hell or flying | Chaelisa

Chapter 32

I've tried. I really did. But with Peter's constant hovering, it was next to impossible to sneak out into Chanyeol's study. Despite my first impression, the bodyguard was very much invested in keeping an eye on me, despite appearing bored and annoyed to be in my presence. I mean, one did not rule out the other, but after our first meeting, I thought he would just lounge around the living room, giving me relative freedom.

Oh, how wrong I was.

Turns out that his disinterest on the first day was due to him getting used to the new work environment or whatever, scouting the area and whatnot. But after adapting, he has been on my heels constantly.

No matter how much I tried to be sneaky or how stealthy I attempted to be, every time I would round a corner he would have been standing there with his arms crossed in front of his chest, looking at me condescendingly. Once I even had been foolish enough to think I had gone unnoticed and almost broke into Chanyeol's office, only to hear Peter clearing his throat behind me. His brow had been arched in question when I turned around, and I couldn't help but gulp as his form towered over mine threateningly.

I couldn't have had him know I tried to snoop around the office, so I had quickly made up an (thankfully gullible) excuse and Chanyeol hadn't been notified of my attempt. Since then, I haven't attempted to get into the room on the right side of the living room, for fear of not getting out of trouble next time.

Don't get me wrong, I would still very much pursue walking in behind the big, heavy double doors, but I realized that lying low for a little while would probably be for the best if I didn't want to get caught. Not only could I not get any further information on Chanyeol's shady call, though, but I could also not communicate with Lisa as much as I would have liked.

We would only exchange a few texts throughout the day and maybe call for a few minutes when I would pretend to be in the bathroom. However, not for longer than thirty minutes because apparently that had been suspicious behavior and Peter would come knocking on the door.

Of course, I was happy for any time I could get to talk to the raven, but I thought things would be easier now that my "dear husband" wasn't constantly around. Peter, however, was like his incarnate and it was hard to get anything at all past the bald man with sharp eyes.

A week had passed already, and I was still at the start.

All things considered, it's been hard. Not with just the feeble attempts of breaking into the door that held the key to all my questions, but also because no matter what I did or how I spent my time, nothing was ever truly able to distract me from the harsh reality.

Most of the time, I had been sleep-deprived, suffering from nightmares on the daily, only catching a break when the exhaustion was too much and I could barely breathe, let alone walk. Despite Lisa's suggestion and my empty promise, I wasn't able to call her. I wanted to, so many times in fact, that I lost count. But the thought of waking her in the middle of the night, with my voice and heart so broken even I couldn't stand the sounds I was making, didn't seem fair.

Lisa deserved better than that. Even if she had said that she wanted me to, it was just a polite thing people said, wasn't it? She didn't mean it. Who would want to listen to a woman cry for hours for someone that was no longer there?

It didn't feel right to put that burden on her; didn't seem fair. Besides, even if I kept that promise, I just couldn't risk Chanyeol overhearing. Despite having my own room now, I never felt like I was truly alone, so calling her at any time of the day felt like an incredible risk. I was convinced the walls had ears or that he bugged the place.

Call me paranoid, maybe I was, but it felt like that to me. Obviously, I knew it wasn't true hence he would already give me hell if he knew I was communicating with the Thai, but still.