~ 54: A Rueful Apology - Part 2 ~

I was enraged at being interrupted from an interesting session with the person I would rather stand with than the man who had pulled my arm.

"Come with me," he mouthed.

I had to reluctantly tag along as I couldn't get myself out of the tight grip of his hand. I cried a silent prayer, hoping that at least Lucas would tag along for a while if he could. But he was stuck with the people gathered around him. All I could hear from his side was him swearing at the opportune time at me having been taken away.

I was dragged away until we reached an empty hallway in the Division of Modernism in the Science Section, a place I had never been through in the whole of the past month. How he had found me on that floor was the question as I never saw him leave his block. But perhaps standing and walking near the rails to purposely make me feel jealous had backfired on him when he started to notice me going missing.

"You ought to learn how to treat a woman!" I shouted at him when he harshly left my arm. "What gave you the right to make me tag along wherever you like without ever thinking of asking me?"

"I had a few things to say," he started, looking down at his shoes.

"What things would you have to say after 5 days?" I interrupted him. "You could have used the next two days and come back to me. I don't think we care about each other like we used to do. And if you have anything to say, why isn't Mel here? I'm sure she put you up to it for you wouldn't have anything to say otherwise."

"Just hear me out for a while, please. I know I haven't been a great friend but that all comes down to what happened the marathon day. You were right about working together despite our differences to create the win. I didn't realise I wasn't being a sportsman by committing to my team, but for my own selfish gains.

"I couldn't believe after I went home that I could have made such an error. I couldn't look at you in the eye, and hence, I avoided you at all costs. I only spoke with Mel to help me relieve the pain in my heart. I eventually had to relate the problem to her and ask her how to mend my ways. She said that if I was truly sincere, I would go and make things right without any witnesses."

I heaved out a sigh at his reckless behaviour. I had always kept a door open for him to come, yet he didn't have the courage to do it as he couldn't see until someone 'made' him see it. He was only a man by age but a child by heart.

"And what have you come to mend?" I asked solemnly. "If it is our relationship, you already know where it stands."

He astounded me by getting down on one knee and still keeping his head bowed. I was speechless at the action for he was an idol, and he shouldn't be doing anything of that sort. A scandal would just leave a scar in his career.

"Celest, I ask for your forgiveness," he said in a low voice. "I had no intention to break this away or act the way I did. I promised what I promised, and I don't want to break it. I ask you with all sincerity to open up your heart to me again. I promise to not disappoint you."

I stood there with a bitter smirk on my face as I watched him kneel. I felt my 'cousin', as we had gotten used to saying, step behind me, making me wonder if I should play what I had already thought of in my head.

"An apology?" I asked innocently. "What deed have you done to me that you are asking me of it, except the fact that you ignored me? The first person you should be apologising with the same sincerity is the cousin of mine that you had offended, not me."

I saw him grit his teeth even with his face hidden away from me. It had become obvious to me as he had done it on many occasions to calm down his bad temper from getting the better of him.

I wanted him to actually grow up and take his actions seriously. I never meant to provoke, but this was the only way to make him see the truth.

"Are you saying that you'll only love me if I respect your so-called 'cousin'?" he breathed as he looked up at me.

"Make that 'brother', little one," Lucas told me. Then he put an arm on my shoulder to lean his large frame on and said, "After all, we are as good as one. Life works in strange ways to bring people together."

"You have no right to touch her like that. She's not your family. You are great at making tales."

"Perhaps, we should leave since things aren't going to change," I said as I played with Lucas's fingers. "I was looking forward to—"

"Celestine, why are you doing this? Do you know how much it took to come here?"

"Aidan, do you have any idea how you look to me right now? It's as though you hold so much grudge against my brother that you can't even come to your senses to see when you are wrong. If you were truly sorry, you know that the right person to apologise to is not to me, but to Lucas.

"My heart has already forgiven you for the agony you made me face this week, but I will not be able to talk to you until I see justice being served. If you think I'm right, then you would already know what to do."

I don't know why Lucas was trying so hard to agitate Aidan by making him jealous like he did the previous time. It worked wonderfully, yet I wanted it honestly coming from him, not because he felt threatened.

Lucas steered my shoulder towards his stall, which he had somehow escaped from. We only stopped when we heard Aidan say, "Fine, I will do it. I will do it to have you with me."