Chapter 54

Athena said nothing and tried not to think of what he meant by extend the family, she looked at the doors in front of her, with Fred s apartment in mind, she already knew that one of the doors leads to the bedroom and the other to the visitor s restroom and the last one the kitchen, "I m taking the bedroom."
"Of course, that s where you would be sleeping, where else?" he chuckled.
Athena turned to look at him, "I mean that I would be sleeping alone in the bedroom."
"Oh. Um, where would I sleep then?"
Athena looked around, "the couches look comfortable, you can take one of them."
Frank scratched his head, "um…the bed is big enough for two, you won t even know I m there."
"Do you want me here or not?"
"Of course I do, I do, I really do Athena, it…it has been lonely without you. You have no idea how happy I am that you are here now."
"Then I will be taking the bedroom."
Frank sighed, seeing that he can t change her mind, he scratched his head, "well, if that s what you want, I wasn t expecting us to go back to how we used to be so fast anyway but I promise you, Athena, I would do anything within my power to win you back, if this is what I have to go through to win you back and then finally give your mom her wish, I will do it."
Hearing him mention her mother made her heart ache but she said nothing and just went into the room. The bedroom was warm and inviting but for some reason, it wasn t warm enough like her blue room and as she thought of it, she remembered a red room she had never stayed more than a few minutes in, she had often wondered what it would be like to sleep in it but the owner has never invited her and she felt a little sad thinking about that. She sat on the bed and ran her fingers through her hair and TB s last words to her flooded her mind, 'are you sure you are doing the right thing? Are you sure this is what you want? is it? Is this what she wants? Is she doing the right thing? Is she following her heart or she is just forcing herself because of a promise she made?
The door opened and Frank came in, "I m sorry, I brought you your bags."
Athena didn t look up at him and mainly just lay down on the bed. Frank sighed; this was going to be harder than he thought. He took the bags close to the wardrobe and took off some of his own clothes, "I have made space for you, you can unpack when you feel like," she said nothing and he licked his lips, "dinner would be ready soon."
That surprised Athena, when was the last time he made dinner for her? That should be after her mother s burial, he has never done that again. But even though she was surprised at that, she didn t let it show.
After staring at her for a few seconds, Frank left the room and went into the kitchen to make dinner. When she had told him she was moving in with him, he had been surprised no doubt but also happy, it only meant that Sean did everything he did but her heart was still with him, he had felt like gloating then and had thought of many things to do with her when she arrives but the way things was going wasn t how he had expected. Guess he has to do more than he already done, even if it means cooking for her.
***
The next day after Frank had left for work; Athena stayed in doors and battled with her thoughts. Towards the evening when she couldn t handle thinking anymore, she decided to go for a walk. The day was chilly so she put on a coat and wrapped a scarf round her neck. Letting her hair down, she grabbed her phone and opened the door. She was surprised to see the man standing there with his hand raised as if he was about to press the bell, "Fred," she called, "what are you doing here."
"Was just about to ring the bell and ask you if you are up for a walk but it looks like you are going out," he stated at her dressing.
Athena looked down at herself and chuckled, "oh, I was just about to go for a walk but I m a little cold that s why I m like this."
"No, it s okay, so, mind if I tag along?"
"I would love you to," she smiled, stepped out of the house and closed the door, the door locked automatically.
"So, I don t need to ask how you have been, obviously you have been fine," he smiled as they strode to the elevator.
"Well, I m okay."
"I know, I can see that, the question is, why did you come back when you are obviously okay where you were," he pressed the ground floor on the button, surprising her with his question. He looked at her, "Athena, I m good at minding my business but I believe the short time we have known each other have brought us close and since I consider you as a friend, I will like to know how you are reasoning." Athena remained silent and as the doors opened, he said, "if you think I m crossing my boundary then forget I asked."
"No it s not that, it s just that I have been asking myself that same question all day," she said as they made their way out of the building.
"Then why?"
She sighed, "it s complicated."
"Then make it simple."
She sighed again, "Frank and I…we have been together since I was sixteen, my parents loved him, he was the golden boy then. Before my mother died, she made me promise her that I would end up with him because he is the only one she knew would take care of me."
"And has he been doing that?" Fred asked and she looked at him briefly, "Athena, the first day you came here, Frank had told me you are just a girl he wants to help and he was prepared to let you sleep in the hallway despite the cold. He had suggested I take you with me till he was back, I had refused initially thinking he would leave his party to come attend to you but he had told me that he can t leave the party because he was hoping to meet some new clients and that I should leave you there that nothing would happen to you anyway. He didn t sound like a man that valued you then, what makes you think he would in the future? What makes you think he won t abandon you when he feels like you are not up to him again?"
Athena stared at her feet as they strolled on the street. "Listen to me, I don t know what s going on between you and Mr. Brand, but he made you this way and I believe with every strength in me that you are far better with him than with Frank. Frank is my neighbor and you can consider him a friend to me as well, we drink together and he buys my paintings but Athena, a man that turned his back on you once can do it again. Forget that he asked for a second chance, if he hurt you before, he would hurt you again in the second chance, the third chance, the fourth chance and any other chance you give him. It takes a cheater a lot to stop cheating, even if he doesn t in a long time, one day the temptation would come and he would fall. If Frank loved you initially, then he wouldn t hurt you in that manner. Believe me when I say that he is only after you because he saw Mr. Brand with you and if that wasn t the case, he wouldn t want you."
Athena looked up at him and their eyes met, his words were as if they were answering to her inner questions. "You mother made you promise to marry him, not because he was the golden boy but because at that moment, he was the one making you happy and the one she believed would look after you when she was gone. Your mother was only after your happiness, wherever she maybe, she wouldn t like you to be taking this decision you are taking now. All she cared about was your happiness and she would want you to follow your heart and be with the person who makes you happy."
Athena could feel her eyes crystallizing, why was he speaking to her soul? Why was he telling her the same thing her conscience was saying? Just then her phone rang and she dabbed at her eyes and fetched out the phone. It was TB calling and she cleared her throat and answered, "hi TB."
"Athena," his voice sounded anxious, "where are you? Sean has been in an accident."