Chapter 53
1215words
"You are here!" Angelica said as she opened the door. "I'm so sorry for the delay, I was putting on my clothes." Lily smiled and waved her hand dismissively.
"It's nothing, I understand"
Angelica returned her smile, then quickly grabbed her bag "Come on in, I'm glad you chose to stay with me.'
Lily immediately released a breath she didn't know she was holding and her muscles that had been tensed instantly relaxed. She was so worried about imposing on Angelica, but her words just washed away all that.
They both trudged quietly upstairs and Angelica unlocked a room, and walked in. A pleasant smile registered on Lily's face at the sight of the room. It was beautifully and minimally decorated, just how she loves her bedroom.
"Sorry if it doesn't look so good, I only had last night to make it presentable."
Lily scoffed and pointed to the room with her thumb. "This doesn't look so good? You ate with this room, Angelica. It looks so good, I could live here forever."
"Don't flatter me."
"It's not flattery. I meant every word I said, it looks really good and I love it." She looked around the room once more before her gaze rested on Angelica once again and her smile widened, and her eyes softened. "Thank you again for letting me stay here. It means a whole lot. "
Angelica instantly shook her head and took Lily's hands in hers softly. " I should be the one thanking you, Lily. I'm really glad you are here. " A brief moment of silence filled with a shared understanding passed between them before Angelica softly let go of her hands, "I'll leave you to settle in now. Call me if you need anything."
" Thank you. "
Angelica nodded and walked out, closing the door gently behind her. Once the door clicked shut, Lily collapsed on the bed and let out an exasperated sigh, then brought her phone to her face and scrolled up, hoping to see a text or a call, but there was none.
Even though she tried to act like it didn't affect her, she couldn't help the mix of disappointment and fear that washed over her. After her talk with Asher last night, he signed the divorce papers and she took a snapshot of it as evidence for her father, and two days later she left without seeing him.
She sent the pictures to her father this morning and immediately blocked him, and throughout the ride, she couldn't help checking her phone every minute, scared her father will get to her somehow, and at the same time, she was expecting something from Asher. A simple Hi, or Be safe, but none came.
A wave of loneliness hit her at the realization that her phone was yet again void of messages, and she immediately sat up and slapped her cheeks. "There's no time for a pity party, Lily!" She swore to herself when she was leaving this morning that she was going to disassociate from whatever might be happening by drowning herself in work.
She had a project to finish and a new one to prepare for, there was no time to be sad, and she was grateful for that.
Forcing herself up, she immediately unpacked her luggage and got to work. She went over the progress of the Darby mansion, hopped on a video call with one of the reps there as she couldn't afford to go to the site anymore to avoid any drama with her father in case he ever finds out about her work. She never told him, but he could find out if he searched for her, going to the extreme if he needed something was a norm for him anyway. Once she was satisfied with how the project was progressing, she got down to the real deal, her meeting with Allard Corporation was in a week, and she hasn't gotten started on anything.
A knock on the door made her look up from her laptop for the first time in God knows how long, and the pain from looking at her laptop for so long coursed through her neck and she immediately grabbed it as she forced her way up. Her eyes instantly widened when she stood up and realized how dark it had gotten outside. She was so engrossed in her work that she actually lost track of time.
The knock came again and she snapped out of her thoughts. "I'm coming!" She almost tripped on the stack of papers that were sprawled out on the floor as she tried to get to the door. "Hey, I'm sorry. I didn't realize it had gotten this late. Are you good, do you need anything?"
Angelica smiled gently, and presented a tray of food to her. "I understand if you need some time alone, especially after the news."
Lily's brows furrowed and she glanced at the room then back at Angelica's face. "The... news?" She asked, tilting her head and Angelica clamped her lips shut. "What news? I've been busy, I haven't gotten wind of any news."
"Ohh... " Angelica chuckled nervously and dropped the tray of food in her hands. " It's nothing major, just eat your food first before checking it out, okay? It's a bit... Umm.. disturbing? The images."
Lily's brows knitted even more and she slowly bobbed her head. " Okay, thank you for the food! I didn't mean to.. "
"No, no" she immediately cut her off, " it's fine. I wanted to do this for you. Now go on in and eat. "
Lily smiled and nodded before she disappeared back into the room and closed the door. Once the door was shut, Angelica let out a deep breath, and walked downstairs to the kitchen, and immediately started bringing out chocolates and snacks. She knew it would be a long night when she finally sees the news.
Choosing to obey Angelica's instruction, Lily ate first before she brought out her phone, and was hit with yet another wave of disappointment at the lack of text and calls. How long has she been gone, and yet there was nothing. She sighed and pulled up the news app in a bid to distract herself with whatever that was going on in the world currently.
She inhaled sharply once she opened the app and caught sight of the trending news, and instantly, she shook her head. "It can't be," she mumbled and refreshed the page again and again, hoping it was a mistake, a catchy title but every single time the headline was the same.
With shaky hands, she clicked on the link, and never in her life has she read something so fast. Once she was done reading through the article, her phone instantly slipped out of her hand as she ran to the bathroom, where she violently threw up.
Barely 3 days after signing the divorce papers and Asher has announced his engagement to Charlotte Morgan.
