#Chapter 63 An Unexpected Declaration
#Chapter 63 – An Unexpected Declaration
Stella
The ringing of my phone is nonstop. Calls and texts keep flooding my phone but I can barely bring myself to answer any of them. I caught a glance of one of the many messages.
Clara’s Mother: Don’t you dare miss your sister’s birthday! If you miss this, we are going to fully disown you!
Their messages have never been kind whenever it came to dara. They have always demanded the best when it comes to her, expecting me to be the bets sister oven tough she can barely give the same energy back to me.
Today, of all days, I feel like complete and utter shit. My coughs have gotten worse, being nonstop and barely giving me any time to breathe properly. My muscles ache beneath my skin.
Every single move that I make hurts. My head is a throbbing mess, a sharp stabbing pain pulsing from the middle of my head. Wherever I look, I see black spots/ They quickly overtake my vision, making me feel light headed.
My phone continues vibrate from beside me. The sounds of the vibrations against the side table makes my head hurt even more. I reach to the side, bringing the phone to my body.
Hundreds of calls and text messages litter my phone screen I clear them away and place my phone on do not disturb. Even the brightness of the phone screen has become too much for me to look at. I sigh and turn it off, placing it beside my head.
I need to go to the hospital. What I am feeling right now is what I can only describe as death coming for me. I don’t want to die inside my apartment, all alone, with nobody to come and find me.
Adrian did say that I could call him and he would come to help me. Maybe this is a good chance to take him up on that offer.
I grab my phone and try to navigate my way to his contact information through squinted eyes, my coughs becoming increasingly worse. I press his name and put the phone on speaker, a miserable moan leaving my mouth.
“Adrian?” I ask when the dial tone ends. I cough again and roll my head towards the microphone. “I need you…I think I need to go to the hospital. I feel like I’m dying.”
“Just die already then. Stop bothering me and do everyone a favor and just disappear,” Adrian’s words shock me.
The call immediately drops and my heart drops inside my chest. Is this how he truly feels? Does he really want me to die?
The Adrian I once knew, the same man who stood outside my door and told me to contact him if I ever needed anything, is dead to me.
Adrian
I laugh with a group of people, glass of water in hand, as the party moves on from around me. Clara, who was once at my side, has disappeared, stating that she needed to go to the bathroom. That was sometime ago, though, and I have to excuse myself from the group to go and find her.
All of her family members and friends are here. Well, everyone except for Stella. Although I can’t really blame her for not showing up seeing how her relationship with Clara has been uniquely strained ever since she woke up.
My eyes scan the room, trying to find her familiar head of blonde hair among the large crowd. The banquet hall is brilliantly decorated, pictures of Clara throughout her life displayed across the walls, streamers and lights adding to the fun and lively ambiance.
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#Chapter 63- An Unexpected Declaration
“Excuse me,” I approach her parents. They turn to me with big smiles, setting their drinks down as they stand from their spots at the table. “Do you know where Clara went? I think she has iny phone in her purse.”
“Oh! I think she went outside for some fresh air!” Her mother exclaims with a beaming smile. She turns to the rest of the table and says, “Isn’t he just the greatest! Claras so lucky to have him in her life! Always looking out for her,”
I fake a smile and excuse myself once again, walking to the exit of the building.
Just outside of the banquet hall is a garden. I find Clara standing in the middle of it, a big smirk plastered across her face. I’m about to smile back when I notice that she is holding her phone in my hand.
“Clara? What are you doing with my phone?” I ask her and cautiously approach.
The smile immediately drops from her face. She hides my phone behind her back, her eyes big and wide. She smiles, one that is trying to feign innocence and that I can see right through.
“Clara? What are you hiding from me?” I stop just a few feet away from her, shoving my hands into my pockets.
“Nothing!” she claims and hands my phone back to me. I take it and narrow my eyes at her, unsure if I should believe her. “Someone from work called so I handled it!”
“From work? Was it about the project?” I gasp and immediately drop down to look at my phone.
I turn away, scrolling through my apps, before my eyes land on Stella’s name. I pause, staring at the call’s notification. Did she call me?
“Clara,” I turn to look at her, “did Stella call-”
“Yes!” Clara immediately bursts into tears.
Clara covers her face, leaving me only able to see her blonde hair. I don’t know how to respond to this, looking around before turning my attention back to her.
“She called and I told her that today is my day with you! That she can’t have you every second of every day! That I deserve to have the man I love with me on my birthday!” Clara’s cries hurt my ears.
It sucks to see her feel so wound up over something that is out of her control. If I could, I wish I could put her nerves at ease and help calm her down.
“Everything that I have done so far has been for us! I want us to be happy together! For our future!” Clara wipes her tears away and sniffles.
I put my phone away in my back pocket and sigh, closing the distance between us. I place my hands on her shoulders and look down at her, gently pushing some of her blonde hair out of her face.
“I know, Clara, and I appreciate your effort to make things good for us,” I begin, unsure of what else I need to say to calm her nerves, “but Stella and I are still connected whether you like it or not. We’ll have to talk about our future when my divorce is finalized, okay?”
“But how long is that going to be?” Clara whines, “I can’t wait forever!”
“It won’t be long, Clara, it’ll all be okay,” I sigh and bring her into a hug.
Clara clings to me immediately. She squeezes me and buries her face into my chest. I smooth out the frizzy strands of hair and hold her for as long as she needs me to.
My thoughts move to Stella. She called me, just like how I told her she can if she needed anything, and I wasn’t there to answer. A piece of me feels guilty.
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#Chapter 63 – An Unexpected Declaration
+25 BONUS
However, if she truly needed me, or if the matter is truly important that she needs me for, then she will call back, so I am not too worried about the matter and instead focus my attention on Clara.
