Chapter 55: Conversation with you... 1

The habitually empty apartment of Charles, always filled with void and having no life, was lit up by the presence of the girls and the guys that were around. It's either they were arguing about random things or trying to play a game. Even though they weren't necessarily generating noise as it could be put, but the life and enthusiasm in there could keep a child awake from sleeping.
Charles went into the kitchen and brought a box of cookies with some soft drinks, placing it on the center table so anyone hungry would satisfy themselves.
Luciana was at a corner with Carl, laughing randomly at the jokes he cracked. After Alyssa had gone about her speech about living in the moment, Luciana decided to put the pain asides and live in it. She relaxed on a couch like she was about to sleep, directly facing Carl. With Carl, resting on the sofa, with Luciana's leg on his thigh.
Not too long ago, Alyssa had complained about what she could change into, and Raymond decided to rush down to a cloth store to get some night wears for them, prioritizing the ones for the girls. They rushed to a female clothing store that luckily was still open, and Alyssa picked up three sets of Pajamas, which she felt were perfectly fine for her, Jessie and Luciana.
Jessie stood in the patio to Charles's room, partly freeing up her mind, receiving the cool breeze, and also a major part of her wishing that she was dancing with Charles, laughing and playing under the night's light. She thought about the outburst she made at the bar, and she felt bad that she said some things which she did utter.
First, it made her feel like she just got into Charles's life not quite long ago, and she was already trying to control what was going on in his life. The thoughts of it did not feel good to her, and she wished that she could find it easy to run into his hands, and scream out the words, "I am sorry."
Charles's expression had been a little bit strict since they got back from the bar, even as most of it was his doing. He intentionally kept a rigid face to avoid any kind of talk, and also emotional distractions from Jessie. His feelings for Jessie undeniably were blooming every single day. He was always getting picture flashes of her face when he was busy, and her smile kept on replaying in his head. Even at the bar when he placed his hands on her thighs trying to make her feel uncomfortable, he realized he was doing more harm than good to himself as her smooth soft skin, incited some chills in him, so he removed his hands after few minutes of placing it there.
The major problem he had was not even the feelings he was having for her, but the other strange feeling that felt like a lump in his heart. Lately whenever the image of Jessie came to his heart, and the thoughts of revenge flashed back to his mind, a feeling of uncertainty usually came along.
Charles could not exactly place why those feelings came to his head. But he kept on hoping that his plan to hurt her was not an entirely wrong one.
"You are just sitting alone, where is Jessie?" Carl called out to Charles's hearing, and it brought him out of the small world he was immersed in.
"I have no idea, she should be somewhere around," he shrugged.
"Oh okay, I was just wondering. You know, you sat down like you were lost and needed company, so...," Carl let his voice trail off as he curved his lips upwards into a slight smile, "I will just sit over here, and do my thing, enjoy," he said to Charles, then went back to massaging Luciana's toe areas that he was doing.
"Don't do that," Luciana chuckled lightly, as Carl intentionally drew circles on her toes, causing her a tingling sensation.
"Well, I will, you seem to like it so much," Carl stated and continued more intensely.
"Please, please, don't," Luciana shrieked out, chuckling harder as the continuous tickle from Carl kept on exciting her.
Charles looked at them briefly, then passed his eyes to his phone and picked it up. He knew he wanted to revenge, but leaving Jessie alone at that time of the night was definitely not a good game, so he rose to his feet, and walked away, searching for her.
While he searched for her, he met Raymond and Alyssa in the dining laughing about some things that were unknown to him as they ate. Jessie and Luciana had quickly prepared food while Alyssa was out, and they had eaten already, with Carl and Charles. The girls had already freshened up and changed into the Pajamas that Alyssa and Raymond bought, while the guys fixed themselves into some of Charles's clothes
The music that blared aloud had been brought down, and every one of them began to fix into their small circles, excluding Jessie and Charles who stayed apart, with the feeling of emptiness in their hearts.
"Can I share a space with you?" Jessie heard a voice ask, and before she could turn, she felt a hand on her bare shoulders. The scent of the person whiffed through her nose, and she remembered it almost immediately. It was the exact scent of rosewood, mixed with vanilla fragrance. The scent of that body that she could vow that she derived maximum pleasure just being held in his arms, doing nothing, living every day forever.
Already, his deep husky voice did a good job calling her from her thoughts, and also, making identification of who had walked up to her easier.
Even as she was well aware that it was Charles, and that she was not in danger, Jessie still found it hard to answer him or turn her face to him, for many reasons. First, the guilt from her outburst at the bar was still stinging her, then also, the sensual chills Charles caused her.
She took a deep breath to relieve herself which didn't go unnoticed by Charles, then forced a smile, "sure, you can," Jessie replied.
The night was far spent, with the dark clouds hovering all over them. The stars dispersed all around the dark masses glittered so brightly, even though they weren't enough to light up the whole city.
Jessie stood by the side of Charles, feeling the rush of the breeze on her skin.
"Why are you out here, alone?" Charles said, trying to start a conversation with her to ease the awkwardness she felt. He noticed her arms that were wrapped around her as she shivered slightly. The night was cold, and it made sense to him why she was shivering, asides from her anxiousness. He just did not understand why she had to stand outside in the cold, alone, when she could wrap herself up in a duvet or better still sit inside.
"Nothing, I just find here more satisfying to relax. I believe you will have noticed it as it is your house, don't you think so?"
"I have no idea, even as it's my house. There's no time to spend musing and staring about things," he lied. Charles spent the major part of his time alone, staring into nothing and just passing the time there. It was one of the things that made it easier for him to see her when he began to look for her.
"So what are you thinking about, you care to share?" He questioned, then made his way to a couch that was on the patio there. From his calculations, Jessie must have been standing all through the time she spent outside and it was tiring, so he decided to just sit and naturally it happens that she was going to follow.
And just as he assumed, Jessie followed reflexly to where he sat. She used a space not too close to him, but he had already achieved the first thing he wanted, easing the awkwardness she had built all around her.
Jessie giggled a little, "nothing, there was nothing in my mind. You felt I was thinking of something?"
"I didn't feel you were thinking of something, but you just made me know right now that you were," Charles tilted his head to her with a little twitch in his lips.
His statements immediately raised her curiosity and she turned her face to him, "how?" Jessie asked, pushing her hair that was disturbing her behind, "how did I make you know what I was thinking?"
"You just did it again" Charles raised his hand to his forehead, then shook his head for a while with Jessie staring at him, confused.
"I don't get you," she voiced out in a very confused manner, "can you just tell me how?" She was already getting so confused, then Charles's actions made everything worse.
"Okay, I will tell you," he muttered, and noticed the drop of joy that filled Jessie's eyes, "First of all, you told me you weren't thinking of anything, then you asked me if it felt like you were thinking of something. That way, it just showed you trying to hide the fact from me that you had something on your mind, and at the same time trying to raise this curiosity in me that will make me want to know what was on your mind. If there was nothing, you will have left it as there is nothing, without trying to go further. Do you get it?" Charles raised his brows in inquiry as he waited for a response from Jessie, then she smiled and replied, "yes."
"Then the second time, what did I do? because you had mentioned that I just did it again," Jessie asked as though she had just remembered something.
"Hmm, you seem quite curious. I hope your curiosity doesn't get the better of you," he said and they chuckled lightly. This was one of the times when Charles freed himself of the anger he felt for her and displayed every true emotion he felt. Even from the time he saw her standing, he just could not handle the cold issue as she enjoyed it out there.
"Okay, about that," he started when he was done laughing, "you asked, how did I know what you were thinking? If you get what I'm saying then you should understand this," he said to Jessie who still stared at him blankly, trying to figure out the point he was hitting.
Charles rolled his head at her then laughed at her blank expression, "I'm saying that the clause you used, just confirmed it to me that you were thinking about something. Besides your question was not if I think you had something in your mind, but how I knew what was in your mind," Charles explained, staring at her with a smile.
"Ohh," Jessie said, curving her mouth to an O expression, "I think I get it now"
"Sadly, I still don't know what you are thinking," he murmured and Jessie chuckled a little, "so can you please tell me?"
"Well, nothing exactly. My mind was just running through different thoughts."
"What are they?" Charles probed.
"Before anything else, I'm sorry for my reaction at the bar. I know I have no right to interfere in your lives, and I was not supposed to cause a tantrum like that. I am sorry, I promise I will never do something like that again," she went on and on listing out things she felt she had committed, with her eyes closed and her hands raised to her face, apologetically. Charles just enjoyed the way she was acting, as she showed how sorry she was. To her, she was giving off a pleading face, little did she know that her actions were cute and getting straight to Charles's heart.
"I have heard you," Charles voiced out, "I'll forgive you for this one," he finished, making it look like she had indeed committed a crime and was at his mercy when he did not reason any of her actions earlier and found the whole thing interesting.
"Thank you," she let out a long sigh as she said it.
Charles noticed her shiver a little, then a little worry came into his heart.
"Why don't we go inside?" He questioned like he was trying to make a statement, not sparing a glance with her, acting so unconcerned.
After careful thinking, she agreed to go inside also. She was cold, and staying outside was only going to worsen everything. She could fall sick, and it may not turn out well as she always took some days away from school whenever she was sick.
"If Charles wanted to go inside, and her heart wanted to be where Charles was, what was the point of staying behind?" She questioned herself internally, as she stood up, following Charles who made his way inside already.
The place where she sat was the patio that was built by the side of Charles's room. While everyone was in the parlor having a good time and laughing about things, she decided to go inside the room with the hope that she was tired and was going to get to sleep as soon as she was there. But instead, she saw herself feeling empty and decided to release her thoughts somewhere else, so she stood up and left for the patio.
Charles turned off the light that glowed so brightly in the room, then turned on the LED lights which gave the room a colorful glow. He went to join Jessie that was already sitting on the bed, waiting for him as it seemed so.
"You know, I was always scared of these lights while I was little," Jessie smiled, playing with her hair as she did.
"Then what happened now? You grew over the fear or do you feel more secure because I am here?" Charles questioned as he languidly carried himself from where the switch was, to the bed.
Jessie raised her face to him, bewildered. "What are you even saying?" She queried, "the obvious answer is that I grew over it."
"It does not feel like the obvious answer though," Charles mumbled, then chuckled lightly.
The way Charles always made every single thing point out the fact that she liked him that much was becoming embarrassing. She knew he did it just to incite her emotions only and did not hate the reality that it was what he enjoyed doing. Jessie was just always short of words because he always did it at a time when she was thinking about him, "was her thoughts that open to him, or did he just make assumptions," she wondered.
Jessie picked up her phone to distract her mind from the little annoyance that was growing within. Just as she was about to open the social media app, Charles reached out for her phone, took it, and smiled.
"Don't try to use your phone when you know that I am trying to have a conversation with you," he warned, with his face still smiling at her as he did.