Chapter 5: THAT BOY WAS GONE
Chapter 5
Lumi
I didn’t know how I felt watching him leave, but one thing I knew for sure was that he wasn’t going to come back.
And I genuinely didn’t want him to. Neve had tried, he had done his duty and now everyone could move on.
But I have never been more wrong in my life.
Because this is the forth day and he has come back every single time, same hour, same bike pulling up slow outside like a growl announcing itself, same blank face, same single nod when I open the door and tell him I don’t need a babysitter, and the same long walk back to that bike like he couldn’t care less either way.
Three days in a row. I don’t understand him and I don’t want to.
Today especially, I really didn’t want him to come.
I’d woken up with a kind of irritation and I didn’t know the reason.
My wolf hadn’t helped because she had been completely silent.
I don’t know why she wouldn’t talk to me, why she’s always so silent even when I need her.
We were supposed to have eachothers back. I let out a scoff at the thought, my irritation building up more.
Then there’s Callum who wouldn’t stop calling or texting for days now. My phone would always light up on the nightstand at odd hours, pulling me out of the thin, restless sleep I had managed to find.
I hadn’t picked up a single call neither had I read a single message and I wasn’t going to, because there was nothing he could say to me that I wanted to hear and there was nothing I wanted to say to him either.
We had nothing left to talk about, he should leave me the fuck alone.
Neve and I had been talking every day since she left. True to her word, she called every morning before her shift started and sometimes in the evenings too when she had a few minutes.
The contract had stretched longer than either of us expected, pulling her in deeper, and when the permanent offer came through I made sure she heard me clearly.
"Take it," I said, the same way I had said it before she left.
"Lumi..."
"Neve. Take it."
She had gone quiet for a moment and then said, "you sound better," like it surprised her.
I told her I was sleeping more, which was half true, and she let it go because she knows me well enough to know when to push and when to leave things alone.
But she wouldn’t listen about Ren.
I had told her plainly. I told her to tell him to stop coming because I was fine on my own and I didn’t need someone sitting outside my door every day like I was a job he had been assigned and resented.
She had laughed soft and warm through the phone, and said, "let him come, Lumi," I hadn’t argued further.
I just made sure I was at the door before he could knock each time.
I stood up, brushed my teeth and went to look for what to eat. Anything at all will do.
I was sitting with my coffee at the kitchen table when my phone lit up and Neve’s name appeared on the screen, I smiled before I even picked it up.
"Hey," I said.
"Hey yourself. How are you actually?"
"I’m okay."
"That’s not what I asked." I wrapped both hands around my mug and brought it to my lips, took a sip before replying.
"I’m holding it together," I said, which was closer to the truth.
"That’s my girl." She paused. "Has Ren come by?"
My jaw tightened slightly. "No."
"Lumi."
"I don’t want to see him, Neve." She took few breaths.
"We’ve spoken about this, Lumi. Ren’s not your enemy." My eyes went to the top of the counter.
"I never said he was."
"He’s family," she said, firmly but gently. "He’s been checking on you because I asked him to and also because he wanted to. I need you to stop greeting him at the door like he’s a problem." I said nothing because I didn’t know what to reply.
"Do you remember," she continued, softer now, "how close you two used to be? Back then, before everything? You used to drag him everywhere. You two were inseparable half the summer."
I did remember. Of course I remembered. He used to be quiet in a different way back then.
He used to trail behind me and Neve through long evenings without complaint. He used to be my little boy and we were truly inseparable.
But that boy was gone.
The Ren now was something else. He looked at the world like he was deciding whether it was worth the effort. He was rough and hard and nothing like my Ren.
I wasn’t going to say any of that to Neve.
"Okay," I said instead.
"Okay what?"
"Okay, I won’t be rude to him if he comes."
She exhaled. "Thank you. That’s all I’m asking."
"You ask for too much." She laughed again, and I smiled into my coffee.
For a few more minutes we talked about nothing in particular, the job, the weather, whether I had eaten anything real, and then we said our goodbyes and she hung up.
The house was quiet again but then immediately, my phone rang.
I didn’t even look at the screen. I assumed she had forgotten to say something and picked it up without thinking.
"What is it again?" I said, already smiling. "I need you to focus more on your job so you don’t get fired."
"Lumi." The smile on my face varnished, my stomach clench.
