Ahjumma Next Door

Chapter 42: Break Away

His head started to throb in each step he made upstairs. When was the last time he became this drunk? He smiled when he remembered Sean. It was with him. They were suspended that day and the boys decided to grieve about it over a drink. The brat was so drunk he even failed to notice Samantha’s peace offering.

Come to think of it. Who would’ve thought that it was through Sean that he got the chance to meet Samantha?

James slid the door to his room open and turned the lights on only to find the biggest surprise of his life when he saw Samantha sleeping peacefully in his bed.

“S-s-a-samantha?”

He stood there frozen, rooted to his spot when he saw the girl that’s just been filling his thoughts.

“S-s-samantha…” he said once more as he took one small step after another, furrowing his brows and eyeing the girl as if she’s just an apparation, thinking he's hallucinating because of the alcohol.

He slowly sat on the bed as he tucked the stray hair that covers her behind her ears so he could see her beautiful face more. She let out a sigh and hugged the pillow beside her tighter. A smile crept his face.

She's here...

She really is here... he thought. But as soon as he saw her puffy eyes and tear-stained cheeks, his jaw tightened. He knew it... She cried.

“J-j-ames…” she mumbled in her sleep as she formed a crease on her forehead.

“What are you doing here?” he asked softly as he took her hands in his. “I told you to wait for me…”

He looked at her longingly as if he hasn’t seen her for so long. He rubbed her hand with the pad of his thumb as his other hand went to touch her face. He allowed himself to drink in her beauty. The beauty, her pureness, that captured him from the very beginning.

Gently, he leaned down to give her a soft peck on her forehead but almost instantly, she began to stir in her sleep.

“James?” Samantha slowly fluttered her eyes open. She squinted her eyes and could just try to make out his face in her blurry vision. She rubbed her eyes and realizing it was really him, she immediately sat up and hugged him.

“James!” she cried, not minding if he’s half naked. She hugged him tightly as if her life depended on him.

Slowly, James wrapped his arms around her waist and embraced her with equal affection. “Samantha, what are you doing here?”

“Why did you leave? You didn’t even tell me! Why did you give up your job?” she bombarded him with questions.

“Samantha…”

“Y-y-ou left and I wasn’t even able to tell you how I feel yet” she said in between her sobs . “Do you even know how frustrating that feels? How could you tell me you love me and then leave just like that? I was so worried. I hate you!” she said as she hit his back with her tiny fists.

James’s heart beat wildly against his chest. She hasn’t told him what she feels yet, right. While he already imagined his lifetime with her.

“I’m sorry, but…”

“I hate you…” she said once more. “You made me do things I never even imagined I could do… How could you just easily barge inside my life and make me feel those things and suddenly you’ll just leave?”

“Samantha listen…”he pulled himself away from her and cupped her face but Samantha kept her eyes low as she continued to cry. He shut his eyes close when he felt his temples throb in pain but tried hard to shrug his state feeling worried now that she understood everything.