Chapter 21 WHERE ARE YOU?

Getting back to do what I was doing before takes me back to the time when Charles couldn’t find me in the house as I had planned to stay at a friend’s house after I heard him talking to someone on the phone. He was telling this other person who I presumed to be a girl because of the things he was saying while on the call.

Anybody would make assumptions as I had done after hearing him talk to someone on the phone as if he was interested in having her. The best people would also have done the same if they heard a guy say on the phone, “My gosh! You are so beautiful,” “When will you have time for me?” “Come for dinner at my place tonight.”

Not wanting to come between him and whoever he was talking to, I chose to stay at a friend’s place after college. Once the driver dropped me to college, I asked him to leave because I told him that I wouldn't be going back home with him as I was going to stay with someone who lived at an apartment that was walking distance from there.

There was no doubt about how heartbroken I was after I understood Charles’s plan for the night. But it was just that reality had slapped me on my face. Who was I kidding?! He was a playboy, and I was stupid to think that he was interested in me. It had been two and a half months that I had been living with him, and he showed no interest in me at all.

Even though we did many things together, but I never felt any sexual tension between us other than the fact that anything he did would turn me on. Those feelings used to keep me up at night. And because Charles had problems, dating was far-fetched. Even if I ever started talking to a new dude in my college, and he saw him calling me after college, or if I happened to take someone’s name at home while we used to talk about our day.

It was clear that he didn’t want me, but he also had issues if someone else wanted me, so I stayed away from all the unnecessary drama. And even then, it was only because someone was coming over, and I wanted to give him his privacy because I was sharing his space by living with him. Now that a girl was coming for the night, I did not want to be a third wheel. Hence, I decided to stay at a friend’s place.

Ever since my manager fired me from the museum and Charles asked me not to work anymore, I returned home early during the day right after attending college for the day. So, I would do some other stuff to pass the rest of my time.

Either I would do crash courses, or I would learn different things. Everything that I learnt was online and free of charge for it not to be a burden on him. And quite a few days Charles would also come home early and continue working from home.

Without sharing how we felt for each other, we lived like a married couple ever since I moved in with him. That made me feel assured, but then there were some incidents that were uncalled for. Even if he planned on seeing someone that night, he should have told me, and I would have vacated his house to give him his privacy. I had that thought in my mind, and that is why I didn’t return that night.

At my friend’s place, I helped him clean up his apartment. He was staying all alone and also in a mess with everything lying everywhere. There were empty beer bottles, cigarette buds, and unfilled packets of food that he ordered from out lying all around the place. It was a lot of a task to help him clean his house, but it felt nice to me to live as I always had.

I stayed in an organized and clean way, which wasn't like Charles’s living standard, but at least it was much better than my friend's if compared. My phone was on silent because I forgot to change its mode after college as I got too busy with Liam to come back to his place.

Later during the evening, when I checked my phone, I was surprised to find it switched off. So, after charging it for some time with the charger that Liam had, since even his phone was of the same company, I was shocked to see twenty-three missed calls from Charles. I at least got the reason why the battery must have died.

Immediately, I called him back to ask what had happened. But that day was full of surprises, and I actually got that feeling of being loved. If it wasn’t love, then whatever it was, but it had to be something much more than friendship. As and when Charles answered the phone, he asked, “Where are you, Olive?”

“I am at my friend’s place,” I responded and wanted to know if everything was fine at home for he had called me so many times.

So, I asked, “What happened?”

Because I didn’t feel comfortable questioning him, I stated, “You called many times.”

Still not satisfied with my response, I added, “I am sorry, my phone was on silent.”

“Where are you, Olive?” He asked again in a firm voice which told me he wanted to tell me what part of the city I was in. So, I replied, “Encino,” without wasting any more of our time. And instantly he said, “Send me your location, I am coming to pick you up.”