CHAPTER 18

"Why are you walking home?" He asked, driving slowly besides me, as I continued my walk.

"Nothing, just felt like."

"Are you okay?" His attention was divided between staring at me, and concentrating on the road.

"No, I'm not!!" I screamed in my head, if only he could hear my thoughts but unfortunately it was impossible.

"Yeah, I'm okay." I replied, nodding reassuringly as I smiled at him.

"You don't seem fine to me though but anyways, let me give you a ride home." He offered, as I stopped besides the car which was no longer moving; I wouldn't want to be the cause of any accident.

"Don't worry about it, I'm fine."

"If you were, you'd know that walking to your house at this pace would take you twelve hours." He was right. I hadn't even thought about that.

"I'll just take a bus. Just leave me alone."

"I'd leave you alone only after you've allowed me take you home safe and sound."

Realizing he would continue to be a nuisance to my thoughts, and he didn't seem to back down either, I decided to take up the offer for a ride.

Having seated besides me, he smiled comfortingly at me, as he helped strapped the seat belt across me.

Wipe that annoying smile off your face jerk!!

WRITER'S CORNER

"Yeah, let it hurt. Cry as much as you want and feel the pain ten times worser than this. Only then will you be mine, Valerie." Ramsey's subconscious said softly, as he smiled reassuringly at Valerie who looked at him with confused eyes.

She couldn't fathom why he was smiling that way, nor why she was angry and at the same time happy seeing him smile. Maybe her desire for a friendly smile was met with Ramsey sudden appearance.

"Are you hungry?" He asked, as she gripped onto her stomach which rumbled under her fingers.

She nodded a response, as she hadn't had time to eat anything tangible for hours. Daemon had been the only thing on her mind and she needed the strength to cry over him properly. Ramsey drove off into the busy streets, away from the school.

"Let's have a late lunch here." Ramsey smiled, as the car pulled up in front of a restaurant.

He helped her with the door, as she followed slowly behind him into the restaurant, where she immediately buried her face into a plate of food.

"How do you feel now?" He asked, not allowing his gaze fall on anything aside her face.

"I'm okay, thank you." She said, looking up at the man who wouldn't stop staring.

"You're not eating? The food really tastes nice, you know."

"I already had something to eat before coming over."

"Oh..." A spoonful of food arrested the other words, as she chewed gently.

"By the way, what were you doing at my school?"

"I was coming to see you actually."

"See me?"

"Yeah. I was a bit scared I would miss you but somehow I got lucky enough to have caught glimpse of you walking away sadly."

"Oh..." She was suddenly reminded of Daemon, as she felt the appetite slipping away from her.

"If I'm not being too forward, can I ask why you were crying on the road?"

"Crying?" She scoffed, smiling too widely out of embarrassment, as she used her hand as a fan.

"I wasn't crying." She tried to convince herself more than Ramsey, who had an expressionless face in front of her.

"You don't have to lie to me too, Valerie. I want to help but I need you to be open with me as well."

"I just got my heart broken for the first time, that's all." She smiled, looking down at the food, as a tear slid down her cheeks.

"You wanna talk..."

"No, I'm fine actually. I was just a bit taken aback about the whole situation but I'm fine now and you don't have to worry about seeing me in such pitiful conditions again."

"I really don't mind seeing you being weak and I'm not here to mock you either so you can be free with me." Ramsey's warm voice was soothing but Valerie had built up a wall against men and love already.

"Thank you."

"I'd give anything to see you smile like you did the first night I met you."

"Do I look that sad to you?" She chuckled.

"I see scars I would give everything to heal."

"You shouldn't talk like that, you know."

"I shouldn't even be here right now but here I am!" He said, as she stared at his eyes, maybe searching for some sincerity in his words.

"...seated opposite the one who might bring me disaster." He yelled in his head, still maintaining eye contact, "Was this what he felt? Was this the hopelessness he lived every day?"

"I'm sorry for discomforting you like this. I'd like to go home." Breaking away from the intense gaze, Valerie made to leave.

"But first, I would love to take you somewhere."

"Where?"

"You'd see. Shall we?"

The beeping sound of Valerie's phone answered his question, as she pulled it out with shaky hands and bated breath. For some unexplainable reasons, she still hoped it was a call from him (Daemon), although she had never actually seen him with a cell phone, but her hope was flushed away as the screen told her it was a call from her dad.

Staring angrily at the screen, she remembered how badly two men she loved above everything else had hurt her in less than a week.

"Yes." She replied, tucking the phone back in her bag pack, as she threw it across her shoulders, following Ramsey out of the restaurant and back into the car which sped off into the sunset.

VALERIE'S POV

"Here we are!!" Ramsey smiled, opening the car door and helping me out.

"Thank you for the fun time today, Ramsey." I smiled genuinely at him.

"I'm just glad to see that you're smiling and all it took was a few hours of diligent hardwork from yours truly."

"I'm sorry about the unnecessary stress as well and the hardwork paid off because I'm totally completely fine now."

"You will be fine and I'll be here every step of the way in your journey towards being completely fine." He was nice, too nice and even though it was meant to be reassuring and nice, it was annoying.

"Drive safely, Ramsey." I smiled, waving at him as I turned, walking towards my front door.

"I will and please take extra care of yourself, for me." He yelled, but when I turned around, he still stood at the exact spot.

"Aren't you going?"

"You're almost at the front door, I'll wait till you get safely inside." He said, as the door opened. Turning my head, I met with the face of my dad.

"Oh! Good evening sir." He greeted, but got no response from him as he entered into the house with me, closing the door behind us.

"Where have you been, Valerie?" He asked, but I wasn't in the mood for his questions or feigned care, as I continued my walk towards the staircase.

"I'm talking to you and you're walking out on me?"

"What do you want me to say to you, Mr Gonzalez?" I yelled back at him, not sparing him a glance.

"Valerie?"

"Isn't the DNA results out yet?" His silence caused a sigh to fall off my lips. He couldn't lie to me about it and he was too scared to tell the truth as well, making my blood boil even in more anger.

"It's out, isn't it?" I chuckled, turning around to meet with his gaze which was at his feet.

"Well, they can move in for all I care. After all he's your first child and son whom you abandoned for so many years. Do yourself a favor and be the father he didn't have all these years." I yelled, trying desperately hard to fight back the tears that fell loose.

"Valerie..." He whispered, obviously shocked or angry at himself for things turning out the way they are.

"I'm tired. I just want to rest." I blurted, walking towards my room upstairs.