Chapter Fifty-Five

Alex

I had to go home earlier because of Katie's sickness and I knew that it must have been difficult for Suzy even though she assured me that Lia would help her out. I texted her with every little spare time Thai I got to know how she was coping and she sounded fine but I knew that it was necessary for me to be with her especially now her daughter was sick.

The traffic jam was a must on days like this, well, I managed to make it through the traffic jam a bit earlier. When I got home, Kevin and Lia were already there with Suzy and the girls.

"Wow, the house is full of people." I said as I came in then I shook Kevin's hand while he carried Kasey who was already sleeping then I hugged Lia before I went over to where Suzy sat with Katie in her arms.

"Lily..." I said in a small voice before I sat down beside her and kissed her cheeks.

"How's Katie?...I'm so sorry I came back a bit late, traffic was really bad." I said then I carried Katie from her.

"She's becoming better at least but her appetite is still low." she said then she carried Kasey from Kevin and went upstairs. Her temperature was normal now, at least that's a positive response to the treatment she was getting.

When she came back from laying Kasey to sleep in her bed she sat beside me and just stared at me.

"Lia come with me, let's serve dinner." she said after some minutes of staring at me then she stood up and Lia followed suit as they went over to the kitchen.

The silence was really awkward, I didn't even know what to say, I had a lot going on in my head.

"Dude, you seem a bit off, what's wrong?" Kevin whispered to me after the ladies left for the kitchen. I heaved a sigh and looked at him, truly he could see that I wasn't alright.

"Just having a tough time at work." I said and rubbed my forehead with my other hand because I carried Katie.

"How tough is it? Is Mr. Darvey disturbing again?" he asked.

"Well, I can't tell how tough it is now, but it's tough. Mr. Darvey wants to merge the publishing house with our rival publishing house. Well, it's not really a good thing but it's the only solution we have instead of just shutting down. We've gone bankrupt. I think Mr. Darvey took a loan and it's somehow affected the capital of the company. That's ...I don't just know what to say...some workers will be laid off after this month." I said, trying to explain to him how tough my situation was.

"That's a tough one really. I feel you bro. You'll be fine. I trust you. Just relax, everything will be fine okay." he said before Lia came in.

"Guys, dinner is served com'on." she said smiling at Kevin then she went back to the dining room or Kitchen I don't know.

We ate almost in silence, I think everyone was just not in the mood for any form of discussion like me, maybe. I just wanted my space, I needed to think clearly. Suzy forced Katie to eat her baby food, I don't know what it was, but it looked like kids cereal. When we were done eating, Suzy and Lia went upstairs to maybe take Katie to bed because she slept off after Suzy gave her medicine.

"I should be going now." Lia said to me then she looked at Kevin.

"Dude... calm down okay, everything will be fine." Kevin whispered when he came to hug me. He headed out with Lia and we exchanged goodnights before I locked the door and went up to my room so that I could have shower.

When I came out from shower, Suzy was already lying down on the bed but she faced the wall, it was unlike her. She normally faced towards the room because she loved watching me whenever I was getting ready for bed. What was with the sudden change of attitude? I had to think back to remember if I said anything hurtful to her and my head couldn't grasp anything. I remember that I apologized for coming back home a bit late. I seriously didn't need this now, especially now. I had much on my head already. I just wore my pajamas pants quietly then I laid down beside her. I was quiet for sometime, I didn't even know how to respond to this situation now because I haven't seen her angry before. This was the first time, wasn't comfortable and I couldn't sleep, I think the sleep was far away. I needed to be sure that I wasn't the reason behind her anger or whatever this was.

I tried again to just sleep but after some minutes of stirring from side to side on the bed i decided to at least ask.

"Lily..." I called quietly. She didn't answer me. I called her again and placed my hand on her arm she didn't answer me. Oh! now I know that I'm the reason behind this anger, but seriously I don't know what I did to her. I know I didn't say anything bad to her or was she angry because I came back late? But I apologized.

"Lily, I know you are awake and you can hear me. What did I do? You are acting strange since I came back from work today. Did I say something that I shouldn't have said? Talk to me please, so that I can say sorry." I said and hopefully waited for her to say something.

"When were you planning to tell me that you were having a problem at work?" she said quietly then she turned to face me.

"Oh shit!, I didn't tell you that so how did you know." I asked.

"That's what I'm asking, when were you planning on telling me that?" she said. I just stared at her.

"Okay, I'm sorry. I just didn't want to disturb you with my troubles, you know. That's why I've been coming back home late recently." I said. She looked at me, she was just calm and it was scary.

"I'm sorry but were you evesdropping on my discussion with Kevin?" I asked.

"Lia heard when Kevin was telling you that everything will be alright...that sort of comfort talk then she told me you might be having trouble at work. Nothing much so I decided to ask." she said and shrugged.

"But you know you can tell me anything right. Alex we are dating now and it automatically means that we share the joy and pain together. Talk to me about what you go through so that at least I can comfort you. Just hiding it from me and suffering inside won't do any good in this relationship. You were there for me when I was sad so tell me why you can trust me to be here for you at trying times like this. I'm kinda angry at you but I'll let it slide today because I don't want to add to your problems." she said and pouted her mouth.

"I'm so sorry, Lily. Hope you've forgiven me?" I said and tickled her.

"Yes..Stop that." she said laughing as I tickled her. When I stopped she kissed my lips gently then she hugged me.

"I'm her for you okay? Don't hide things from me, it'll get me mad at you and I hate being mad at you cuz it hurts me." she said still hugging me tightly. I held her for some minutes then I kissed her forehead.

"I won't hide anything from you again, I promise okay." I assured her then I cuddled her till she slept off with her head on my chest. I felt so peaceful, I think I could sleep now and I was already sleepy and happy that I've sorted things out with my drama queen.