Chapter 36

LUIS:

Asides from the fact that I chose to come to see Soma today without much of a reason established, I might be here to break down a piece of terrible news to her. And it’s more about my well-being once again.

I know I shouldn’t be doing this same cowardly act over and over again — for sure I’m a coward now — but I can’t help it.

Soma’s relationship with me has been going well. She has been frequenting my pack over the weekends to train the Luna, although she made it clear that I am the reason because it should be the Luna going to her pack for the training and not vice versa. However, I took it in good faith with a lot of looking outs to ensure no one sees us together.

She’s going to be devastated once again. She will be utterly disappointed in me after hearing my newest flimsy excuse. I know she will. And the contrasting feeling is eating me up.

“Sir, are you okay?”

I turn my head to the side to look at the speaker and it is the same secretary that attended to me the first time I came to meet Soma. I had just let out a sigh when she spoke and now I could see that she looks concerned as she stares at me.

“Yes, I am,” I say.

“But you haven’t gone in yet,”

And I am prompted to look toward where I have been standing all along. It is right in front of a door. The very door that leads into Soma’s office. And yeah, I have been standing right in front of it for a while now.

I look back at the secretary and force a smile on my face. “I was just taking my time,” I tell her before I face the door again. I take in a deep breath, mustering the courage to do the needful which I eventually do after feeling more relaxed than I have been since my arrival.

Just as I am about to push the door open, I hear a voice that stops me midway.

“Luis?”

When I look at the one who just called my name, I realized it was Soma’s sister, Cassie. I know I should have gotten into the office a long time ago.

“Hi,” I regard her.

“What are you doing here?” she asks, giving me a look that shows she’s kind of confused.

“I’m here to see your sister,”

She folds her arms. “Well, she didn’t tell me you were coming.”

“I didn’t tell her either,”

“Wait, don’t tell me you’re about to tell her something that could ruin her whole day,” when she speaks, it is more like a whisper and I understand why she decided to do that. We have company.

“Unfortunately, that might be the reason I’m here,” I whisper back.

“Can’t you save it for later? If you say anything now, it could end up being a setback for her the whole day. And I don’t want that to happen,”

I shake my head. “I can’t. I still have to go about seeing how I could solve the issue at hand myself. But first, she has to know what’s going on,”

She sighs, closing her eyes alongside. When she gets to open them, she says, “Okay. But do me a favor and ensure you make her see the reasons for what you are about to do. I do not want to hear her complaining about this whole issue because it’s mostly a bother to me,”

“I will,” and with that, I handle the knob to push the door open which leads me into the spacious office.

I could see Soma sitting right behind the desk with her eyes focused on the system in front of her. When she looks up from the system upon noticing my presence, she seems surprised to see me. She has to be because she was not anticipating my arrival.

“Hey,” I say when I approach the desk to take a seat.

Looking at her, I can’t help but admire the way she styled her hair. It’s packed in a ponytail but parts are pushed to the front which she made smoothened.

“Hi,” she says, her tone in a state of surprise still. “You didn’t tell me you were coming,”

“I’m sorry, but I didn’t think it was important.” I have to say as I put my hand on the desk. Immediately she reaches for my hand and starts to caress it. And for a moment, I want to have a change of mind concerning why I chose to come here. Just for a moment.

“So, why are you here?” she inquires.

“For a reason I shouldn’t be,”

I feel her hand on mine stiffen when I tell her that. And there was no doubt that I felt her pain in me immediately even though I haven’t told her what I actually came for. “What do you mean?” was her question which is laced with confusion.

“I think I might be in trouble, and I don’t want you to get caught up with it,” I announce, and soon after she takes her hand off from mine.

She leans a little further away, her expression filled with questions that I don’t think I can answer if she dishes them out. But I know I could try.

“What’s this all about? What trouble did you get yourself into?”

“I don’t know. Probably because I’m with you,”

“How is being with me a good enough reason for you to get into trouble? Or are you trying to make up excuses for yourself again?”

I shake my head to disregard her statement. “I have no reason to use you as an excuse for whatever problem I’m going through now. It’s just reality at the moment,”

She suddenly starts to make a ridiculous sound, a smirk ensuing on her face after. It was a complete switch from her angry self a few seconds ago.

“So what’s the next thing now? You plan on breaking off the bond, right?” she sarcastically says, mockery flooding her expression.

“I do not have that in mind,”

“Then tell me what you have in mind. I’m sick of you toiling with my emotions. Sick of you thinking you can just get an upper hand in this supposed relationship anytime you feel. I’m sick of everything,”

“Soma, I’m sorry,”

“Don’t tell me that. You say that a lot but still end up screwing things up so I do not want to hear you mention that to me,”

This isn’t going as planned. I’ve made her pissed off at me before I could even explain what I intend for her to hear. And it all goes down to the way I started the conversation. Not a good entry, I must say.

I keep any other thing I have to say to myself because I want her to be calm first. It would be useless trying to say anything in this state that she’s in. And if it comes to worse, she could end up kicking me out of her office.

“Is Leonard involved in the trouble you fell into?” she finally speaks, using the question as a means to start a conversation.

“He is,” I say, “in some way,”

“In what way?”

“I’ll have to explain the whole ordeal first before you can understand what’s truly going on,”

“Then I’ve got all day for you to explain everything to me,” and she leans back on the seat she is on.

I do not like this position we are both in. Even before she gets to hear everything from me, we have started to become distant. When I came here to explain myself, the goal was to make her avoid me for the time being so I could sort out my problems. Now would it even be possible? I might have pushed her away entirely.

“Okay, I have not been truthful about Beta Leonard’s involvement in my personal problems. He actually has been one of the reasons for my skepticism in our relationship.”

“Excuse me,” she chips in and raises her hands which she uses to demonstrate, “we do not have a relationship per se. It’s just me and you going back and forth with your supposed insecurities,”

I only have to agree with a nod. “So, I got warned by the beta a few weeks ago telling me not to have anything to do with you. I think he has an interest in you,”

Disgust overwhelms me at the thought of someone else being interested in her. I think I'm beginning to react to this whole thing between me and her.

“I know he does,” she starts to say, “And I'm not surprised that he wants you to steer clear of me. He was once in my quarters where he was questioning me about whatever is going on between the two of us. And just to save you from any form of trouble, I denied having anything to do with you. Now, tell me, is that the trouble you have gotten yourself into?”

“Not entirely,” I declare. “He told me there were consequences if I do not do as told, and I think I'm beginning to see those consequences. This is the third time in about two weeks that I have been stalked. The first time it happened, I had a brawl with those on my tail. But I couldn’t even get a hold of them the other times,”

She gives me a once-over, probably a little stunned by my explanation about my ordeal. “Where did all of these happen?” she asks.

“Inside the territory. Everything happened in the Dark Moon territory,”

“Then how sure are you that it's because of the situationship with me? You think Leonard would actually do such a thing to make sure you listen to him?”

I shrug, uncertain of what to say. “I don’t know. That’s why I need to sort the issue out myself before I can say what’s going on.”

And then she shakes her head. It is now obvious entirely that she is disappointed with me. I might have made the worst of decisions here by stating that I wanted to avoid her. Really dumb of me to even think of that.

“Leave now,” she says, not even bothering to look me in the face. “I'll go sort out the issue myself... in the best possible way.”