Chapter 43: NO ONE KNOWS WHAT’S WRONG
Chapter 44
Lumi
A blinding spike of pain shot directly behind my eyes the exact second I tried to move my head.
I groaned, my face buried deep into my pillow, squeezing my eyelids shut as the room layout seemed to tilt and spin beneath me.
My mouth felt completely dry and my throat burned with every swallow.
The unmistakable, heavy weight of a massive hangover was pressing down on my chest, making even the simple act of breathing feel like an exhausting chore.
I rolled onto my back with a miserable sigh, and that was when the floodgates opened.
Memories of the previous night came rushing into my brain in violent, jagged fragments.
The pulsing lights of the club. The stranger’s heavy, rough hand clamping onto my bare arm in the dark alleyway. The terrifying, brutal sound of Ren’s knuckles breaking his jaw.
And then, the apartment.
My chest tightened as the memory of the living room came back with humiliating clarity. I remembered standing on the sofa cushions just to look down at him.
I remembered the desperate, raw taste of his lips against mine, the tang of blood, and the low, animalistic growl that had vibrated out of his chest before he forcefully pulled away.
"I am not going to be the man you use to escape a ghost."
His final words echoed in the quiet of my bedroom, sharp enough to make my stomach twist into a painful knot.
I raised a trembling hand and smacked myself firmly across the forehead, letting out a muffled shout into the empty room.
"Stupid," I muttered to myself, my voice sounding rough and cracked. "So incredibly stupid."
Why the fuck did I kiss him? That was so stupid of me. Ren was a no go area that even my drunk self shouldn’t cross.
I forced my eyes open, blinking against the harsh morning light filtering through the window curtains.
I scrambled blindly around the mattress until my fingers brushed against the cold metal of my phone. The screen lit up, and the sight of the notifications made me winced.
There were several missed calls and a string of urgent text messages from Neve.
*Lumi, where are you?*
*Are you okay? Did you get home safe?*
*Did Ren take you home?*
*Please text me as soon as you see this, I’m getting worried.*
I stared at the glowing screen for a long moment, my thumb hovering over the keypad.
My brain was pounding far too hard to form a coherent sentence, and the thought of explaining any part of last night made my head throb with renewed violence.
I couldn’t handle it yet. I dropped the phone back onto the sheets, deciding I needed to handle the physical pain in my body before I could even attempt to face the emotional disaster waiting for me.
Dragging my heavy limbs out of bed, I shivered as the cool air hit my skin. I was still wearing a oversized t-shirt I had blindly thrown on after Ren walked out, and my bare feet felt numb against the floorboards.
I walked into the kitchen, the bright light bouncing off the white countertops making me shield my eyes.
The apartment was completely, devastatingly quiet. There was no sound of footsteps, no rumbling voice from the hallway, and no smell of coffee brewing.
The silence was a loud reminder that I had successfully and stupidly pushed away the only person who had consistently shown up to save me.
I opened the medicine cabinet with a steady hand, rummaging through the plastic bottles until my fingers found the painkillers.
I popped two of the tablets into my mouth, filled a glass to the brim with tap water, and stepped it down in one long, desperate gulp. The cool liquid felt like heaven against my parched throat, and I leaned heavily against the kitchen sink, waiting for the medicine to dissolve and numb the sharp edges of my headache.
Once the throbbing in my temples began to dull into a manageable ache, I walked back into my bedroom and picked up the phone.
Deep down, I knew I couldn’t keep Neve waiting. She didn’t deserve to be caught in the crossfire of whatever broken dynamic was happening between her brother and me.
I pressed her name and placed the phone against my ear, listening to the steady ring. She picked up on the very second beep.
"Lumi! Oh my god, thank goodness," Neve’s voice came rushing through the line, packed with so much energetic concern that I had to pull the phone a few inches away from my ear.
"Are you alright? I was losing my mind. I called Ren too, but he didn’t pick up. What happened after I left the table?"
I swallowed the lump in my throat, forcing my voice to sound as light and casual as possible.
"I’m fine, Neve. Honestly. I just drank a bit too much and ended up heading back early. My phone was dead, and I’ve just been sleeping off the worst hangover of my life."
"Are you sure?" she asked, her tone slowing down, laced with suspicion. "Because Ren looked like he was ready to murder someone when he went to find you. Did you guys get into it?"
"We just had a small disagreement about me leaving the club," I lied smoothly, the guilt twisting tightly in my gut. "You know how protective he gets. It’s nothing, really. I’m completely fine."
"Okay..." Neve sighed, sounding relieved but not entirely convinced. "If you say so. I’ll be staying with Damon’s for the day, so I won’t be back until later tonight. Drink lots of water, okay?"
"I will. Bye, Neve."
The moment the call ended, I let my hand drop to my side.
A dark wave of memories tried to push its way back to the surface.
But I firmly clenched my jaw and pushed the thoughts straight back into the dark corners of my mind. I refused to go down that road today. I couldn’t afford to fall apart.
I marched into the bathroom, turning the shower dial until the water was steaming hot.
I stripped off my clothes and stepped under the heavy spray, letting the heat scald my skin and wash away the lingering scent of the club, the cheap alcohol, and the faint, intoxicating memory of Ren’s touch.
I scrubbed my skin until it was flushed red, using the physical sensation to anchor myself to the present.
When I stepped out, I dressed in something simple, professional, and completely structured.
A pair of tailored trousers and a crisp, button-down shirt. It felt like putting on armor.
I grabbed my car keys, my purse, and my phone, heading out the front door without glancing back at the sofa.
I walked down to the garage, got into my car, and turned the key in the ignition. The engine roared to life, a steady, solid sound that gave me something to focus on.
Before heading to the office, I drove through a quiet bakery on the corner, purchasing a hot cup of black coffee and a plain pastry.
I ate it slowly in the driver’s seat, staring out at the busy London traffic, forcing my mind to focus entirely on the mundane routine of breakfast.
By the time I parked the car outside the office building, the hangover had mostly subsided into a dull, distant hum.
I pulled my shoulders back, checked my expression in the rearview mirror to ensure the dark circles under my eyes were covered, and stepped out into the crisp morning air.
There was a business to start. Last night was a mistake born from liquor and weakness, but today was a clean slate.
For the first time in weeks, Ren didn’t show up.
I sat at the desk I was making use of for now, staring at the empty space where his massive frame usually towered, and let out a long, quiet breath.
I was grateful. I didn’t need him around, and I certainly didn’t need the suffocating weight of his dark eyes watching my every move.
I could handle the workers and daily stress entirely by myself, not that there was anything other than monitoring the worker to be done.
My plan was already set in stone: whenever I finally did see him, I would simply act like I didn’t remember a single thing from last night. I would blame the shots, laugh it off as a drunken blank space, and erase it.
Surprisingly, as the hours ticked by, the memories didn’t haunt me nearly as much as I expected.
I unwrapped the lunch I brought, ate my food quietly at my desk, and went straight back to work.
Focus was my shield. By the time I glanced at the clock and realized I and the workers had finished everything ahead of schedule.
A small, victorious smile touched my lips. I grabbed my purse, locked up every where, and headed down to the parking lot.
The drive started out peacefully. With the work distraction gone, my thoughts naturally drifted to the only thing that truly mattered.
Theo.
God, I missed my little boy so much. It felt like an eternity since I had held him, since I had heard his sweet, bubbly laughter.
A warm, desperate ache bloomed in my chest. I couldn’t wait for the day when the legal mess would finally be over, when the dust would settle, and he would be completely, officially mine again.
Just the thought of his small hand gripping my finger made me press my foot a little firmer on the gas pedal, eager to just get back to the apartment and check his pictures.
Suddenly, the loud, piercing ring of my phone shattered the silence of the car.
I glanced down at the dashboard screen. The caller ID showed the name of a former colleague from my old workplace, someone I hadn’t heard a single word from since the entire incident with Callum and Sienna happened.
My brow furrowed in confusion. I clicked the Bluetooth steering wheel button to answer the call. "Hello?"
"Lumi? Oh wow, you actually picked up," her voice came through the speakers, laced with a strange mix of hesitation and judgmental curiosity.
"Look, I know we haven’t spoken for a while, but I just had to call you. Seriously, where have you been?"
"What do you mean?" I asked, my grip tightening on the steering wheel as a sudden, uneasy feeling crawled up my spine.
"I’ve been away, handling things." She let out a sharp, disbelief-filled scoff through the line.
"Well, yeah, but even if you’re furious with Callum, does that mean you wouldn’t even come to see your own son? I mean, completely abandoning him at a time like this is just..."
"Abandoning him?" My heart violently dropped into my stomach, the blood completely rushing out of my face. "What are you talking about? Theo is with Callum."
"Lumi, don’t play dumb with me," she sighed, her tone turning into a classic office gossip whisper.
"Theo has been incredibly sick for a while now. It’s bad. Callum and Sienna have been running around like crazy, taking him to multiple hospitals all over the city, but absolutely no one knows what is wrong with him.
The doctors can’t find anything. Everyone at the old office is talking about it, and we were all wondering how you could just stay away while your little boy is suffering like this." The world inside the car completely stopped spinning.
The air vanished from my lungs, leaving me entirely suffocated as her words pounded against my ears.
