My Words Are Law

Inevitable (5)

"You... You did it, didn't you?" Amaryllis asked him directly.

"What did I do-?"

"Why don't you tell me-..!" Amaryllis exclaimed, barely stopping her tongue from uttering the overflowing frustration in her chest. A shaky breath escaped her lips as she tried to speak the next words more calmly. "...what you did..."

Chryses was silent for a while until a sigh escaped through the speaker. "You have to be a little more specific than that, Amaryllis..."

She licked her chapped lips as she looked outside the car window.

"...Unless you want to unnecessarily prolong this conversation which we both know you loathe so much."

Amaryllis took another deep breath and organized her thoughts. "You... You were the one who spread rumours about my aunt, weren't you?"

Once again, there was a disconcerting silence before an amused chuckle reverberated in Amaryllis' ears.

"You think I was spreading rumours about your aunt?"

Hearing it from his mouth made it sound incredibly ridiculous, but Amaryllis didn't refute it and held her ground.

"I don't have that much free time to do something below me." Chryses finally drawled.

"...Tell me the truth, Taylor..." Amaryllis ultimately decided to determine his words by force as her patience was already running thin.  

"You seriously-..." He expelled a heavy breath before resuming, "I am telling you the truth."

What..?

"..." Amaryllis stopped short at his immediate admission. "I-It's not you..?"

"If there's nothing else. You can recite your speech and let's be on our way."

She blinked at his nonchalant attitude. She was so sure it was him. Afterall, if it's not him then who else..?

"B-but my aunt's project proposal... It was rejected by TCorp... The Director...-"

"It's pure business, Amaryllis."

Business... She shut her eyes for a moment, straining to inhale a breath. Of course she understood what he meant, however, she can't simply accept it.

"Th-then... Who is-"

"Ahh... How arrrogant." Chryses cut her off, effectively rendering her speechless. "You push me away when you don't need me, and lure me in when you do. Make up your mind."

"What..?- I-"

"I know it's convenient to have the ability to do that at the drop of a hat, but I'm not a dog."

"When did I ever treat you like that..!?"

"If not then you should have just clearly told me to leave from the very beginning... Everything I did to try and get close to you, hoping I could... You should have refused them all."

"I-" She bit her lips, her eyes lowering to her feet after realizing it was true. What could she possibly say in rebuttal..? Honestly, she should have been determined enough to do that from the start, but the truth is she wasn't. She always second guessed her decisions. And now, even after finding out he wasn't the culprit, she continued to talk to him.

She wants to find the source of the rumors... To her chagrin, she was also hoping Taylor would help her aunt. 

"Anyway, what's happened has passed. I don't want to sound petty so forget I mentioned anything just now. However... From here onwards, I'd like it if you draw a line and not cross it." He added, filling in Amaryllis' lack of  response. 

Amaryllis stepped out of the cab soullessly with the heavy bag in her hand. Her hand hurt from carrying it and her jacket fell a few times on the way home, but she didn't utter a word of complaint. As soon as she opened the door to their apartment, the corners of her mouth lifted in a bright smile. 

"Where have you been?"
Ivan's head popped out from Aunt's Rosa's bedroom door.

He later on rushed out and took the heavy shopping bag from his sister. "You should have asked me to go with you if you wanted to go to the grocery." He added, pouting, as he arranged everything in the shelf and fridge.

"You were taking a nap. I didn't want to disturb your growth spurt." Amaryllis replied jokingly to which Ivan replied with a glare across the kitchen island.

"I'm growing just fine even without naps."

He then resumed to stock the fridge while asking why there was too much stuff. When Amaryllis remained silent, he continued to ask if it was the holiday season.

"Yes, Ivan. It's the holiday season." He eventually replied to himself with a fretful tone as he stood up to look at his sister who seemed to have grown deaf while looking at her phone.

Ivan's eyes narrowed at the ubelievable scene. Lately, she'd been hogging her phone everyday, expectantly glancing at the screen, and talking to someone at 5:55pm on the dot. He shook his head as he watched his sister walk in a daze towards the sink, only to stop midway.

"Oh right. There are fever patches, right?" She turned to the pack sitting on the table with a dumb expression.

Ivan's eyes narrowed further. "How exactly are you going to do anything in your condition?"

In the end, he relaxed his frown after sighing helplessly, "I'll go help Aunt. Go watch TV or something." If his hunch is right, then there really isn't much he can do except wait for his sister to come clean.

"Oh, but I can also help-"

"With what? Your eyes?" Ivan snapped. "Just let me do it. I was the one who did that to you, anyway." He immediately added after snatching the fever patch from the table and disappearing in their aunt's room with quick long strides.

Although he felt bad for his rude behaviour, he didn't turn to apologize to Amaryllis. Maybe he has finally reached his rebellious phase, he thought with a disgruntled huff.

"I heard you raising your voice at your sister." Rosa looked at him in disapproval.

"That's just your fever acting up-Ack!" Ivan pouted at the pain on his forehead where his aunt had flicked mercilessly.

"I know what I heard. Don't upset her too much. Your sister is strong but is still too delicate."

He rubbed the stinging skin while nodding in surrender. "I know that..."

***
A/N: Anyone remember their rebellious phase? Lol

Sorry for the very late update. It's been quite a while and life's been a bitch. I'm currently planning to set up a buymeacoffee account hoping to get a few donations just so I can feed myself (because yeah. I'm dirt poor.lol). I'm also planning to unpublish all my novels and edit them one by one, once and for all. I might also be drawing a few illustrations within the novels, as in like a light novel, but  that is still debatable with what little time I have left from my leave. I might keep this novel up tho, while I do that..

So I just really wanna thank you for waiting patiently and reading my stuff. Please look forward to the edited versions later, and wish me luck (because I badly need it. Hahaha). 😊

Stay safe, because covid is real, and I'll leave you with this for now. 😁😘