The sixth sense

Chapter 26

LILI

It's almost one in the morning and I can't sleep. Everything is new to me here. The smell in the room, the sheets, and even the shadows on the wall formed by the streetlights.
And it's so quiet in the room. But the moment I think about the screaming silence around me, the doorbell rings, breaking it. I freeze buy stay in bed. A moment later, silence returns but the doorbell rings again. I sit up in bed and listen to the footsteps in the hall.
"Who's there?" Anna asks in a sleepy voice and yawns loudly.
"I'm looking for Lili," Adam responds from behind the closed door.
I jump from the bed and run into the hall. What is he doing here? I think to myself. I'm so nervous, I'm about to suffocate. Anna gives me a puzzled look. My father and Margo leave their room, as well as Arno who leans leisurely against the doorframe and shoots me a curious look.
"So, do you know that guy? Shall we open the door?" Anna asks a little worried.
"Lili, we need to talk," Adam says. "Open the door, please."
I nod to Anna, wrap my arms around myself, and wait for the door to open.
"Never a boring day with you," she comments evilly. Everyone else stays quiet.
Adam stands at the threshold, illuminated by the light falling from the hall. He's wearing a dark blue shirt and I can see a backpack, hanging on his shoulder. His hair is a mess, as always.
Anna's eyes grow in size when she looks at him. She smooths her hair in a nervous gesture but he ignores her completely. His attention is focused on me.
"Hi," he says, stepping from one foot to another.
His short greeting sounds too stupid.
"How did you find me? What are you doing here?" I ask one question after another.
Adam looks at everyone in the hall. "Can we speak in private?"
I look at my father and he nods curtly. "Everyone goes back to your room." Then he clears his throat and adds, "Lili, I don't mind if you invite your friend to come in."
"Follow me," I say to Adam.
We walk into my room, I turn the light on and try to look at anything but him. "Now you may start answering my questions."
But he ignores my questions. "I love you," he says firmly.
His confession catches me off guard. I don't know what to say.
He crosses the distance between us. "Emma gave me your address. She took it from your mom. She also gave me this." He opens his backpack and pulls out my red notebook.
My heart skips a beat. Knowing Emma sent him here fills my heart with warmth and gratitude.
"Emma gave you the address?" I repeat on autopilot.
"She said I needed to fight for my love," he whispers sadly.
My eyes burn with tears, I open my mouth, trying to say something, but I can't find the right words to say. Adam catches my hand and laces our fingers together.
I shake my head and pull my hand out of his. "We can't do this. You need to leave."
"I'm not leaving without you," he hisses.
"Stop it, Adam." I double my fists and bit on my lip so hard it hurts. "Just leave."
"Stop repeating that, Lili. Stop it! Stop sending me away." He cups my face with his palms and looks into my eyes.
"We can't do this," I say one more time, feeling my rational thinking fight with my heart.
"You need to stop pretending you don't feel anything for me."
"We can't be together!" I scream and the look in his eyes changes from tender to deadly serious.
"But we can break up, right? Do you really think it's the right thing to do?"
I push him away and turn away from him. "Just leave."
But he catches my hand and pulls me closer. "Lili, don't you understand? I'm not leaving. Because I love you and you, goddamn it, love me too!" He presses his forehead to mine and repeats, "I love you, Lili." The sound of his voice makes me helpless against him. "Please, give me a chance . . . and before you follow your fears and embarrassment before you start telling me why we can't be together again . . ." he pulls me closer and kisses me.
His lips cover mine and there's so much tenderness, yearning, and emotions in them. His fingers run down my neck, softly, like a feather, and he pulls me even closer to him.
Our bodies touch. Adam's kissing me and his kiss is driving me insane, releasing all those things I've been trying to suppress for so long, burying them in the depth of my heart.
One touch and everything inside me explodes, letting my love fly toward his.
He can't stop kissing me. His kisses become hungry and demanding. We're lacking air.
He breaks the kiss slowly but his eyes are still on me. I wrap my arms around him, inhaling his mind-blowing scent that belongs to him only. I'm so tired of fighting my love for him; so tired of keeping my emotions under control. All I want now is to be with him and love him. I look into his eyes and realize that being honest with myself and taking responsibility for my decisions aren't' easy things to do.
"I'm scared and so embarrassed," I confess in a stranger's voice.
"I don't want to lose you, Lili. I can't lose you." The look of his brown eyes is full of determination and overflowing emotions.
I close my eyes, imagining him leave my life forever. He will open the door and say a small 'goodbye'.
My heart begins to break into two at the mere thought of losing him again. My embrace around him tightens; I'm desperate to feel his touch. He wrapped his arms around my shoulders. It feels so good.
I take a deep breath and let his scent envelop me from within.
"Just give me one more chance," he whispers into my ear.
It's so hard to make the right decision when you have no idea what's right for you.
I reach for his lips and kiss him softly. Because I love him more than anything in the world.
We don't know how our love story's gonna end. Will we have our happily ever after or start hating each other in a year? Neither he nor I know the answer to that question. But as long as our kiss lasts and his eyes are locked with me, I can't let him go.
I just can't . . .