33. Hello Elizabeth.

BETH.

I was lying on one of the sofas in my sitting room when my phone rang. I stood up slowly and picked it up from the stool in front of me. A wave of cold breeze rushed through me and I shivered a bit. I've had a little fever for a couple of days now, and I had been vomiting, which normally doesn't happen whenever I'm sick. Unless the sickness is very severe.

I had called my doctor to let her know about this, so she came home to test me. She gave me some drugs and she said the results for the rest of my tests will be available today. When my phone rang, I thought it was her. But on checking it, it was a call from Tony.

"Weird," I muttered. "Why will Tony call me? Is something wrong with Lara?" I asked myself as I picked up his call.

It was after I picked up that I realized it was a video call and my mind wasn't there to have noticed. Immediately I saw his face from my phone, I exclaimed. "Oh my God," I said.

"Yeah!" He shouted from the other side of the phone. "Hello, Elizabeth."

"I had no idea this was a video call, uh," I said as I stared at his face through my phone. Then, my mind went to what he had just called me. "Wait, did you just call me Elizabeth?" I asked him, a small smile tugging on my face.

"So? Isn't that your name?" He asked, flashing his white set of teeth to me.

"Whatever. How're you? And why did you call? It's quite unusual for you to call me. Unless you want to make another surprise party for Lara?" I asked him playfully.

The last time he did call me was when he had wanted to make preparations to propose to Lara back then. And after then, I don't remember him calling me for any reason whatsoever.

"So, I can't call you without having reasons? What if I just wanted to check up on you?" He asked with a smirk on his face.

"Uh," I rolled my eyes. "Why would you even want to check up on me, uh?"

"Hmmm, probably because Luca told me you're sick?" He said with raised eyebrows. Then, I muttered an 'oh'.

I had told Luca I didn't feel very well when he had called me a day before to ask if he could come over so we could go watch a movie. Ever since I told him about my feelings for his brother, he had been taking me out constantly, saying the first way to get over a man is to make oneself busy so you wouldn't have time to think about him. It helped me in a lot of ways though, because normally after work, when I'm home alone, my mind randomly goes to Tony and I feel bad all over again.

But with Luca and how he has been taking me out to Parties, restaurants, several dates and even to the movies countless times, I think I can say I've started to get over his brother. We have become closer than we used to be then, and I was glad I had Luca by my side to tell my feelings to whenever that wave of the unexpected feeling of unrequited love came to me. It does once in a while, and Luca has now become my go-to person to feel better.

"I had no idea he told you about it." I simply said.

"Yeah, he did. That was why I called. How're you doing now?" He asked.

"I guess I'm feeling better."

I wasn't, but I had to say I was. There was nothing he could do anyway, even if I said I was not feeling okay. So, there was no point telling him.

"Really?" He asked with raised eyebrows. He moved closer to his phone, making his head look a bit bigger on my phone. "You don't look better to me at all. You look like you have a cold."

"You can't tell through a call, you know?"

"Well, I can see that you're putting on three clothes if I'm not mistaken." I then looked at myself to see if he counted it right. I wore two hoodies and one t-shirt underneath. I understand that he saw the hoodies but how did he even know there was a t-shirt underneath to have known it was three? "How did you know it was three? I can swear that you only saw two." I chuckled as I asked him.

He moved back from his phone before replying. "I can see through you." He said and chuckled. That sentence alone made me a bit tense but I let it be.

"Okay, Mr seer," I replied with a smirk on my face.

"So, I just wanted to tell you to take good care of yourself, okay? If you need anything, you can call me anytime." He said, looking serious.

Okay. My heart skipped a beat. No, two beats, when he said that. I couldn't explain how I felt inside, but I knew I felt a bit giddy. It felt unreal to hear that from him. I was aware that he's a caring person, but then, he only showed that side to his girlfriend. But here he was showing that side to me.

When he noticed that I had zoned out and didn't reply, he said playfully. "Or you need body warmth for the heat to go? I could send Luca down there to—"

"Hey!" I cut in and we both burst into laughter. "I don't need body warmth, okay? It's just a little fever and it'll be gone soon."

"I hope so," he replied with a smile. Then, we both stared at each other on the phone without a word. After about a minute of staring at each other, he cleared his throat. "So, Uhm, I was thinking—"

He was speaking when my front door went ajar and I immediately ended the call. Immediately I hung up, I dropped my phone on the chair beside me. Looking up to see who had just barged into my house like that, I saw that it was Yeesha. She closed the door behind her and walked further inside.

"You didn't have to end your call though, you only made me more suspicious and curious about what's happening." She said as she dropped nylon on the chair and bounced on the sofa too.

"What are you saying? I wasn't… Uhm," I didn't know what I was going to say. It was obvious I was trying to hide something already, so I just tried to play it cool.

Yeesha chuckled while she just stared at me. "Who were you on a call with?"

"Uhm, Luca. Yeah, Luca." I said and cleared my throat. Then, I began to look everywhere else except her face.

"You do know I know right?"

My heart had begun to beat fast by now. I did know what Yeesha was talking about but I badly hoped she was not going to say she knows there's a thing between Tony and me.

"That what?" I asked with raised eyebrows, trying my best to maintain my cool.

"That you and Tony have a thing going on." She blurted out and my eyes went wide open in shock. My heart skipped three beats and my feet went cold immediately.

"What… what are you talking about?" I managed to ask when I got a grip of myself.