Chapter 21
Nadia's POV:
I felt a kiss on my forehead and a tender caress on my cheek, I opened my eyes slowly to see that Zack was staring down at me with puppy eyes and a bright smile, his fingers kept drawing circles on my skin while I just enjoyed the warmth his touch provided in my belly and an intense feeling in my heart, a feeling I couldn't even define but liked it anyway.
I lifted my hand to put it on top of Zack's but as soon as I was an inch away from him, he stood up, turned his back at me and started walking away without spelling a single word; I tried to stand up to follow him, but something was pinning me in place, and how matter hard I tried, I couldn't move, and he was gone.
I blinked several times, hyperventilating and trying to catch my breath, before I managed to fully open my eyelids; Dillon was still asleep beside me, his head cocked to the side so I slowly stood up, lifted his head and put a pillow underneath it, so that his neck wouldn't hurt him when he wakes up in the morning.
I threw a blanket on top of Dillon, then without even realizing, I found myself walking towards Zack's rooms; I didn't bother myself to knock, I just opened the room's door and stepped inside, glancing over my shoulder to see if Dillon was still asleep or not; I didn't want him to see me walking-in.
The moment I marched-in, I suddenly felt disappointed because his bed was just as it was left two days ago, which meant that he hadn't come back home, and that I was dreaming moments ago, my unconsciousness was trying to deceive me, and making a fool of me.
'I really hoped that dream was real'
I walked to the bathroom, washed my face to freshen up and wash away my sleep, then I walked back to the sleeping area; I threw myself on the bed and pulled my knees to my chest, snuggling even more. Zack's scent filled my nostrils, making me miss his presence, his stupid comments, smug looks and devilish smirks.
A hurricane of feelings came back running to me, and I suddenly had strong desire to cry and let all of my frustration out; but the flashbacks of him in the complex two days before, were holding me back, like a barrier between me and my own feelings.
I inhaled a deep breath, stood with my head up high and started walking out of the room because I was out of place, and I had better things to think of besides Zack. He was probably enjoying his time with the Blondie anyway.
After a week:
It's been a week since I fell sick and last talked to Zack; on the exact day, Mrs. Collins spared me a visit after I obliged Dillon to leave, she instantly started asking about Zack, and how could he leave me alone while being sick; I had to lie and make up excuses to cover him up because I didn't want him to gain a lecture from his grandmother.
However, I felt bad for lying at her, especially when she almost fainted when she noticed my pale face and the dark circles around my eyes. I had to convince her that I was going to be fine for more than three times, and after it, she bid me to stay in bed, Zack's bed, and she went to heat Abby's soup for me. After I finished the soup, Mrs. Collins left right away, and I was alone again.
Snapping myself out of my train of thoughts, here I am in the elevator of the same building that Zack's penthouse is situated, heading to Sarah's house. I spent an entire week withdrawing my visit, blaming my sickness while in fact, I was dreading seeing Zack already, I was ignoring him, even at college, and even when he showed up with Blondie, Anna, who happened to be Maria's cousin.
We met several times at college but we both acted like we hadn't seen each other, which was both good and bad for me at the same time, since I was glad that I didn't have to talk to him, but I was a bit disappointed that we came back to the starting point, and even worse.
The elevator came to a stop; I descended it with a slow pace, holding a basket of Sarah's favorite cookies, dark chocolate cookies with honey. I knocked on the door, and waited outside for few seconds until Sarah opened the door, smiling widely at me.
She threw her arms around my shoulders in a bone crushing hug, and started telling me how much she was excited of having me for dinner. I couldn't complain of her way of showing affection, because she reminded me of the women my mother used to be, and I kind of liked that.
"I'm glad you came, my dear" She stepped back, still wearing a nice grin.
"I wouldn't miss your delicious dinner" I chuckled because I knew that she loved when people complemented her cooking skills.
"Oh thank you, Zack's already here" She pointed at the hallway inside the house "He told me you were at the company, is everything okay?"
"Yeah, everything is totally fine, I had some papers to get done for tomorrow's broad meeting" I thought of a convenient lie.
"If you say so, then come on in" She stepped aside and ushered me in "They're waiting for you"
I inhaled deeply before I marched through the corridor which leads to the dinner room, where Maria, Blake, Zack, and Anna, already sitting on the table. Zack looked at me immediately, but I wasn't even focusing on him, I was gazing at Anna's hand which was on top of his, with her thumb caressing his skin. He seemed to enjoy his talk so I diverted my attention right away, and acted like I hadn't seen a thing.
'I have to keep my head held high' I reminded myself, drawing a smile on my face.
By time I reached the table, my feelings were all over the place; especially when Zack stood up, wrapped an arm around my waist and leaned down to plant a kiss on my cheek. His lips lingered on my skin for couple seconds as his fingers left my skin tingling from his simple touch.
"hey" He mumbled in my ear, his breathe fanning my skin "I missed you"
"Hey" I replied, a bit taken from his tone because I couldn't define if he really missed me or was he just pretending again.
"I hope it was the first choice" I thought to myself as I lifted my head and gazed at him.
Being in that situation, I realized that I really missed him and having him holding me like that, was only making things worse to my heart, therefore I just faked a smile and stepped out of his personal space, trying my best to keep my commercial grin on.
Sarah was looking at us warily, as if she was trying to read our body language because she kept eyeing us since the moment I approached him. Thus why, I knew that I had to be paying more attention to my actions around Zack.
"Come on, let's eat, dinner is served" Sarah hurried to kitchen and came back with a cheese pie, which seemed extremely delicious and mouth watering.
I walked around the table and sat in front of Zack; Sarah started cutting the pie and placing a slice in every dish. She filled all of dishes except hers and Zack's who was the one last to be served. She held the slice in the air and was going to put it on his empty dish when I barged-in and stopped her "Wait!"
"Excuse me?" Sarah looked at me, confusingly.
"Well, Zack hates cheese pies" I stated as if it was an obvious fact, however, I gained the center of attention of the table.
"You noticed?" Zack stared at me, blankly, his eyebrows furrowed together.
"Yeah" I answered him, curtly "On one of our first dates"
"Nice, I see that you've warmed up already" Maria clapped her hands, excitedly "I'm glad you two are together"
"But it's not a a big deal" Anna barged-in, making all of us turn to look at her "We all know he hates cheese pies because of the taste of eggs"
"Nah, he hates them because he had a bad memory as a child" I retorted right away.
I remembered once on one of our dates when I ordered a cheese pie while Zack went to the washroom; when he came back, he ordered something else and told me about the time he almost chocked on a bite of cheese pie with coke, ever since, he decided to stop eating them; thus why I asked the waiter to change my order, and ordered Ravioli and Spaghetti because Zack loved them. That was one of the few times, he gave me a sneak peak of his childhood, that's why I remembered every single detail.
"Is it true?" Anna put her hand on top of his and started caressing it with her thumb "What happened?"
"It's nothing, let's just eat" Zack pulled his hand away and lifted his phone.
Dinner was boring after that, we were all quiet, listening to Sarah's old stories of Maria and Sam, not even bothering to talk for more than ten seconds at a time; because every time I talked or commented on something, Anna cut me off with a stupid comment or an annoying reply so I just closed my mouth and lowered my head, since I didn't want to make a fuss on dinner table.
It wasn't fair for Sarah.
The food was absolutely delicious, and showed how much Sarah was a great cook in the kitchen, I noted to myself mentally to spare her another visit to learn some dishes because I only learnt some recipes from grandma before she died, I wanted to learn more.
As I put the fork on the empty dish and leaned back on my chair, feeling full, Sarah stood up and went to the kitchen to bring the cheesecake she prepared. She reappeared after two minutes with a beautiful piece of art, garnisheed with strawberries and chocolate chips.
"Sarah, it looks amazing" Blake spoke, eyeing Maria "I hope you learn a little bit from your mother"
"Shut up, you'll love me even if I was a bad cook" She winked at him, devilishly, and he started laughing, hysterically as if they were sharing a common memory.
"However, we should give some credit to Zack, he has some great skills, he was my right hand today" Sarah gestured at Zack, who just shrugged off and grinned at her.
"I bet he has" I muttered under her breath.
"You're so lucky for having him" Anna stated, gaining blank gazes from all of us while she lifted her shoulders in defense and met Maria's glare with a wink "What?"
"Why so?" I questioned out of a sudden, totally surprising Zack, and myself as well.
"Isn't it obvious?" Anna looked at me with a mischievous grin on her face "he's perfect"
"Yeah tell me about it" I simpered at her "Don't worry my dear, you'll find someone who's not already taken"
I suddenly felt jealous on Zack, how could she?
I was going to tell her to mind her own business, putting Sarah aside, when my phone started ringing in my pocket; I pulled it out of my pocket in order to silence it since it wasn't the right time to talk on the phone; but as I saw who was calling me, I froze. Literally.
Zack's POV:
Before Nadia could finish her sentence, her phone started ringing; she pulled it out of her pocket and stared at the screen for few seconds, her expression totally changed, she panicked and I suddenly got worried, thinking that maybe something happened to Mr. Mathews.
"Excuse me I have to take this call" She stood up and hurried to the kitchen.
The table was totally silent after Nadia left, no one spelled a word and they were all eyeing each other; I felt uncomfortable as my mind was still thinking of Nadia's phone call, but I didn't want to seem like I was interested in it, especially that we still hadn't talked after our 'my' argument in the car the previous week.
"I will go check up on her" I stood up and followed her.
'Why do I want to know who called her?' I questioned myself as I approached the kitchen but then again my inner voice interrupted my thoughts and snapped at me 'Because you still care'
I reached the kitchen but I didn't enter right away because of what I heard, Nadia was whisper-yelling at someone saying "what do you mean he's sick?" I gave you more than you deserve, he doesn't need you, go away" She hanged up and started pacing the ground, running her hand thorough her hair nervously, making it messy.
I kept watching her from afar, she seemed stressed out as if she had the weight of the entire world on her shoulders. I felt a strong urge to walk to her and ask her about it but I couldn't, something was holding me back, maybe it was my dignity.
I realized that she wasn't good at all, she was trying so hard to look good in front of others that she forgot to to take care of herself, I know it, because after being close to her for more than six months then, I got to know her better, I managed to distinguish her commercial smile and genuine one, her confident facade and the real one. And the girl in front of me was way far from being confident, she was shattered.
"hello?" She sat on the kitchen's stool and proceeded talking "Col, please, don't tell anyone that I'm coming over, get the private jet ready for me, I'll pass by the apartment later and take my bag, thank you for doing this, it's urgent" She hanged up and was about to leave the kitchen when she bumped on my chest.
"What are you doing here?" She questioned me, startled by my presence.
"Where are you going?"
"It's none of your business" She retorted, glaring a me "I have to leave so back off"
"You're my wife if you've forgotten, so I have every right on earth to ask" I whisper-yelled at her, feeling anger boil in my veins.
Meeting Col ha!
"Oh, now you remember that? Where were you for an entire week?" She challenged me with her eyes.
"Does it really matter?"
"Yeah it does, when you spent an entire week with Anna" She pointed at me accusingly.
Dis she think I was with Anna?
"Are you serious?"
"Oh sorry! My bad, I meant when you enjoyed your time with Anna" She quoted the word 'enjoyed' in the air.
"I'm not going anywhere in an argument with you" I chuckled when I realized what the deal was all about, she was actually jealous of Anna.
"So stop arguing and leave me go" She tried to walk back to the dinner area but I stood on her way.
"I'm coming with you" I told her, in an authoritative tone.
"No way"
"Yes way"
"I'm meeting Col, okay?" She stated out of a sudden "So unless you want to have a fist party again, come with me, be my guest"
"Why are you going to see him? And why?" I tried to push her to talk because she was obviously hiding a part of the truth.
"None of your business" She shoved her finger on my chest.
"Is everything alright?"
To my misfortune, Sarah followed us to the kitchen to check up on us because we stayed long, and Nadia could escape right away after making up a silly excuse about some missing papers in the files of the next day's meeting. That's why, Sarah wrapped Nadia's and my deserts in a container and made us promise her that we'd be back soon.
Sarah didn't know that Nadia and I, we weren't staying together so I didn't even have to convince Nadia to drive her back to the apartment, she was obliged to accept, and I couldn't be more satisfied of that since I got a chance to know the core of her first phone call, it was urgent and startled her.
All the way back to the apartment in Nadia's car, she was quiet and calm as she put her head on the glass window, then after about ten minutes, she drifted to sleep like young children who had spent the entire day running from place to place then tiredness took control of their bodies.
While stuck in the traffic line, I was accustomed to look at Nadia while she was asleep as always, she looked vulnerable and so fragile, her eyebrows were furrowed and one of her hands was clutched on the hem of her shirt, possessively.
'What are you hiding?' I caressed her forehead and held her hand to release the tension from it 'What will you do? And why are you going with Col?' I mentally asked her because I didn't have nor the right nor courage to ask those questions out loud... Then suddenly I had an idea.
"Hello!" I called my grandpa's personal investigator "Sorry for bothering you at this time, but it's urgent"
"I'm all yours, what do you want?" He replied immediately.
"I want you to know where Nadia's destination will be, she'll be taking their private jet later on" I commanded because that was how things worked between us "And then book me a flight for the same destination, and you may know the hotel she's staying-in as well"
"Why won't you take the jet instead?" He questioned, confusion evident on his voice.
"Because I don't want grandpa nor Mr. Mathews to be suspicious of anything, so be careful" I answered as a matter of a fact.
"Give me ten minutes and I'll be done, I'll send you the destination and the information you need" He stated before hanging up.
If she didn't tell me where she was heading and what she was going to do, I was going to find out one way or another, I had to. Especially after knowing that she lied by telling me that she was meeting Col, although she knew how I felt about him; it must be something so important that she used Col as an excuse. And I was going to find out.
After almost fifteen minutes, I parked in the parking lot, unfastened my seat belt, then turned in my seat to wake Nadia up. My fingers trailed the line of cheekbone till they reached the spot behind her ear, stroking her skin tenderly. God, how much I missed touching her skin.
At first, she just seemed to enjoy my touch and leaned on my hand as I kept feeling her soft skin, but out of a sudden, as if something snapped her out of her daze, she opened her eyes, stared at me for few seconds then she pushed my hand away and sat steadier than before.
She unfastened her seat belt, eyed me for two seconds then she opened the car's door and jumped out of the car, without uttering a single word. Meanwhile, I was just so confused of everything that had happened earlier and was staring at her back as she climbed the steps to the building, until my phone buzzed in my pocket, indicating an incoming message.
"Mrs. Collins is heading to Chicago, she hasn't booked a hotel so far. Your flight will depart in an hour and a half from now, using the company's jet and don't worry I covered everything up. Her flight will depart in two hours and a half. I thought that maybe you should arrive earlier in case you wanted to know where she was staying, if I get any other information, I'll let you know"
'Chicago? What was she going to do there?' I wondered as million thoughts started wandering in my mind.
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/*I hope you like this part, things are going to be interesting*/
/*I'm drained because of studies and extra work I have to do so I want to apologize that it took me a while to update*/
/*From now on, I will try to publish once a week, so the next chapter will be updated on Friday 17th March*/
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