LOVE? NEVER | ✓

Chapter Twenty

"Our lives begins to end the day we become silent about things that matter." - Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

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She sat in the car silently, her hands resting on top of her lap and her face staring outside the window, breathing quietly.

I didn't know how should I start speaking, nor what topic to open, and being in an awkward silence is dangerously uncomfortable. For me.

"You didn't come with your father?" I asked, stealing glances every second to see if she was interested.

Silence.

Complete and utter silence.

It was not until a few other moments that she sighed and replied, "No."

I nodded, "So how was Germany?"

She didn't reply.

"I've went there a couple of times."

No response.

"Amanda is seeing someone."

No reply.

"Leo is pregnant."

She sighed, looking finally to me, "Ethen, stop talking."

"Okay, yeah, whatever you say," I mumbled, holding the steering wheel with both my hands, looking at the empty street ahead of me.

She snuggled in her sweater, turning her head from the window resting her chin on top of her knees which she somehow managed to pull them into her chest.

"Ethen," her cold hand was on my arm, patting me gently.

"You're cold," I said, pulling her hand into mine, trying to afford some of my own heat.

"Can we not go to your mansion?" she asked, pulling her hand from mine and crossing her arms, circling her knees.

"Where do you want to go?" I asked, not sure of what she was trying to do.

"Anywhere else," she said. "Please."

●●●

"Can you tell me at least what's happening with you?" I asked, settling on the couch in my penthouse, the place I decided we should go to, and facing her as she bit her nails anxiously.

"Do you really want to know?" she asked, her eyes met mine in a intense moment.

"Yes."

"I don't know," she said, running her hands through her hair then rubbing her eyes. "I don't know if you too will stand by my side and not be like the others."

"You need to tell me first."

She nodded, "I want to show you something," she said, standing up from the couch and walking towards the bedroom. "I'll be right back."

"Okay."

I waited, staring at the closed door of my bedroom in anticipation. I can't call it excitement, because I know that whatever she wanted to show isn't something that represents happiness, and excitement only comes with happiness.

Or this is what I think.

The door opened and she quietly closed it after stepping outside in a jacket, a tank top underneath, and sweatpants.

"I know this might change everything, but I must tell you because I can no longer handle it alone," slowly, she slid her arms out of the jacket's sleeves and rested her hands between her crossed legs, arching her back a little.