Afraid to love

Chapter 33

It takes me such a long time to calm my nerves. My mind is frantic, my body trembling. I splash water over my face, working hard to calm my breathing. Daniel. How could he do that? What was he thinking? He knew how afraid I was of the stalker, yet he... someone knocks on the door, again. It's been close to twenty minutes that I've spent locked in the bathroom, and I don't think I'd leave any time soon if I didn't have people knocking every five or so minutes, wanting to use the toilet. Someone knocks again, and I finally decide I need to get out. I glance up at the mirror once more, so grateful that my makeup is water proof. My eyes and cheeks, however, are red and slightly puffy. You can tell I was crying if you look closely. I fix my dishevelled hair and open the bathroom, a girl I don't know to instantly forces her way past me and walks in,

"About time!" she says, pushing me out and shutting the door in my face. Fair enough. I'd be angry too if one of only two bathrooms on the ground floor was taken for close to half an hour. I walk into the open living area and don't get a chance to make a step before Nina appears in front of me,

"Where have you been? I was so worried! I called you ten times! Are you okay?" she looks into my face, "oh my god! You were crying! Did someone hurt you? What happened?" she talks so fast I can't even respond, George steps up right behind her,

"We thought something happened!" he says, "where were you? You were crying?"

So, they both noticed straight away, I was hoping it was less obvious. I am about to tell them that I am fine when a masculine voice speaks from behind them,

"Sofia, we have to talk" my eyes dart up to meet Daniel's, I swear, if looks could kill, he'd be dead right now. I fix him with a glare charged with anger, accusation and outright venom,

"Daniel you're here?" Nina speaks, but almost immediately registers the unspoken tension between us, "wait, what did you do to her?"

"We have nothing to talk about" I say coldly, then, turning my eyes away from Daniel, I look at Nina, "Nina, I'm going home. You can stay, but be safe, okay?"

"No, I'm coming with you"

"No, I want you to stay"

"I'm definitely not letting you go home alone, you're obviously upset"

"I am not. I know I look upset, but I promise it's nothing. Okay? I just need to be alone for a bit. I will tell you about it later"

"No, I'm coming with you" she repeats,

"Nina, no, you have to listen to me. I want you to stay, okay?"

"I'm not letting you go alone"

"I can drop her off and come back" George offers,

"I'll drop her off" Daniel says,

"No" I respond to George, ignoring Daniel like he didn't even speak, "I'll call a cab"

"It's not a problem for me at all" George says,

"You need to stay with Nina, George" I tell him, "please stay with her the whole time. You know the stalker is still out somewhere"

"Don't worry about me!" Nina says, "but I'm not letting you go home alone, you're obviously upset"

"Nothing serious, just an argument, I promise" I say, hoping I sound convincing. I take my phone out and call a taxi, "he'll be here in five minutes"

"I'll drop you off, Sofia" Daniel speaks again. I ignore him once more. I give a hug to Nina and tell her to stay safe once more, she tries convincing me to let her go home with me, but I manage to dissuade her.

Saying bye to Nina, I make my way outside,

"Why are you following her?" I hear George ask, and I know he's talking to Daniel. I ignore that, too. Daniel can follow me all he wants, but I am not giving him a minute of my time. I stand in the crowd as I wait for my taxi, I can feel Daniel standing right behind me but I act like he's not there. I don't want to acknowledge him in any way,

"I'll drop you off, Sofia" he speaks, "I won't even talk to you if you don't want me to. Just let me give you a lift home"

My response is silence, I intentionally dismiss him as I pull out my phone, demonstrating my disinterest by scrolling through random photos. The taxi finally arrives and I make my way across the front yard to the gate, Daniel grabs my arm to stop me. I freeze, but I don't look up at him,

"Please, Sofia" he says,

"Release me right now" I demand, shocked that he has to audacity to even put his hand on me after what he did,

I just stand still, not looking at him at all, until he finally releases my arm, then I continue to the taxi. There's a problem, I realise – I live in the same place as Daniel, and the last thing I want is to be anywhere near him right now. Instead of reciting my address to the taxi driver, I give him Lara's. This drive will cost me a fortune as Lara lives so far away from here, but I know she won't mind me staying the night with her and Elias.

Two minutes into the drive, I notice Daniel's car behind us, following us. I feel a bit of uneasiness. Why is he following? What will he do when he realises that the taxi isn't going to our apartment, but towards Lara's place? Will he follow us for the full hour drive?

My questions are soon answered with a definite yes. He trails the taxi throughout the whole drive to Lara's place. I glance at the taxi driver, an older man possibly in his mid sixties. I wonder if he noticed the car following behind him. If he did, he doesn't say anything about it.

When the taxi arrives to Lara's apartment, I ask the driver if he can wait until I'm inside the building before he leaves,

"Sure honey, I'll do that" he says. If Daniel tries anything at least I have someone watching over me. Daniel parks his car behind us, I ignore him and exit the cab, then make my way to the apartment. Daniel doesn't get out of his car, doesn't try to stop me. I run up the set of stairs to Lara's apartment and ring the bell,

"Who is it?" Lara asks, she sounds scared and I scold myself for not texting her that I am coming. How would I feel if someone rang my bell in the middle of the night?

"It's me. Sofia." I say, she opens the door immediately,

"Sofia?" she looks around, "You're alone? Is everything okay?" I nod,

"Can I stay here tonight?" I ask,

"What sort of question is that? Come in!" she all but pulls me inside, "what happened?"

I walk over to her window and look outside. Daniel's car is still parked there. I quickly move away from the window, closing back the curtain, then I turn to look at her,

"Please tell me you're okay" she says, looking worried.

I tell her everything that happened, starting with George and the fight I had with him, and then I tell her about Daniel,

"He is so cruel to do that to you!"

"You don't know, Lara! Now that I am retelling everything, it doesn't seem like such a big deal. But it was. I thought he was about to hurt me. I was so scared! He- he was so strong! I couldn't- I couldn't even- nothing! I couldn't do anything! I was so afraid!" she comes over to give me a hug.

Some time later, when I look out the window again, Daniel's car is gone. I text Nina to tell her I will be spending the night at Lara's place, and to enjoy her birthday trip tomorrow. She barrages me with questions about what happened between me and Daniel, and I tell her it was just an argument, nothing more, but that I'll tell her about it when she's back from her trip on Monday. Finally, after many messages back and forth, she agrees to drop the subject for now and focus on her trip.