Chapter 65: Truth & Lies

< Shirley >
After our little make-out session, I rested my forehead on Dylan's, letting our breaths mingle with each other. I looked into his eyes and murmured, "Let's not fight anymore. I don't even remember the reason."
Dylan didn't respond and just stared into my blue eyes. "You don't, but I do." He stepped away from me, making me miss his warmth. He was about to put his hands in his pockets, but I noticed a speck of crimson on his hand. I immediately grabbed his left hand and looked at his knuckles to find them bleeding.
"What happened?" I asked with concern and started panicking over the wound.
Dylan must have punched the walls when he saw Ryan together. I couldn't believe this guy.
Dylan harshly pulled his hand away and said, "You don't have to concern yourself with me. Leave me alone. Go and fuck that scoundrel." I was offended at his words, still, I stopped him from walking away.
I grabbed his hand and started dragging him with me.
"Hey, leave my hand," Dylan reacted.
"Shut up for once in your life," I rebuked, raising my voice, which made him stop revolting.
I started making our way to the staff room while Dylan had a permanent scowl on his face. It looked like I was his mom and he was my stubborn son.
While I was treating his wounds, he just stared at his shoes with vague expressions. As soon as I was done, he snatched his hand away and stuffed his hand in his pocket. He thanked me in the most ungrateful way and walked away.
Remind me why he was so mad at me.
He was simply jealous of something that never happened, my intelligent subconscious replied.
As if...
It was infuriating. I wanted to yell at him so bad. And that's what I was going to do. I wasn't going to bottle up my emotions to let them turn into venom.
I didn't understand this weird feeling of love that made me worried about the person I loved, even though I was mad at them. Plus, his anger was also unjustified. He pissed me off first.
I went to the hall to find him talking to Sienna. I was about to approach them when someone tapped my shoulder. I turned around and gasped to find a very dear person.
"Oh, my gosh, Uncle Xander!" I squealed and hugged him in excitement. He was my dad's best friend, Xander Stratford, a politician who served as the representative for a congressional district in New York. He used to take me on tours in my younger days. He was such a kind soul and took care of me a lot.
"You have gotten so big, Shirley." He patted my head affectionately.
"I'm glad you could come." I broke the hug and smiled at him. "Of course, honey. I had t—" He was cut off by Dylan's interference.
"Shirley, Sienna asked me to inform you I'm leavin—"
"Dylan?" Uncle Xander called out.
What? Did uncle know Dylan? He could since Dylan was famous and all.
But what surprised me was—Dylan's reaction. Dylan was frozen by his voice. Color had drained out of his face, and he seemed pale. I could see his chest rising and falling unstably as if he was having trouble breathing. I had never seen him in this much disarray.
"Dylan?" I shook Dylan.
He snapped out of his thoughts and his eyes met with mine very briefly, but they were glistening with tears in them. I noticed his hands trembled as mumbled urgently, "I have to leave." With that, he made his way out of the hall in big strides.
"What's wrong with him?" I wondered. Dylan seemed petrified, and it was worrying me.
"Shirley, I will talk to you later, okay?" I nodded, and Uncle Xander went out.
I was left confused.
I was getting a really bad feeling. Something was going to go bad.
This eerie feeling about Dylan…
When I saw Dylan leaving that night from the party, I couldn't have guessed that I wouldn't meet him for a week, let alone get any news about him.
———
It had been a whole week since I saw Dylan. I haven't been able to reach Adrian, either. Adrian was supposed to explain his reasons to join the mafia. Though I was not worried about him because he informed me already about his whereabouts.
Xavier said that Dylan went to Italy for some business. Somehow, it didn't seem true to me. Apparently, I feel like Dylan was in some danger.
I couldn't get my mind off him that I couldn't even concentrate on my work. I felt so empty and lonely without him. I never realized that I had become a lovesick puppy for him. I always felt like it would be fine if he never loved me back or we didn't meet again after the tournament.
But now, I felt like my life would be meaningless without his handsome face, cute frowns, annoying sarcasm, heartwarming smile, enticing presence, and I could go on and on with the list about him, but it would never come to an end.
Love was crazy, wasn't it? It felt as though your life wouldn't go on without that person when in reality, life keeps going forward either way.
"Shirley, is the design completed yet?" Monica, my colleague, asked. I jerked out of my thoughts and started working on my laptop to give the design a finishing touch. She sighed and left. I have been like this whole week.
After I submitted the designs, I left the office, and it was pretty late too.
When I was looking for my car in the parking lot, I saw a familiar figure leaning against the door of my car. The person didn't notice me until the clicking of my heels announced my presence.
The person, whom I was dying to see the whole week, raised his head, letting me notice the small band-aid on his right cheek. My chest started feeling heavy like something was sucking all the air out of it. This was what I feared the most.
Dylan flashed me a small, awkward smile and greeted me.
"Where were you for the last seven days, Dylan?" I demanded. He seemed surprised at my sudden outburst. Just seeing him after so long made me want to squeeze him in a tight hug, yet I had to restrain myself. I needed answers first.
"Woah, chill, Ms. Disaster. Xavier practically dropped me here in this barren land, saying you were going nuts worrying about me. I didn't believe it. But damn, you're way worse than I imagined." Somehow he was amused with the fact while I was suffering.
"Shut up." I held back the tears welling up in my eyes. I wasn't sad; someone was cutting onions there.
"What I don't get is, I went to Switzerland for a few days and you—" My ears perked at that piece of information. I shifted to my detective mode.
"Hold your horses right there." I made a peace sign. "Xavier said you were in Italy, and now you're—" Dylan frantically cut me off. Suspicious arose within me when I noticed him fidgeting subconsciously.
"Yeah, that's right. At first, I went to Italy, then I made a trip to Switzerland. You see, one of my clients—"
"Stop lying, dammit!" I yelled.
Dylan sighed and murmured under his breath, "I screwed up, didn't I?" I clenched my jaw, warning him to lie again. "Oh well, I will just say it once. You can't question back." I died out of anxiety by the time he took to say it out loud. He was busy fiddling with his black leather jacket. "My dad sorta abducted me?"
"What the fuck do you mean?" I was impatient, and he was giving me such a vague statement. I wanted to punch him.
Dylan chuckled and expressed, "Wow, you're cursing way more than usual." I shot him a death glare, urging him to go on. He sucked in a breath and got serious. "I was at my old home for the whole week."
"And?"
"What? That's it." He had seriously got to be kidding me if he thought this much information was enough.
"Dylan, you have got to explain it to me. Who were you with? How did you get this cut? Why didn't you inform me? How can it—"
"There's nothing more to it. Also, why should I say anything to you? I'm still mad at you." Dylan turned away his face and crossed his arms over his chest. If anything, I should be the one fuming with magma spewing out of my brain.
"For what?" I tilted my head in frustration.
"For banging that bastard," he spat out and started muttering some incoherent curses. I face-palmed dramatically.
"You're still sulki—" I was interrupted by someone's approaching footsteps as we were still in the parking lot.
It was a colleague of mine named James. He was a big flirt. He shot me a teasing look and asked, "Is that your boyfriend?"
"N—"
"Yes, you have a problem with that, mister?" Dylan snapped and threw a nasty, intimidating look at him. He slipped his hand through my waist and pulled me closer to him, much to my liking, making me clash with his chest.
Well, that was a new side of him—possessive side.
"Nope. Not at all." James quickly hurried up to his car and drove away. Instantly, Dylan roughly pushed me away.
"I'm done. I'm going back home." Dylan started walking out of the parking lot, and I followed him like a lost puppy.
"Dylan, you have to tell me. I want to know. Why did you react that way when you saw Uncle Xander?" I inquired.
"Why does it concern you?" He raised an eyebrow suspiciously. Was he that oblivious? It was too hard for me to believe that.
"Because I'm worried about you."
Sometimes Dylan behaved too strangely, it worried me. He seemed so gloomy as if he carried the burden of the whole world on his shoulders, which he didn't need to.
Dylan stopped on his track and turned to face me. I looked up at him quizzically. "Look, Shirley. It might seem harsh, but it's the truth. You don't matter to me, neither should I matter to you." His words were so bitter, it made me wonder if he was testing how much he can hurt me in a day.
"The relationship between us is a deal. Nothing more. If I ever said otherwise, I'm sorry I wasn't in my right mind. Also, I'm sure you remember our deal. I will train you for three months and make you win the tournament. In return, you will do something for me. That's all I care about. Don't expect anything more from me."
I sucked in a deep breath, controlling my tears, taking in whatever he was saying, trying to figure out what he was saying. He was like a completely different person, the Dylan I met in the first, cold as ice.
"And you know what? I don't need your stupid pity, trust me. Everyone who ever tried to know me better just ended up pitying my miserable life. I don't want it anymore. There's just a few weeks left before you will never see me again. Therefore, it shouldn't matter."
It was like he flipped one-eighty degrees in just a span of a week. He was the one who said I mattered to him, and now he went on telling me that I didn't matter. Bold of him to assume I was going to buy his lie. I could differentiate between his truth and lies.
I forced a smile on my face and said, "You will never know unless you try. Tell me about it. Maybe... just a little, tiny bit, maybe I can help?"
"You..." Dylan exasperated a sigh and growled. He covered his face with his palm and let out, "You're so darn stubborn. Ugh, I hate you."
No matter how he harshly acted with me, I knew the real him. The real Dylan was a prick and asshole yet somehow kind and caring. Something must have happened at his old home which made him think that I would be better off without him, which wasn't true at all.
"Now let's grab a cup of coffee and reopen your painful, wounded memories." I grinned and lunged onto his arm like a leech.
"Did I mention how much I hate you?" Dylan let out, his eyes narrowed at me.
"Oh, you mention that every time."