Sacred Ties

Chapter Nine

Cemil's POV

It was a Saturday and I had so many things to do around the house. Uncle Liam had not finished unloading some of the boxes after the move. He was an emotional wreck and I had to take care of some things at the school during the week so I had very little time to take care of things at home.

There was the issue of getting a new secretary and since Uncle Liam was too cooped up in his room to care about anything else, I had to solve that problem. With the help of Mrs. Conrad, I called for interviews for a male secretary. After the issue with the female secretary I felt that Uncle Liam would not want to work with one anytime soon.

Only two people showed up for the interview and my guess was that since it was a short notice thing. The two were both fresh out of college and it was more like an internship and after comparing the two, I chose Marcel. I liked the way he had presented himself and Mrs. Conrad had agreed with me too.

Marcel started working yesterday by making sure the meetings that were cancelled the other week were rescheduled the following week. I was a quick learner and by reviewing my Uncle’s notes, I was confident I’d be able to hold the meetings.

The school was somehow doing great but now my worry remained on how Uncle Liam was reacting to the divorce papers he had signed days ago. His husband had brought them to him claiming he wanted a child and since it was obvious that Uncle Liam wouldn’t be carrying his offspring, it was finally time to move on. The argument had been very intense but in the end, Uncle Liam had to accept it and he also moved away during the week I had been with Zach. When i got signal on my phone, there was a message from him telling me that he had moved plus the new address.

I had expected to have my brothers on my ass for going AWOL for a whole week but surprisingly there was none of that. Everyone thought I had gone camping and that the signal was bad as to why I was unavailable. Mary didn’t even bother to call my uncle about the incident which was okay with me since it saved me a great deal of complications but what if I was dead? Would my parents not have known until now? Just to save themselves from trouble, they kept quiet about my disappearing.

Such a disappointing friend Mary was.

“CJ!”

“Yes!” I shouted back a response when Uncle Liam called. I was in the laundry room stacking up clothes in their perspective washing machine that were two, by colors.

“Charles says you should answer your phone before he drives here to smack you!”

I chuckled at the message as I finished up with the clothes. Knowing Charles, he would really drive here so I decided to save him the trouble by answering the phone. It wasn’t on me so I went to look for it in the kitchen where I had been before the laundry. Right on cue, the phone began ringing the minute I entered the kitchen.

“Hey bro,” I answered cheery.

“Don’t even think about warming your way out of this issue; what the hell where you doing to be unavailable.” Charles snapped and I rolled my eyes.

“I’m sorry.” I said sincerely and just like I hoped, Charles sighed. He was a softy when it came to those two words.

His mate would have taken advantage of that if they were alive but unfortunately, my brother’s mate had died two years ago before they even met. It wasn’t as affecting as it was to lose a mate that you met but still one would know if their mate died. Luckily, I knew mine was still out there and I’d meet them one day.

“Alright, you are too cute to be mad at for long. Guess what?”

I raised a brow at how happy Charles sounded and wondered what happened so I made a guess.

“You finally found a second mate?” I asked and Charles chuckled.

“No and please stop dreaming, it will never happen.” Charles dismissed it and I sighed.

It happened, a once in a million chance, that a werewolf like Charles would somehow meet their second mate. Some said it was just a myth but I believed it wholeheartedly for my brother’s sake of happiness. He was not a believer like me though, but I trusted I had to believe it in his stead.

“Fine, what is it?” I asked instead.

“I have found us an apartment and I’ll be ready for you tonight, so start packing. I’ll pick you up later on in the evening.” Charles said and I sighed. “What is it? Are you not excited about it?”

“I am excited but the timing is a bit of bad. I can’t leave Uncle Liam alone here. He’s already worse now so imagine what he would do if he’s left alone. He wouldn’t even bother to eat. I have to take care of him so can I move in with you later?”

It was silent for a while but finally he sighed and agreed that I’d have to stay with Uncle Liam until he came back to his normal self. We talked about other things for a bit before he ended the call with a promise to call later to check up on Uncle Liam.

When noon came around, I prepared lunch for Uncle Liam and I. I made sure to prepare one of his favorite dishes because only then would he eat. I really didn’t understand how he was feeling but I knew that this was the ugly truth about love. As sweet as it can be, it can also be as bitterer. I was glad that one of the good things out of having a soul mate was a guaranteed love life without heartbreaks unlike human’s marriages. This is why I really hoped that my brother, Charles, would meet his second chance mate someday.

I had to wait on him to eat until the last bite which was hilarious as he ate like I was giving him burnt smelly food. After cleaning up the plates after lunch, I took a book and sat on the sofa to read. I had just turned a page when the doorbell rang.

I marked the page I was on and went to see who was at the door. I opened the door and surprisingly, Justin was standing in the drive way by his car, the one he drove us in when we were going to camp. I stood in the doorway as I debated on either going back inside or facing him.

I sighed and closed the front door before approaching him.

“Came to check if I was alive or dead?”

“Cemil, hello.” Justin said and I scoffed.

“What do you want?” I asked.

“I wanted to check on you, yes, since I heard from Mary last night that she hadn’t checked if you go home two weeks ago or not. Your uncle had moved when we got back and she felt so guilty to even ask if you were home or not.” Justin said and I glared at him.

“Is that it? Get the hell out of here.” I snapped and turned to walk away when Justin held my hand.

I whirled around on him and snatched my hand away from his hold. I wanted to punch him but I held myself back.

“I wanted to say that I’m sorry for what I did. It was a very big mistake on my part and I was so angry at my friends that they had sent you away when I woke up. It wasn’t fair because you couldn’t defend yourself. I deserved the punch that I got and I’m here to ask for your forgiveness on both my behavior and that of my friends.”

I hated hearing the honesty in his voice because that meant I had no reason to hold a grudge against him or his friends. I sighed and looked at anywhere but Justin.

“It is fine. I got home safe and that’s all that matters.”

“Do you think we can ever be friends?”

“I don’t think so, Justin.”

Justin nodded and after hesitating a bit he said farewell and left in his car. I watched him driving away until he disappeared. I was about to go back inside the house when a familiar car appeared on the road. I watched it and as expected, it drove all the way until it stopped right where Justin had been a while ago.

Zach.

He was dressed in a suit and wow; he looked exceptionally great. He got out of his car and approached me. I felt like a deer that was being stalked by a big bad wolf. Zach took hold of my shoulders and pinned me to his car. He looked angry and I wanted to submit and ease his mind. I shuddered at the thought and looked up to meet the glaring eyes of Zach.

“What’s wrong?” I whispered.

“Seven whole days, Cemil, a whole week.”

I frowned and my confusion must have showed because he sighed and released me but I still leaned against the car.

“What happened to I’ll call or text?” He asked.

“Oh, that? Sorry, I’ve been busy. There was a lot that needed my attention so I completely forgot to call you or even text.” I replied and he scoffed.

“Or maybe you didn’t want to call or text me in the first place.” He pressed and I sighed.

“It completely went over my mind but that doesn’t mean that I didn’t want to call. Why wouldn’t I want to?”

“I don’t know, you tell me.”

“If I hadn’t been busy, trust me, I would have called but I was really occupied.”

Zach was about to reply when his phone rang. He held a finger and I shrugged as he turned around to answer the phone. It didn’t take long and soon enough he faced me once again.

“I have to go, give me your phone.” Zach demanded and I did as told.

He dialed his number on my phone and when he got my number, he gave me back my phone.

“I am busy the most during the day but if you don’t mind, I’d like to take you out in the evening.” Zach said and for some reason, that statement made my heart beat a little faster than normal.

“Zach,” I wanted to deny the offer but the pleading look he gave me; I ended up nodding.

“Thanks, I’ll confirm with you if it will either be today or not. Thank you, Cemil, you won’t regret this.”

But the truth was that I might regret this later. It wasn’t an offense to Zach, but dating wasn’t an option for me because I was waiting for my soul mate. 

I waved him goodbye as he drove away and then I went back inside the house.

I had just turned three pages when my phone started ringing. My heartbeat escalated as I anticipated on who might be calling me, however, I was disappointed when I found out it was Kenneth calling.

“What?” I answered the call with an attitude and I didn’t care.

“Hey, this is Kenneth.”

“I know; what do you want?”

It turned out the Alpha was looking for my help since he had a misunderstanding with Roman. I cooperated with him for the sake of my brother’s happiness. When the call ended, I didn’t bother to pick up the book and continue where I left of as I was now too hype to follow a story properly.

Zach kept dominating my thoughts as I wondered when he was to call or what taking me out meant.

Did he like me?

Do I like him?

I honestly didn’t know what to think. Everything was frustrating and I haad no idea on how I’d solve this dilemma of mine.

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