Forever and ever 2. The adventure starts now.

Part 112.

Y/N's pov~

I didn't hesitate to slip into a hot bath once I returned to my room. It felt cozy with the candles lit and my bathrobe ready nearby.

While not as spacious as home, I had grown accustomed to this place.

My muscles began to unwind in the hot water, when my phone buzzed with yet another message. It was likely Reez, sending more plans for the upcoming days, or my acting coach sharing links and videos. That was common for most actors on set. Acting training never ceased. But as curiosity got the better of me, and I dried my fingertips to read the messages, my heart quickly leaped into my throat. I was far from any work-related messages, which I almost wished for in that moment. Instead, I scrolled through a flurry of messages and missed calls from Tom.

Tom:
Arrived safely?
06:03 pm.

Tom:
Just entered my apartment, are you home yet? Missing you already.
06:45 pm.

Missed voice call.

Tom:
Princess, seriously, are you OK? Please answer me, I'm starting to worry.
07:51 pm.

Missed voice call.

Tom:
I just called the fucking airline, and they confirmed you landed two hours ago. Is your phone battery dead?
08:12 pm.

Missed voice call.

Tom:
This is not funny, if you're ignoring me, at least give me a sign you're still alive.
09:24 pm.

Sent just now. I forgot to call Tom. Fuck me. I immediately dialed his number, my phone perilously close to the water, too close to the foam, but that was the least of my concerns at the moment.

"Shitting fuck, you're alive," relief rushed through the line like a gust of wind, and I could barely articulate how sorry I was for forgetting about him. But in my defense, I was too preoccupied catching up with Clark... which I probably shouldn't mention after Tom had asked me to have less contact with him.
"I'm so sorry!" I apologised, my voice couldn't have been more tremulous. Was I worried because he was concerned? Or was I worried because I realized I had messed up again?

"Why didn't you call me?" He fumed, his frustration palpable.

"I forgot," I admitted.

"What do you mean, you forgot?" But now he was being unfair. A hint of reproach and accusation lingering in his voice. I didn't need to explain why I had forgotten; it just happened.

"I just forgot," I sighed, the hot water doing little to relax my muscles anymore.

"How could you forget about me? Didn't you check your phone in the past three hours?! I was going feral." And he was indeed going feral just now too. I didn't think much about my next words until I quickly regretted them again.
"I'm sorry, I was grabbing a bite with Clark, and-"

"Clark??" Damn it. "Why was Clark there?!" His tone escalated threefold, now so furious that I could almost feel the pulsating veins in his neck.

"He picked me up from the airport," I confessed. It was too late to hide it; there was no way out. While I didn't keep anything from Tom, sometimes I felt certain details were best left to myself.

So I gave as little away as possible. No word about any conversations we had, no word about anything that happened in the past few hours.

"Did you ask him to pick you up?" Pain lingered in every breath he took; I could hear it, feel it, even sense it.

"No."

"So he did it on his own."

"Yeah..." What was this? Good cop, bad cop? Was he calm or so irritated that he was just playing it cool? The interrogation didn't stop.

"And then—then what? You just decided to grab a meal together out of the blue?" Oh, for heaven's sake. The nerves in my temples started to ache.

"Tom..."

"No! Answer me," he demanded.

"Yes. I was hungry, and he offered to stop by somewhere."

"Great," Tom laughed sarcastically. "A fucking date."

"It wasn't a fucking date!" I countered his words, mocking his stupid voice.

"Then what do you call it?!"

"Just a normal meal between two friends." What was the difference if it was Clark or Maeve I went out to eat with? Maeve never bothered him.

"A normal meal, my ass."
I had to restrain myself from hanging up and ignoring him, just as he had suspected. But I had little patience for his irritability at the moment.

"Look, you can either talk to me rationally, or you can call back when you've calmed down, but—" and my phone pinged with the call being disconnected. Unbelievable. How could he be so sweet in one minute, and accusing me the second. Tom wasn't usually childish, though lately something was off.

My initial thought was to call Clark to discuss the situation and figure out whose fault it was. Maybe it was my fault for going out to eat with Clark in the first place, but perhaps Tom had overreacted. Yet I realized that calling Clark might was the wrong move to do. Perhaps I could call Ciara, but with bad luck, Harry would overhear everything, and his animosity towards his older brother would intensify. It was probably for the best to deal with the issue on my own for now. So, I tried to enjoy the now lukewarm bath for the next 15 minutes, until I finally gave up.