CHAPTER | 15
MEGAN
My head was aching. My eyes were burning but my heart was as light as a feather. As if a heavy weight had been lifted off of me. It was a feeling that I had forgotten in the years.
I slowly turned over to see Miles standing across from me with a cautious smile on his lips. My heart started to beat faster. So, all the stupid talks I had wasn't from a dream. It was the reality. Did I actually rant him everything?
My cheeks burnt with mortification and humiliation. How could I let myself behave like a stuttering idiot in front of him? After all that I had been through because of him?
"Hi." Miles started and slowly sat upright on the ruffled bed. "Did you sleep well?"
The moment he asked about my sleeping routines, another fear gripped me tighter around my neck. Had Miles really stayed over the night? If he did, where did he rest? I hoped it wasn't next to me... God, had I mumbled anything in my sleep? About the ways he treated me in my dreams? Did I cry? Sweet God, I had, hadn't I?
With my cheeks still red, I turned around to see him watching me like a zoo animal, ready to pounce on me if there was a need to tranquilize me. He looked tired, but his eyes were vigilant. His hair was as messy as ever but looked good. Just like it used to when I ran my hands over them.
"Um... good." I muttered, tucking my hair behind my ear. I brought the sheets closer as I sat and turned to face him. I took a deep breath bringing out the damage control genes in me. "Look, I'm sorry about what happened yesterday... I promise it'll not happen again."
A glimmer of amusement passed through his face, but he recovered it quickly. He was looking seriously while my panic was performing a stupid marathon. Last night, I knew I had been crying too much to understand what words had come out of my mouth. Now, no matter how much I wacked my brain to recall the events, it only drew a blank right back at me.
"Yeah. You were calling me as a ghost last night." Miles supplied and I wondered if he was reading my mind. "But we all know you are the paler one to resemble a ghost and it's not me."
"Wh... what? I'm a ghost?" I asked, perplexed.
"I mean, with your skinny bones and pale skin, you could easily pass for one." Miles shrugged. "But when you called me a ghost last night, I had to go look in the mirror."
I realized that he was making fun of me. Anger was the next thing that I came across. "I'm sure the mirror did the trick for you to understand that I was right."
"True. The mirror never lies." Miles agreed and soon, my anger subsided. Did he call himself a ghost too? "When I looked at the mirror, I saw your face and, I was sure. I turned around to see you watching me. Do you know how scared I was? I couldn't travel back to my suite after that."
The rage was coming back in sputters. He had not only made fun of me but was also pointing me for his reason to stay. Shooting daggers, I got out of the bed, crumpling the sheets and dumping it on top of his head.
"It's true! Don't you remember?" He asked in all seriousness. "It was as if you were possessed. You were jumping on me, pulling my hair and breathing fire when I gave you a frightened glance."
"I should have actually breathed fire on you!" I glared at him, walking out of the room. Miles followed behind me with a chuckle. Argh! My head was pounding.
"It was only after I hugged you that all your ghosts ran away from you." I stopped in my tracks, not wanting to turn around.
He was the only guy who could bring out fury and put cold water on it all at the same time. Miles gently put his hands around my waist, dipping his head to the curve of my neck. The sudden contact took my breath away. I had hugged him last night, but this intimate position seemed to catch me off guard.
"Just like this." He murmured, his breath fanning my ear. "And then, I spun you around like this." With one quick motion, he had turned me around to face him. With wide eyes I stood there wondering what he was doing with me. With ever so lightly, he leaned in and whispered. "Then, you kissed me."
My pallor seemed to have gotten him into the trance. My hands had moved to his waist holding him tightly in my arms. His right hand moved up my face as his fingers brushed the side of my face. He gently tucked my hair behind my ears as an evil smile, that often melted my heart, took his features.
"Do you want to try it again?"
That was enough for me to break from the spell. Shaken up, I pushed him away and headed towards the kitchen for some water. A rumble of laughter followed behind me and though I tried to ignore it as much as I could, it resonated in the empty walls of my heart, filling it to its brim.
For the first time in years, I hadn't broken down on seeing him and I wondered if it was a miracle. Though my feelings had changed from being sad to being angry at the same guy, the new rage had now started to dissipate even without me trying. How had he turned my demons against me and turned into something that didn't break me?
I was now more horrified and embarrassed than being angry and sad. It was definitely something.
He pressed a kiss to the side of my head as he walked into the kitchen to stand in front of the stove that I had rarely used. He looked more at home as he opened the cupboards to check the ingredients to see if there was something he could make. His tee-shirt rode up and I could see the familiar curve of V running down his torso, his muscles stretched to one side as he pulled open a packet of noodles.
"So, do you want scrambled eggs or noodles? I think I'll stick with eggs this morning." He said, as he kept the noodles at the table and went to the refrigerator to check if there were any eggs left. "I'm surprised; you have this filled for once."
"Amber threatened to kill me if I didn't send her a picture of the fridge filled two days ago." I said, my voice low. I didn't want to stand there staring at his perfect ass, so, I moved about to make my tea.
"I can imagine. Was there a flame burning through her nose?" He laughed as he turned around. When he saw me searching for the tea bags, he closed the door of the fridge with two eggs in his hands. "Hey, I already made the tea."
He magically pulled out the kettle that I didn't know I possessed and put two glasses of green tea. He put two leaves of basil at the end and I had to hide my smile. He never could make something simple, could he?
He pushed one glass towards me and took another for him. My eyebrows scrunched together in confusion. He was drinking green tea? "From when do you like tea?"
"I started two years eleven months three days ago and now I think it's three years, four months and a few odd days." Miles said, not looking at me. "Anyway, if you think, I'm going to prepare you noodles too, then you are mistaken, Ms. Taylor."
He wagged his forefinger at me. The teasing glint in his eyes masked my worries momentarily. It only seemed yesterday that I had visited his cooking class which were the culprits to bring us together. I noticed how different he looked from before. There always remained a five 'o clock subtle on his chin now. Though his eyes were darker than before, the lightning that used to pass through was missing. I had heard that he had stopped cooking since I left, but now, seeing him, I could tell how much he was missing it.
He stuck his tongue out as he tried making scrambled eggs for us. No, he was still the same. He turned around and caught me staring at him. But unlike before he didn't comment on it and just smiled back at me. When I boldly continued staring at him, surprising myself, "What?" He asked.
"I... it's just... I used to miss this." I admitted frankly, shaking my head. "Sometimes I used to have dreams about this, you know." I stopped myself from continuing further, not trusting myself around him.
"And I missed you." He said, keeping his bowl aside and walking towards me. "I missed the fact that you were not mine. I missed that you were not there by my side when I woke up every day. I miss—"
"Please... Miles." I said, keeping my hands on his chest, stopping him from coming near me.
"I miss," he continued, "that I don't have to smell that over cooked noodles you used to prepare for me." He smirked victoriously.
I smiled and put my head down, a sinking feeling taking over me.
"Hey," he whispered, raising my chin to make me meet his eyes. "We both had our share of mistakes, shouldn't we let it go?"
"I missed you too." I said, without any hesitation. "But I don't think we should..."
"Darling..." He started, but a doorbell broke our conversation in two. I hadn't grasped that he had come so close to me, standing right in front of me as he cupped my face in his in tender care. He sighed and kissed my forehead before letting me go.
The sudden loss of contact made me want to cry in despair, but the doorbell rang again, halting my speedy thoughts. "I should get that." I said, as he nodded his head and went towards his bowl to make scrambled eggs.
I walked up to the door wondering who would have come so early in the morning. But as the door opened, surprise was clearly evident on my face. A guilty looking Pamela and a fire spitting Amber stood at my doorstep.
"Are you okay?" Pamela asked first, looking at me with troubled eyes.
"Is that even a question?" Amber lightly scolded her, and then she turned towards me. "She looks like shit."
"I'm so sorry, Meg." Pamela spoke with her head held low. "I shouldn't have left you alone yesterday."
I heaved a sigh as I understood what the girls were talking about. "Come on in." I said, pulling the door wider for them to enter.
"I just didn't want you to be in trouble." Pam explained, as they both entered. "Hannah is already so worried about you and I thought leaving you at your place would be a good idea to keep things from her." She blabbered on as Amber rolled her eyes at the white walls in front of her. "I'm really sorry that I didn't consider your feelings."
"Hannah has seen much worse, seriously." Amber said, inspecting me with her Sherlock Holmes eyes. She cupped my chin, looking at me with microscopic eyes, searching for any calamities of last night.
"I never really thought about you really. I'm... really sorry. Megan, are you okay?" Pam continued, in spite of Amber's hot glare on her.
"It's okay, Pam." I assured her, trying to get away from Amber's hold, but she wouldn't budge an inch. "I'm frankly alright."
Amber held my face in both her hands tightly, making the jolt of pain hit me back with greater force than before as she studied me testing if I was telling the truth or not.
"You are hurting me." I managed to whimper, with my teeth clutched tightly together. But Amber didn't let go.
"I can smell alcohol and I remember Pamela telling me that you had been drinking since you saw him. But your eyes are a little livelier considering your crying last night. No bad dreams then?" She asked, as I winced under her hold.
"But I smell eggs." Pam said, making Amber let go of me and turn towards her to check if she was right.
When Amber turned towards me again, her eyes had lit up the way I had never seen before—not even when she told me that Zack had proposed to her. "You are cooking again? So, no more noodles?" she asked.
Before I could answer her questions or even before she could do the math and guess the situation, Miles came to the living room, with my old apron tied on his chest. "Hey, you guessed all right, except for me." He said, with a smile on his face.
"You...?" Pam stuttered blinking at him. "Aren't you... you..."
"What are you doing here?" Amber asked, suspiciously holding me closer to her.
"That was more like a question I was expecting." He said, wiping his hands on the apron. "While you are at it, would you guys like some scrambled eggs?"
Both of the girls looked at me, silently asking me the same question they had been asking him. I shrugged at them and went to the kitchen. All the three of them followed behind.
Miles's phone rang loudly. He took it out from his pocket and for a brief second, I saw a flash of irritation pass through him. He looked at me in instant realization and when he caught me looking at him, he gave me a smile.
"I need to get this call." He said, and he excused himself before he took the call. He went inside the bedroom to have some privacy.
I was a little worried about the call. I had seen Miles stay in control most of the times and that one call had made him feel so stressed out. Who was it? Did his unplanned stay here disturb his previous plans? Was I responsible for that call to disturb his sanctuary? Was it another woman?
"What the—" Amber's mouth was open and was staring at the trail that Miles left behind.
I had forgotten that I had audience looking at me with gaping mouths and surprised eyes. Pam was looking at the way Miles had gone in, still in the shock that she had seen my ex in the house after all the fight we had seen yesterday, while Amber was still debating if it was a good idea to have let me alone with Miles last night.
"He came over to apologize... I had taken the tablets and I fell asleep." I muttered. "I don't know the details after that..."
"He's so hot." Pam said in a dreamy voice as Amber hit her playfully.
"Pam!" She whisper-shouted. "He's already taken."
I saw her wink at Pam and Pam gave me a knowing smile. I could neither accept it nor could I deny it. I shook my head at them, as I went to get the eggs to put them in the plate.
"Sorry girls." Miles said, looking over his phone as he came back finishing his calls. "Duty calls. I should get going though."
Both the girls were looking at Miles as if he would vanish into thin air if they as much as blinked.
"I know this one. But you are?" He asked pointed at Pamela.
I could see Pamela blush as Miles directed his attention to her. "I'm Pamela... but you can call me Pam. I mean... most of them do."
Miles gave his famous smirk. "Pam it is then. It's a pleasure meeting you. I'm Miles Jackson." He extended his hands for her to shake.
Pamela looked at me for a fraction of a second before she hesitantly shook his hand. "I know who you are. I mean I've seen you on television. I even saw you on the party at PrimeTown and... yesterday."
"Look, I'm really sorry about yesterday." He looked at all three of us. "You know what, you say my name the next time you are there in the hotel and the food's on the house."
"Always trying to buy your way out." Amber muttered, crossing her hands across her chest.
"You'll stay for a bite?" I asked motioning Miles, trying my best to not give my attention to the details of yesterday.
He looked at me, and I could see his expression change slightest bit. "Sorry, I've this meeting due in half hour. I need to get going." He turned towards Pam, with a soft smile. "Hope to see you around?"
"I'm going back home today." She said in a sad voice. "My mother is not feeling quite well." She added.
"Oh, I hope she recovers soon." He said as he turned to me for a nod before he took off, throwing the apron at Amber on the way.
"Hey!" she cried. "I won't even get a hello now?"
"I know you miss flirting with me, Amb." He said walking out, sparing a smirk at her. "Marrying has its own disadvantages, right?"
"You are an idiot!" She shouted back, but all I could hear from him was laughter.
"Hey wait," I called. "I'll walk you out." I gave a pointed look to both the girls before I reached for Miles.
When I reached out, he was waiting for me at the door. "Megan, I wish I could stay."
"Yeah, those eggs do look yummy." I said, giving a look at the kitchen.
Miles laughed, shaking his head. "You do know I didn't mean that, right?"
I put my head low. I knew exactly what he meant. It had been so long since we had laughed together, and I had forgotten how it felt to be laughing with him. "Thank you for staying. I'm glad you came." I said and before he could respond, I pulled him in for a hug.
He was startled for a second, but he recovered quickly, holding me tightly in place. I took a deep breath and tried to keep each and every second etched in my memory. I was scared to finally wake up and find out it was all a dream.
He held me by my waist, burying his head in the crook of my neck. I circled my hand around his neck and closed my eyes. As he let go of me, his dark eyes bored into mine. "Anything for you, darling."
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A/N: Finally they have forgiven each other. But will that be enough?
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