“I’ll listen to her, ‘cause I know how it hurts.”
If I were a boy ~ by Beyonce

“What was that all about?” Hadid asks, coming closer to meet me at the spot I’ve been standing in for the past two minutes, watching Noah leave.

“He wants me to come with him to his family Christmas reunion this year,” I reply.

“What? When do you leave?”

“Tomorrow.”

He moves to stand in front of me. “Not to alarm you or anything, but isn’t Luke also going to be there?”

I nod and wrap my arms around myself. “I’m pretty sure he would.”

“I don’t need to tell you that this is a bad move, loving someone is one thing, having them love you back as hard as Luke does is another and being under the same roof might just not be the best right now, at least not until the contract is over.”

Luke and I stopped communicating when I told him to stop calling to check up on me a few weeks ago. He did nothing wrong. I just couldn’t help wanting more whenever we talked. I wanted him to be close, and I wanted him to come to hold me and touch me, and I couldn’t think straight. It hurt to tell him not to call anymore, but I was a mess and I had to make him hear and understand my reasons. Luke, being the man he is, was more than willing to put everything on hold for me. We haven’t seen each other since the last time I was drunk and the family reunion in Noah’s arms isn’t a good image.

I shrug and walk away from him, but he follows. “I don’t know what to do. I know the risks, but what choices do I have that will not make me look like I’m hiding something? The contract is 9 more days. I’ve survived the past few months. Well, I think I will survive the next 9 days.”

“This is bad.”

“Yeah, well, tell me about it.”

“Are you going to go get your things ready, then?”

“No, Wesley has already put them together.”

Hadid goes over to his girlfriend and I watch Alex and mom smashing the cake to each other’s faces before wiping it off and kissing each other.

The cake fight is the last rite of the Jacksons Alex family before the newlyweds would begin their journey to their honeymoon destination.

“I’m all covered. I’m a cake!” Mom groans with a half-angry, half cheerful look.

“Happy marriage life, mom,” I said, smiling widely.

She smiles back, “Thanks Avril, I’d hug you, but don’t want you smeared with this, too.” She points to the cake all over her face and gown.

The white gown she’d worn for the reception is now covered with both pink and chocolate colour and if you think about it, it looks great.

I’m so grateful everything from the morning till now had been perfect and I hope nothing ruins that. “It’s okay, I know you do.”

“Is something wrong, child?” She asks, her eyes dimming as a concerned frown settles on it.

I shake my head, “No, I’m just going to miss you, that’s all.” I say the first quick reply that crosses my mind.

There’s a sadness that appears on her face and stays as I say this. “I’ll call you every chance I get.”

Alex comes over to us. His white long sleeve is also smeared with pink and chocolate colour as well as his brown hair and wraps his arms around his wife, who doesn’t complain and pulls her closer.

“Shall we go?” He asks, with eyes filled with want and desires.

“Yes, sure. Need to wash this all off my skin is already crawling.” Mom replies and we all walk over to the limo, waiting for them. “Bye Avril, take care of Hadid and Wesley. They need you.”

“I’ll try,” I mumble.

“Thanks for everything, Avril,” Alex says with a grateful look before entering the car.

“You’re welcome,” I wave to them until they disappeared from my view. I turn and began to walk into the house.

“The world just got a little happier,” Wesley says from the door where he stands watching me and he opens the door for me to enter.

“Better them than us.”

“I know, right?” He hisses in frustration, “It’s bad.”

“Not as bad as knowing you work for Noah, though,” I reply, feeling the tear in my chest all over again.

He stops walking and looks at me with a dimmed eye, “What?”

I groan and raise my hand. “Don’t do that Wesley, I know the truth. I’ve known the truth for a while now. So please don’t treat me like a fool and lie to my face.”

Over the last couple of weeks, I started picking up hints that Wesley could work for Noah and might not be who we think he is.

Three weeks ago, we were in the kitchen we were when his phone rang with a private ID. He picked it up, and I excused him. As I walked to the kitchen door, I paused and my curiosity got the better of me because I listened to Wesley say some things he wasn’t supposed to say.

“I was busy. Maybe that was why I didn’t see the first ring.”

There’s a pause on his line as he listens to what the other person on the line was saying.

“No, not really. We’ve been home all day, we haven’t left the house. We are making chicken stew. You should come and join us.”

“She’s fine. The only people she’s been around are me and her best friend, Hadid.”

“Stop calling me with a private number, or she might get suspicious. Here’s my advice don’t call me at all.”

I didn’t have to be a genius to figure out he was feeding someone information about me, and my first thought was to call him out on it, but I talked and convinced myself not to take it too far.

When I asked him who it was that was calling, he said it was Luke calling to check up on me since I was no longer picking up his calls. I wanted to ask more questions, but I decided I’ll let the matter drop.

I picked up the truth when Noah had walked in on us kissing and instead of an out roar, he just shrugged it off. I didn’t buy him ‘you’re helping a friend figure out if he’s straight or curious bullshit.’ Noah would have taken it the wrong way if he’d seen me helping Jesus tie his sandals.

I went through Wesley’s things, his phone and room, which I wasn’t proud of at first, but when I found calls from the number so many times and I copied the number and dialled only to have Noah pick up on the other line.

The wedding preparation was still going on and I didn’t want anything to ruin that and so I let everything stay quiet. Now that the wedding is up, the truth has come out.

He pressed his lips together and his head drops, “I’m sorry Avril.”

Painful laughter slips through my lips, and I shake my head. “You know, Hadid called me a fool for not seeing the truth all this while, and I thought he was the bad guy.”

“It’s not that simple?”

“What part? Lying? Acting like my friend when you’re the last thing?!” I slam, my voice rising more than I intend it to.

“Avril -“

I take a deep breath, and when I speak again, I try to be as calm as possible. “There’s just one thing I don’t get, why you haven’t told him about Luke yet.”

“He doesn’t deserve to know, when I accepted to work for him, I thought he was the one hurting and I thought you were the bad guy, then I got to know you and you were close to the bad guy.”

“Is anything you’ve told me in the past about yourself true?” Did you even have feelings for Hadid, or was that just a cover story?"

“I liked Hadid and everything I’ve ever told you about me is true, but it may not have happened the way I said them.”

“Why haven’t you told him about Luke!” I demand “and don’t you dare give me he doesn’t deserve to know bullshit.”

He nod and his head drop to the floor, “Because I liked you. I liked you even before my wild day with other girls, but you were the first girl I liked when I came to Leeds and I saw an opportunity to be around you that will pay and I took it.”

“My father disowned me many months ago when he got a picture of me shagging a boy at a casino after he got the News of me gambling almost a million pounds away in one night. I regretted it, but I had to move on. And find my way. Six months later, Noah approached me with an offer I couldn’t resist keeping a close eye on you. To know you more, I had to know everything about you including Hadid and that was when I fell for Hadid and no the way I told you I felt about him wasn’t a lie, I had feelings for Hadid I still do and I think I always will.”

I don’t think I’ve ever felt this outraged and irritated all at the same time. “You’re even sicker than I thought.” I cringe uncontrollably.

He looks at me with a remorseful look. “You don’t have to believe me, and you have every right to hate and despise me. I know I would feel the same, but it’s the truth. That was why I told you to kiss me the other day. Kissing you made me realise the feeling is still there, and I know you probably hate my guts, but I’m sorry.”

At this point, I don’t care if he dies because he’s dead to me. I can’t stand another minute seeing him, so I walk away from him, but I stop to say one last thing to him.

“Get your things together ‘cause I want you gone when I wake up tomorrow morning; if you don’t, I’ll do something that we both are going to regret.”

“I’ll do just that. I just want to let you know. I’m sorry.”

I couldn’t find it in me to reply, so I didn’t. I walk away to my room and begin the countdown of hours till tomorrow, the beginning of the rest 9 days in hell.