Auriferous

chapter 27

Lael could vaguely make out the figures of people passing by, staring at her through her thick translucent tear stained eyes. She would hardly notice them eitherways. She would never admit it, but when he let her hand go and turned without looking back...when he never turned back. The choke of tears caught at her throat, a mix of anger and sadness. What was his excuse? Why would he not say it? What could beat being inhuman? Nothing. Was he crying good riddance now? Her phone was ringing in her bag. Cars were honking across the road. Birds were gawking incessantly above her head. But all she heard was the sound of her sorrow. Sorrow. Why was she feeling that? In what way was she even connected to reubin? He was about the best guy you would nominate for worst friend to have. Lael walked her way down home as slowly as she dared. She forgot what she got out for, what she dressed up in band style for. A month since she got out. Since she was refuelled. She did not enjoy the fact that she felt better in shape, condition and that the refuelling did her good. She smeared her flattened hand cress across her wet eyes and trudged upwards. She bought a new house with maura and broke off contact with everybody else. Maura would have been at home. She dabbed at her cheeks and made sure they were well beyond dry when she entered the front door at the top of the small hill. There was a beautiful oceanic view out there, and she turned to stare at it as she got in with her eyes now wide and innocent looking. "I'm home!" Her shaky voice nearly betrayed her. "How was your workout?" Maura appeared out of the kitchen, her hands wiping on a rag as she asked. So that was it. Where she had been. Lael finally remembered. "Fine." After her shower at the gym nearby, she had ditched sports tops for high heels as she made her way back home. She was trying to forget her past life, why did reubin have to come in? Why? Lael sucked in a breath. To prove her point, she thrust a look at her mother, putting her acting skills to good use. "Tired, thats all." She never admitted that the reason for the sudden joining in exercise was because she wanted to be prepared. She wanted to be able to fight when he came again. One month ago, she was sent back to the alley where he had taken her after her operation. It took days. The refuelling. He said he would come back in a couple years to come. For the next refuelling. But lael, she did not want to live. Maura smiled. Staring at her mother's profile, she had to look away when she imagined maura's life without her. Maura would have had a family with alaric, the diamond ring would have been on her ring finger right that moment. Lael had hidden the fact that the ring was still with her. Her mother deserved what was best, she deserved that ring. The connection to alaric belonged at her side, not down in a dusty storage box at police lost and found. But for now, the diamond stayed tucked away beside lael's desk in the velvet box it came in.
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Gillian never let her identity slip by her tongue unless neccessary, but after confronting reubin she figured it had great benefits. Her dad would mostly be away and never to tend to her. She was always left with a bundle of money to do whatever pleased her. After reubin, she never heard from lael again. She expected as much but she felt less inclined to guilt. She soon got irritated and lost all sense to think for herself in lael's position and wondered why she couldn't do what she wanted. She got her IT to find out reubin's number. Around the time she decided to ring him up, lael was missing and had left reubin a wreck when he felt helpless. "Hey, its me." Reubin was too distraught to realise gillian never did have his number, but he had no idea how to address her. Gillian sensed the tension and quickly ammended her greeting. "Can i order you to be informal and for you to pretend you didn't know?"
"Yeah"
"Good. Um, how mad is lael?"
Reubin paused. He still thought saying the right thing to please the president's daughter was crucial.
"I have no idea. I haven't been in touch with her." Then reubin realised that he actually was not lying. He actually did not have lael's number and contact. The earpieces were an exception.
"Oh, well if you see her around, then-"
"Why don't you call her?"
"Straight to voicemail."
"Then why do you think she wouldn't be mad at me if she's mad at you?"
"I don't know." Silence on both ends pulsed through the connection. Gillian had sighed so softly that reubin could not hear her. Then, she decided, as a slow grin crossed her face. "Well, i didn't regret the fun in the rain. And lael can go screw herself if she can't understand my means." Reubin froze, well with the execption of his moving mouth. "Well said." He lied easily, but there was a thin catch in his throat. By now, gillian was smiling. And reubin had a feeling of wary in his heart, a sense of heaviness, now most definitely telling him to keep an eye out for gillian.