Take Me Back To Paddington (SERIES)

Chapter 38 - The Encounter

"So, we are not even friends in there?" Baxter asked as we both were eating ice cream outside of a 24 hours convenient store.

I just came from a meeting with Draco Krauss at The Ten Bells and I didn't want to go back to sleep. Previously, I was so eager to until I had to take sleeping pills. I used to be so impatient to meet Chae in the other universe, but I guessed everything had changed.

Feeling like crying, I didn't know how to face her anymore. I was so disappointed to the part where I didn't want to see her for the time being until I could finally accept what she did; selling her soul just to make me loved her, and I wasn't sure how long it would take for my heart to heal from this pain.

That was the worst part in these whole ridiculous things I was going through; healing myself. Because this time, it wasn't the absence of her that tortured me. It wasn't her death that pained me anymore. It was Chae herself who hurt me instead.

Chae hurt me. She hurt me so much.

So I gave Nick a call without considering he was on call this week, hoping that I would get some distractions and prevent myself from falling asleep again since I still had the sleeping pill effects running strong.

"Yeah, I'm actually so frustrated because of that!" I continued my complaints about our friendship that didn't exist at all in the other universe.

"I can tell" He responded after he finished his ice cream. "But what are you going to do about Chae?"

My mind went blank as soon as he asked me that question. I did tell everything to Nick about my discussion with Draco before; a clue that I found under Chae's bed, a theory that we came out with, and also a motive for Chae doing this sin that prevented her from entering the heaven.

Because Baxter was the only one who would understand me regarding this matter. He even got involved in the whole soul selling ritual. So he was the best person I could talk to compared to The Kims as I needed someone who would give some advices and not someone who would get mad and nag at me.

"I don't know, Nick" I sighed. "I feel like I want to cancel this deal with Lucifer and move on with my life"

He raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"What are you talking about?"

"I don't want to soul travel anymore"

"What?" He looked and sounded mad all of the sudden. "Are you going to pretend that everything is fine while you should have helped Chae?"

"Help her for what?" I questioned back, feeling the heartache each time I thought about my girlfriend. "She did this to herself, didn't she?" I began to let out my dissatisfaction towards Chae's lies. "I'm her victim. Why should I help someone who did wrong things to me?"

"Because you love her, Lisa"

I huffed.

Love? I trusted that thing before, but look at where it puts me now.

"Love that is forced on me, is that what you mean?"

Baxter walked closer to me in an instant, shoving his hands into the pockets of his black jeans. There was no smile or happy vibe I could detect on him, signaling me that he was all in the seriousness he could be.

"At first, Chae might use a demonic love spell on you" He stated. "But why after she passed, the love that you called a forced one, still remains?" Nick asked me something that I had been thinking of ever since I got into the taxi to leave the pub. "The spell should've been gone by now, don't you think?"

"I don't know, Nick-"

"It's because you didn't need the spell to be in love anymore, Lisa" He kept his eyes on mine, waking me up from a painful truth that wasn't meant to be proven, but to be accepted. "Your soul has learned to love Chae by itself. So don't tell me it's a forced love"