Undying love
1695 Words
Zack's eyes were still closed when he heard loud knocking on his door.
He was lazy to get up so he didn't move a bit. But the knocking did not stop. Thus, it became louder and louder with a voice calling out his name.
"Zack Andrew Murphy, open up!" a woman's voice was yelling out his complete name like a college professor who's doing a roll call in her class. And it was totally annoying, however he didn't bother bringing his self to the door.
He was still paralyzed.
"Zack! I know you can hear me so please stop pretending that you don't!" her voice started to sound furious.
His agitated. He ran through the door and grabbed the knob to open it. As he opened the door, a familiar face appeared right before his eyes.
"What's the fuss, Ciara? He turned his back and slid his body back in his bed.
"Hey hey! Get up you sleepyhead. You are not going back to bed," Ciara yelled at him as she pulled his arm up." You are heavy! s**t!" she pulled him up and held unto his shoulder.
Before she utter a word to scold his friend, she looked around the room and saw the butts of cigarettes on the ash tray and smocked bottles of beer on the floor.
The room smells awful.
2 days in a row, Zack was confined in his bedroom without consuming any food.
He didn't even bother to wash up and clean his body the whole time. He was stuck in his pajamas along with his liquors.
The maids were religiously bringing him something to eat and left the food tray outside the door step since he clearly stated what he wanted and that is - He doesn't want to be disturbed.
And the food was just wasted, He never touched it- instead he asked the maids to bring him alcohol and cigars.
Zack never smoke. He hates smoking! He drinks up occasionally but never end up wasting his self too much.
He was a responsible drinker. But not lately, after he experience rejection from the girl he likes.
"What's with you lately, Zack?" she was concerned about him. She flicked his hair away from his forehead.
Zack was just lousy standing in front of her without any word to utter. His face was sad as he narrowed down his head, and eyes were on the floor.
"Look at me!" Ciara raised his chin up and cupped his face. "Hey! I said look at me"
Her voice was tough.
"Are you going to lose everything just because of this girl?" she was pissed off when she mumbled these words to Zack.
"I miss her so bad, Ciara!" Zack began talking "I'm going thinking about her day and night." His eyes started to turn red and his voice a bit cracked. She can feel his suffering, she knew how hard it was for Zack since Aly was his first love. He never loved anyone before and her disappearance was causing him brain turmoil that he couldn't handle well. She pity him.
"She never answered my calls. She even rejected my Secretary's messages. I don't know how to reach her."
Zack began walking back and forth, his body was shaking as he spoke for his sadness. Frustration captivated his mind as he resent.
"Why is she avoiding me?" his walking back and forth in the room while his head was spinning like crazy.
"We were okay before we left Hawaii and now she's not talking to me."
He walked towards his crib and sobbed in his hands while being seated on the edge of his bed. "What did I do wrong?" he yelped.
"You did nothing wrong!" Ciara knelt down before his eyes and rubbed his cheek softly to comfort him. Ciara paused for a while - Thinking of the right word to say.
"Maybe she just realized that, Marcus is the right guy for him." She muttered.
Zack lifted his head a bit and glared at Ciara's face. Lines began to form on his forehead as he furrowed his eyebrows.
"That's not true!" his voice raised up. "No, she likes me, I know that. I felt that when we were together." Pathetically he expressed his thoughts.
He walked through his side table and grabbed his phone to dial Aly's number.
It was turned off. The number was not reachable. He threw his phone on the floor and dragged his self on the wall. Repeatedly, he was nasty bumping his head on it.
Ciara came forward and jolted him to stop hurting himself. "Stop that, Zack!"
He fell down on the floor and started crying, out of desperation.
"Look at yourself! You are the CEO of your company, yet you are acting like a child here."
Ciara started to criticize his actions.
“It was your fault all along, you knew that she is already taken, and you are still meddling in their affairs." Her words started to hit him straight to the heart and she knew it would hurt him but she doesn't care- all she wanted is a piece of reality to knock his head so he would wake up from this pitiful situation that he has gotten his self into.
"You should have avoided her. You should have controlled your emotions from the start. “She uttered while picking up the bottle of beers in the floor.
"I can’t!" He exclaimed. His tears never run dry. He was such a mess.
Ciara was shocked the way Zack have reacted. She knew she love her, but she never realized how deep is his love for Aly is.
“We kissed, Ciara! Not just once, twice but a couple of times." His voice was shaky and he stuttered. Then he recalled those times he tasted her lips and those kisses were very special.
"It was sweet! Very sweet that I just couldn't get enough of her." He emphasized how he likes kissing her soft red lips.
Ciara was moved with the unanticipated confession, her heart was drumming hard. She likes Zack so much and it hurts to hear that from him - but she was totally different from him, because Ciara was brave enough to handle and control her emotions over him- unlike Zack, he completely fell for that thing called love. And this unrequited love will not going to ruin herself and her profession.
"Something must have gone wrong when they returned to Brooklyn." He desperately thought that something came up suddenly beyond Aly's control that left her with no choice but to abandon him.
"I need to pull myself together and find her," abruptly he stood up and bent his body to stretch. He walked towards his cabinet and grabbed something that can warm him up since winter is on a peak point.
"She might be in trouble. She needs me!" Ciara shook her head out of pity. Looking at his childhood friend on that current state made her shiver.
"Zack, please don't be too harsh on yourself" She held his wrist to stop him from clenching his fist. He opened his hand and straightened his fingers. His voice calmed down a bit.
He spoke in a flat tone this time.
"I know I was wrong when I interfered." He narrowed down his head and his eyes were on the floor while standing straight.
"I'm not supposed to be attached with her until I looked into her eyes and saw sadness within. My inner soul was rooting for her, yearning to comfort her."
"When I held her into my arms. I felt her need to be saved. She was so scared then
when she clung unto me. That's the time I felt I need to protect her."
His head raised up and looked at Ciara's face for understanding. His seeking for validation that his feeling was correct.
"I just can't give up, Ciara!" he enunciated what he has in mind, and Ciara was still trying to keep him calm.
"I need to know her feelings about us. I have to hear it from her." he broke down on the floor as he brace his self. His tears were falling as his heart race- he felt his breathing was coming short and he tried to breath from his mouth. Despite of hard breathing, he still managed to say her name “Alyssa".
"Take this Zack so you will calm down." Ciara gave him a pill that she took out from her bag.
"You need this to relax." and Zack looked at her with doubts and hesitations but Ciara didn't give up. She wanted him to take the tranquilizer to sedate him so his mind could be at ease.
"You trust me, do you?" she was trying to convince him with her soft voice.
He nodded his head. Zack took the pill and sat on his couch. Slowly his eyes were closing after a couple of minutes, he fell asleep completely.
"I wasn't affected back then even if you don't see me as lady who is falling for you every single day." Ciara spoke under her breath, while her eyes were watching him.
"I'm okay with that because you never set your eyes to anyone. But now that i see you like this, going crazy over a girl... It irritates me. "Why the hell it's not me!" She blew out the air in her mouth to stabilize her breathing.
"Aly" Zack mumbled calling out her name.
"Darn it!" Ciara smirked out of disappointment. "I hate you Zack!" she pulled out the chair of the drawer and comfortably position herself to watch Zack closely while she was cursing him for being such a fool.
She narrowed down her eyes on the the floor and took a moment of silence while her thoughts was roaming around. Then she finally came up to her decision as Zack's good friend.
"I'm not going to do something stupid to get in your way or to stop you Zack from falling into this girl... But I'm not helping you either. That's too much for me to bear". She looked up and shook her head. "No way!"
- Writer
