CHAPTER 3

12.3K 149 12
                                    

"Three."

"Two."

Before he could say one, I sat back on that wooden chair.

"Good girl," he said with a sweet voice. I twisted my lips in disgust as I watched him lean forward.

"Now tell me what happened in these three years after you moved to this shit hole of a town." He continued gently.

I leaned back in my chair and took a deep breath. "Nothing happened. I got a job, finally. Moved into a new apartment building and, and that's it."

He scanned my face before asking: "Why did you change your surname?"

"It's not important."

"Why not?"

"Stop nagging me."

When I saw the dark look in his eyes, I spoke again. "It's just that I don't want to talk about it. Okay?"

"Maybe if we talk about it, you'll feel better about it. I can guess that you still have that habit of bottling everything up," he said with a gentle tone and compassion in his eyes.

I looked away from his eyes before taking a deep breath. "My father cheated on my mother."

"Do you know why he did it?"

I looked at him in anger and said: "Do I look like I know why he did it!? He slept with a girl, a 22-year-old girl! He could be her father, for fuck's sake! Ever since he did it, my mother won't leave me alone with her feminist speeches about woman's rights and all that shit!"

"Oh, Puppy," he said with compassion as he placed his hand on my fist. He started rubbing my hand with his thumb. "Your parents are adults. At this moment, everything looks like a mess, but they'll calm down. They're old enough to handle their own problems. You don't have to feel like you need to step in and help them. Live your life forward, and they'll live theirs. It's gonna' be alright."

I know that I shouldn't take his words seriously. He's a stain in my life that I can't seem to get rid of. His compassion is just a facade to get closer to me so that he can torment me even more.

I could feel the tears coming into my eyes. I looked down at the small wooden table to avoid Neil's look and stop being so emotional. Fuck!

"It's okay if you cry." I looked up at the source of the comforting voice to meet Neil's gentle dough eyes. I snatched my hand from underneath his.

"I don't need to cry. What happened is in the past. I'm alright!" I said out as I started playing with the pendant of my bracelet.

"You don't look alright."

My family was never perfect. My mother and father never fought. But since I was a kid, I could sense the lingering tension and dissatisfaction. But I'm not so desperate that I would talk to him about it. I still don't get it. Why does their much-expected divorce hurt me so much?

"It's okay. I'm okay. I don't need to talk about it or cry," I said while still looking away.

"I'm always here if you need a set of ears to listen to you," Neil said gently before picking my chin between his fingers and turning my face toward his. He looked into my eyes with patience.

The weird tension between us broke as the waiter said something in Italian.

"Here is a cappuccino for la signorina and espresso for il signore. Can I get you anything else?"

"Do you have any pastries?" Neil asked without taking his eyes off me.

The waiter looked back at the counter and then at us. "We have some frittelle, cherry pie, tiramisu, cannoli and gelato."

"We'll have the tiramisu for now."

Those few seconds or even minutes that the waiter with the thick accent took to get that damn tiramisu, felt like an eternity of avoiding his gaze.

After he finally brought us the sweet treat, he placed it in the middle of the small circular table and left.

"Eat up, Puppy," Neil said as he pushed the small plate in front of me.

I didn't have the strength to say something back. I just want him to leave my parents out of the conversation. I picked up the fork and started eating. As the sweet and bitter mixture hit my tongue, my body relaxed. I always coped with problems by eating sweets and that showed in my figure.

The silence that surrounded us right now felt nurturing for a strange reason.

Maybe even the devil understands that some things are better left unsaid.

After some time, Neil broke the silence by saying: "Did you have a boyfriend?" I stopped the fork midway to my mouth and looked up at him from under my bangs.

"That's none of your business."

"What's your brother's name, again? Francis or Frank? I think that is Frank. Am I right?"

I bit down my lower lip in anger.

"I had one," I angrily said.

"Can you tell me more?" He said before leaning back in his chair.

"His name is Marco, and he was nice until I found out he cheated on me four times with six different girls. We dated for a month. After that, I met a guy called. Oh, I don't remember his name. It started with E, but we were just FWB."

Neil's brow shot up in surprise before he said: "FWB?"

I let out a laugh. "Friends With Benefits. Never heard of that?"

"I never expected that a sweet little girl like you was able to have an FWB." He looked at me disappointedly.

I placed the fork down and said: "We only hooked up a couple of times. When I saw he was stealing my money, I stopped seeing him. He's a douche!"

I feel more comfortable talking about my exes and random hook-ups than my parents.

"Interesting." He only uttered with a blank face.

"What?"

He passed his tongue over his teeth with his mouth closed before angrily saying: "Nothing, I'm just disappointed that you let a dirty dick fuck you, nothing else."

I was shocked by his words. I even felt disgusted with myself. He makes me sound like a common whore.

"Come on, eat your tiramisu and explain what else happened while I was gone."

I cleaned my throat and looked down at the half-eaten dessert. I pushed it away and stayed shut.

What is his problem?!

First, he insults me, and then he just continues the conversation like nothing happened.

"What more did you expect?"

"Something interesting," he said as he eyed my face.

"Please stop picking at my life and tell me what you want from me! I'm tired of trying to figure out what's going on inside your head!" I angrily said.

"Wait here." He covered his head with the black cap and stood up. I watched him walk to the counter. After some time, he placed a box on the table.

I looked at the box and up at him.

"This is a box of cannoli. Finish the tiramisu in peace. I'll go now."

He looked into my eyes with gentleness. "I'm sorry if I offended you, it wasn't my intention. See you, Puppy."

"Wait, we aren't done yet."

He stopped and looked back with a satisfied grin on his face. "Didn't you say that you don't want to be here?"

Before I could send him to hell or anything he walked away.

I stayed there, surprised by what just happened.

What just happened?

Did he apologise?

Anger rose in me! I hate him so much!

But at the same time, he left me with a feeling of guilt.

I shook off thefeeling and ate the tiramisu. After that, I wanted to pay. But to my surprise,Neil already did.

PUPPYWhere stories live. Discover now