Unravelled

[CHAPTER 21]

CHAPTER 21

Charlotte's POV

"Oh hello," Lorraine said, astonished by my presence. I gave her a small smile, "Hi, you must be Mrs. Fernandez."

"Oh, no I'm not," she said and whispered, "Not yet."

I showed her a confused face, "But-."

Before I could continue, the front door opened.

Mr. Fernandez exclaimed, "Lorraine, I didn't know you were coming over today."

Her eyes lit up and she smiled brightly. "It was a spontaneous decision. I was planning to call you when I was on my way, but I must have forgotten. Also, I didn't know you were going to have a guest today," she said looking over to me and then back at him.

Mr. Fernandez did a quick glance at me and said, "Oh, you must have met Charlotte. She's a friend of Lara."

Speaking of the devil, Lara came through the door with a brown paper bag full of groceries.

"Lorraine? What are you doing here?" she asked, a little surprised.

Instantly, Lorraine's face fell. "Oh I just thought maybe I could stop by but I should just probably get back."

She picked up her things to leave but Mr. Fernandez was quick enough to grab her gently by her arm. "No, you shouldn't. We were just surprised, that's all. How about you settle your things here and have a drink?" he said.

"Yeah, you don't have to leave. Dad is about to make dinner. You could help him since I'll be with Charlotte," Lara added.

All was well and the next thing I knew was that I was on the way up the stairs with Lara by my side.

"Sorry about that," I said as I entered her room.

"It's alright. We were all very astounded that she came over today. It was supposed to be only my dad and me, and you of course, for today," she explained.

I nodded my head giving her a sign that I finally understood what was going on.

"Now, let's get on with work, shall we?"

"Alright," I said.

~~~~~~~~~~

"I'm not too sure about that either actually. I thought of asking Mr. Arthur but he always seem so passionate with his teaching so I never want to interrupt him," Lara said.

"Yeah I agree," I said and suddenly an idea came into my mind. "Oh you know Daniel, right?"

"Your lunch mate?"

"Er, yeah. He's pretty good at this. Maybe I could ask him? Or maybe you should just come with me. I'm sure he'll explain to the both of us," I said.

"That would be great! Having a senior as a friend is so helpful, isn't it? If only he was helpful," she said, her tone of voice getting lighter.

I didn't think the 'he' she was referring to was Daniel so I asked, "Who's he?"

My question must have snapped her out of her reverie because she looked like she was lost for words. "Just a friend of mine. I'm not even sure if he considers me as a friend but he's a senior too," she said.

I did not want to pry anymore so I immediately changed the subject we were talking about when her father called out for her, "Lara? Dinner's ready."

"We'll be right down," she shouted back. And she said to me, "Come on, we'll continue after dinner."

"I'm really staying for dinner?" I said, surprised.

"Yeah, of course! You agreed, and don't worry I told my dad earlier so there will surely be enough for all of us, including Lorraine," she said tugging me by the arm. I lifted myself off the chair and followed her downstairs.

I sat opposite Lorraine at the dinner table and Lara to my left. "Help yourself, Charlotte. We have plenty for all," Mr. Fernandez said. I replied him with a smile showing my appreciation.

The ambiance at the dinner table was calming, to be honest. The food was good and I am starting to feel like I owe Lara a lot.

"You guys can go watch TV, I'll do the dishes," Mr. Fernandez said as he cleared our plates. "I'll help you with them dad," Lara offered.

Knowing I could not help much, I headed over to the living room.

"So, Charlotte, I heard you are an exchange student, where from?" Lorraine asked as she sat herself down on the sofa.

"Bristol," I answered.

"The UK? But you don't have an accent," she said, confused.

"I had friends that I had been talking to here, so I must have caught on the American accent fairly quickly," I explained coolly.

She nodded, "I see."

I felt the slight change of atmosphere, probably she was feeling awkward so I took the chance to apologise, "Sorry about earlier. I haven't seen Mrs. Fernandez before so I just assumed that you were her."

"It's alright, dear. Lara didn't tell you before you came over?" she asked.

"She did tell me her parents were divorced," I said. My words might have stung her so I quickly said, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bring it up-."

"No no! It's really fine. I'm actually a divorce myself so I know what it feels like to be at the other end of the string," she said.

"You are?" I said and she nodded.

"Let me let you on a secret," she whispered. "I was actually saving myself when I got divorced."

I cocked my head to one side not understanding what she meant. She then smiled, "It's true. Apparently, my ex was the abusive kind."

She must have saw the astonishing look I had on my face because she quickly said, "He didn't come to the abusive stage with me but he did with one of his exes."

She sighed and leaned back on the sofa, "That is why you have to be very careful when it comes to men. They may come off as sweet and nice, but once they have you wrapped around their fingers, who knows what would happen."

~~~~~~~~~~

I ended doing some more work until it was close to eight at night. The conversation I had with Lorraine kept replaying over and over again in my head. I was walking home and was so deep into my thoughts that I got startled by my phone vibrating in my jeans.

"Hello?" I said.

"Hey Charlotte, where are you?" Daniel said.

"I'm close to the café, why?"

"Could you drop by my place? I'll send you home after," he said, his voice full of urgency.

"Alright I'll be there as soon as I can," I said and hung up.

"Hey," he said when he opened the door to his room.

"What's up?" I said.

"You really need to take a look at this."

He went to his table and I followed behind him. "Here," he said handing me a familiar brown file.

"Didn't we get over this already?" I asked.

"This one's different. Trust me," he said. There he goes again with his 'trust' attitude. I leaned on his study table and opened up his file. I read over the lines, not believing what I was reading. I had not imagined that he would be involved, but the picture that it came with, confirmed that it was true. I was speechless.

I looked up at Daniel that was already staring at me with blank eyes. He once told me that he was an 'old friend' and now it turns out that he was involved with the case we were on. I did not want to open any wounds so I said what I thought was the only thing I could say.

"Jayden Cabrera. So that's his name."