Shutter

Chapter 38 - Reality

A series of knocks were heard from the door and Miles quickly turned his head to it. Before opening the door, he made sure to close his laptop first and keep the notes he had written on his notebook inside his bag to secure it.

At this point, he was more worried about the interviews he had with Soren Chandler being found out by the public rather than his safety.

Once the documents were safe, he cleared his throat before walking to the door and opening it. There, he saw a woman standing with a plastic bag in her hand that seemed to contain homemade food.

He looked at her face and saw that she was avoiding his gaze.

"Come on in," he urged and stepped aside to let the woman enter his apartment.

Once they were inside, she expertly maneuvered her way around the place as if she had been there a thousand times already... which she had been to a thousand times already.

"What do you want this time?" He asked as he stretched his arms.

"I... I don't want anything. I just want to spend time with you, Miles," she spoke which made him sigh.

"I thought we've already talked about this?" He asked but didn't bother treating her like a guest as he made his way back to his study table and opened his laptop. The flashing of the screen and the words written on it requiring him to enter his password reminded him of the times he was still a newbie in the world of media and had just moved out of their house.

Typing in his password, Miles heard a few clutter in the kitchen until she came to the living room where he was carrying a bowl with the food she ordered.

"For you?" She wasn't sure but she offered it to him but Miles pointed at the side of the table telling her to place it there. She looked at the spot he was pointing at with hesitancy on her face before doing what he was asking.

"Spill." Miles immediately got to the point because he had a ton of workload to do.

"Mom wants you back in the house-"

"No."

"Come on, Miles. She's been trying to contact you but it wouldn't go through-"

"I said no. If you have nothing else to say then I'd like you to leave."

"But Miles!"

"I said no! Can't you understand that?!" He screamed so loud that fear swept through her body and she took a step back.

"Do we have to go through this again and again? I'm not going back in that hellhole. Never. Now, leave." He had no choice but to glare at her and it took her a few seconds before nodding her head and sprinting out the door, sobbing.

Right. He had been so engrossed in the personal drama of Soren Chandler and Mikhail Cavallero that he forgot he had his own world too. In that world, Miles has his own problems and they aren't the regular problems that one would experience.

Sure, he needs money to sustain his life since he's been living alone for years now and he was eating all the crumbs that other professional journalists like him had left once they got the enormous scoop that they desired but, at least here, he was happy.

He may not be the happiest but he was better than he was before.

Miles promised himself that no matter how hard life got, it was just him in this wretched world alone. There was no one to stay by his side and no one else to console him when he feared something.

There was one reason Miles didn't want to go back to his mother's house after all these years.

It was because he still couldn't admit what he was but despite that, his family was the quickest to judge and 'fix' him as they'd like to call it.