Tangled Hearts

Chapter 8

Aurora Woods

It was past 12 midnight. Grayson was yet to be back from the company. He had been like this for the past 1 week. I had been too busy with work these days hence I did not have time to stay up and wait for him, but tonight I was going to wait for him no matter what. 

Heather walked up to me as she softly tapped me on the shoulder, "It's getting late, you should head up and rest. I will be here when Grayson comes home." I shook my head at her offer, "No it's fine, I can't sleep and I want to wait for him. You should turn in early."

She sighed softly as she reluctantly left me alone on the couch as she headed back to her room. I drew my knees towards my chest as the night goes deeper. 1am, 2am...

I believe it was around 2.30am that I heard the gates opening and the door slowly swung opened, revealing a tired looking Grayson. I immediately got off the couch as I reminded myself to keep a distance between us. He looked at me in surprise but remained silent. 

"Have you...had dinner yet?" I asked. He paused for a while as he shook his head and took off his suit and unbuttoned his sleeves. 

"Wait here, I'll make something for you real quick." I turned around before he could even open his mouth. Grabbing the bag of bread and and a few slices of ham, I placed 2 slices of bread into the toaster as I set a plate beside it. Once the toasts were ready, I placed a slice of cheese and 2 slices of ham in between them before placing it into the microwave. 

In the meantime, I heated a small glass of milk and was just in time as the sandwich was done. Grayson was sat at the table as I placed the plate and glass in front of him. I guess he would appreciate some alone time so I was just about to turn around and head for my room as his voice stopped me in my track, "Can you stay here for a while?" 

I paused, as I pulled out a chair beside him and left a good distance between us as we sat in silence while he slowly ate the sandwich. 

"I'm sorry for what happened. And thank you for today." He broke the silence between us as he took the last bite of his sandwich and drank a sip of milk. 

"There's nothing you should be sorry about. None of us wanted to be in such a situation." I replied softly, as I could see him looking down from the side of my eye. 

"I'm sorry for what Amelia did." I did not know why I blabbered this out of my mouth, but it came out even before I could realise. His eyes watered slightly at the mention of Amelia, as I cursed silently at myself. 

After what felt like 5 minutes, he spoke, "She made the choice herself, no one could have stopped it from happening. She just...fell out of love." 

"No matter what happened, I hope one day you would be able to put the past behind and start afresh again. Isabelle has been worried about you, maybe you should give her a call." He inhaled deeply as he nodded softly at my words. I really do hope that he would be able to get over this and find his happiness soon. 

"I'm sorry that you're stuck in this all of a sudden." He apologised. 

"Isabelle has already apologised so many times, gosh, not you too." I chuckled and he did too. "But honestly, father would have done something like this sooner or later. I wouldn't be surprised if he throws me into an arranged marriage with some random stranger someday." I laughed humourlessly. 

"Why would he do that to his daughter? I mean, even if it was for business, he shouldn't be selling out his own flesh and blood just like that." Grayson asked in confusion. 

"Because I just happened to be a mistake he made decades ago, with a servant in the family. That's why it's easy for him to push me out at any point in time." 

Something seemed to have clicked in his head as he processed whatever I had just said. Just as he was about to reply, he suddenly clutched onto the side of his head in pain. I got out of my seat in alarm, as I moved closer to him.

"What's wrong? Do you need me to call a doctor now?" I asked in panic, as he shook his head with much difficulty. Beads of sweat instantly formed on his forehead as they slowly trickled down to the side of his temples. 

I hurriedly poured a glass of water and grabbed pieces of tissue and placed the glass on the table as I gently dabbed away the sweat on his forehead and temples. After a short while, the pain in his head slowly subsided as he calmed down. 

He slowly took small sips of water as his eyes slowly opened and met mine just as I was about to wipe away another droplet of sweat. I broke away from the contact as fast as possible as I asked in concern, "Are you feeling better now? Do you want to get it checked?" 

He blinked a few times as he replied, "I'm feeling much better now, thank you. I think it was a lack of rest and I believe it would be better after that." I nodded at his words as I pushed in my chair and said, "You should wash up and rest now. What time are you going to leave for work tomorrow?" 

"About 8 in the morning." He too, stood up from his seat. 

"Hm, rest well. Good night." I then took the plate and glasses into the kitchen as I rolled up my sleeves ready to wash them. Footsteps came from behind as Grayson appeared and tried to take over the plate, "I'll wash it, you should go sleep now." 

"It's fine, I'll be done soon. Go wash up and sleep early, I'll manage." This probably went on for about a minute before I had to place the plate down and push him all the way to the stairs to make sure that he stop trying to argue with me. 

It was about 3.45am by the time I turned in, and there was only about 3 hours worth of sleep before I had to wake up again.