CHAPTER 3

Lily's POV 

“Vella. Take me home,” he said. 

“I'm not Vella,” I replied. 

The music was off, no dancer was on stage. The whole bar was deserted. The bartender packed the shot glasses on the counter into their tray. He brought out a fabric then started wiping the surface. 

“Miss. We are closing,” he said. 

“Okay.” 

He gestured at the white-haired man. “He has been here since nine. Did you come in with him?” 

I shook my head. “Just met him here.” 

The bartender glanced at the door then back at me. “I have a bus to catch. You mind just getting him to his car? I'll call the estate.”

“Which car is his,” I asked. 

“Well. Since you guys are the only ones left, I suppose there can only be two cars outside.” 

“One.”

I moved closer then tapped him in the back repeatedly for him to wake up. 

“Time to wake up,” I said. 

“I-is that you Vel-la,” he mumbled. 

“I'm not Vella.” 

He stood and staggered multiple times. I guided him toward the door then out the front where a black SUV car sat on a gravel floor. 

“Where is your car key?” I asked.  

He dipped his hand into his pocket to retrieve the key. He raised it to me but it fell mid way. 

“Fuck.”

I bent down to pick it up. His weight partially pressed me down as I tried to keep him standing. 

I pressed a button to unlock the car. I helped him sit in the driver's seat. 

“The bartender said he will call the estate for your guys. So stay here until they arrive.”

As I turned around to leave, I heard the car turn to life. 

“Are you crazy?” I screamed at him.

“You are going to drive when you are this drunk?” I continued. 

I opened the car door then removed the car keys. 

He kept slurring inaudibly. 

We waited for about twenty minutes but the estate guys never showed up. Did the bartender lie? The street was silent. A hooded man pulled from an adjacent corner then disappeared. I panicked. 

Without thinking I yanked the car door open then got inside. 

“I'll drive you to your house,” I said, guiding him to the front passenger seat. 

I positioned myself in the driver seat. 

“So where do you stay?” I asked him. 

I had to hit him hard before he answered. 

“Hop-ston estate,” he slurred. 

Hopston estate? That's the most reserved residence in the whole city. Only the elite stays there. 

“I don't think they will allow me to enter the estate. There are securities everywhere,” I said, removing my hands from the steering wheel. 

“You won't have to,” he said slowly, with his eyes half closed. 

I turned the ignition. The tire screeched over the asphalt as I swiveled the car onto the road. I look through the rear view mirror. The hooded guy appeared again but with two other guys. I exhaled. 

The street lights blended into my eyes as I drove the car through the silent empty streets of New York. I was calmer than earlier. Maybe it's because I felt no harm from this man. At least he is drunk, I should be able to defend myself if he tries to do anything stupid. 

He had fallen silent for a while but he suddenly spoke again. 

“I'm not from here you know,” he said, with his eyes half closed. 

“Yeah? Where are you from?” I asked. 

“Minnesota.” 

“My mom she-,” he slurred again, “she passed away, yesterday.” 

My grip loosened around the steering wheel. His plight weighed on my mind. I finally understood why he took ten shots of Long Island. He was trying to numb his pains just like me. 

For the first time that night, my perspective about him changed. 

“She was a good woman,” he continued. “But she's dead now.”

“I'm sorry.” 

He didn't say anything more until we reached the front gate of the estate. 

I slowed down. A man in a black security attire signalled that I open the window. I did. 

“Identify yourself,” he said. 

I was about to reply when another security man pulled up on the front's passenger side. 

“It's Aaron,” he said to the man with me. 

“What's wrong with him,” he asked, flashing his light toward him in the car. 

“He's drunk. So I drove him home,” I responded, placing my hands back on the steering wheel. 

“Didn’t you receive any call from the bartender?” I asked. 

“What bartender?” 

Aaron didn't wake up from his slumber despite the security man calling his name severally. 

“Alright. We'll take it from here,” the security said.  

I got down from the vehicle. One of them took over the car and steered the vehicle inside the estate. 

I looked behind me. There is no taxi. I won't find one until at least a kilometre away. I have rendered help to a complete stranger that left me stranded. But what can I do? 

“Do you mind if I stay with you guys until morning?” I asked. “It's not safe walking alone at night.” 

“We can get you home if you want.” 

“I would appreciate that.”

A car pulled beside me.

I exhaled deeply. I slid gently into the driver's passenger seat and we took off at once. No one said a thing the whole time to my apartment. 

It was 1 a.m. I rid myself of the dress I had on the moment I stepped inside then got into the bathroom for a shower. The cold water brought memories of Dorian back into mind. The ones of he and I having a shower together. 

I lay on the bed. Maybe if I sleep I'll forget about him. But sleep didn't come. 

I just lay there staring into the ceiling. I turned. Twisted. Sat up. Lay again. Yet nothing. 

I remembered what Aaron said about his mom dying and my mind drifted to my mother immediately. I hadn't visited her at the hospital in two days. Unlike Amelia, I definitely wanted to be with her from time to time even though she is in a coma. 

As I imagined her laying on her hospital bed like a lifeless body, I tried to conjure what she would say to me about the breakup. She would definitely hold me in a hug while I sob my sorrow into her shoulder. 

If I survive the coming days, I probably won't fall in love with another man again.