Chapter 59

Noah blinked and slowly opened his eyes.He was surprised to find himself on the couch in his living room.He stretched his arms as he slowly sat up. Once he got back from the club last night,he had fell flat on the couch and slept off.He didn’t drink much last night but he had slept barely after taking off his shoes because he was upset. He had thought sleeping it off would make him feel better.But now he was back to the reality of thinking of how to please a certain woman.A very lovely woman. How was he supposed to prove that he was different from Tristan? Noah sighed as he took off his jacket.He looked around the living room for his cellphone but there was no sign of it. Rubbing his temple,frustratedly,he tried to recall where he had kept it. A beep sound startled him and he realized it came from under the couch. Reaching for it,he found his cellphone under the couch.It must’ve fallen when he fell asleep haphazardly on the couch. It was a text from his secretary reminding him of the meeting happening in an hour’s time. He realized that there was more texts. From Zoe. The sight of her name made him jump to his feet. Zoe:I’m sorry about how I reacted towards finding out that you’re friends with Tristan.It was wrong to judge you like that. Zoe:Why aren’t you replying? Zoe:I know you’re upset but can you please reply? Zoe:It seems you’re no longer interested in me.Goodbye then. Her texts had thirty minutes interval and the last one was sent at 2:am this morning. Noah panicked. Had he kept her checking on her phone all night? He wanted to hit himself for fall asleep.He quickly dialed her number. She didn’t pick up on the first ring so he tried again. He swallowed when she picked up. “Hello.”She began,coldly. “Zoe,I am so sorry.I didn’t ignore your texts on purpose.I was asleep and my phone was under the couch.I am not making this up,believe me.”He said in a hurry. “How am I supposed to believe that?” “The texts didn’t appear to be read from your end,right?I think that should only mean I didn’t see them until now.” At the other end of the call,Zoe finally considered that fact. None of the texts she send last night was read but she had stayed up panicking about being ignoring. She winded,feeling a bit desperate but she pretended to be cool and collective. “Did you stay up late waiting for me to reply?”Noah teased with a smile.He was feeling important to her now.And he was sure she had feelings for him. “I didn’t.”She denied. “But you were anxiously waiting for my reply?”He pressed on. “Did you call me to tease me,you jerk?”Zoe laughed. He laughed too.”Nope.I called to say that I’m not angry at you for judging me and I was wondering if you know,you’d like to hang out tonight?” “If my schedule permits.”Zoe snapped. Noah found her “playing hard to get” cute. “So does it?” “I’ll have to check.” “Well,let me know before noon.” “Sure.” Noah hung up with a smile still on his face.He really likes the girl and he loved the way she makes his heart race. ******************* *THREE DAYS LATER* *CORA* While my dad was still watching me before fully deciding to let me go on a trip,I decided to go shopping in advance for my trip. I had wanted to go shopping because I felt suffocated staying home.I needed to have some fun,plus,Zoe had gone shopping with me which made it even more fun. I had decided to go to Venice.I needed to charge my mental and physical batteries during the trip.I was still so young,I couldn’t let anything break me. “And then we went to the movies.I didn’t take Noah to be into romance movies but he’s so into it and we couldn’t stop talking about the movie on our way back.And then he officially asked me to be his girlfriend.”Zoe was telling me all about her date with Noah about three days back. “Did you say yes?”I asked. “I told him I’ll think about it and he told me he needed to do something to make me say yes.Guess what he think?” “What?”I reached for a swimsuit,still paying attention to Zoe. “He kissed me.God,Cora,when he kissed me,I could literally feel myself melting and I didn’t want it to end.When it did end though,I didn’t say yes to him.” I laughed.”What is holding you back,Zoe?” “Nothing really.I just love playing hard to get and teasing him but this man literally texted me every hour of the night,giving me reasons after reasons as to how good a boyfriend he’ll be.” I smiled as I watched her talk on and on.I felt envious of Zoe,in a good way though. I was happy for her because she looked so excited and delightful right now but deep down,I wished I had someone who could make me so happy just by talking about him. “So when we met up yesterday,I said yes to him.” I beamed at her.”Finally,Zoe has met someone who swept her off her feet,completely.”I teased. She smiled.”We might have just started dating but is it silly to wish that Noah and I will last.” “It’s not silly.And I’m rooting for the two of you.”I cooed. We bought a lot of stuff and headed for the parking lot. Zoe helped me get the bags into my car.She got a call from the office and had to hurried off to her car. I waved at her as she sped off.Suddenly,I saw the door of a Maybach opened and Tristan walked out. What was he doing here? Not wanting to have any interaction with him,I walked over to the driver’s seat. “Cora.”He called. I quickly opened the door but he slammed it shut. “I’ve been waiting for you.I’ve been wanting to talk to you for weeks now.” Without staring at him,I asked.”So you followed me to this mall.” “Yes,I just want us to talk.” Talk? What could I possibly talk about with my ex-husband? I raised my head to stare at his face and all I could feel was pain. Pain,hate and anger. Because all of a sudden,I had an imagination.I imagined us being happily married and then I’ll find out I was with his child.I’ll tell him about it and then we’ll both be happy,we’ll joyfully plan for the arrival of our child. That imagination faded because it was something that didn’t happened and it was something that was never going to happen. He had made it clear he never loved me when he choose to be with Phoebe on our anniversary.We got divorced and he mercilessly tormented my life.He made me witness bringing his lover to his house.He humiliated too much.He made my life hard and caused me so much pain. I was never going to forgive him. I didn’t care if he came for my father’s company again.Having a miscarriage had hurt me so much and I felt nothing he’d do would hurt me more than that. He could come at me with anything.I didn’t care anymore. “We have nothing to talk about,Tristan.” “Cora,I…” “Stay the fuck away from me!”I thundered,pushed him out of my way with all my strength and got into my car. As I drove off,I tried my best not to cry. I was never going to shed another tear because of that man!