Unrequited Love

Chapter 17: Jealousy

Kyra sat at the kitchen table, her gaze fixed on the cup of tea in front of her, long forgotten and now cold. Two weeks had passed since Lily's passing, yet the heaviness in her heart showed no signs of easing. She stole a glance towards the guest room where Alex had been staying since their return from Melbourne, her worry deepening with each passing day.

The feeling of helplessness consumed her, despite her best efforts to support Alex. He remained distant and withdrawn, lost in his own grief and turmoil. It pained Kyra to see him like this, to witness the weight of his burdens crushing him from within.

With a heavy sigh, Kyra reached for her phone, the familiar urge to reach out to Alex tugging at her heartstrings. But she hesitated, uncertainty clouding her mind. Would he even respond? Would he welcome her presence or shut her out once more?

In the guest room, Alex paced back and forth, his mind a swirling tempest of conflicting emotions. The pain felt as raw and agonizing as ever, despite the passing of time. He couldn't escape the suffocating grip of grief that threatened to consume him whole.

Each day, the weight of his responsibilities seemed to grow heavier, pressing down on him with relentless force. He struggled to keep his head above water as the world spun around him in a dizzying blur.

But amidst the chaos, one thought consumed his mind above all else: Kyra. Her unwavering presence was both a source of comfort and torment, a reminder of everything he had lost and everything he longed for.

The guilt gnawed at him, knowing he had pushed her away when all he wanted was to pull her close. But he couldn't burden her with his pain, couldn't bear to drag her down into the depths of his despair.

Yet, her voice echoed in his mind, a constant presence that refused to be silenced. He longed to reach out to her, to seek solace in her embrace and find refuge from the storm raging within him.

As he heard her calling out to him from the kitchen, a tumult of emotions surged through him, leaving him paralyzed with indecision. Part of him yearned to answer her call, to let her in and share the burden weighing heavily on his heart. But another part recoiled, retreating deeper into the shadows of his pain.

With a heavy sigh, Alex sank onto the edge of the bed, his head in his hands. Utterly lost, adrift in a sea of grief and confusion, he grappled with the impossible task of finding his way back to the light.

The sudden ringing of Alex's phone shattered the heavy silence that hung over the house like a suffocating blanket. It pierced through the dimly lit room, jolting him from his melancholy reverie and bringing him back to the present moment with startling clarity.For a brief moment, he hesitated, his hand hovering over the device as if unsure whether to answer or let it ring. But then, with a resigned sigh, he reached for the phone, his fingers trembling slightly as he pressed the answer button. 

 The sound of Aldora's voice filled the room, her words pulling him into a conversation that he had grown all too familiar with in recent days. Despite the weight of his grief and the turmoil churning within him, Alex forced himself to focus, to engage in the exchange with the same practiced ease he had grown accustomed to.

As the conversation between Alex and Aldora continued, Kyra couldn't help but feel a pang of jealousy gnawing at her insides with each passing minute. She watched from afar as Alex's laughter grew more frequent, his smile widening with each exchange.

Each cheerful chuckle that escaped his lips felt like a dagger to Kyra's heart, a painful reminder of the bond he shared with Aldora—a bond that seemed to grow stronger with every passing moment.

Despite her best efforts to push aside her feelings, Kyra couldn't shake the nagging sense of inadequacy that plagued her. She couldn't help but wonder what Aldora had that she didn't, what made her so special in Alex's eyes.