands clasped themselves tighter around the tea cup as she took a deep breath.
"Your step-dad" I said, finishing her sentence. She nodded exhaling the breath that she was holding in before continuing. "Yes…after meeting him she started to smile more. I felt relieved to see her get better. I even supported her when she said that she wanted to marry him. He seemed to be a decent man at that time, helping me with my problems, buying me presents. If only I knew his real face behind his façades." April scoffed, berating herself for not noticing how foul the man was.
"If only I knew that he was just using mom for the money that was left behind from my father's life insurance, if only I was strong enough to take care of my mom and myself, if only I could fight back against that man, if-"
Her voice that started of strong became feeble at every word she spoke. Her voice cracked at the end of every sentence, the rawness in her tone only being heightened. The walls that she had built surrounding her heart to keep her strong to keep her from breaking down, was now crumbling down into dust- turning her words into whimpers as the welled up tears in her eyes finally freed themselves from their confinement, trickling slowly down her cheeks.
Panic filled my veins, feeling my own heart asunder watching her sobbing figure and unconsciously reached my arm out for her; pulling her into my embrace- ignoring the tea cup that clattered down on the floor. Rocking her back and forth with my hand on her head to push her against my chest and with my other hand patting her back I hushed her soothingly. "Hey, there's no "ifs", because it was never your fault. You were a child, there's no way that you could have done something."
"I know but I can't shake the feeling that I have failed my dad." She said between her sobs, her body still convulsing as her hands fisted my shirt.
My brows crushed to each other thunderously and my lips were set into a thin line not liking how April was putting herself down. "Hey," I called out, cupping her cheek. She didn't raise her head making me growl.
"Look at me." I ordered and her face slowly came out of its hiding place, revealing her emerald tears filled eyes. One tear glide down her cheek while the other tear got caught in her long bottom eyelashes. "I know for a fact that he would be proud of the woman that you have become and if he's not then I will personally make sure to kick his ass when I die- oh wait," I paused before I continued thoughtfully. "I will most likely go to hell so I won't get the chance to kick his ass."
April's doe eyes stared at me blankly, blinking a few times before she burst in to a fit of giggles. "It's not most likely, it's definitely."
Her giggles sounded hoarse from her crying, but to me it sounded like a beautiful melody like an angel playing the harp gracefully. Watching her innocent reaction I couldn't help but blur out with a serious tone, "You're so beautiful."
