IT STARTED WITH A LIE (Fated to Love You #1)

Chapter Eleven

''I'm so glad you're here Wade.'' Nelly said after pulling away from their kiss. She framed his face with her palms and stared long and hard at his face. ''You have no idea how I've missed you and how all these months of being away from you was hard.''

Wade didn't know how to react. He didn't know where to start. Those eight months being away from her were the hardest moments of his life and there wasn't a day gone by where he didn't ask himself where he'd gone wrong. And now she's right in front of him and it's like those eight months never happened. How he'd missed her smiles, her laughter and her sensibility, he wanted everything they had and shared before and surprisingly he realised that the reason she'd left didn't matter anymore she's here right now and that's all that seemed to matter.

"I've missed you too, you have no idea how much." Wade told her.

"I'm so sorry for leaving the way that I did there's a reason and I want to tell you all about it."

"Shh." Wade pressed a finger on her lips to silence her. "You don't have to explain anything to me."

"But..." Nelly began to protest but trailed off and she asked, "does that mean you're marrying that woman after all?" The look of hurt that crossed her face did something to his heart and Wade didn't want to prolong her torture, he took both her hands in his.

"No darling that's not the case at all. Selya and I are not engaged." When she appeared dumbfounded Wade decided, "i'll tell you the whole story some other time." He said then he kissed her long and hard.

Wade went in search of his sister as soon as he got wind of what happened. He held her close as she sobbed against his chest. It tore his heart apart to see her so shattered and he blamed himself most of all for not being there.

Their father had died when Wade was nineteen and he soon found himself stepping into shoes too large for him but in spite of it all he managed to dive through the murky waters with much hope while trying to take care of his mom who had been distraught at the time and his younger siblings. Greg was fourteen then and Nina and Regina were twelve and nine respectively. Wade adores his family and is very protective of them which was why he hurt too when they get hurt and when they shatter, he tries to be the pillar of strength which was not very often as they always say that he should quit looking out for them and focus on himself. Wade didn't know why but at that moment he was consoling his sister he saw a face in his mind's eye which surprisingly happened to not be Nelly's but Selya's, he wanted to see her as there was so much he needed to tell her. After he was able to finally coax Nina to sleep Wade planted a kiss on the top of her head before he left.

Selya knew she couldn't stay for much longer without finally breaking down so after the bride and groom said their goodbyes to the guests, she slipped back into her room and got her belongings. Call her a coward, but there's no way she would be able to face Helen Ashburn when she comes to know the truth which wouldn't be for long now that Selya was certain Wade had reconciled with his ex fiancée. Thinking about it and recalling what she'd seen made Selya feel sick to her stomach. This was harder than she'd thought but then when she agreed to continue the charade to draw Nelly out she had no idea that she'd end up falling in love with Wade.

Oh God.

Finally admitting to herself that she'd fallen hard for Wade felt like someone had punched her guts and left her heaving and struggling to catch her breath.

It's better to leave now, this way Wade and she won't be seeing each other ever again but another sad thing was that Selya had grown fond of Helen and she was never a fan of goodbyes.

She pulled open the door to find Wade poised to knock. He had a wide grin on his face that made her feel that familiar kick in her guts but somehow she'd held onto a tiny vestige of hope that Nelly would kick him to the curb but it seemed that didn't happen.

"I have some good news."

Sure you do.

"You and Nelly have reconciled. I figured that much."

Wade frowned all of a sudden.

"Where are you going?" He asked, his eyes flickering between her and the luggage she clutched so tightly struggling to make herself appear unaffected.

"My job here is done Wade."

"So you're leaving?" he appeared to be uncertain while Selya gave a small nod. "You can't!"

"Why not?" Selya could feel her shattered hope rekindling.

Wade stuttered undecidedly and shoved his fingers into his pants pocket.

"At least wait until morning." He said and Selya didn't imagine it could get any worse.

"I can't." She said quietly. "My mom is ill and I have to be there with her."

He nodded and it didn't look like he was willing to drag out the issue and Selya felt disappointed. But it had been her choice to lie to him and sure it was kind of lame using her mom as an excuse but at that moment it seemed like the most believable thing to get her out of there and away from the Ashburns. One Ashburn in particular.

And she really want to be home with her mom.

"I'll have the driver take you to the airport." He said.

Selya didn't have the will to protest so she only nodded.

"Selya." Wade placed his hand on her upper arm as she was about to get into the car. Selya glanced down at his hand on her arm before meeting his gaze. They stared at each other for a long while, uncertainty and longing clouded his eyes but were gone swiftly and he cleared his throat and said finally, "thank you."

"Glad I could help." Selya felt her throat close up at the intense emotions trying to smother her. She called Lizzy half way to the airport who knew better than to demand explanations from her.

Hours later, she had her head on her mother's lap as she sobbed her heart out letting the floods out.

"Do you want to go back to Nigeria?" Her mother enquired the next day. " Your grandmother would love to have you around."

"I'm not going to run away mom." Selya watch her mother wheel herself around the house with much ease than before. Because her two siblings wouldn't always be around to take care of their mom, Selya had hire a caretaker whenever they're away at school but she wished she could do more than just hire someone to take care of her.

"You should've told him how you felt."

Selya spent the next seven days wallowing in pityville and wondering what would've happened if she'd told Wade how she felt about him but each time she did she was hit with the fact that he was so much besotted with his ex fiancée and couldn't help justifying her lack of confession as saving herself from being coldly rejected and humiliated.