With Or Without You (Completed)

Chapter 20

"Finally found you!"

Indeed, and bringing along misfortune to her resolve.

No... no... no...! This couldn't be happening for real. That was what Elli chanted over and over, trying with all her might to make this surprise of a reality a hallucination only. But the more Oliver's lips stretched into a grin, taking her breath away in the process, the more she got reminded of how luck had left her side that had been quite a while ago.

It was difficult but she recovered her breathing and wits that had been frozen in time - seeing; hearing and smelling him. And it was a joke now that she thought she had made some progress in forgetting the playboy jerk when in reality she was just lying to herself.

But Elli had decided to not be a quitter in her mission, the mission of falling out of love. With renewed vigour therefore she wiped off all the emotions from her face as Misha came to stand next to her. However, Oliver's instant hostility to Misha confused the hell out of her.

And right now, in the car that wheeled them towards Emma's home from the airport, Elli found herself into a very awkward - very scary position. Oliver had leaned in over her from the front seats, so much that she could feel his breath fanning across her face. It was all kinds of scary because her heart was at risk of throwing off the covers that hid her true emotions for this incredibly frustrating man. In addition to all the disadvantages, the way Oliver was looking at her was not helping at all, it didn't sit well with her recognizing that this was the first time he looked at her this way. Like he wanted to devour her alive.

It made her wonder what she had missed out on while being away and trying to find sanctuary in distance.

"What is going on here?" Misha's voice was like the most needed, thundering interruption, which brought back normality in the heavy amosphere.

Elli couldn't be more thankful for her brother's meddling presence in a scene.

But really, what actually was going on back there! 

As the car came to a stop on the driveway, Elli shook her head coming out the car, clearing all the confusing and haywire thoughts from her mind. Misha got busy in bringing out their luggage with the help of the driver.

Putting her hands behind her waist, she bend backwards just this little bit, stretching to sooth the knots all over her back. She could almost feel the jet lag kicking in and even the baby seemed cranky in there, she needed to urgently locate some peanut butter and fish pickle. 

"Where's Emma?" Elli asked, she didn't have to look to see Oliver was standing behind her, that much palpable his presence was. "And Brandan and the kids?"

"Sarah got a fever last night," Oliver said, moving to stand next to her. "Emma's probably sitting beside her upstairs while Brandan is being a ticking time bomb in the office. And I bet that Sammy is being a duplicate of his father in the school."

Elli's head snapped up towards Oliver. "She's getting these fevers more than often now," her voice was latching with worry.

Oliver nodded, putting a hand on her lower back as he lead her towards the porch. "Yes, she is and everyone is worried about her here. The poor little girl had been appointed to go through series of tests this week in the hospital." Oliver sighed.

Elli was taken aback, she couldn't recall him touching her like this, it was almost like he was trying his hand on chivalry. Was it really Oliver? Or was it actually a shape-shifter that has taken form of him?