Maisara's pov
"Hey! Felix!"
"Felix, wake up. You have to go home. Or do you plan on sleeping here?"
"Felix, I'm gonna leave you here! Wake up!"
Nothing works. Now, I'm sitting on the same bench with his head on my lap going through my contact list to find someone who can help. After looking at what feels like tons of people's contacts and rejecting every single one of them as they are not suitable for helping me at this exact moment, I finally find someone.
Not wanting to waste another moment, I call him. He doesn't pick up the first time. Rings after rings go on before the call gets cut off. I call him again feeling my patience slipping. It's not like he is the only option for me but he is definitely the best one for now. And I would rather have him pick up the damn phone than find someone else.
When the second call is almost at the end of ringing, he finally picks up. "Hello?" Too much noise in the background tells me that he is probably not as good an option as I thought.
"Ian." It hurts my ego but I find myself sighing in relief. No matter where he is, he, at least, answered the call. But I can barely hear him over the noise. "Can you hear me?" He most definitely can't.
"Yes, I can but, uh, wait a second." He seems to be moving away from the noisy place because, in the next few seconds, the noise remarkably reduces to almost nothing. "Ro-Er, Maisara, how are you? How is everything going?" If my call surprised him, he is doing a good job hiding it. His voice has that light Ian-like tone without which I've never heard him talking.
"I am fine but I need your help." My eyes travel down to Felix's sleeping face on my lap. A smile automatically creeps up on my face seeing how peaceful he is looking.
"Okay, how can I help you?" I can hear the doubt lingering in his words.
It suddenly feels like I've been caught doing something illicit and Ian is asking me what I did. I fake cough trying to arrange my words so that it doesn't sound as bad as I'm thinking in my head. "Your friend fell asleep on me. I need someone to help me take him to the car. I can manage the rest."
I believe Ian to be wise enough to know which of his friends I'm talking about. And he proves me right. A snort comes from the other side of the phone followed by, "That idiot. How in the hell did he even do that? Well, whatever, I understand your situation. I would love to go but, well, I am kinda occupied now. But I can send someone for you?"
Yup, he definitely isn't as best option as I thought. But at least, he is offering to help. I just hope I don't regret my choice. Given his history of messing up, that would not be a surprise. I keep telling Felix that he keeps messing up but he probably got that trait from Ian. Ian is the father of messing up.
"That would be wonderful." I hope my tone sounds as cheerful as I intended to. In the next moment, I realize that doesn't matter. Because his tone sounds cheerful enough when he replies, "Cool. Send me the address then. I'm sending someone there."
Cutting off the call, I share the location with Ian. Now, I have to wait for someone to show up. How long would it take? One hour? Two hours? Or less? I don't know but it seems I have nothing else to do in the meantime.
I look down at Felix's handsome face. He almost looks like an angel at this point. It can just be me but I swear his skin is glowing and his golden locks reflect the street light illuminated over our head. I brush away the lock from his face.
In most novels I've read, the heroine always says that the hero sleeps like a baby, no matter how ruthless or how soft he appears when he is awake. I've never seen a sleeping baby or maybe I've never actually noticed that. So I can't exactly tell if Felix sleeps like a baby or not. But I can say that he looks impossibly defenseless in sleep. It sounds absurd and I'm not that powerful but seeing him like this makes me want to protect him from every bad thing in the world.
Now that thought leads me to another unwanted thought. Ryker Reyes. It's shameful to admit that I didn't exactly believe Felix's word when he said that Ryker didn't do anything to provoke him. I may appear arrogant for saying this but in some twisted kind of way, I probably know Ryker better than Felix does. And that doesn't make me feel any good. If anything, it makes me feel angrier and more annoyed.
I know for a fact that Ryker is almost at the threshold of crossing his limits. Now whether I should wait for him to cross all limits completely or I should already teach him a lesson is the real question.
Lydia's face suddenly flashes up in my mind. "I want you to be my bridesmaid." I don't know how Ryker is treating Lydia. She is mature enough to realize if he treats her badly. But wasn't I mature enough too? And what did I do?
Mental maturity is sometimes blinded by feelings. Even the smartest person can make dumb decisions if they listen to their hearts instead of their brains. The brain can be a hurtful bitch sometimes but mostly it never lies. It chooses true facts over delusion, unlike hearts.
I can warn her about him, tell her everything he did to me and is capable of doing to her as well. But shouldn't I also warn Felix about that? Shouldn't I also tell him everything that happened between Ryker and me?
If I do, it will ruin whatever brotherhood they still have between them. And of all people in the world, I should be the one who should understand that I can't just snatch that right from Felix. That would change him horribly. And I'm afraid to lose this version of Felix.
Suddenly, it became clear what I need to do. I need to teach Ryker a lesson myself. Not like that flimsy one I did in that kitchen during the fight between the two brothers. That one clearly didn't work on him if Felix is still getting hurt by him. I need to do something that will work enough for him to never even think about hurting anyone else in his entire life.
My phone starts ringing all of a sudden making me jump up on the bench. Felix groans on my lap and turns to his side falling back to sleep. Stroking his head, I look down at my phone to find an unknown number. That must be the person Ian has sent.
Sliding the green bar, I press the phone to my ear. Out of habit, I don't say anything at first. And unlike Ian's call, the other side of this call is also filled with silence. After a few seconds, the other person finally releases a sigh and says, "It's James. Where are you?"
His voice is as usual low and gruff as if it's draining his energy for him to merely say a few words. I'm almost surprised that he is the one who has come to help. I have no idea how Ian even managed him. When I used to...........hang out with them, James was the most unapproachable one. At first, I thought that he hated me. Then I realized that's not true. He is just like that with everyone else.
Also, he is weirdly kind in odd situations. So, I guess, that's how he is here to help.
I reply, "I sent Ian the location. Didn't he send you that?"
A second later, he says, "He did. I'm here but don't see anyone."
I look ahead, left and right. "I won't know where you are if you can't tell me." That sounds stupid because how in the hell he is gonna tell me where he is in the park. "Can you tell me what you see nearby?"
A long moment of pause. I swear, I have heard some shuffling sound on his side. But the quietness is so loud that it's almost covering all the sounds. It's not making much sense but that's what I'm listening to.
He finally says with much hesitation in his voice. "I'm near a, um, tree, a bench on my right. Empty."
I look around again trying to find whatever vague location he just told me. The emptiness of the park hits me straight in the face making me shiver suddenly. The concrete pathway two feet ahead of me is somewhat illuminated with the street lamps hovering beside each bench. I think James tried to say a bench near a tree but I don't see anything like that.
No, wait, I see it now. That's at least twenty feet on my left. The bench is pressed between a street lamp and a giant banyan tree. Hoping that's what he is referring to, I tell him, "Walk ahead."
I hope I'm just as right as I feel when I say that to him. I'm somewhat equally bad in direction as he is. So, there's a big chance that I'm gonna mislead him. And if that happens, it's gonna get messy.
He says a few moments later. "I think I'm seeing you."
I squint my eyes in the direction of the bench with the tree to see him because where else would he be seeing me? But I see no sign of any human. I look to the right this time. There I can see a silhouette in the dark. If that is James, I can't tell because I can't see his face from here. But he pulls up his hand in a gesture that I am assuming is to show that it's him.
I mirror his gesture. "Yup, it's me."
Again, I wish I'm just as right as I sound. The direction was wrong. If this time, I am wrong too, and turns out that silhouette is a stranger, it would be some serious trouble.
Thankfully, I wasn't wrong and that was actually James. He is dressed almost like a stalker, in a black hoodie and black pants, for which it required him to come within three feet of me when I finally recognized him. I was so ready to call the police.
Of course, my first expression on seeing him standing in front of me after fearing that he is a creep would be smiling in relief. However, he doesn't return my smile. He stares at me with an unnerving gaze. That's very much considered rude but it's also utterly James-like.
His gaze slides past me and focuses on the sleeping face of Felix on my lap. The only change in his expression is those knitted heavy eyebrows. I look down at Felix as well. His face is turned to his right now. Running my fingers through his silky locks, I softly say, "Just help me take him to the car. I'll handle the rest."
He dips his head once which somehow counts as a nod before leaning forward to pull Felix off of me. I almost yell out instantly, "Be gentle."
James stops abruptly and gives me a funny look. I feel the heat rising to my cheeks as I start clarifying my words. "I meant to say he's sleeping, so it might be dangerous if you suddenly pull him. Just be careful with that."
Somehow my explanation seems more embarrassing and James' lack of reply makes it worse. He doesn't even nod this time, just simply goes back to pull Felix off of me. However, he is being gentle with him this time.
Felix groans but doesn't protest as James pulls him up to his feet. Squinting his eyes a few times, he leans his head on James' shoulder.
"Is this normal for him?" I ask the question that has been on the tip of my tongue since the moment Felix fell asleep. I have never seen a drunk person sleeping like that. It almost seems like someone has drugged him.
Felix grunts in reply clinging to James more, almost toppling him on the ground. I quickly walk up to them and take one of his arms over my shoulder. I swear I hear James sighing in relief but that can also be my imagination.
Felix leans on me this time, heat radiating off of his body as we slowly start walking again. James' quiet voice reaches me, "He was in much worse condition."
Translation: It's a normal thing for him.
Somehow we manage to get ourselves out of the park. James' car is parked right outside of the park. He shoves Felix in the backseat before turning to me. I open my mouth but surprisingly, James cuts me off, "Get in. I will drop you both home."
Of course, my immediate reaction is to refuse the offer. "It's not necessary. I can manage."
James just stares at me for a few awkward seconds, then looks behind me at the park. I swear his eyes darken for a second but the way his hood is hiding his eyes, I can't be sure. Finally, his eyes move back to me. "It's quite late. Not safe to be alone."
If it was anyone else, I would protest more. But James doesn't give me the chance. He simply says that and gets in the driver's seat. I open the door to the backseat and get in beside Felix.
Somehow Felix senses me because as soon as I close the door he curls himself and puts his head on my lap. I wrap a hand around his head so that he doesn't fall off when James starts driving.
He doesn't only remind me of a cat, he actually is a cat, born in a human body. I feel the urge to scratch his fur which is in the form of his golden hair. I swear he purrs but the noise is so low that it can be just my ears playing tricks on me.
I don't know why I feel the sudden urge to look up but when I do, I find James watching us through the rear-view mirror. And like every other time, I can't read his eyes. He is just........staring and nothing else.
However, much to my surprise, he doesn't pull away instantly for being caught watching us. Instead, he holds my gaze for at least two more seconds before looking away and turning on the engine.
"Give me your address. I'll drop you off first." His voice is as raspy and as emotionless as always. His normal words sound unnecessarily rude for the way he says it.
I give him the address. The rest of the drive goes wordless. The only sound that fills the car is the sound Felix is making in his sleep, snoring, groaning, or moaning. They stop as soon as I run my hand through his hair or by the side of his face. Luckily, James doesn't try to sneak peek at us anymore.
It takes approximately fifteen minutes to reach my place. He parks the car in front of my apartment complex. I stroke Felix's head one more time and resist the horribly strong urge to kiss his forehead. That should be considered as a goodbye kiss but feels horribly wrong when I think about doing it. So instead, I take his hand and touch my lips to his fingers.
"I'm getting off here, Felix. Have a safe journey."
I gently pull his head up, just enough for me to slip out from underneath him. As I place his head back on the seat, James' voice reaches my ear. "Here."
I find something like a shawl when I turn my head. James practically shoves it in my hand. "What is it?"
He shrugs eyeing Felix as I open the folds of the shawl. "Cover him with it."
"Do you always carry this with you?" The question slips out of my mouth as I lay the shawl over Felix and tuck in until he is perfectly covered.
"In case he needs it," James replies, eyes still on Felix. I look back at Felix. He has snuggled into the shawl. How Felix is sleeping is definitely how a baby sleeps. I'm sure no one looks as innocent as him in sleep.
I stroke his hair again. James says to me, as softly as it's possible for him, "Always take care of him like you did tonight. He doesn't need it physically but his mind craves for your comfort."
I look back at him. I don't know what emotion I'm showing on my face but I swear James expression softens slightly. "I will drop him off safely," he says in what I'm assuming reassuring tone.
I simply nod before getting out of the car. Without turning back once, I walk through the glass door of the apartment complex. The sound of James' car driving away is heard from somewhere behind me. Still, I refuse the urge to turn around and watch as the car disappears.
I'm having this feeling that I'm doing something terribly wrong. And even I know what exactly I'm doing wrong. But I can't seem to pull away. If anything I'm falling deeper into this pothole. I hope I'll figure out how to get out of here before it becomes too messy.
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