White Lies and Sweet Compromise( 𝐁𝐖𝐖𝐌💕)

Chapter 52

Leela's apartment a few hours later.

Leela quickly replaced the receiver of the phone she held back on its cradle and walked over to the untouched glass of wine she had poured on her arrival to her apartment. She reached for it but turned away and walked over to her handbag where she took out the small ring box and opened it with trembling fingers. She stared at the impressive diamond ring within.

Her life since that night in Lionel's mother's dressing room had taken turns she knew she was made to travel. Oftentimes she had prayed that she would end up where she wanted to be, but like Pilgrim, her progress was already mapped out by life and she walked a predestined path.

She took the rose gold ring with its square diamond enclosed in small circular diamonds going down halfway on either side of the wideband from the sponge cushion and stared at it.

This was just another path on her journey that she knew deep down was meant to be. She recoiled from having a bitter battle for Emma.
She slipped the ring on her finger and marvelled at the perfect fit.

She stood her frame ramrod, her heart beating as all her emotions wrapped themselves around her and her mind replayed all the circumstances that led her to Lionel and kept leading her to him.

With her hand held before her eyes, her mind locked itself on her true desires. It did not matter if she took the path of a compromise as it would keep her in the life of the man she loved and Emma would not be just a distant figure that she longed for as she watched in the shadows.

Lionel was her destiny. Her return to Dresdale was just the jigsaw puzzle of her life fitting into place. It all was meant to be, her returning to work in the very place that Lionel and Kylie were now owners of was no coincidence. The past had already set the stage for her future performance and it was time she took up her role.

She was Emma's mother but Lionel was her soulmate. There was no fighting the inevitable, this was how her life was meant to be and there was no point in looking into the what-ifs and focusing only on the must-be.

She caressed the ring on her finger just as the phone rang and she turned to look at it her heart beating wildly as the shrill filled the room with an all of a sudden loud piercing, she watched it like a bad omen but pushed all negative thoughts aside and walk over to it but as she made to answer it her doorbell sounded.

She moved away from the phone puzzled and walked over to the door. A curious look through the peephole showed Kylie standing there. Another series of knocks moved her to unlock the door, when she opened it Kylie threw herself against her crying.

In shock and confusion, she looked at the woman who held onto her. Had something happened to Emma or Lionel? She croaked out her query and felt her feet go weak as relief rushed through her when Kylie shook her head negatively.

"Go into the living room," Leela told her closing and locking the door before she followed behind her. "What's the matter Ky? Did something happen in Africa?"

Kylie looked at her with red-rimmed eyes swollen from crying and nodded no. She waited for her to speak and when she did tears started to spill down her cheek again as she sobbed.

"I need you to promise me you'll marry Lionel, that you'll be there for him as he was for me."

She followed Leela's eyes to the ring on her finger. "I failed him as a sister years ago as I failed you as a friend. I became locked away in my bitter world because of my parent's revulsion to my sexuality and all the other drama that came with it.

My mother's scorn of you being the hired help's daughter and bearing a child for Lionel only made me more ashamed of what I was doing yet I did nothing to put a stop to my vengeful designs because this was my whip to wield my punishment.