Cara felt her heart being torn apart as the elevator slid closed. She fell to her knees, her throat closing up.
So this was it? Adonis was really telling her to-
Bang!
A loud thud echoed, and she jumped to her feet as the elevator automatically slid open again.
“Adonis?”
There he was, covered in cold sweats in a barely conscious state. The only reason he was still standing was due to the walls holding his weight.
Her brows shot up and she ran towards him.
“Adonis, what’s wrong?” Cara asked, but he could only let out a painful groan in reply, tightly shutting his eyes to ease his pain.
Cara was in two minds.
He was fine just a moment ago. Why was he suddenly acting like this?
Her eyes followed the movement of his hand as it moved to rub at his forehead.
“Are you having a headache? Should I call the doctor? Do you want to go to the hospital? Tell me what I should do.” She fretted, extending her arms towards him, but he moved out of her hold and with great difficulty, Adonis gritted out.
“I’m fine.”
“No, you’re not! I won’t be surprised if you collapse any moment from now, you can’t even stand on your own. You need help.”
“It’s not new. I’ll be fine with my medication, and if I need help, you’re the last person I’d ask. Now, take us to the third floor.”
Cara bit down on her tongue to stop herself from pointing out that he’d just asked for help and instead, clicked the button to their floor.
In less than a minute, they were walking into their floor, and Adonis dragged himself into the kitchen to get his medication.
“Are you sure you don’t need to see a doctor?” She asked.
“Yes, please leave Cara.” He replied in a stressed-out tone.
“What’s that supposed to mean? Are you being this way because there’s nothing between us anymore? Aren’t you supposed to be the mature one?”
She crossed her hands, narrowing her eyes at the man who was acting like she didn’t exist.
He took his pills, went into the bedroom, and straight to bed. Cara kept monitoring him with a suspicious look.
Why was he acting like this? Was it because he was grieving? No. He already had the drugs kept somewhere, so this was a regular occurrence. How come she never noticed before?
Adonis popped one eye open.
“Why are you standing there?” He mumbled and Cara sighed.
“You should change your clothes and get a shower. You must not know this, but you reek.”
“Thank you. It’s my bed and room now; get out quickly.”
“Excuse me?” She scoffed.
She was already dealing with enough hurt, guilt, and trauma to allow being depressed by his words to be added to that pile. “Do you hate me that much? I already said I was sorry! I know you don’t want me here, so I’m going to leave anyway, but do you have to be so cold about it?”
All Cara got in reply was silence.
“Fine! Do whatever you want.”
And with that, she went into the closet to pack her things.
Yes, she was at fault and she gets it. She just wanted to help him out yet he was being difficult.
Cara angrily stuffed her clothes into a travelling bag. She didn’t know what to do. Isn’t apologizing enough? Couldn’t he see how sincere her feelings were?
She blamed herself saying she shouldn’t have fallen for him. Her revenge was her main goal, but she’d lost sight of it and now would have to leave after achieving nothing.
Her heart throbbed at the word ‘leave’ again.
It might be painful at first, but she’d get over him. It wasn’t surprising that he could treat her that way. She’d seen how he treated his enemies firsthand, and compared to how he was treating her, it was nothing.
Pulling her suitcases together, she picked up her shoulder bag, and another wave of nausea hit her.
Cara retched.
This was becoming too often. She didn’t think the cause was a scene engraved in her mind. She tried recollecting if she ate anything bad; nothing came to mind.
She huffed, reaching for the last of her things as she headed back into the living room, glancing at the man who was pretending to be passed out on the bed.
“I’m leaving, but before I do, I just want to say I’m sorry once again for breaking your trust.” She, then added in a soft voice, “… breaking your heart.”
Silence once again.
“You truly don’t want to speak to me anymore?”
No reply.
She exhaled deeply in resignation. “Okay then. It was nice knowing you.” Cara concluded and turned to walk out. Her eyes didn’t see Adonis stealing one last glance at her before turning over to hide the stray tear that had slipped from his eyes.
He thought everything would be different. Everything was already different. He’d let go of his trauma and decided to let someone in but look where it got him. He struggled within himself.
Should he call her back or just let her go?
He was grieving and was scared that if she stayed, he might make it hard for her… that he’d hate her for joining hands with the very people who he wanted dead… that he’d blame her for his grandfather’s death. Working for the Grecos or not, he loved this woman.
But not as much as he loved his grandfather. So it was better to let her go, right?
The decision was taken out of his hand as a soft thud reached his ears. Adonis turned his neck to see if she’d left but was met with a different.
On the big fluffy grey rug in the room lay an unconscious Cara.
Adonis let out a loud groan in discomfort.
“What the hell is going on now?”