15 | "Secret Admirer"
Leonardo:
It's finally the next day. After the most confusing day of my life yesterday, I can't say I'm glad to start this new one but bless God for waking me up anyways. I'm dreading to face Daniel because who knows what he might do?
Probably punch me in the face, I don't know.
Any worst possible outcome with meeting Daniel is all I've been thinking about, which pretty much kept me up for the entire night. So not only did I get no sleep but, I woke up late so now I'm running late and not the fashionable kind.
It's forty-five minutes past one.
I spammed Daniel with messages apologizing for being late and it wasn't intentional. There was no time to even think of breakfast. The most I could do was brush my teeth and change clothes and even then, time decided it wasn't on my side.
I broke about three different red lights trying to make it to the Woods' residence. By the time I reached, it was two o' clock already. Already giving up on anything going right today, I sighed and walked up to ring the doorbell but the door opened before I could even press the button.
"You're late."
"I know, I know but I did send you messages explaining why and getting here was so hectic-"
"I don't really want to know any of that and quite frankly, I don't really care."
Screwed. I am so so screwed.
"Come in."
I followed Daniel inside after closing the door behind me and I'm feeling tense at the moment. The atmosphere was choking me. It was quiet. Too quiet. So far, I haven't spotted Arià anywhere and we've walked past the living room and the kitchen.
"If you're searching the place for Arià, she's not here. She's out with a friend."
"Chloe?"
"Yeah. How did you know?"
She told me all about her best friend the last time I was here. She ranted on and on about how she's helped her, they grew together and she's the funniest person on the planet.
"Wild guess."
Daniel shrugged and continued walking until we made it to this room I've never seen before. It had two beanbags on the floor, two desk chairs that were unusually large and a large desk with multiple computer monitors on them. A huge flat screen TV with a playstation.
A whole room dedicated to gaming for crying out loud. What the hell?! Now, I know lawyers make money but how much money does Mr. Woods make for him to be able to afford it.
"You game?"
"I prefer reading."
"Nerdy but alright."
He pointed to one of the beanbags and I took a seat while he sat down in the other one. If I thought walking through the house was eerily quiet, this room was dead silent. Daniel took one good look at me before sighing.
This is going to take a while.
"So from what I've heard, you have a girlfriend."
I have a what-
Where on earth is this even coming from? The last time I had a girlfriend was in elementary and that wasn't even serious. I'm here thinking I've done something treacherous as to why Arià has been avoiding me. Hell, I didn't even know I had a girlfriend.
I suppose the confusion was obvious on my face because Daniel laughed. I honestly didn't find this funny at all because who's going around telling people I have a girlfriend?
"I was right." Daniel said after his laughing fit.
"What's not right?"
"You having a girlfriend?"
"Of course, it's not. Where did you get that from?"
He shook his head and went over to the large desk and came back with a bag of cashews. He looked at me, silently asking if I wanted some but I refused.
"Well, my little sister came home with tears in her eyes one day last week or so when she went to Roller Gals with Chloe."
I leaned forward listening keenly to see how having a girlfriend has to do with anything.
"With the way she began bawling, it was hard to make out half of what she said but apparently some carbon copy of you insulted her and said you have a girlfriend so I'm just as confused as you are."
Carbon copy of me? Who could ever look as good as I do to be called a carbon copy version of me?
"I think she said the guy that came up to her was related to you or something."
Diego.
I swear on everything, words can't express how much I've come to hate my very own cousin. This one-sided rivalry that he has cemented in his head is making him ruin almost everything that's going for me. It's like as soon as I think I've gotten rid of him, he makes a return. Like a roach that can't die no matter how much repellant I spray on it.
He's so infuriating. Who knows if he's stalking Arià because I doubt it's a coincidence that you just show up at the diner my friend is at to torment them and spread lies about me.
I'd love to choke him right about now.
"Yeah, he is related to me but we're not cool with each other. Like, at all. As a matter of fact, he's obsessed with my life so I'm not surprised he hunted down Arià to feed her lies but I don't have a girlfriend."
"Well at least we have that part figured out because whether she tells me or not, it's obvious my little sister likes you."
She likes me? Arià likes me?
"I can see the look on your face, don't get too excited."
I looked at Daniel once trying to hide the grin on my face but it just ended up with the both of us laughing out loud. And as usual, any good moment that involves gets cut short because the doorbell rang.
"I'm not expecting Arià until tomorrow." Daniel said, getting up to go downstairs and see who's at the door and I decided to follow him. When we finally reached downstairs and opened the front door, there was no one there.
No one was in sight. That was until we looked down and there was a basket full of baby breath flowers, Arià's favourite, and a little card indicating who it was for.
"Looks like you've got a secret admirer."
The basket was for me.
I bent down to take a closer look and saw another card hidden in the flowers.
It read,
'Trouble in paradise?'
YOU ARE READING
(discontinued )
Romans❝Til death, we do art ❞ Leonardo comes from a family full of artists, him being one himself. He loves his own company most of the time, he's quiet and finds comfort in books and art. An old painting that was passed down from generation to generation...
