Way Back Into Love

Chapter 12

"Did you have fun?"

"Are you finally satisfied after what you've done to my mother?..."

"...to me?"

Estelle opened her eyes and saw pure black and a voice speaking, with no physical body present. From the looks of it, Estelle could immediately tell that it was just a dream. A while later after the voice stopped talking, a figure was walking towards Estelle and as she squinted her eyes, she saw that it was Calyx, walking towards her.

Seeing her loved one made her ran fast towards where Calyx is. When she arrived in front of Calyx, she noticed that something was wrong. Calyx was indeed smiling but it had another emotion inside it, it was different from the usual smile that Calyx always gives her. It was a smile full of hatred and malice.

It was then that Estelle realized that she was having a bad dream with Calyx in it, blaming her for what his mother had experienced and Estelle who was confused as to why she was blamed, decided to ask back.

"What did I do?"

Instead of answering, a laugh echoed throughout the empty space, making Estelle uncomfortable.

"What did you do?" the voice mocked Estelle's question. "You humiliated my mother! My precious mother...you've made her a disgrace! The reputation that she's been holding on to for so long is now tarnished because of you! Only you!" the voice shouted at Estelle and continued blaming her.

"You're not Calyx...you're not my Calyx!" Estelle shouted and covered her ears hoping to not hear the voices anymore but instead, it became louder.

"Your fault,"

"Your fault,"

"Your fault,"

The voice kept repeating and Estelle who was on the verge of shouting tried to shut her eyes close as it also projected Calyx's figure, glaring at her, as if he despised Estelle's whole existence. In her whole life, the only thing she's scared of is to look up and met Calyx's disappointed gaze on her...and that's currently happening right now.

As Estelle looked up, her eyes met with the piercing glare that Calyx gave her. Seeing this made Estelle freeze in her seat while covering her ears and her eyes solely watching Calyx.

"It's your fault that I died..." he spat each word with venom and continued, "it's your fault that my mother is hiding. It's your fault why our neighbours are now ignoring mother and saying spiteful words towards her, it's your fault that I could no longer feel the warmness my mother had. It's your fault that I lost my job. Everything is your fault, Estelle Mariano..."

"...I hate you, I should've not involved myself with you and your miserable life!"

Hearing this made Estelle's world collapse into nothing...

"You should've just died,"

"You should've killed yourself,"

"Go kill yourself,"

"With you gone, it would make the world peaceful,"

"Die,"

"Die,"

"Die,"

Tears were now streaming in from Estelle's eyes when she heard her only loved one say those words to her. But despite this, Estelle kept convincing herself that this is only a dream and that Calyx is not that kind of a person, he was much different, he was a good one and as the voice kept pushing Estelle to kill herself, she just covered her ear and telling that she has to wake up.

"Wake up!"

Estelle was surprised by the voice shouting, telling her to wake up. It was not Calyx's voice...it was someone else's.

"Wake up!" the voice repeated as Estelle paid attention to this new voice that shouted to her. Its voice was deeper than Calyx.

"Estelle! Wake up!" that was the time when Estelle realized whose voice it belonged to...

...it was Luke's.

"Estelle!"

Estelle slowly opened her eyes and it immediately met with Luke's dark orbs. The next this Estelle felt were fingers that were wiping her tears away. "What kind of dream did you have for you to cry like this?" Luke asked the girl who kept quiet while he continued wiping off the tears from her cheeks.

When Luke realized that Estelle kept quiet, he respected her decision and pulled her into a hug, a comforting hug. "I won't force you to tell me but I would really appreciate the time where you'll finally trust me," said Luke as he caressed Estelle's back to calm down her rapid breathing.

"I-I..." Estelle was about to say something and then she recalled Luke's words...

"I won't force you to tell me..."

...and recalling those words made Estelle somewhat happy. When Calyx was still alive, he would often ask Estelle questions and demand her to answer them. At that time, Estelle thought that it was completely normal for people to ask questions and force them to tell the truth but now, when Luke said those words, it made Estelle realize that one must not force an answer from the other, instead, it is important to have patience in everything that is present.

"...thank you," Estelle released a sigh of relief and then calmed down. Luke who was a bit happy from Estelle's positive response decided to break the hug and held both of her shoulders tightly and made her face him. "Since it's already night..." Luke started and Estelle could see the excitement present in his dark orbs and also his deep dimples that keep showing themselves on his face as he smile when talking.

Witnessing this, Estelle couldn't help but also smile and focus at Luke's dimples making her unable to hear properly the words that escaped Luke'd mouth, "...so as I was saying...please agree to it!" Luke then released his tight grip on Estelle's shoulder and clasped both of his hands together showing Estelle his puppy eyes. But Estelle did not see this cutesy act of his cute at all, instead it was weird since he's a grown man but acts like an eight-year old kid who begs his mother to buy him candy.

"What did you say?" Estelle asked because she did not quite catch what Luke was saying earlier since her eyes were pinned at his dimples. Luke who heard Estelle's question felt devastated, "so the speech I just said...were nothing?" he pouted and looked away from Estelle's eyes making the girl confused at his actions.

'What is he doing?' Estelle thought.

"What are you doing, doctor?" the girl asked, hoping that the doctor will face her and give her a valid answer and not just a face full of expression that will just confuse her. Luke then faced her with a pout on his face making the girl sigh mentally.

'Just what did I expect? He's a grown man acting like a kid for God's sake!' Estelle complained mentally while watching the doctor crossing his arms and looking at Estelle with puppy eyes that weren't cute at all.

"Doctor...if you said something earlier then I'm really sorry for not listening to you..." Estelle apologized but was cut off by the doctor, "what were you thinking about? Why were you so occupied? Are you thinking about another man right now when I'm in front of you?" Luke kept asking Estelle questions which made Estelle's expression change.

"Wait, wait, wait! How did you arrive at a conclusion that I'm thinking about another man?" Estelle asked the doctor with an expression that was clearly flabbergasted. With Estelle asking him a question, his frown immediately turned upside down and looked at Estelle with shimmering eyes, "so you weren't thinking about another man?" he asked, hoping that Estelle would answer him with a 'yes'.

"Uhh...I guess?"

That answer made Luke's smile disappear. With that as an answer, he can never know if Estelle is thinking about another men or not and just the thought of it made Luke's day bad. Estelle who noticed the sudden change of Luke's face felt bad. She wanted to tell the truth that she was not thinking about another man but his dimples that were showing themselves to her as he smiled but that would be embarrassing.

"U-Uh..." Estelle made a noise just to get Luke's attention to her but sadly, Luke just ignored her and kept crossing his arms. Estelle who lowered her pride decided to finally speak the truth, "fine..." she grumbled.

"...I was not thinking about another man, I was thinking about you dimples that kept showing themselves to me as you smile," while saying these, Estelle felt her cheeks slowly burning up.

'Ah, this is really embarrassing,'

So Estelle decided to close her eyes to avoid the embarrassment that she's currently facing. Meanwhile, Luke who learned the truth smiled. "Oh! that's it? Then you should've told me earlier!" Luke said happily as he encouraged the girl to open her eyes. Estelle who shyly opened her eyes tried her best to look elsewhere since she did not want her gaze to be caught by Luke's.

"Awww, Estelle's shy," Luke teased but then decided to stop when he felt a low grumble. Looking around the room, he then realized that it was from Estelle so instead of embarrassing the girl by making fun of her, he just reached out his hand towards Estelle who was looking down, probably due to the embarrassment that she's currently experiencing.

Estelle who's gaze caught Luke's hand decided to grab it since it would be impolite to let it be. And so the both of them got downstairs with Luke holding Estelle's hand as if he was escorting a young lady from a prestigious family.

Estelle was surprised when she noticed that they weren't heading to the kitchen but to the door so she turned to look at Luke who was smiling with his eyes looking ahead. She was trying to suppress herself from asking since she did not want to break their atmosphere but her curiosity beat her to it.

"Doctor-"

"Luke," Luke muttered as he looked at the younger who mouth was slightly open. Seeing her reaction like that was truly a sight for Luke to see.

"W-What?" Estelle stuttered acting as if she doesn't know what Luke meant.

"Luke, my name is Luke," he stated again while smiling as he opened the door.

"Then, doctor Luke-" Estelle was cut off again by Luke who was looking at her with her sparkling eyes.

"Call me Luke, you calling me doctor makes me feel old," Luke grumbled and continued guiding Estelle towards his car that was parked just right in front of the door.

"B-But, it's your-"

"Luke,"

"But you're older-"

"Only by 5 years," Estelle was shocked upon hearing this. "What?" Estelle asked in shock and Luke just looked at her. "You thought I was 30 or something?" Luke asked but Estelle shook her head vigorously when Luke asked her that question.

"I thought you were 23 or something!" Estelle said, almost shouting but when she realized it, she immediately covered her mouth and Luke who heard it just laughed, "I never thought you could shout like that," he laughed and Estelle felt her cheeks slowly burning again due to the embarrassment.

"So I look young?" Estelle nodded her head, completely forgetting the fact that they were about to ride on a car with her who has no idea where they were heading.

"So you're older than me by 5 years, wow, that's cool," Estelle mumbled to herself, amazed at the fact that she just learned today. Their ride was peaceful until a question popped into Estelle's mind, "then why are you letting me call by your name, with no honorifics?"

"Because we look like we're at the same age," Luke replied briefly.

"I look old, right? Must be because of stress," Estelle commented as she squished her cheeks to feel something and Luke who slightly saw this scene smiled. He was indeed happy that Estelle is talking more than before, it seems that she was slowly opening up to her.

"By the way, where are we going?" Estelle turned to Luke who was seriously looking ahead while his one hand gripping the steering wheel while the other hand resting on his lap. Hearing Estelle ask a question, he turned his head to Estelle for a bit before looking back ahead and giving her an answer, "this is what you get for spacing out when I'm talking..." Luke sighed but still gave Estelle an answer, "...at a restaurant, to eat...since I heard the monster inside your stomach asking for food," Luke teased Estelle and Estelle found it not funny so she decided to ignore the man who kept talking and talking until they arrived at the restaurant.

Estelle thought that they were going at a local restaurant but when Luke escorted her out of the car, there she saw various people waiting in line and wearing formal clothes like suits and dresses. Seeing the guests, Estelle felt self-conscious and looked at her attire and that's when she noticed that she was just wearing a plain t-shirt and a short!

She also looked at Luke who was standing beside her and his arms placed on his hips, she scanned the man's look and was also disappointed when she saw that he was also wearing a plain t-shirt paired with baggy pants and his face screaming that he's proud that they're standing in front of the restaurant that was clearly for rich people! Rich people wearing formal attires!