Chapter 22: Maybe…

Elena’s P.O.V
“Here,” Landon held out a steaming cup in front of my face.
“What is it?” I took the cup from him and took a whiff of the scents inside the cup. “Hot chocolate?”
Landon took his seat beside me as we waited to board our plane and spread his hand at the back of my chair. “I got it because it’s one of your favorites.” He said. “I’m not sure if your pregnancy has affected that.”
“No, it hasn’t.” I shook my head and took a small sip, careful not to burn myself. “I can’t have red meats though, or fish. Eggs and chicken seem to be the best option.”
“I’m glad you’re still non-vegetarian,” Landon smiled. “I’ve heard of women turning vegetarian or completely vegan when they get pregnant and vice-versa.”
“Oh! You’re right!” I exclaimed. “I’ve heard Lara say something similar a while back. She asked if I’d undergone any changes in diet recently.”
“See. I’ve been studying some pregnancy magazines recently.” Landon informed. “But it also helps that my sister gave birth last year.”
“Aliya gave birth?” I asked surprised. “When? I didn’t even know she got married. What’s the baby’s gender?”
“Last June. It’s a boy and his name is Lyric, rhymed with his gracious old uncle.” Landon pointed towards himself with his thumb and from the way his face lit up while talking about Lyric, he seems to adore the baby. “And she isn’t married, yet. Aliya had the baby with her boyfriend.”
“Really?” I was indeed surprised. I didn’t think Aliya would have a baby so soon; she was only a year older than me, which mean that she too had her baby at twenty-three. “And who’s this boyfriend? Is she still with Oscar?”
“Yup.” Landon replied, popping the p. “And they’re showing no signs of getting married even though they’ve been together for almost five years now. But I guess if that’s what works for them then I’ll have to be fine with it too.”
I found myself smiling despite the grumpiness to his tone. Landon was always overprotective of his little sister, so he’d been very much against their relationship when Aliya had introduced Oscar to her family. And it hadn’t helped that Oscar had been a tattoo artist whose own body had been a work of art with tattoos covering every uncovered inch of his body. It had been a year before I’d left home and Landon had been torn between being civil in front of his parents and wanting to rip Oscar to shreds.
Those had been good days. And I was surprised at how easily I could talk to Landon about everything inspite of what he’d done to me. Yes, technically he hadn’t cheated on me, mainly because I’d broken up with him a few hours ago that day. But he’d been so absent minded the past few months that I’d just assumed that he was no longer interested in me. We had been so happy together before that. I’d had my whole life planned ahead of me with him and I’d actually started considering taking over Magneta Fashion from my mom just so I could stay close to him. But then Landon had started acting all weird all of a sudden.
He would get frustrated easily and got more immersed in work. There would be these anonymous phone calls that he’d get really stressed about and he wouldn’t even tell me anything. Then he started completely withdrawing from me. He wouldn’t return calls or texts and he was almost always at work. When I’d asked mom about it, she’d told me that Landon needed a lot of money for something and that’s why he’d started doing overtime. In the end, I never found out why he needed all that money for and now it was just too late to ask.
But it was at that time that I’d decided that I’d had enough and I’d bought tickets for LA without informing my parents or Landon. Leo had known and he’s helped send my portfolio to several modeling industries from where I’d gotten selected. I’d planned to leave quietly, only telling my parents a day before I was to leave. But then, on the day that I was supposed to board my flight, Landon had shown up at the last moment, looking all stressed and nervous. Somehow, I’d thought that he’d finally come to break up with me, so in order to save myself the pain, I’d broken up with him first.
I could still remember the devastated look he’d had on his face that evening. It was forever etched in my mind.
“Just like that,” he’d said. “You didn’t even want to know the reason why I came here today?”
“There’s nothing left to know, Landon. It’s over. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a flight to catch.”
He’d given a bitter laugh. “Should’ve told me earlier, Elena. I wouldn’t have gone through all the trouble.”
I hadn’t know what he’d meant with that statement, so even after I’d driven to the airport and was in line to get into the plane, I’d turned back and went in search of Landon, only to stumble upon him at party at a colleague’s house, tongue shoved down another woman’s throat.
I had just stood there, astounded, as Landon had then proceeded to take the woman upstairs, where the bedrooms were, and I had run off, not being able to handle it anymore. After that day, I’d broken all contact with Landon, never once trying to reach him and I made sure he never could either.
Had I acted like an immature brat? Yes, probably. Instead of acting like an adult and talking things through with him, I’d decided to break it off completely and move to another country, without any reason, without any explanation.
Had I ever regretted my decision? Every damn night! I had wondered every single day what Landon had wanted to tell me that night; I wanted to know why he’d been there after ignoring me for three months. I hadn’t even had any other relationships ever since I came to LA. I don’t know what prompted me to have a one-night stand with Knight, maybe because he looked a lot like Landon? But I can’t change the past and I’m too afraid to ask him now, after three years. Maybe he’d come for something other than breaking up with me?
There were too many maybes in my life and I didn’t know how to find all the answers. But I knew I’ll have to find them…and soon.