Charity Night (english)

12

Two days later, completely exhausted, I am sitting on a train that will take me home as quickly as possible. It's just unbearable. The whole situation is easy to handle and to be honest I'm just about ready to leave the country.

It's only been 4 days since I told Zac I didn't want him and he left town and as much as I resist and don't want to admit it... I miss him!

The fact that his brother is here now and tries to make my eyes look good all the time doesn't make the whole situation any easier, because he seems to have declared it his new favorite task to make my life difficult by always trying to take me on a date convince. However, he hasn't been successful so far, as I try to avoid him as much as possible.

My thoughts keep drifting to his attractive brother, who was so incredibly cold to me before he left. Of course I'm aware that I rejected him in a similarly repulsive manner, but it's frightening what kind of mask he can put on.

Today I'm going to visit my parents to plan their wedding anniversary, which is to be celebrated in a month with a big party in the small coastal town in the south and actually this event needs my full attention now. Unfortunately it can't be found right now and I doubt I'll be of much help.

The beeping of my smartphone pulls me out of my thoughts and a look at it reveals that I have received an email from Lucas asking me to go through a few projects over the weekend that he has attached.

An annoyed sigh leaves my mouth and I let my head fall back. Don't you have a weekend where you can have some peace and quiet? Of course I love my job, but at the moment a little distance from this company would be more than welcome.

This whole misery would actually never have happened if I hadn't been so stupid and thrown all my principles overboard by simply going to his suite with Zachery at the gala.

I slowly open my notebook and click through the email that Lucas sent me. Fortunately, the files are quite clear and so it shouldn't take me too long to get used to it and since I'll be stuck in this compartment for at least another hour either way, I can do it straight away and have enough time for my work Parents that I have rarely seen since I moved to the metropolis.

Only shortly before we pull into the train station do I close the laptop and put my things back in all the bags. Then I write a short message to my sister saying that I will be arriving shortly and that she can set off to pick me up in the small town a few kilometers from our home village.

A quick check in the small hand mirror scares me slightly because I have deep circles under my eyes and my hair currently looks more like an exploded sofa cushion than a hairstyle.

Sighing, I get up and lightly hop out of the train onto the platform to look around for Lydia, but she's probably not there yet. To make matters worse, the first raindrops are already falling from the sky and unfortunately I have packed my umbrella at the bottom of my suitcase.

This day is clearly not one of my best and it won't get any better as it turns out.

"Charlotte?!" a deep, disbelieving voice asks me behind my back and I turn around, only to then fall into a state of shock. What in God's name is HE doing here?

In disbelief and still a bit paralyzed, I shake my head hoping it's a mirage, but nothing happens.

There he is... Still just as attractive and tall as he was four days ago and he hasn't lost any of his authority.

"Zachery, what are you doing here?" I catch myself, trying to cover up the shock and pain by putting on the perfect poker face. "I'm on my way to the coast to unwind for a few days." He says now noticeably cooler and pulls back the hand that was on my arm so quickly that you would think he had burned himself.

"Oh, that's nice, but aren't you supposed to be in England?" His look goes from caught to hurt to piercing in a matter of seconds. "I really don't know how that's any of your business!" he hisses to me and turns away.

He walks quickly towards the bus schedule and I wonder why he isn't driving. But put that thought aside again because at the next bend my sister's car comes into my field of vision and she comes to a screeching halt right in front of me. "Oh man, Charlie, I'm so sorry you had to wait in the rain, but I had to drop something in the mail for Mum." She babbles loudly to herself as she storms towards me and me almost knocking me off her feet as she presses me against her and wraps her arms around me.

Then she grabs my luggage and throws it into the trunk of her little red car, which has seen better days. Without even letting me have a say, she continues talking straight away.

"If the guy back there really thinks that he's going to get a bus in this godforsaken area today, then he's cut himself." Then she forms a funnel with her little hands and shouts over to Zac, without me being able to stop it. "YOU WILL NOT HAVE ANY LUCK TODAY!"

Looking questioning, he turns around to us and waits for an explanation.

Lydia is already on her way to him, so all I can do is watch as my sister has to make the rest of my day more difficult.

After a short discussion, which I couldn't follow due to my distance from the two of them, Lydia comes back to the car beaming and with Zachery in tow and explains to me with a blissful, ignorant smile that he will drive with us because otherwise he wouldn't be able to would come to his rented accommodation.

I look at him hesitantly and he just shrugs his shoulders briefly, then slips into the back seat behind my sister and leaves me standing on the curb in a bit of disbelief.

This day is turning into my personal nightmare.

Twenty minutes later, Zac is standing stressed and gesticulating wildly in front of a completely dilapidated building just outside Brighton. He screams into his cell phone with his face contorted in anger and his expression slowly changes from crimson to deathly pale and desperation is reflected in his eyes.

Lydia has already gotten out of the car and is trying to talk to him calmly and even though my common sense resists, I climb out of the car to ask what exactly is going on. Before I can say a single word, however, I hear the sentence that makes me sink inside.

"Charlie, it looks like the man fell for a scammer who rented out this building to him as a beautiful cottage. And as you can see, it is anything but habitable! He will come with us! There's enough space for two people in your old room!"

Zachery's eyes reflect my thoughts...

Oh no, oh no, oh no!