Overwhelming

LEONARD:

Lucia neither gave me her phone number nor assured me I would see her again. I tried to accept that she needed time to process the shift between us, but the way she declined set me on edge. And fidgeting as I offered to drive her home, that not only made me alert to the possibility she might be hiding something, but I was determined to find out what it was.

So I trailed her cab from a distance. She got down in front of a building and hurried into the elevator. I followed inside, caught the floor number from the glowing red indicator, and waited for the next available lift to go up to her.

Whatever she was hiding, whatever the emergency was, she would either come clean, let me help, or tell me with confidence to stay away.

But I didn’t make it in. Just as I pushed the button and was about to step inside, my mum’s call came through.

“Leo,” she said, her tone unlike her usual cheerful chatter. “You need to come home.”

I didn’t ask questions. I turned away from the elevator, out of the building, and drove straight home.

My mother was waiting on the porch, my headlights casting across her face. She didn’t shield her eyes, but I quickly killed the engine. No one was asleep. The entire Hays community was gathered in clusters, watching as I got out of the car.

Honestly, I was shaken. They always stared when I arrived, but this time it was different. Their intense gazes sent a wave of worry coursing through me. By the time I reached my mum, my mind had already run through a million terrible conclusions.

“Are you alright?” I asked, scanning her face for signs of the crisis. “What’s going on?”

“Must’ve been a rough drive,” she murmured.

“Mum...what’s wrong?”

“Nathan…he…”

I was moving toward Nathan’s quarters before she could finish. She hurried after me, but my strides were longer, faster. Just hearing his name had already boiled my temper more than he ever had.

As I approached the detached building, I heard screams and the sound of shattering glasses. The Hays residents stood in full view, watching as two women—Nathan’s supposed cousin and another stranger—tore the place apart, fighting over him. Through a broken window, I saw the fool himself, smoking lazily, watching the chaos like it was entertainment.

Then he spotted me. He jumped to his feet.

Looking at Nathan, I realised I never truly hated Erica. She was never the problem. Nathan was. His presence alone riled me. He wasn’t like his father, the man who had loyally served my family. Nathan was a shadow. A black shadow. But not anymore. I had had enough of him.

Within ten minutes, the cops arrived. Believe me, I didn’t need them to mete out punishment for the damages to the Hays property. But wasting my strength on those women would have been beneath me. The police dragged them away in cuffs.

As for Nathan, I ordered the officers to leave him, just long enough for him to pack up everything, including his mother, and get off the premises for good.

His mother cried. My mother pleaded. But I had reached my limit. It was time for Nathan to focus on caring for his mother instead of chasing every skirt in the city and breaking hearts.

“I called you to handle the situation, not to make that woman homeless,” my mother barked behind me.

Handle? Was that her definition of handle? I was kind…unbelievably kind. Had I wanted to, I could have left Nathan with a bloodied nose.

And why had she called me at all if she wasn’t prepared to deal with my decision? Letting Nathan and his women wreak havoc without lifting a finger was the only outrageous scene…not my benevolence. Gosh, not even a thought of calling the cops crossed her mind?

“Nathan can take care of his mother,” I said flatly.

“We both know he can’t! He is as irresponsible as everyone knows.”

“How is that my cross?” I shot back, sinking onto a sofa. “I have dealt with him more than I can bear. I need a break. We all do.”

For making a woman who looked like Lucia cry over him, Nathan’s chances with me had finally ended.

“And his job? Are you planning to take that away, too?”

Perhaps I wasn’t entirely done with him. I had him out of the house, yes, but stripping him of the job he was good at? That would be too much trouble. Besides, firing him would mean paperwork and procedures I had no patience for. If he behaved at work, gave me no reason to fire him, I could let him stay.

“You can’t make him homeless and jobless,” my mum stressed when I stayed silent. “His mother wouldn’t survive it. Your father wouldn’t be proud!”

Oh, please. Who still clings to pride for a dead man buried in the ground?

I stood and went to my room, ignoring my mother’s calls for an answer. I could have told her Nathan still had his job. But as a punishment for allowing him to turn the household into a circus, for bringing me out of my personal business, I let her sweat.

I collapsed in my old room, exhausted and unsettled. Exhausted by Nathan and worried about Lucia. I could have gone back to check on her, to uncover the truth behind her tension, but I was too drained. Sleep took me before I could change my mind.

***********

I didn’t leave my bed. I didn’t leave my room. I didn’t go to work.

They say a new morning brings fresh and better thoughts. As I lay there thinking about Lucia, I decided not to go to her. I told myself it was better to let her handle things her way. I didn’t want to overwhelm her. I didn’t want to act like a teenager—infatuated, reckless. Uncontainable.

It was an advantage that I now knew where she lived. She couldn’t vanish even if she tried. Moreover, she had promised me no more running, no more games. All I could do was wait until she came to me when ready.

Actually…I am a teenager. A teenager in love.

In love?

I am. I’ve fallen for Lucia.

Those “fresh and better thoughts” I mentioned? Forget them. Because right now, I’m driving to her apartment.

Five days without work. One hundred and twenty hours of restlessness. Seven thousand, two hundred minutes of not seeing her. Four hundred and thirty-two thousand seconds of missing her? 

Spare me the overwhelming her bullshit! I need to see her.