17TH NOVEMBER.
THUNDERVILLE CITY.
RIVERA'S HOUSE.

"YES...no..." Lex said to the person on the other line. He let out an exasperated sigh. "Shit, no. It is not a fucking Christmas wedding, for fuck's sake. You had one job, Dylan! The wedding is tomorrow. How the fuck did you make a mistake?" He rubbed his temples. "You better fix it up before I throw you off the cliff." He hung up and threw his phone on his bed.

"Geez, way to welcome us, buddy." A voice behind me chuckled. He didn't need a minute to recognize who it belonged to. He turned around to find Karan, West, Aphrodite, and Yumi standing at the door. Lex pressed a smile. Not that he was unhappy to see them, he just couldn't force a smile--not when fucking Dylan messed everything up. If Lex informed Sofia of his blunder, Sofia would either die or kill him. Answers may vary.

"Hey, guys," He said. Even his voice chose to not cooperate with him. "I'm sorry about the outburst." He rubbed a shaky hand through his ruffled hair. "There's a problem and I need to take care of it. Make yourself comfortable. Tobias will show you your rooms in a few."

"Do you need our help?" Aphrodite muttered in a breath.

Lex gave her a weak smile. "Uh, no. I think I can handle it."

"Haan, Aphrodite." Karan looked over his shoulder to see Aphrodite's blue eyes. "I know you're his friend but he's a big boy now. He doesn't need your help." Karan emphasized on the word friend which meant, one thing--he knew. Aphrodite gave him a pointed look but didn't utter a word.

Lex nodded and walked away.

•••

"Hey, um..so...I kinda need your help," Lex muttered in a low voice. He held the phone tightly against his ear, waiting for Aphrodite's response. For what felt like an eternal moment, she remained silent. Then, he heard a small giggle--almost like she was stifling it. He relaxed visibly.

"I thought you're a big boy," she countered. "I remember someone saying I think I can handle it. I wonder who it was." She feigned her lack of memory. Lex didn't reply to her with the usual sense of sarcasm as he would. He wanted to.

He wanted things to reverse. He dreamt of going back to the time when they first met or when he first noticed the sparkle in her eyes or when he saw her smile at him despite the crowd watching her. He dreamt of how things would be different if he had caught feelings for someone who wanted to be with him, who wanted to give it a shot. But thinking of being with someone other than Aphrodite made his heart drop. Even though he dreamt of changing things, he--from the bottom of his heart--knew that he wouldn't.

A smile from Aphrodite was worth thousands of smiles he received from others.

"What do you need my help with?" She said stiffly when he didn't respond.

"Ask one of the drivers to drop you at Cottage Side Bakery. I'm waiting outside."

In the next twenty minutes, a black Mercedes parked in front of him. Aphrodite jumped out of the car, her beige flats gaining the attention of the passersby. He noticed that she wasn't wearing a pink hoodie and black jeans anymore. Instead, a white fabric embraced her curvy body. The loose dress flowed below her knee, probably tingling her legs.

She approached him. Shivers on her skin. Despite the low temperature, Aphrodite chose to wear an off-shoulder. Lex's first instinct was to pull his coat and slide it over her shoulders. Her lips parted but before any word could crawl out, Lex said, "Let's go in."

He ushered her to walk in first by holding the door for her. Aphrodite's eyes travelled around, processing the beauty of the bakery. Unlike its name, the bakery was not even close to a cottage. With the biggest of chandeliers and newest of fabric for the chairs, nothing about the Cottage Side Bakery screamed anything less modern.

Lex's nostrils flared with the strong smell of baked goods and he considered asking Aphrodite if she was hungry but his eyes met Aphrodite's lips and he almost choked on his words. Aphrodite lips were a nude shade of baby pink and the smell of her cherry perfume was strong but not as much as his memory of his lips meeting hers. Her soft touch was etched onto his skin, leaving a lifelong imprint.

She was poetry. She was a movie. She was a thunderstorm and sadly, he was just a reader, a cameo, a water droplet.

He licked his lips and forced himself to think of the words she had said that hurt him to the core.

Let's stop the feelings before they get stronger.

And like that, he was back to his cold self.

It's easier that way.

"Um, so..." he began. She turned her attention to the man standing beside her who was trying his best not to gaze at her lips again. "The baker messed up the wedding cake. God knows why he made a vanilla flavoured Christmas themed cake instead of red velvet with pink and white flowers. And it pissed me off and I sort of lashed out on him. And now he's so scared of me that he doesn't wanna face me at all."

Aphrodite narrowed her eyes in confusion. "What do you want me to do?"

"Be yourself." He shrugged. "I mean, convince him with your sultry or warm words to fix it. Sofia will freak out if it isn't the way she wants."

"Okay."

Aphrodite spun on her heel and walked upstairs to the main kitchen where Dylan spends most of his life. Lex watched her hips swing as she climbed each step. He shook his head and drowned his mind whispering all sorts of thoughts that pinned him as a lovesick puppy. He had fallen for her hard and there was no way out. He was in a maze with no escape.

He ordered himself black coffee.

He drank his coffee.

He paced around.

About thirty minutes passed by when he finally spotted Aphrodite storming downstairs. She was red with anger. She stomped to him and jabbed across his chest, catching him off guard. He took a step back but she smacked her chest again.

"You--" smack "--are--" smack "--a piece of trash!" She lifted her hand again to smack his arms when he finally caught her wrist. The sudden movement made her crash against his hard chest. Lex gazed into her ocean eyes, his fingers wrapped around her small wrist. He held her hands away from him as she stared back in his eyes. For a moment, her eyes softened with affection before raging with anger again. "You were such an asshole to him, Lex."

"Excuse me?" He shot back. "He messed up the wedding cake. Did you not hear me before?"

She squirmed under his clutch and shoved his hands away, taking a few steps back. "I heard you but apparently, you didn't hear Dylan. He was told by Sofia to make both vanilla and red velvet. He called you to inform you that the spare vanilla cake was ready but you cut him off right after hearing vanilla." Aphrodite folded her arms over chest. "He's just as old as we are and he is working for a world class bloody bakery. Why in the world did you not hear him out?"

"I was tired."

She shook her head in disappointment. "He's so scared of facing you. He almost peed his pants when I told him you're there downstairs."

"Scared of me? Because I slightly raised my voice?" Blood rushed to the back of his neck. Lex's ears began ringing with anger and frustration.

"You threatened to throw him off a cliff! He told me he grew up with abusive parents. You triggered him!" Aphrodite yelled back.

"You spent ten minutes with him and he told you about his childhood trauma? Aren't you a therapist? Why don't you be friends with him? And once he catches feelings for you, why don't you tell him to just turn it off?" The words left his mouth before he even had a chance to think about it. His words had a greater impact on her than he expected. She recoiled, anger vanquishing from her eyes. But Lex, on the other hand, was furious. The words had poured out and for once, he left lighter. "You know what I am tired of? I am tired of pretending to be your friend. I can't be your friend and it's crazy you don't see that. You have a plausible explanation for not wanting to be with me and I wouldn't have been mad even in the slightest. But I am because you didn't care about what I wanted.

"You wanted to be friends. Okay, I agreed. But then your drunk self kissed Yumi right in front of my eyes. And not even a week later, you wanted to kiss me again. And when I told you about Yumi, you walked away and didn't say a word to her. You've been avoiding me since then." He sucked a breath. "I want you, Aphrodite Rose because I fucking like you but you can't keep pushing me away and try to be close to me at the same time. I am tired of this. I am...I am leaving."

"Lex...I..." Tears brimmed her eyes.

"Don't. Please. I can't deal with this right now."

Gulping the tears of his own, he walked away from her. Once again.

header image by Eleanor

translation of Hindi terminologies:

Haan: yes or in agreement.

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hey, loves! this was one of the hardest chapters to write but easily one of favourites. it deals with Lex's emotions, for the most part and as much as I love her, she was a bit selfish. what do you think? do you agree with Lex?

{don't forget to vote and comment!}