CHAPTER 4
Charles
Now
I missed her touch like crazy. I know she felt this shiver too from the way she's looking at me and how she's trying to hold back the tears. Tears that are threatening my eyes as well.
'When did you come back? You could have called me for a coffee. I missed you.' Céline is in panic. I can perceive the pain she's feeling looking at me, but I don't understand why. But I don't have time to ask her anything else, she puts her hand on the handle, pushing the door outwards.
'It's nice to see you Charles.'
When the door closes two pairs of eyes are on me.
'Do you know her?' The answer is more than obvious at this point, and I can't help but nod at my girlfriend's question and then turn the question back to my friend Liam. Alexandra frowns.
'How do you know her if she's from New York?' Liam and I start to answer at the same time, but when the blonde receives a side eye from my girlfriend he understands that it's better for him to shut up. My heart beats so fast that for a moment I think I'm going to faint.
Alexandra knows about my ex.
She knows everything about her.
Everything except her name.
'I've known her since before she moved to New York, we were friends.' I'm lying of course, but I don't want to go through an interrogation right now.
'I met her last night, we were at Jimmy'z, she totally enchanted me, I'm really happy I've met her again.' A feeling of annoyance grows in my chest. Picturing my friend and my ex-girlfriend together on a dance floor makes my blood boil. I know very well what Céline is capable of, I know better than anyone else.
'Don't be an asshole to her, please.'
Liam nods. 'I'll treat her like a princess.'
I know, just like Alexandra does, that I will never love anyone the way I loved Céline. She realized this the moment I told her how unbearable that time in my life was. That was two years ago. We got together a year and four months later. When she catches my distant stare, I can tell she's piecing it all together.
She knows.
I know she does.
But I choose to ignore it. Instead, I change the subject. 'Love, let's go get lunch.' I wrap an arm around her shoulders, guiding her toward the exit. We drive in silence. We order in silence. Neither of us speaks, but my mind is anything but quiet. I think about the girl I left behind two years ago. About the silent promise we made to each other.
I'm waiting for you. When you come back, I'll be here, ready to love you, to save you.
What a fucked-up promise.
She probably doesn't even remember it, while I think about it almost every single day. The truth is, I never let her go. I've carried her with me through everything. And now that she's back, I'd give up everything just to breathe her in again, just to feel her lips on mine one more time.
I like Alexandra, I really do.
But she's not Céline.
When she kissed me for the first time, I left her sitting on a bench in the park. I went home and cried. The moment I realized that the lips I had just kissed weren't Céline's, I knew I would never, ever be able to forget her. Of course, life moved on. I had to move on. But I swore I would never let anyone get to know me the way she did, never let anyone love me the way she had. For almost two years, I convinced myself she was never coming back. I forced myself to stop waiting, to stop hoping.
And yet, here she is.
Standing in Alex's bookshop.
YOU ARE READING
AGAIN || MAYBE IN ANOTHER LIFE
Hayran Kurgu'I don't want to see him, I can't. I could never look him in the eyes again, because all I'd think about is how it was all my fault.' Two years. That's the time Céline has spent away from home. A few hours. A few hours in the big metropolis to chang...
