Spiraled ⚪⭐⚪⭐ (A Brollins Novel)✔

EPISODE FIFTEEN

Sports Club. Los Angeles, California.

"A witch, huh?"

Taking a step forward will signal the wrong message. He might think she's pulling his leg or that she finds it funny he indirectly referred to her as a witch mere moments ago even without a trace of a smile on her face. So she remains where she is, a reasonable distance between him and the little girl who is glancing back and forth between them quizzically. She crosses her arms on her chest and raises her eyebrows twice in slow successions questionably, patiently waiting for him to say something.

But judging by the way his jaws opens and closes in a seemingly awestruck manner, it doesn't look like he has any response to her question. 'Why is he always speechless,' she inquires to herself, frowning a bit when he takes a sudden, hesitant step forward towards her. She immediately holds a hand up, halting him in his tracks.

'Don't you dare come close,' is directly on the tip of her tongue but for some reason or the other, she can't bring herself to speak it out loud. She's still feeling dazed and a bit lightheaded at the sight of him at the Sports Club. It's the last place she ever expected to see him again. She has no idea if this is the work of fate lovesick teenagers often swoon over while watching a romantic movie, which forced her out of bed six in the morning after a night of restlessness. Or perhaps, it's just a pure coincidence she felt such a strong urge to pay a visit to the Sports Club, which she has neglected for close to ten years.

An unsettling sensation has been churning in her stomach ever since she arrived but she just assumed it was because the Sports Club itself reminds her of her father once again. She now know it wasn't just the memories of standing on this very ground and watching the constructors lay foundation for the Sports Club when she was a child or when her father brought her to it, blindfolded, early in the morning when it was completed and joyously declared the Sports Club is hers, which made her stumble once she got out of her car. It was the feeling she was about to encounter something she doesn't want to encounter yet.

Little did she know it was Colby. And she was right; it isn't the right time for her to meet him again. She needed more time to find the courage to say all those things she'd rehearsed to shout at his face. Just like she feared, all the lines she'd planned to yell at him are rapidly burning to ashes in her throat. Anger should be the feeling coursing through her but all she feels at this moment is relief. Relief, that he's healthy and safe although he's looking too lean for her liking standing in front of her now. Despite the beaming smile he has on his face—obviously happy to see her—she still recognizes sorrow etched on his face, causing a twinge of concern to thump inside he heart. She wants to ask what's bothering him and find out ways she may be able to help him.

But she won't. She can't let go of the fact that he left without a word to her. The fact that he dashed her hopes and dreams and reduced her to a crying mess. The fact that he has done nothing at all to show he cares about her in the way she wants him to; it may be selfish and greedy on her part to expect that from him but she still wants to see it. She can't brush everything that has happened as nothing and throw herself into his arms even if that's what she desperately wishes to do. 'Nothing in life, is ever easy,' her mother often says.

"Rebecca," his voice is toned down when he opens his mouth to speak, "what are you doing here?"

She stops herself short from scoffing, raising her chin a bit in palpable indignation. "I should be asking you that since you're the one standing on my property."

His eyes widen to the size of melons, completely taken aback, as if she has tied a rock around his middle and sunk him into the depths of the sea without warning. "I had no idea. . . . I heard a man built this so. . . ."