Fall In Love Again (WATTY'S 2017)

Chapter 16

Hunter held onto the box and thought about the time he surprised Li at work. He had brought her a bouquet of flowers. He smiled a bit as he thought.

He soon reached her front door. Adjusting the box in his hand, Hunter rang the door bell. 

The door slowly opened and Marcel stood at the door. His eyes widened. "Mr. Lockwood." He stuttered. "Um, hi." He said clutching the box closely. "Is Li home?"

"Um...well," Marcel muttered looking behind him.

"Marcy who's at the door?" Said Li who was soon standing behind him.

Hunter stood there as his eyes once again met Li's. "Can we talk?" He asked.

She scoffed and pushed passed Marcel. "Go away." She said calmly.

"I walked all this way-"

"And you can walk straight back. You had no problem walking here, so you can and will most definitely walk straight back to wherever you came from."

"Delilah please I just want to talk."

"I don't wanna talk to you." We scoffed.

Marcel bit his lip and said, "I think I left the stove on." He walked away as if he was in hurry.

"I don't wanna see you." Li said folding her arms. "Don't be mad at Maria or Terry. I asked them to help me." He said.

"I'm not really mad at them. I'm mad, wait... absolutely, 100% Infuriated with you." She said, in a clam voice.

"I know, you have every right to be angry with me."

"Damn right." Li scoffed brushing away some of her hair. "Take the box." Said Hunter.

"I don't want it."

"Please-" he said softly. His voice low that it gave her goose bumps.

Li took a deep breath and said, "I need you to leave. Leave me alone, don't talk to me or I will call the cops."

He bit his lip and bent down to place the box in front of her. "Take it with you." She said kicking it a bit. He ignored and looked up.

"Take the box." She said again as Hunter stared at her. "I want nothing in it."

"Why'd you wanna give this me? Why didn't you throw it away?" He asked.

"Leave." She said tapping her foot impatiently.

Hunter ran his hand over his face. "I'm sorry." He said looking into her brown eyes. "I'm so sorry."

"Sorry isn't gonna fix what you've done, what you did."

"You gotta understand."

"Understand what? What is there to understand. The reason why you did what you did, left me is still ringing in my fucking ear." She said, as her voice got a little higher after any sentence.

"You were everything, everyone said you were. You took the summer and most of highschool from me. You wasted my time that I could have been using to better my career. You put me in danger, and I was stupid enough to fall for you after everything people said. "

"I am protecting you." He said. "But you have to understand. I don't want to say it out loud but I've told you before. Li, you have to trust me, believe me."

"Why would I believe someone who said he wouldn't leave me and ended up leaving me in the rain."

There was silence. Li looked at him bitterly and Hunter could tell. He had a neutral expression and it was very hard for Li to figure out what was going on in his mind. What he was thinking.

She ended up glaring and pointing behind him. "You've got thirty seconds before I call the cops."

"Li, whos at the door?" Asked Lucy peering over her shoulder. "Hi Hunter. What brings you here." She asks smiling. "Um just dropping off something."

"Oh." Said Lucy disappointed. "Won't you come in for-"

"Hunter has places to be, that aren't here." Li cut in with a sarcastic tone staring at her mother then back at him. "Don't you Hunter?"

He stared at them both and saw Li gripping the edge of door. Her perfectly polished nails digging into the wood. As much as he wanted her to understand, he didn't want to push her to where she ended up shouting. "Yeah. I gotta head back, Terry is probably waiting for me anyway."

"Aw, well ok. Come over anytime. Oh and do come over tomorrow for dinner."

Li narrowed her eyebrows and stared at Lucy. "Mom." She muttered in a low voice. "What I was being nice. God knows he could use a hot meal." She said back with a smile.

"And god also knows he has other plans tomorrow."

Lucy rolled her eyes playfully and looked at him waiting for a response.

"Sure, I'll be there." Hunter replied.

Li put on a fake smile and rolled her eyes. "Great." Lucy said with a grin. Li didn't speak but pushed past her mother and ran up the steps.

Lucy watched her storm up the staircase and looked back at Hunter. "Well, she's not in a good mood."

Hunter chuckled. "Yeah...mind giving this to her?" He asks.

"Sure, what in it?" She asked picking it up. "Just a box full of things we got on our date."

"Oh, I'm sorry but...I don't think she is gonna want this back. I helped her pack all these things away and she swore that she didn't want to see it ever again." Lucy said, handing him to box.

"I know but, I still want her to have it." He said taking the box from her hands.

"OK, I'll give it to her."

"Thanks." He smiles shoving his hands in his pocket. "Se never told me what happened between you guys. Mind telling me?" Lucy asks leaning against the door frame.

"Sorry Mrs. Channing, that's not my place to tell. If she wanted to tell you I know she would have."

Lucy nodded and said, "Clark."

"What?" He asked. "My maiden name is Clark, I'm not a Channing anymore."

He chuckled and said, "OK, goodnight Ms.Clark."

"Night Hunter."

He walked off disappointed and didn't look back at the house.

He thought about Li as he walked down the sidewalk. How he was still taking care of her, protecting her from the danger that was still lurking in the shadows.

But what he didn't know was that the dbger followed him to Chicago. That protecting Li was the least of his problems.

That the real conflict hadnt even sparked yet and the stench of death would invade Chicago.

"The only reason why people hold onto memories so tight is because memories are the only things that don't change when everyone else does."