Tayla Story - 014

I couldn't really say just how long it was. I don't know, it was probably not all that long. I'm not sure. But it didn't feel great.

I just stared at my ceiling. I wanted to forget it all, so I tried to make my mind blank. An opaque mind.

It wasn't really possible though. I couldn't just forget it all. Or rather, it was more like it was all I could think about. That Alexander and Kayla were talking to each other, just downstairs. And that all I could do was wait here for Alexander to make a decision.

For him to make a decision about whether he's going to remain here, or go back to Wellington with Kayla. I don't really understand what his relationship with Kayla was like or just how close they were, so I don't know what he will do. I mean, they obviously care about each other. A lot.

He was in love with her once upon a time, and she came all the way here looking for him. I don't know what that means though. She was never in love with him. I believed her when she said that, but they must've been very close friends for her to come all this way.

I must've already bored anyone who's listening with this drivel by now. After all, it's all that I've thought about for days on end. So, I'm not going to go on for too long this time.

To get to the point, I don't know how long it's been. I had no idea how much time had passed, when Alexander knocked on the door to my room.

"Tayla, it's me."

Hearing his voice snapped me out of it, and I sat upright on my bed. It seemed a little strange to me that he didn't just come straight in. What did that mean? Is he leaving me?

"Come in."

Alexander opened the door, and closed it softly behind himself. He walked over and sat down on my bed in front of me. Cross-legged.

"So, what happened?"

"Huh?" Alexander looked a little shaken, "nothing really. We just talked."

I don't think he's completely telling the truth. He didn't look me in the eye when he spoke just now. And it just kind of sounded off. We've never really lied to each other, have we? But now look at the two of us.

If that's how it is, then Alexander…

"I guess you're going back to Wellington then?"

"What? Of course not. Why would I go back?"

That surprised me. I was almost certain that he would be tempted to go back, but from his reaction, the thought never even entered his mind.

"Surely you at least thought about going back?"

"No, why would I? There's nothing for me there. It would be a lot easier to just go back, but I can't do that. If I did, it would break me. I wouldn't be able to become the person I want to be. The person that I'm trying to be."

"I don't get it."

"What don't you get?"

"I thought you wouldn't- I thought that you were going to leave me."

Crap. I've started choking on my words. This is horrible. It's the worst, really.

"Why would I do that? How many times do I have to say it? You're the one I love, idiot."

I sobbed, "you're the idiot. That should've been the first thing you said when you get back."

"Sorry," Alexander laughed, "I was a bit too surprised to find you lying down next to me when I woke up. And what you told me after that."

I laughed as well, though it came out in a strangled choke. I'm still shedding tears. Well, that was a relief. I had been so worried about losing Alexander. To hear him say that. That he loved me, and that he's staying here, was a much better outcome than I could've ever hoped for. Probably than I deserved after what I did. Lying to him, treating Kayla so terribly. Elis was right. I might've been playing the victim, but in reality, I was the perpetrator.

"But there was something else occupying my mind."

Alexander spoke, snapping me out of my thoughts.

"Huh? What's up?"

"I told you, didn't I? That there was something I needed to speak to you about."

"Oh, that's right."

He had said that. When he texted me from Singapore, and then again when I went to see him at his house just before.

"What is it?" I asked.

"I want to tell you about my father. What he said to me when we spoke, and what it means for me."

"What? If I wanted to know that, I'd just read Project: Artemis."

"Tayla, this is serious. Don't joke about it."

"Sorry…"

I hadn't realised to right now, but there's something different about Alexander.

He wouldn't usually snap at me like that. Usually he would play along with whatever joke I made, no matter how dumb he thought it was.

His eyes are always bright and passionate, like a flame. But that flame… it's like the colour's different than usual. It somehow seems… angry.

There's definitely something strange about him. And, it's kind of scaring me.

"Okay, tell me. I'm listening," I reply, but I'm a little freaked out now.

What is he going to say?