Chapter Fifty Four
1750 Words
“What's all this about charity event?” I asked Katie first thing Monday morning.
“My dad's organizing it as the last stock booster or whatever for the company,” her voice echoed from the other line of the call.
“And is there a specific reason I must go?” Because after yesterday, all I wanted was a farther distance from him.
After the teaching and him helping me with a lot of chapters in my book that had to do with sports, it was six when he drove me back home.
But as he parked in front of me, and offered a brief goodbye hug, my body had sparked with desire.
It had taken all the effort a female could muster to not jump on him, kissing all the way till we were in the back seat of his car and released ourselves of the dress we had on.
So yeah, if just a hug can do that, it meant my body had almost reached the peak of not being able to resist him.
I needed space.
Something to prevent us from risking what I was sure was knocking on the door with each second we stayed close to each other.
“Dad doesn't fully believe you two are a real thing,” she repeated Austin's words, only earning a groan from me, “what's wrong?”
No way was I letting her know about the interaction shared between me and her brother.
Instead, “why does he not trust him so much?”
“Maybe because he hasn't bought a girl home in a long time,” a sigh followed that.
Which made me ask, “has he ever bought a girl home? How single has he been for Chris to not believe a word from him even after everything.”
Her line went silent, which caused a frown to tug at my brows in confusion.
“Katie?”
“Sorry, had to go check on something,” she explained, “so, you coming?”
“Do I have any other option?” He was very helpful with my novel which meant I was indebted to him.
So as his pretend girlfriend, whenever he called, I had to answer.
No contemplating with that.
“It'll be fun, don't worry.” She assured, not aware of the real reason I didn't want to attend.
But I had to.
“Hey, you think we can go shopping this afternoon?” I asked, my hand fiddling with the tip of my hair. “This will be the first charity event I'll be attending, and I'm not sure what to wear.”
Her laughter filled my ear, “you want to look perfect for your in-laws.”
Though it was just a joke, I couldn't help how the word in-laws made my heart skip a beat.
“Not funny,”
But she laughed even more, “maybe it's too early to start talking about marriage,” she sounded like she was wiping tears from laughter, “though I'd love it you could be my sister soon.”
“Katie,” I drew that one word, hoping she'd just change the topic.
“Alright, but we're both aware you want to dress perfect for my handsome brother,” her tone came out teasingly.
“Will you go shopping or not?”
She chortled, “I will,” then sighed, “maybe I can get a cloth beautiful enough to catch Kelvin's attention so he might fall head over heels again.”
“Why? Is he still acting out of love?” I tried to not sound like I knew anything about why.
“I'm not sure what to say about his behavior,” there was a slight hurt in her tone, “I haven't really seen him and…”
“And?” I asked when she trailed off.
“Nothing, it's stupid.”
“Come on, tell me.” I nudged, eager to know what misunderstanding she'd harbored about him.
“Maybe when we meet this afternoon. Where should we?”
Hmm, this seemed interesting.
***
“This is terrible,” I groaned at my reflection in the dressing room mirror.
It was a dark green sleek, straight-cut strapless gown that hugged my curves, cutting from my mid thigh, which showed an awful lot of my lower skin.
“Lemme see,” Katie called from outside.
“I'd rather not come out,”
“Come on,” without any warning, she pushed through the dressing room door, eying me, “it's not so bad.”
“It's too open.”
“And makes you look hot,” she jumped her brows teasingly before adding, “thought you wanted to have Austin drooling.”
“No, I want to look presentable at the party.” Will she stop teasing already?
“Whatever, if you're not comfortable, let's check for something cute and comfortable,” she went out while I changed back to the red sweater and gray trouser I'd worn.
Then left to the sales woman who was helping us choose.
I was certain she'd be tired of my changing choices since Katie had gone with the first dress she'd worn once she came in.
But I wasn't going with that.
I needed to look perfect for the event, and certainly had nothing to do with getting another complement from a particular hot dude.
“Do you have anything else?” I asked the female who nodded, reaching out for a gown.
“You can try this, I suspect it'll suit your slender figure,” that was what she'd said for the rest.
Nodding, I took it from her, disappearing into the dressing room, “so Katie, mind telling me what's on your mind about Kelvin?”
My hands worked with taking off my clothes as she began.
“Yeah, it's just that he's been kind of distant as I told you on Tuesday.”
“Yeah, anything else happened within that time?” The trouser had taken more time to pull out of my feet, because for some reason, it had to be tighter at the ankle area.
“Well, I trust him a lot and all, but I've just kinda…” she trailed off, only piquing my interest.
“What's wrong? Spill it girl.” Finally the trouser fell off, so I stared at my half naked self in the mirror with the black bra and knickers I had on.
After a sigh, she continued, “he's a great guy and I know I'm overreacting it all, but when your boyfriend starts acting a little off, anyone would suspect what I do.”
“Since when did you start speaking in parables? C’mon talk?” I stepped into the gown, pulling it into my body as it was obviously the tight type.
“It's just, I've noticed him calling this Doris female on his phone and whenever I arrive, he'll quickly hang up like he didn't want me to hear them or something like that.”
The urge to roll my eyes was irresistible, because Doris was the caterer entrusted with baking the cake for the after-party he planned on doing once she accepted the proposal.
Obviously he'd hang up quickly.
“So you think he's cheating?” My tone was laced with slight irritation at her mistrust.
No matter what, they'd dated for three years and not once had he ever acknowledged any other female's beauty.
He'd always drool at her sight every single day. It was like he loved her more each day that passed.
So hearing this from her was kind of disappointing.
“No, I trust him,” but she didn't sound like she did.
“Listen, he might be acting off but that doesn't make room for doubt.” At least the dress had entered so I worked with the zip.
“This dude has loved you since I've met you two, so hearing this is a little sad coming from you because I'd expect the trust between you two to be strong seeing how long you've known each other.”
When she didn't reply, I continued, “he might be acting weird, but that won't mean he's cheating. I know nothing about who this Doris is but I'm sure she's not his girlfriend.
“Don't ruin something that was once strong because of what isn't needed, okay?”
I stared at myself in the mirror, actually satisfied with the silk wine dress that hugged my curves, flaring out below my knee.
Now this was beautiful.
My feet glided out to make a dramatic entrance so gasps from her could be directed my way.
Instead, I was greeted by the presence of a crying Katie.
“Oh my, what's wrong?” I moved to sit beside her, wrapping my hand around her shoulders as she sobbed.
“I'm a terrible girlfriend,” she softly said in between sobs, “how could I doubt him? He's always proven his love for me. Never once done anything I won't like.
“He even always agrees with me in any heated argument so we won't have to fight because he claims to not be able to live a day without us talking.
“Every time, he's always satisfied me and never for once looked at any other woman. He trusts me so much that even when Asan almost kissed me and he walked in, he said he knew Asan tried to kiss me, not the other way round.”
Just so you know, Asan was done crazy ex of hers and the incident happened two years ago.
Her sobs grew, “how could I even think for one second such a man would think about cheating on me?”
“He would never,” I gently rubbed her shoulders, “maybe he's just got things going on with him personally at the moment.”
“And I should be acting like a good girlfriend and help him out, but instead I've created doubts that could lead to possible fights and even worsen how tired he'd be.”
If she was going with that, then who was I to argue.
At least there'd be a reduction of all the questioning from her part that could risk me giving a hint on him proposing.
Now things will be better with her.
If only the same could happen to me and my interaction with Austin.
Again, how would I survive Wednesday?
- Writer
