Chapter Three — Dinner With Strangers
955 Words
Nerisa regretted following Gabriel almost immediately.
Not because of him.
Because of the people sitting around the dinner table.
Her aunt had mentioned that there would be a few people for dinner, but Nerisa hadn't expected this many.
Her uncle sat at the head of the table. His wife was beside him. Two younger boys were arguing over who had taken the bigger piece of chicken, and an older woman Nerisa had never met was quietly eating her food.
And then there was Gabriel.
Of course.
He sat across from her.
The moment Nerisa took her seat, he looked at her.
She looked away.
Don't smile.
Don't say anything.
Just eat.
Simple.
She picked up her spoon.
“So, Nerisa,” the older woman said, “how old are you?”
Nerisa swallowed.
“Twenty.”
“Twenty?” The woman smiled. “You're very slim.”
There it was.
Nerisa's fingers tightened around her spoon.
She forced a small smile.
“Yes.”
“You need to eat well here. You look like you don't eat at all.”
A few people laughed.
Not loudly.
But enough.
Nerisa stared at her plate.
She suddenly wasn't hungry anymore.
She pushed her food around with her spoon.
Across the table, Gabriel noticed.
He didn't say anything.
Not yet.
The woman continued talking.
“Girls your age should have some flesh on them.”
Nerisa's face felt hot.
She wished she could disappear.
Then Gabriel spoke.
“She eats.”
Everyone looked at him.
He continued eating like nothing had happened.
The woman laughed.
“I didn't say she doesn't.”
“You kind of did.”
Gabriel looked up.
“She just doesn't like people commenting on her body while she's eating.”
The table went quiet.
Nerisa stared at him.
Her heart was beating strangely fast.
The woman looked embarrassed.
“Oh. I didn't mean anything bad.”
Gabriel nodded.
“I know.”
Then he went back to eating.
Just like that.
No big speech.
No dramatic defense.
Nerisa looked down at her plate again.
For some reason, she suddenly felt like eating.
She took another bite.
Then another.
Under the table, Gabriel kicked her shoe lightly.
She looked up.
He raised his eyebrows.
Eat.
She frowned at him.
He did it again.
She almost smiled.
Idiot.
After dinner, Nerisa helped her aunt clear the plates.
She was carrying a stack towards the kitchen when she heard footsteps behind her.
“Need help?”
She turned.
Gabriel.
“No.”
“Okay.”
He kept walking beside her anyway.
She glanced at him.
“You're not helping.”
“I know.”
“Then why are you here?”
“Company.”
“I don't need company.”
“Sure.”
She rolled her eyes.
They reached the kitchen.
Nerisa placed the plates in the sink.
Gabriel leaned against the doorway.
“You okay?”
“I'm fine.”
“You weren't.”
She turned around.
“What?”
“At dinner.”
Nerisa looked away.
“I said I'm fine.”
Gabriel was quiet for a moment.
Then he said, “You know, you don't have to pretend with me.”
She looked at him.
“I wasn't pretending.”
“You were.”
“Why do you keep doing that?”
“Doing what?”
“Acting like you know me.”
“I don't know you.”
“Exactly.”
He nodded.
“But I can still notice things.”
Nerisa didn't know what to say.
Gabriel pushed himself away from the doorway.
“Goodnight, Nerisa.”
“Goodnight.”
He started walking away.
“Gabriel?”
He stopped.
She hesitated.
“Thank you.”
He looked over his shoulder.
“For what?”
She shrugged.
“For dinner.”
He smiled.
“You're welcome.”
Then he left.
Nerisa stood alone in the kitchen.
She didn't know why those two words felt so difficult to say.
Thank you.
Maybe because nobody had made her feel like they were actually paying attention to her in a long time.
She went back to her room later that night.
She changed into an old T-shirt and sat by the window with her sketchbook.
For several minutes, she stared at the blank page.
Then she started drawing.
At first, it was the farm.
The fence.
The trees.
The old barn.
Then, without planning to, she drew a pair of hands.
Large hands.
Rough hands.
Hands with a small cut across one knuckle.
Nerisa stopped.
She stared at the drawing.
Then she quickly closed the notebook.
“No.”
She shook her head.
Absolutely not.
She wasn't drawing Gabriel.
She was just drawing hands.
That was all.
She opened the notebook again.
The drawing was still there.
She sighed.
Then she smiled despite herself.
Maybe countryside life wasn't going to be as terrible as she'd expected.
Outside her window, somewhere in the darkness, a door slammed.
Nerisa looked up.
A few seconds later, she heard voices.
One of them was Gabriel's.
She couldn't make out the words.
Then she heard another voice.
An older man's voice.
“You should have told her the truth the moment she arrived.”
Nerisa froze.
She moved closer to the window.
Gabriel answered, but his voice was too low to hear.
The older man spoke again.
“She has a right to know what happened.”
Silence.
Then Gabriel said something that made Nerisa's stomach twist.
“I know.”
She couldn't hear the rest.
She stood there for a moment, listening.
Then the voices stopped.
Nerisa stepped away from the window.
Her heart was beating faster.
What truth?
And why did it have anything to do with her?
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