Chapter 5

Esmeralda Pov

I walked into the coffee shop he had brought me to. There was no where else to go and I was to overwhelmed to even think of anything. Never had I ever felt so alone in my life.

Where we had sat down the other day was already taken by customers and I could not ask them to leave because of my own greedy pleasure but I needed to see him, I needed to feel the peace he brought even though I could not understand half of what he had said and I was just on the verge of grasping it all. 

Still I longed for him.

I must've looked stupid standing in the middle of a coffee shop and having my eyes pinned on a particular table without moving but just staring, because when I finally decided to look around, there were quite a number of eyes looking at me, trying to decide if i was mentally okay or not. I could see from the counter, a waiter already pulling the phone to make a call, she was probably going to call the manager.

I still could not move.

The memory of Killian was assaulting me and providing me with a comfort.

"Excuse me, can I use your phone to make a call?" I finally found my voice and not just that, my legs moved to the counter towards the girl I had asked.

She forced out a smile and handed the phone to me. It was a telephone and I took it and dialed Killian's number on it.

It rang for a while and I was already losing all hope that he would take the call. He did say he rejected me but it was impossible to know I was the one calling. Who was I kidding, he would know, he obviously did not get calls from unknown numbers late at night often, so of course his first thought would drift to me and he wouldn't answer the call.

"Hello" his voice was thick from the phone. He sounded skeptical and uncertain.

I swallowed immediately as I could feel a sudden dryness in my throat "Hello, good evening, it's Esmeralda"

"You gave me your card the other day after you brought me to a coffee…" 

He didn't let me finish "I remember".

His coldness seeping from the phone was alreFy causing a feeling I did not like. Coupled with the heart break from my family, I felt my chest tighten and my voice empty. I wanted to say something, to talk to him to explain what had happened without breaking into tears but I could not.

The second I opened my mouth, it was hoarse and it broke and it sounded exactly how I didn't want it to. It sounded like I was crying.

I felt stupid and helpless.

"Where are you?" He asked after my short crying fit. 

This time I managed to use words and not just incoherent sounds of wailing, "I'm at the coffee shop where you brought me to, close to the grocery store where we met"

The way i explained without giving him a relevant address was shameless of me. It was as if I expected him to remember me the same way I remembered him even to the tiniest detail. It was as if my life had started to revolve around him, like he was the sun in my universe.

Maybe he was, because the minute he said the next words, I felt different, I felt better.

He had said "I'll be right there to get you".

I returned the phone back to the girl who had her eyes on me throughout the phone call, i faked a smile at her before I made my way outside to wait for him to arrive like the stray cat I was.

I took a seat on the pavement and crossed my legs waiting for him to arrive. As people walked in and out of the coffee shop and even around the place, i garnered a lot of gazes, some were pitiful, some were judgemental and others were suspicious. Meanwhile I was waiting for an older man whom I find myself very attracted to. If anything, maybe I did deserve the judgemental glares from strangers.

In no time an expensive looking car pulled pork over in front of the coffee shop, I rose to my feet expecting that he was the one and this time I wasn't wrong.

This time, because before he arrived I had guessed that most cars that pulled over were his, but they weren't and no he was here now, strutting right to where I was standing as his domineering figure rained on me.

He kept eye contact with me for a while then he took his eyes back "are you okay?" He asked.

I nodded my head and after which, he led me to his car and opened the car door for me. For a second I felt like a princess and everything that had happened was just one crazy nightmare that had come to an abrupt end.

I entered the car and it was warm inside, it smelled of apple cidar and somehow of rain. It was comfortable and I unintentionally snuggled into the seat.

He drove the car in silence, there was a stoid look in his eyes and his attention was fixated on the road. I was scared to even breathe loudly, scratch that, to even breathe at all. I was ashmed of myself that he had to be the one that came to my rescue and as it seemed, he didn't particularly appreciate that he came to my rescue. He didn't appreciate my existence.

A wet blanket fell over my shoulders. My heart sank and the sadness I had been feeling about my family somehow expanded into something I could not understand, something overwhelming.

I stayed quiet just like he did and listened to the kow sound of the car engine. I was too excited to sleep even though I was tired from being both mentally and emotionally strained.

He suddenly stopped the car in front of a huge house, almost like those ones in movies that the royals used. It was big and majestic and I found myself gawking at it when I alighted from the car.

"Where is this place?" I asked without peeling my eyes away from the building.

"It's my house" he said a matter of fact-ly and I shut my mouth. It was something I should've known.

However, I felt strange about being inna stranger's house, I've ever only known him for like barely a day and now I was already in his house. Though my brain and my dignity were screaming volumes, I felt like I could trust him. There was a feeling of familiarity and I could not dispose it.

So I joined him inside.

He led me to the dining room where all kinds of food were already set waiting for me. He gestured for me to have a seat and I took one and he joined me.

"Tell me what happened" he demanded.

And just like that, I spilled out everything that happened word for word, sequentially and in all honesty. I started from my adoption, to my wicked aunt and then to what had happened with those animals and then to the grocery store with my aunt and then the fight I had with her as well. The fight that led to me being sent out of the house by my mother.

As I replayed everything, I could feel teardrops dropping from my eyes and ny heart was breaking over again for the initial reason it was.

He nodded his head after I told him everything. He kept quiet and said nothing to me, he didn't even look at me or anything, he only brought his glass of wine to his mouth and he took a sip from it.

I watched his every move, expecting him to say or do anything other than drinking from his glass. But he remained quiet and I remained expectant.

"You're eighteen" he suddenly said.

And I nodded my head "yes sir". 

"You should be in your senior year now and in no time, on your way to college" 

I nodded again, affirming his guesses.

"Have you gotten accepted go any college?" He asked.

"I am working on it" I replied him. I had sent out college essays and all the requirements to different colleges, only waiting for them to give me a reply if I was accepted or not.

"Work harder". He was cold but I said nothing.

"You can stay with me untill you have to leave for college where you'll surely be able to find a dormitory to live in" he continued. "However, living with me, you have some certain rules to follow and some things to do as well".

"What are the things I have to do?" I asked wide eyed.

"Chores" he finally looked into my eyes. "You're expected to help around the house. You won't be living here like a spoilt brat. You have to work for your shelter and doing chores will suffice"

I surely did not hear right.

"Excuse me, what?"