Chaos To Rise

Chapter 4

It has been a month since me and Adriano became a couple. I should be the happiest girl in the world, but somehow, I found myself thinking about Marcelo. I had hoped for an apology from him for how he behaved that day towards me, but I never got one.

Instead, he ignored me one way and treated me like a stranger and a plague. I wondered why it bothered me that he had never spoken to me again since our last encounter.

Every day at school, I found Marcelo flirting with a different girl while Vanessa kept saying how sweet and loving he was. And all I wanted to do was to tell her to get over him he was not the right guy for her. If it was for him, I wished that we had never crossed paths with him. Couldn’t he just go back to where he came from? As much as the thought of him annoyed me so much, I found myself standing at the gate of his house with a bunch of flowers in my hands.

When I heard that Marcelo had been in a car accident, I felt a sharp pain in my heart and all I could think at that moment was he alright? Lord, please let nothing happen to him. Let him be alright, please Lord. Those were the words I found myself saying in tears. If I hated him so much, why was I worried about him? Why was I crying? Why did I feel like someone had ripped my heart out from my chest? The fact that those were my feelings at the moment really made me nervous.

Suddenly, the door opened and there stood Marcelo’s mother. This was the first time I met her. I remembered that my mum had previously insisted that I come with her and Ivan to welcome them to our new neighbourhood as it would show good manners. However, I refused to do so because I honestly did not want to bump into Marcelo and be forced to make small talk with him. Now, as Marcelo's mum stood in front of me, I felt ashamed for not welcoming them with my mother. “Hi, Mrs. Lopez, my name is Lily Caprio. I am your neighbour from downstairs. I am sure you have met my mum and my brother. I heard about the accident, and I was hoping I could see Marcelo. Is he okay?” I said.

She stared at me, and she smiled politely back at me “So, you are the Lily girl,” . I did not know what she meant by that, but I nodded, agreeing with her . She carried on “Please come in. Marcelo will be so happy to see you. He has been complaining of boredom and a beautiful girl like you will definitely cheer him up.” I smiled back at her and I followed her into the house. “Just go down the passage, the last door is his room”, She said.

As I made my way toward his room, I started regretting being there. If Adriano found out about this, he would not be happy. But I guess he will have to understand. It is impossible for me not to come and check on Marcelo. He is literally my neighbour, and we go to the same school too. People would not understand why I did not bother to check on him and, honestly, I wanted to see if he was okay for me. I took a deep brief then knocked on his door.

“Come in,” Marcelo said. As I walked into his room, he looked shocked to see me. “You came,” he said with a huge smile on his face. I had forgotten how beautiful his smile was. And he continued “I didn’t expect you to come after what happened”.

I laughed at him and said “I am surprised too, and I brought you flowers. I hope you like them. They are my favourite flowers”. I sat down on the edge of his bed. He smiled back and this time the smile touched his eyes. “You brought me lilies. How thoughtful of you. Do you know the meaning of this flower? “He asked me.

I responded “Not really. I know Rose represents romance and love. I didn’t know that other flowers have meanings too.”

“Well, they do, Lily. For example, a yellow flower represents friendship. And lilies flowers mean…” he looked straight into my eyes and said, “I dare you to love me.” He said with a sly smile. I felt my cheeks turning red. Please do not blush. I said a small prayer in my mind. Dammit, I should have brought him the yellow flower.

We both sat there staring at each other in silence. I could feel the tension between us, then he spoke in a soft voice “Can you come close to me?”

I hesitated at first, but then I found myself moving from the edge of the bed and climbing on his bed and laying my head on his chest. We both stayed in that position for a while without saying a word to each other. I then asked him "Are you okay?"

He brushed my hair from my face and said: “Yes gorgeous, I am okay. The worst has passed. I am just glad that none of us got seriously hurt. I just sprained my leg and kind of hit my head on the window. Because of that, our doctor just wants me to stay home this week so that he can monitor me before giving the green light to go back to my daily routine.”

I lifted my head from his chest so that I could have a proper look at him and said : “ I am glad to hear that. Please take it easy now and just do what the doctor has said”

He raised his hand and touched my cheek and said “ Please do not worry. Then he proceeded, “ Lily, listen, I never apologized to you about that day. I am deeply sorry. I do not know what came over me that day. I usually do not act in such a way. I hope you can forgive me, and we can start all over again.” His apology sounded so genuine that I found myself saying: “It is okay. Do not worry about it. It is water under the bridge”, I told him, and I leaned in and gave him a soft kiss on his cheek. Marcelo looked a bit taken back but he smiled, and I could not help but smile back at him.