Some couples are meant to be, some aren't. Some people meet the wrong person at the right time, some people meet the right person at the wrong time.
Nyx Letti isn't sure in which one of these she fits. But she knows one thing though. She has had en...
The pounding against the door didn’t stop, but the woman sitting on the floor with her head leaned against it, didn’t move a muscle. She had no intention of opening the door. Why should she? She already knew what her mother would say to her. It was always the same screams and complains. The same accusations and brainwashing.
Nyx didn’t know why she even listened to her mother for so long. Why did she let her control her life? Why let her ruin it?
She kept telling herself that she wouldn’t listen to her, wouldn’t do what she was told to do. It was her life. But for a reason she couldn’t fathom, Nyx always found herself listening to Elinor. It had always been like this. She would just get lucky from time to time when what her mother wanted for her happened to be the same as what she wanted for herself. Maybe that’s why Nyx could tolerate Elinor trying to control her life.
At least until Elinor asked her to leave James.
That was something Nyx was unwilling to give up on.
That was the first time she didn’t listen to her mother. Maybe that was why Elinor couldn’t stand James. He was the one who stole the obedient little girl from her hands. Why would she be willing to let her be with him?
But in the end, Elinor still got what she wanted. She still tore them apart, not giving a damn about how much it broke Nyx.
What Elinor didn’t predict was that after taking her daughter away from James, what she got back wasn’t an obedient toy, but a broken doll that wouldn’t talk just because she pressed a button. She had broken Nyx, and now the young woman wouldn’t listen to her. She didn’t date any of the men Elinor introduced to her and didn’t get rid of the damned cat. She dyed her hair in all sorts of colours, then she got piercings, motorbikes... it only got worse as the years went by.
Nyx remained by her side, but she was the farthest she could have ever been. She was completely out of reach. All Nyx had given Elinor was the false hope that the control she had been longing for so long would soon be in her hands again.
But now Nyx didn’t want to give her even that bit of false hope.
So, she let Elinor scream her name till her voice went hoarse and let her punch the door till her hands numbed and bruised.
Nyx caressed Murmur’s soft fur and smiled down at it. The cat sweetly meowed at her as it looked at Nyx with her crystal blue eyes. “It’s okay, baby. Don’t be scared. I won’t let anyone hurt you.”
On the other side of the door, Elinor was going crazy. She had never been so enraged in her life. When Carly had come home and told her what had happened right in front of the Eris company, Elinor didn’t hesitate to rush to her daughter. But she didn’t think that Nyx wouldn’t even open the door.
She could hear her inside, okay!
“OPEN THE GOD DAMN DOOR, NOW!” Her hand had already turned red from all the knocking, and it hurt, but Elinor didn’t stop. “Don’t you have any shame at all? You dare go after that man again and even let his brother humiliate you in front of the whole company? I told you to stay away from him, but you never listen! You never listen to me. Do you even care about me? Open the door right now!”
So engulfed in her anger, Elinor hadn’t heard the door of the elevator behind her open, and the footsteps of the man walking out of it. She kept screaming and kicking the door, not paying attention to her surroundings at all. Not even noticing James standing by the elevator’s door, looking at her with a frown in his face, his brows furrowing the more he heard.
“Did I go through so much to keep him away from you so you can go after him again? Ungrateful brat! Shameless! You discard your own family for that good-for-nothing man!”
James looked at the woman in front of him, finding her a bit familiar, but the woman didn’t look at all like the one he had seen years ago. She was still wearing expensive clothes, but the elegant and arrogant bearing now had all been burned to ashes by flames of anger. She only looked like a crazy woman. Her short hair was messed up, her face distorted from the fury and all the screaming.
Is this her mother?
James recalled what Nick told him about this woman, and it was all it took him not to stand the sight of her. His eyes narrowed at her in a glare, but he didn’t talk to her. Didn’t walk to her. James just glared at the woman, as if he was studying a viper behind a glass wall.
It’s just that right then the viper turned her head and looked him right in the eyes.
Inside her apartment, Nyx heard her mother’s screaming and kicking abruptly stop. Just when she thought she finally gave up and left, Elinor said one single word filled with hatred. “You!”
Nyx’s heart sunk.
She let go of Murmur and got up from the floor in a panic. It didn’t matter if her mother screamed, insulted or even hit her, but she would never let her hurt James. Nyx unlocked the door and sprang it open.
Elinor was facing James, pointing a finger at him. Her expression unsightly as she took step after step towards him like a wild beast about to pounce on its prey. “It’s all your fault! If it weren’t for you...”
Right then, Nyx rushed out of the apartment and stood right in front of her mother, hiding James behind her back. Murmur ran out as well. Without hesitating the slightest bit, it walked right by Elinor and Nyx, walking straight to James, who upon seeing the cat coming to him, bent down and took it in his arms.
“Leave.” Nyx glared at her mother.
“Oh, now you open the door!” Elinor didn’t listen to her. “Is this why you never wanted to date the men I introduced to you? You have been hiding him all this time. Is that why?”
“LEAVE!” Nyx raised her voice, her patience running out.
“DON’T YOU DARE RAISE YOUR VOICE AT ME! Who do you think you are? I will never accept...”
“I SAID LEAVE! Go! Scram! I don’t want to see you!”
“I am your mother!”
Nyx snorted. “And I don’t care.” Her voice was calm and cold when she said those words.
As if the cold voice was a bucket of cold water doused over her head, Elinor flinched. Under the freezing glare of her daughter, she lost her voice. Nyx didn’t pay her any attention. She grabbed James’s hand and pulled him inside her apartment, slamming the door behind her.
Her back slumped against the door with a dull thump. The place fell in deafening silence. Nyx didn’t dare to look at James. Her eyes were on the cat in his arms as she heard her mother’s footsteps walking to the elevator and finally leaving. It wasn’t until she heard the elevator go down that Nyx let out a sight.
“I’m sorry about that...” Her hand went up to her face to rub her eyes, feeling exhausted. The movement though, brought James’s attention to her cheek. Nyx’s skin was too pale to begin with, and now that she had gotten slapped in the face, the mark on it was extremely apparent. Four reddish purple lines spread across her cheek, almost reaching her ear. It looked so painful...
“Who hit you?”
The deep voice brought Nyx’s attention to James. She unconsciously looked up at him and their eyes met. Her heart thumped violently against her chest when she saw the vexed expression on James’s face. Her hand brushed her cheek slightly as she pulled her hair over her face to cover it. Turning her head to the side to avoid his gaze, Nyx muttered. “It’s nothing.”
“Don’t lie.” James strained his voice trying to sound calm, but the irritation in him couldn’t be concealed.
He was mad. Or at least that’s what he thought. James wasn’t sure anymore.
He thought he hated her, but hearing her mother scream at Nyx like that made him feel uncomfortable. He wanted to make her shut up. To stop her from saying those hurtful things to Nyx.
He thought he hated her, but when his eyes fell on her face that was bruised, when he saw her act like a bullied little kitten, cowering in a corner, all he could think about was if she was okay. All he wanted was to go closer to her and touch her face, to comfort her.
He thought he hated her, but it seemed like his hatred was short-lived.
James couldn’t hate Nyx when she was like this. Not when she looked so pitiful and hurt, not when she endured all her mother’s words, but the moment that vile woman turned to him, she didn’t hesitate to retort. How could he hate her?
Flustered, Nyx tried to escape, but she was trapped against the door as James stood right in front of her, cutting all her ways of retreat.
Nowhere to go, nowhere to look, his tall body casting a shadow over her... Nyx couldn’t bear it any longer, but there was nothing else she could do. There was no strength left in her to push him away, to talk, to pretend...
Nyx felt so wronged. Why do I have to go through so much all in one day? First Neil, then mom and now him!
I can’t. I can’t deal with all this anymore. I want to be left alone.
Why won’t it end?
I’m tired.
“It’s really nothing...”
James put the cat down and took a step closer to Nyx. His tall body towered over Nyx, one step away from embracing her in his arms. The proximity made Nyx tremble, her hands shaking uncontrollably. Her eyes, hidden by the curtain of hair, welled up with tears. She had lost count of how many times this had happened in the last two days. However, this time Nyx wasn’t sure if she could keep them inside for too long. She felt like she was constantly being pushed towards the edge of the cliff.
So tired... so pained... so wronged...
Recalling Elinor’s words, James frowned “Was it Neil?”
Nyx refused to answer, but her silence served like a silent affirmation. Tightening his hands into fists, James took the last step. His body was now barely a few inches away from Nyx’s. Gently, as if scared that he might her, James brushed the hair off Nyx’s face and put it behind her ear. The bruise on her face was now in full display in front of his eyes but the woman hidden underneath his shadow shivered and refused to turn her head and look at him.
James came to the realization that he didn’t like this at all. He wanted her to look at him. Only at him. “Why did he hit you?”
James knew that Neil must have looked for Nyx right after he left the café, but why? Why slap her? Why did he do such a thing? Neil wasn’t like this...
Nyx’s voice trembled as she spoke. “It was just a misunderstanding...”
...Lying again...
“What did you tell him?”
This time Nyx couldn’t help her tears anymore. She abruptly turned her head to look at James, her eyes red with pain and anger as tears rolled down her cheeks. “Why is it always me? Why do you all blame me for everything? I’m always the one in the wrong and everyone else is right. Is this how it is?”
Tears, sobs, broken voice, reddened eyes, angry gaze and that fucking bruise on her face... This side of Nyx made James’s heart sink in his chest. Every teardrop that rolled down her cheeks felt like a drop of acid dripping in his heart.
I didn’t mean it like that...
“I get yelled at whatever I do. Leave or stay, it makes no difference. I’m always the one everyone blames for everything. I didn’t do anything. I did nothing wrong. I didn’t...” The sobs became too much and Nyx couldn’t keep talking anymore. She just cried.
The grievances of all these years that she harboured in her heart for so long, not saying them out loud to anyone, finally got out. It had been such a long time since she cried and now, she was letting it all out.
James couldn’t bear to see her like this any longer. He wrapped his arms around Nyx and pulled her in his embrace, but this only made Nyx’s sobs intensify. With her arms hugging his waist and face pressed against his shoulder, Nyx held onto James as if he might vanish every second now, as if he was her everything.
She had longed for him for so long and now James was here... right in front of her... hugging her so tightly, caressing her hair... Nyx found herself thinking that even if she died right in this moment, it would be worth the pain she went through. This was enough.
“You did nothing wrong.” James whispered to her. “I’m sorry.” His shoulder was already wet from the tears, but he ignored it and kept whispering in Nyx’s ear.
However, the sobs suddenly came into an abrupt stop and Nyx pushed him away. This took James by surprise, but before he could think about what he did wrong, frowning, Nyx touched his forehead.
With tears still hanging in her eyelashes, Nyx grabbed his hands. They were ice cold. “You have a fever.” Her hand touched his face then went down to his neck, oblivious to the way James was looking at her. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
James looked at the woman whose hands felt cold against his scalding face and neck, couldn’t help but let out a faint moan. Her eyes were still red from crying, her cheeks still red, but Nyx had forgotten all about crying. All her attention was on James, worrying about his fever.
Such fondness and tenderness made James’s heartstrings vibrate. His heart melted into a puddle. He let himself being pushed and pulled by Nyx as she sat him down on the couch and went to grab the thermometer. Wiping away the tears from her face, she handed the thermometer to James.
“Put it in your mouth.”
“I’m fine...” James muttered but he took the thermometer from her hands nevertheless.
“Bullshit. Your fevers don’t go down easily...” Nyx turned to leave, intending to grab a cold compress to reduce his fever, but her wrist was grabbed by James, pulling her back.
Baffled, Nyx looked at James. Those watery amber eyes stuck whatever James was about to say in his throat. The words rolled down back as he swallowed them in his stomach. He wanted to look away but at the same time he thought it would be a pity if he did so. Shyly, he raised his hand to Nyx’s bruised cheek, feeling her tense under his fingertips.
“Yesterday.... when you said ‘just in case’... What did you mean?”
The hand on her face was cold as it rubbed her cheek. Nyx didn’t know what to say. Her eyes fell on the little scar under his eyes where she had kissed him.
What did I mean?
What could she possibly mean in those moments when she saw him flee away like his ass was on fire? When he was running away from her?
Just in case you hate me later.
Just in case you won’t want to see me again.
Just in case I don’t get the chance to touch you again.
Just in case...
But her lips remained sealed and she couldn’t utter a single word.
“Was it ‘just in case we don’t meet again’? Did you mean to leave again?” James asked her another question when she didn’t answer him. His hand fell down in his lap, leaving her face. “Will you leave me again?”
Under his gaze, hearing that soft voice asking her while looking like a child who had gotten abounded, Nyx felt her heart painfully clench in her chest. “If you want me stay, I will never leave. Never again.”
A.N.: My mind when I wrote "studying a viper behind a glass wall" 🤣🤣🤣🤣
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EXTRA:
James: *takes another step closer to Nyx* James: *softly moans* Murmur: .... Murmur: Yo, this is getting too spicy! Calm the fuck down. I'm 5 years old and this is getting +18 pretty quickly. There are children around! Control yourselves you beasts!
