3: What Do You Think?

BRANDON ~

Words alone cannot express how I was feeling.

Victoria pretends that all is well, but I know she's just masking her true feelings.

I know beneath the surface lies a dangerous thought and plan she's harboring for me, which she does not want me to know of.

I took a deep sigh of exasperation. I was so lost that I couldn't even remember that I was standing until Elese swung the door open and barged in.

"What's happening?" She asked.

"Why did you leave me outside?" "I hope you're not hiding something from me?"

I swallowed hard, tilted my head to look at her, but said nothing. I breathed a deep sigh before heading to a coach to sit down.

"Elese there's nothing I'm hiding from you, nor am I playing a game with Victoria against you. It's just that..."

"It's just what?" She cuts in, looking deeply into my eyes with scrutiny.

"There's nothing to make a fuss about, Elese. If there's anything you need to know, I wouldn't hesitate to let you know, okay?" I lamented, wanting to assuage the argument.

She grunted and eventually left the room. I could not tell her destination, nor did I bother to ask her. I just wanted silence.

The only person I could entertain right now is Victoria, and that's because I want to know her mind so bad.

I sat there for close to ten minutes before picking up my phone to call Victoria. I needed to spend time together with her, and one of the ways to make that happen is by hosting a party.

Victoria is a life of the party, so there's no way she would reject.

When I dialed her line, it rang for a few seconds before she answered.

"What is it, Brandon?" was what came out of her mouth. Clearly she's sick of me.

"Calm down, Victoria," I said, pausing to observe her reaction.

"I need to see you. We need to talk." I added after I didn't receive a harsh reply to the previous statement.

She was silent for a while. "Okay. Are you still at home?" She replied.

"Yes, of course."

"Okay, I will be there shortly," she snapped before ending the call.

I breathed a deep sigh of relief before dropping the phone to practice how to talk to her so I don't stutter when she arrives.

About ten minutes later, the door was swung open, making me sit up as I thought it was Victoria entering, but my face turned pale when I saw Elese walking in.

"You're still here, Brandon, looking gloomy," she said.

"I know something is definitely wrong somewhere."

"Elese there's nothing wrong. Okay, I was just considering whether to have Victoria stay with her parents for some time," I lied.

A mischievous smile crept onto her lips at the statement. She walked and sat closer to me, her head resting on my shoulder.

"That would really be nice," she said. "At least we would have more freedom. We don't need to..."

Before she could finish her statement, Victoria barged in, and seeing Elese seated beside me, her head resting on my shoulder with her hand curled around my neck, made her face frown instantly.

"Brandon, did you deliberately called me here to inflict more pain on me? Isn't the one you did already enough?" She questioned, her voice a mix of pain, anger, and disappointment.

Elese calmly got off my body, her expression unfazed at Victoria's reaction.

"Calm down, Victoria. We weren't doing anything bad." I remarked.

"I don't need your explanation, Brandon. I'm not a kid. I'm here to know why you called me, and that's it."

"You can do whatever you want with her; I don't care. After all..." She paused for a second.

"In fact, there's no need to tell you." She shoved her hair backwards, went to the single coach, and sat down, her legs crossed.

"Just tell me why you called me, please," she asked, avoiding my gaze.

"I have made an arrangement for a party tonight, so I thought you'd love to be present."

"What do you think?"