Secrets In Chopard Manor

Chapter 8

Sairose

As I returned to the kitchen, I placed both hands on the counter to even out my breathing. Onyx had been putting me in these tense situations all day, and if he didn't stop he'd force Daphne to lock me in the basement before he left.

"How do you do it?" Eve asked, propping a hand on her hip. "How do you get all these men to fall for you, and what do you recommend I do?"

I let out a quick laugh, shaking my head and grabbing the pots from the stove. "Eve, girl, don't wish that upon yourself. You're a gorgeous woman, with a strong head on your shoulders, you don't have to do anything. All these men ever do is stir up trouble and leave us with the aftermath."

I had hoped that my words would get some reaction from my mother but there was none. She remained silent from the moment we had our argument, just allowing the tension between us to grow. I pursed my lips together and turned back to Eve. We cleaned up the kitchen and lingered around for them to finish eating. This time I decided to stay back in the kitchen, I refused to be caught up in any more situations. We washed the final dishes, formally ending our night, and headed upstairs to retire. To my surprise, the moment we stepped in I spotted Ledger sitting on my bed.

I froze.

"Oh great," Eve muttered, rolling her eyes. She grabbed her towel from the bed and retreated to the bathroom before either of us could say anything.

My heart skipped a beat as she shut the door, leaving us in the room together. I crossed my arm over my chest and averted my eyes from his sunken expression.

"You know you can't be in here," I muttered as he stood.

"It's never stopped us before," he replied, stopping in front of me. "Come to my room tonight, please."

"For what?" I raised an eyebrow, looking up at him. "I thought I made myself clear."

"Sai," he breathed, lifting his hands to my face. He cupped my cheeks and I tried to pull away but I couldn't I melted into Ledger's touch, my heart thumping loudly in my chest. I knew it was wrong but seeing him today and not even allowing myself to sneak glances felt like a knife being stabbed in my chest over and over. It just reminded me of how real this was — I was putting myself first but that didn't mean that it doesn't hurt.

"Let's just... talk," he muttered. "Let me make it up to you at least, I promise that –"

"No," finally, I ripped my face out from his touch. It was as if 'promise'  was my trigger word, I'd grown so tired of hearing it. "You can't promise me anything, Ledger. Well you can, but you can't keep your promise. You've shown me that over and over again. I can't handle another."

Ledger slowly dropped his hand, and swallowed hard. "Fine – I guess I'll just have to show you, right?"

I shrugged my shoulders, not knowing what else to say.

"In the meantime, stay away from Onyx. He's not someone you should be messing around with –"

"Don't come in here and tell me what to do, Ledger. You can't even make up your own mind but you expect me to somehow follow you."

My words were cold even to my own ears and even then there was a longing, a plea for him to choose us. For him to fight for us. But he didn't, and I was beyond frustrated. Ledger's face contorted into anger and he opened his mouth to speak again but I stepped aside for him to see the door. He shook his head before storming off, not even being able to slam the door behind him because he was afraid someone would notice.

I chuckled humorlessly, plopping onto my bed and wiping the tears that fell. Like the night before, sleep eluded me. My mind wouldn't stop raging, littering and dilling me with dread, embarrassment, and regret. I was getting more and more tired of being here – of living here. I had to make a decision and something told me that it would come sooner rather than later.