by Akaku Red
My hand touched his head. I brushed away some loose hair which had fallen over his face and covered his eyes. I didn’t want there to be anything which could distract my view.
His eyes were so beautiful. I didn’t care that my chest was bare now.
In fact, I didn’t care about anything but Tyler.
His eyes wandered down to my chest, to my stomach, as if he was following a magic line.
Memorising the picture…
“You are the most beautiful human on Earth.”
His finger slid from my cheek to my chin, then he brushed over my lips with his thumb.
He bent over me, his nose stroked mine.
“Tyler... we should stop.”
My voice was shaking, and I didn’t sound very convincing. His forehead was on mine as he lowered his body, so our skin touched again.
“You are dangerous!”
I lifted my arms to push him away, but he didn’t budge a bit.
His hand moved to the opening of my bathrobe which had widened through our movements.
Sliding it down to my thigh, he lifted my leg up with a firm grip and wrapped it around his waist.
I felt his hard body on me which made me gasp in shock.
He took the opportunity and kissed me again, but it didn’t last because my phone started to ring. We both gave a start.
Our lips didn’t touch, but his forehead was placed again on mine.
We didn’t speak. The sound of my phone was getting louder.
“Tyler, someone is calling.”
He looked deep into my eyes before he closed them again as if he was considering the situation.
“Tyler?”
“I’m thinking…”
My phone had already stopped ringing because he had taken too long, but as it started again, he lifted himself up.
Eyes still closed.
“Fine.”
As he got up, he let his hand slide down all the way to my toes, without opening his eyes once.
Then he turned and left the room. It took me some time before I could move.
I didn’t have my body under control.
Also, somehow, I felt … disappointed.
Did I expect something?
Didn’t I want him to stop?
I guess not.
Because when he got up and the warmth of his body left me, I felt cold again.
I wished he was still next to me.
But …
No! What am I thinking?
Shaking my thoughts away, I got up, took some clothes and started to get dressed.
The phone wasn’t important at this moment.
I still felt his hands on me, his lips … his scent and taste.
“You are beautiful.”
Because of him … I felt beautiful, even though I knew I wasn’t.
He let the disgusting voices vanish, the violent touches from Thomas and Daniel disappeared. It was a blessing.
The phone hadn’t stopped ringing. I finally took the call without looking on the display.
“Hello?”
“I hope you had a good reason for not taking the call! And if the reason isn’t Tyler, then I am going to be extremely mad!”
Charlotte’s voice was on the other line, which made me blush furiously.
I didn’t expect to hear her voice.
“I am sorry… I just-”
“Oh god! You sound choked up! Were you crying?”
I covered my face, even though she couldn’t see me.
“N-No, I wasn’t. I just-”
“OH MY GOD! TYLER WAS THE REASON?”
Well, I guess I didn’t need to say anything since she had already caught me.
“Ay, ay! Don’t tell me I interrupted you both?”
“Well, let just say … you had the perfect timing.”
I heard her sigh.
“Shit! He is going to hate me because I interrupted you guys.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Forget it! Anyway … Perfect, another reason why we need to meet! I need to see you right away! It is about the letters…”
Her voice changed as soon as she mentioned the letters.
The air around me got colder.
“Did you find out?”
“Yeah … and well, it’s a bit difficult to explain. But the letters were sent to the right address. Alice… always sent you letters. She even sent you a package, so the tracing number was on it.”
As soon as she mentioned Alice, my mind returned to the cold reality.
“Can we meet?” she asked.
“Yeah, I don’t think that that is a problem.”
“I will send you the location and time via message.”
“Okay.”
Chapter 18
Tyler wasn’t really surprised when I told him about Charlotte.
He wasn’t pleased either, but he was a bit amused.
We didn’t talk much when he sent me off to the Coffeeshop where Charlotte was already waiting. Both glared at each other when they saw each other.
“Miss Walsh, what a beautiful day to meet.”
“I guess your day was way more beautiful since you had a good time,” she retaliated without turning red.
“My day was in fact good until a special phone call happened.”
Tyler bit his lower lip which made my heart skip a beat.
“Sorry, not sorry!”
People on the street watched the two tease each other with a grin on their faces.
Charlotte tossed her long white hair behind and pointed at me.
“If you dare to do something bad to her, I am going to hunt you down!”
Tyler backed away, and the look in his eyes changed. Before that, they had been all teasing with fun but now they looked deadly serious.
“I would never do anything to hurt her!”
Charlotte linked her arms with mine and turned me around.
“I hope so! I told you, I am going to hunt you down. Better remember that. Oh, and I will make sure to bring her back when we are finished. Bye!”
She didn’t even give me the time to see him off. The way she acted was also a bit odd.
I allowed myself to get pulled into a little coffeeshop sitting next to a lot of restaurants and boutiques.
The cafe itself didn’t have many costumers.
Apart from three other people, we were the only guests there.
The shop was quite pretty. It was decorated with flowers in a theme of white and pink. Also, the walls, furniture, and the counter were mixed with white and pink colours.
Even the music was relaxed and played through some speakers but wasn’t very loud. It was enough so that the customers could still hear each other well without having to raise their voices.
Everything matched well. Charlotte bought us a brunch menu because it was already noon.
As we waited for our food to come, I looked at her.
Today, she looked really pretty. Her white hair was hanging loosely around her shoulders, and she wore a beautiful blue maxi dress matched with a pair of white sneakers.
“You look pale,” she said after we had taken a seat at the corner were nobody could hear us.
“I have a headache, and I feel a bit dizzy, but I am fine,” I assured her.
The waitress brought us our drinks first since our meals would take some time to be prepared.
“Thank you,” I said before taking a sip from my hot chocolate.
“Jenny, I am sorry if you think that I was too harsh on Tyler.”
Today … I wasn’t really thinking about anything— I was at my limit.
My eyes followed her movements, as I tried to think of an answer.
“So, tell me what happened!”
My face felt hot, as I tried to swallow my embarrassment.
“Tyler kissed me. And … he saw my scars.”
Her face turned red while she clapped her hands.
“Could you tell me, like, everything in detail?”
&nbs
p; I backed away after hearing her request.
Then she realised what her words sounded like. She shook her head instantly.
“No … Err! Don’t tell me about the kiss. I mean, you can. But what I really want to know is, how did the kiss happen? What happened before?”
Her question reminded me of everything that happened yesterday, I had nearly forgotten about the pictures and that he got drunk.
As I recalled everything and said it out loud, Charlotte was confused, too.
“Oh shit! I really did stop him!” she figured.
“Yeah, I guess … But I think this was a good timing, since I am not ready for …”
The waitress returned with our brunch and placed it in front of us.
“Bon appetit!” she said with a smile.
The woman looked older, and her short grey hair was styled into a bun. A beautiful woman with a warm-hearted smile, but Charlotte didn’t seem to bother much. She was too focused on the ‘hot’ topic.
“You are not ready because of your past, and because … You have other things on your mind, too!”
She sighed heavily, then she grabbed her long hair to play with while she thought.
“The first kiss was definitely because he has lost control. After realising what he had done, he couldn’t face you! I don’t know why he would get drunk afterwards, but as you guessed, it seems like it’s connected with the day of the verdict. The kiss afterwards was because he wanted you! Maybe he gave up on his insecure thoughts of holding back since the two of you already kissed.”
Her conclusion seemed logical.
“I just think … something is really off.”
She said this carefully, as if she was afraid of hurting me with her words.
“Same …”
Her brows rose, surprised by my answer.
“You know, I don’t mean to hurt you with my words. It’s just-”
I put my hand on her shoulder and patted it a bit.
“Charlotte! I know that, and you are stating the obvious.”
She sighed in relief.
“Don’t get me wrong. I ship you both.”
Her eyebrows wiggled up and down.
“But even after I interrupted him, it is still unclear if you are in a relationship or not, right?”
I nodded.
It wasn’t official, we just kissed and … even though I felt the desire and yearning.
“As I thought, just because he is attracted to you doesn’t mean that he loves you. He needs to tell you properly, and you need to be sure about what he is doing.”
She touched her chest to symbolise her heart to give her words more effect.
“You aren’t a girl to be played with. You are special, he should make everything clear, and you should be sure about your own feelings.”
Yeah, she was right.
Even though Tyler was a special person to me, I still couldn’t really distinguish the feelings of love or lust…
“He should make it clear to you!”
I nodded. Everything she said was true.
“But again … Haha! I knew he wants you! To get kissed by this hottie must be a freaking blessing.”
Even though she had clearly been concerned before, now she was starting to talk about passionate kisses and made funny faces while doing so.
She also liked my neckless and complimented it and its value.
After her silly talk, Charlotte started to eat.
I didn’t have a big appetite, but I forced myself to eat at least something.
“I didn’t want to make you worry. I just want to save you from feelings which could make you … regret things. And you should listen to your heart,” she muttered when she noticed my concern.
“Thank you! I will be careful from now on.”
“Good! And we need to find out why Elise sent him pictures of you. But first, let us talk about the letters!”
She pulled her phone out of her bag and showed me some pictures of a list and addresses.
“The asshole hasn’t replied these past few months, but today I finally gotten the answer.”
Her voice didn’t sound angry, but her hands were balled into small fists.
“He cheated on me before. That’s why I broke up with him. He always tried to make it up, but I blocked him. I wasn’t sure if he would do this for me.”
As she explained the situation, I couldn't help but feel bad.
“I am sorry, I didn’t want to bother you with this. Because of me, I have put you into an awkward situation.”
Her beautiful hair flew right and left as she shook her head.
“No, you didn’t! It was a bit awkward, but it didn’t bother me much. In fact, I think he owes me a favour! Anyway…”
Pointing at her display…
The list showed it all.
Date and time of every package and letter with register. She scrolled down to the most recent date.
08/11/2011 - It was a package.
In fact, each year after my time at the orphanage, she had always sent me a package on that date.
This was the date of the light sentence.
My eyes went down to the address of the receiver of the packages.
It was my old house in Florida, and the person who had received the packages needed to leave a signature on a digital phone.
The signature was from Rick— My late father!
All the signatures were his.
“Oh my god!”
My voice was shaking. I looked over to Charlotte.
“My dad received all the packages and letters.”
Charlotte looked at me, puzzled.
“Are you sure?”
I nodded and pointed at the signature.
“That is his! I am one hundred percent sure!”
“Oh, girl! What the heck is happening? What are they hiding?”
The brunch was all forgotten. We had both lost our appetite.
“This is really confusing! Why would your father take this and hide it from you?”
I leaned back on the chair and tried to figure out why he would have taken the letters and not given them to me.
“This is … Where are the letters now?”
If I only had an answer to this question!
“Anyway, luckily, there is the address from your friend Alice on here.”
She pointed at the last picture on her phone, and as I was reading it, my hopes were crushed.
It was the same address that Linette and I had found.
So, the last package had been sent before she moved away.
“This was the address… Linette and I had checked that out. She has moved away already. We just know that she lives somewhere in London now.”
Charlotte looked out the window as she was thinking.
“When did you stop writing her letters?”
“Err … I still write letters. I only stopped a month ago because I didn’t really have the time for it. I couldn’t send those letters since the address I had was from the orphanage.”
“So, when was the last time you sent a letter?”
The last time was in Florida … Oh, wait, no. I sent her a letter one week after I got into my new house in London— Who had received those letters?
“One week …after I arrived here in London.”
Charlotte shuddered.
“Oh god! I have bad feeling, a really bad feeling.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean someone was accepting the letters all those times, and it was neither you nor Alice who got them.”
Now I understood what she meant. I felt really cold now, the air around us had just become much heavier.
“The woman in Cambridge told me that Alice received my letters, though… But my last letter, I don't know if she received it … What if – No, forget this!”
“Jenny, say it! I need to know what you are thinking?”
I swallowed my fear before I continued quietly.
“What if the guy who attacked me,
or the guy who was stalking me, received the last letter? I mean … I wrote down my address, everything is my fault.”
Charlottes face turned pale.
“We need to be careful!”
“Yeah! That’s for sure! We need to be careful about that-”
She was interrupted mid-speech. Suddenly, hands were wrapped around us, and we both got startled, making us jump up from our seats.
“AH!” Charlotte screamed.
“Hey, hey! Chill out, it’s us!”
Amy and Linette appeared behind us and gave us a big scare.
“What are you doing here? How did you know we were here?” Charlotte asked, still recovering from their sudden appearance.
“Why you ask? You think you can have Jenny all by yourself?”
Linette hugged me tight while Amy did the same to Charlotte.
“Linette called me! She told me that you guys were out all by yourself, so we needed to come by and destroy your alone time,” Amy explained with a big grin on her face.
“And how does Linette know about this?”
Charlotte pushed Amy away, who just laughed about this matter and took the seat next to me.
“Well, Tyler told her.”
Linette also made herself comfortable as she sat down beside me.
Charlotte gave me a look as soon as Amy mentioned Tyler.
“How come he would tell you such precious information?”
Linette didn’t flinch at this question. She just looked really happy.
“Oh, don’t be jealous! We exchanged numbers. He texted me that he wanted to get back at you since you interrupted him in something.”
Charlottes face changed colours. She was her usual self again.
“Wow! What a resentful person he is!”
“What monkey business have you been up to?” Amy asked joyfully as she took my unfinished sandwich.
I really didn’t want to be part of this conversation now since I knew what it would be leading to.
“Well, I made him suffer a bit … but nothing much.”
Amy and Linette raised their eyebrows as if they were confused by her answer, but thankfully, Amy changed the subject, and we started to chat about other topics.
The timing of the two of them wasn’t good, since Charlotte and I were still in the middle of drawing conclusions about the situation I was in now.
Yet, it was fine by me.
A little mood change wasn’t bad.