Arranged marriage : I hate you

Chapter 18

Layla turned around to face the bacon slices frying in a pan to avoid her sister's face of disapproval. She woke up first, and while Riley continued to sleep, Layla walked to the kitchen to prepare breakfast. That's when her sister came in. Like usual, the older woman had come to see her sister when she was shocked to hear that Riley was also in the house.

"Why didn't you tell me she was back?" Jude McKenzie asked in a whisper to avoid being heard by the sleeping woman. Layla turned to her, shrugging as she looked away.

"I don't know, guess I was just afraid you'd react like this. Besides she hasn't been back for long," she admitted as she finally looked at her older sister.

"Wait, did you two-" Jude tried to ask with her eyes widening but was cut off.

"No! Look, we're past that. We have been for years now. Geez, I keep telling you this but you never listen," Layla responded as she rubbed the bridge of her nose in frustration.

"I don't understand you," Jude admitted, her voice no longer in a whisper, but still too low to disturb the sleeping Riley.

Layla looked at her sister, her face showing her unwillingness to talk about the issue.

"Before you give me that look, hear me out," Jude explained as she leaned closer to the kitchen table.

"Fine, tell me then. Why?" Layla asked the expected question, her arms folding as she looked at her sister.

"You started this fling with her, which eventually led to y'all being fuck mates or whatever y'all call it. You both caught feelings, she tried to make you two official, but you turned her down and pushed her away. Instead of walking away after that, you drew her closer to you again, but only to friendzone her. Clearly, you're still in love with her and she's in love with you. That much is evident on how you can literally tell her to bark and she'll do just that. What I don't understand though, is why you keep doing this to her?"

Layla gritted her teeth in anger, her eyes burning holes on her sister's face.

"What exactly am I doing to her Jude? Since you seem to know it all?" She asked, irritation audible in her voice.

"The bacon," Jude said calmly as she pointed at the pan with almost burnt out bacon.

"Shit!" Layla cussed as she quickly turned and pulled the pan to the side. Fortunately, none of it was burnt, but she did burn her finger. But there was little damage done to it.

She moved to the cardboards but paused, her hands landing on the  top of the lower shelf to balance her upper body as her head lowered and she started breathing heavily.

Jude quickly got up from her sit and rushed to her younger sister. She helped her sit down then sat down next to her, her arm around her back to help her stay balanced. She looked at Layla who's tears were now at the brims of her eyes.

"It's okay, you don't have to answer. I'm sorry for bringing it up. Please breath," Jude pleaded as she looked at her sister with great concern.

"What's going on here?" a voice came from the door, making the two sisters jump up in fright. They both looked at Riley who was now leaning on the door frame, Layla quickly wiping her tears away while Jude gulped in fear.

Riley slightly tilted her head to the side as she looked at them. Although she didn't hear their conversation, she did see that something was off, she wasn't blind.

"I asked a question. Jude, why is she crying?" Riley asked as she looked at the woman who happened to be her agemate, her features darkened to show that she was not pleased to be met with a crying Layla so early in the morning.

"I swear, I didn't do anything to her," Jude defended herself as she raised her hands up in surrender, fear visible on her face. Riley walked into the room and rested the palms of her hands on the table and slightly bent down, hovering over the two.

Layla kept her eyes on the table while Riley kept her hard gaze on Jude.

"Then why is she crying?" Riley asked calmly, which only made the other woman's fear to rise the more.

"I-I just-" she stuttered as she failed to explain, too afraid of what Riley might do if she confessed the truth. Her heart was beating fast and she just wanted to get out of there before she had a heart attach.

"Jude, I'm giving you 5seconds to explain yourself before I-" Riley started but was cut off by a soft hand gently placing itself on hers. She turned to see Layla shaking her head at her, making her sigh deeply before looking away.

Jude took this as a chance to escape so she quickly stood up.

"Sis, I'll see you another time alright? Stay safe. Riley, bye," she quickly said and was out of the door before any of them could speak.

Riley moved around the table and sat where Jude sat next to Layla who now had both her hands on Riley's hands, holding onto them tightly.

"What's wrong?" Riley asked gently as she looked at her friend, watching her intently as she tried to not look at their hands.

"Nothing's wrong Riley, I'm fine. You, on the other hand, were not okay last night. Let's talk about that," Layla responded with a small smile in an attempt to move the attention from her.

Riley shook her head in disapproval. "No, let's talk about why you were crying," Riley opposed, her eyes not moving from Layla who was now playing with her fingers.

"I wasn- I wasn't crying okay. Jude and I, we were just talking about our childhood and I just thought about a cousin of ours that passed away," Layla lied.

Riley didn't believe her, but she didn't want to push so she chose to just let the issue go.

"It's okay, it's fine. You made breakfast?" She asked, her eyes looking at the bacon still in the pan. Layla nodded as she also turned to look at it before returning her gaze on Riley. The latter was wearing yesterday's clothes except for the waistcoat. She smelled fresh so she must've showered before leaving the room.

"Yeah," Layla said, her eyes looking at the gold chain hanging from her friend's neck, her eyes quickly moving up to meet Riley's now smiling face, the sight making her feel warm.

"But, we still have to talk about last night," Layla spoke, biting her lip at the realisation of how close their faces were. They were both so close to losing themselves in each other's eyes.

"Can we not? I pretty much prefer eating the wonderful breakfast you made instead," Riley said, chuckling at the last part as she looked down at their hands, moving one of her hands only to put it on top of Layla's own.

"Sounds like a plan," Layla responded, giggling softly as she unwillingly stood up and continued with fixing their breakfast.