Returning Red

#31: FCK469.

there's so much you don't know

Isabella

Has it ever happened that when you're walking through the lanes of the cold chilly night and it suddenly starts pouring down rain, you find the nearest bridge to take shelter, and everything stops? Everything goes silent and it's almost peaceful. Then the rain stops and you get out of the bridge. Everything hits you a little harder than before. The peaceful moment was exactly that, a moment. Once you're out in the open, exposed to the unpredictability of the world, you know you're supposed to make ready for the battle again. You brace yourself for a stronger rain, because what if there's no bridge to go beneath then? 

Austin Cooper was my bridge. The world seemed to slow down and pause for a breather when he was around. 

But as I walked out of the suite in his clothes this morning, the reality hit me harder than before. I had to gear up because the breather was over. I had a harsher storm awaiting me. May and Liam gawked at me as I entered my suite in his sweats and t-shirt. I bluntly told them how they'd thrown me out before I changed and that Austin was sweet enough to lend me his clothes, hiding the massacred black dress behind me. 

After two hours of meeting with Sage as we read all her story columns and one hour of meeting with the legal team, I could finally savor a royal lunch. 

"Are you going somewhere?" Liam asked as the boys joined me in the bistro. 

I nodded, gulping down my last chocolate pastry. Lee dropped beside me, eyeing my handbag. I pushed it to him with confidence. His eyes were curious but I didn't think he'd actually pick it up and check it the way security guards in airports do. 

"Any sign of them?" Jason asked as he sat in front of me, holding the butter knife like a dagger.

"Nope, she's clean," Lee said as he stuffed my laptop inside my bag and placed it beside me with care and a smile. "Someone's learning from their mistakes." 

I lifted my hot water glass to toast. "On my way to make new ones." 

"That better be sarcasm," 

My smile drops as my hand slowly lowers down. I bring the hot water to my mouth to ignore the tingling shivers moving like a deflated balloon inside my body. He pulls the chair beside Jason and sits down, eyeing me like nothing happened last night. 

Flashes of last night, screens like a reel between us. All I can hear in my head are loud moans, fabric tearing, and the sight of it being thrown out of the bed. His eyes hide all the secrets but when the back of his hand touches his lips and he clears his throat, I know he's asking me to zone back to reality. 

"Cody," Liam leans ahead, placing his elbows on the table. "Are you aware that someone spent the whole of last night in someone's room?"

Jason frowned for a second before it disappeared and he eyed both Austin and me with a sneer. He turned in his chair, mostly to face Austin and give him a mocking look. A waiter came through and placed three bowls of soup in front of them. Austin started sipping from his soup as if he wasn't spoken to at all. 

"Oh, my, my," Jason continued to mock with words. "No wonder the rough night has made him all chirpy today morning." He turned to me with the same expression. "He was singing in the shower, Ellie Goulding's Love Me Like You Do. I thought something was wrong. I should've understood." 

Austin dropped his spoon into his bowl. He slowly turned to glare at Cody. "Wrecking Ball, Miley Cyrus. Go check up your ears." 

"So it was not just a rough night, it was a wrecking night?" Lee cocked his eyebrow, pouting.