CAILY GALILEO
I brushed away the tears from my cheeks and cuddled the pillow I was holding onto even more tightly. I didn’t even know exactly why I was crying. Was it because of everything that had happened? Or was it because of the way it had ended?
I had seen Pietro happy, I had seen him angry, I had seen him mad but I had never seen him look hurt except on that night, he killed my father and I ran away from him. But tonight he had looked at me the same way when I told him I had never loved him and I could never love him. I had seen that hurt in his eyes and I had seen how he had concealed that hurt with a chuckle.
But then I had told him the truth and that was the right thing to do. It was better to let him know that even if we have sex, it would not mean that I belonged to him or that I loved him. How could I ever love him when the memories of that night remained glued to my head? When I could still recall how brutal he was? And when I knew how obsessed he was?
I didn’t love him so why did it hurt so much for me to reject him?
“Why are you like this, Caily? Why?” I groaned and smacked myself in the head.
“And why do you keep messing with my head, Pietro? Why? I am not in love with you… I don’t love you… I can’t love you.” I raised my gaze up, my eyes glossy with tears but I was soon interrupted by my phone ringing.
I brushed more tears away before grabbing my phone from my bedside table. It was my Aunt Mandy calling.
I hastily sat up and cleared my throat, not wanting her to notice the sadness in my voice. I picked the call and masked up with my faux smile, to make my voice sound a little bit more lively.
“Aunt Mandy.” I called as soon as I picked the call.
“Caily.” She sounded cheerful even more cheerful than I had faked my voice to be.
“About the money…” I wanted to explain to her that it would be ready in a week but she cut me off before I could explain.
“Yes, I really wanted to thank you for the money, Caily. I don’t know what you must have gone through to get such an amount of money and I feel… I feel so horrible that I made you go through that.” I could almost hear the tightness in her voice but that wasn’t the issue.
My brows were furrowed. The money had been paid? Pietro had found it out and paid it off already?
Knowing this just made the clench in my heart tighter. I pressed my lips into a tight line to keep myself from whimpering and held my other hand over my chest, willing the tightness to go away.
“Caily?” Aunt Mandy called when she heard nothing from me in response to her.
“Yes, yes Aunty Mandy” I said, a little bit too quickly.
“I… It’s alright. I am just glad it has now been paid off and your life is no longer in danger.” I tried to put my surprise and my other emotions away.
“Thank you so much, Caily…” her voice cracked and I heard her break into a sob.
On other days, I would have told her not to cry but I said nothing this time. I didn’t want my cracking voice to give me away.
“I feel so bad for my actions. I… I am really sorry” she apologised and I breathed in deeply, eyes closed before answering.
“it’s alright, Aunt Mandy” I bit down on my lower lip, now thinking about how to let her know that I was considering a rehab facility for her.
“Caily, are you alright? You don’t sound fine.” She caught on, still.
“I am fine” I made another attempt to sound lively, putting on my faux smile once more.
“You are not, Caily.” Her voice shifted to a motherly tone.
“How did you get the money?” She queried and I shrugged my shoulders a bit.
“I… I just went here and there.” That was a bad attempt at a reasonable response.
“Tell me exactly, Caily. Where did you get this money from?” She pressed on.
“I had some money I had been saving with me, so I borrowed a little more and my man gave me some too.” I lied, hoping this was more believable.
“Your man? Dylan, right?” Her voice raised in glee.
“Yes, Aunt Mandy.” I shut my eyes as I lied yet again. Dylan was far from being my man now.
“That’s amazing. He is making a lot of money now?” Aunt Mandy questioned.
“Yes, he is.” I affirmed conclusively, just wanting the entire conversation to come to an end.
“Caily, you are still hiding things from me. What exactly is happening? Your attempt to sound cheerful is not really working.” Aunt Mandy’s voice returned back to its motherly inquisitive tone.
“I… I am really fine.” I assured her.
“The last time you lost your cheerfulness, you were constantly mentioning that bastard’s name in your sleep. Pietro. Are you having nightmares of him again?” She asked and to end the talk, I decided to agree. This situation was, anyways, similar to having nightmares about Pietro.
“Yes, Aunt Mandy. I don’t know why I have been seeing him yet again. That night keeps replaying in my head.”
I heard her sigh over the phone.
“Perhaps it is because your father’s post humus birthday is approaching.” She sounded sad as she reminded me of it. I pressed my lips into a thin line, realising that was true and quite coincidentally, his birthday was on the same day the contract that bound me to this place would be coming to an end.
“Right. Perhaps it is because of that. But Aunt Mandy, have I ever told you what happened that night? The night Pietro killed dad?”
“You have never told me. You never liked talking about that night and I have always understood that.” She said and I smiled.
“Don’t worry about it, Aunt Mandy.” I brushed it off.
“But don’t you ever forget the pain that bastard caused you. Don’t ever forget that and stay away from his family, okay?”
“Okay. I will stay away from his family as always. I can never have anything to do with him anyways”
“Good. I will leave you to go to sleep now. Thank you so much and I love you.”
“I love you too, Aunt Mandy.”
The call ended and I sighed softly, dropping the phone on the bed. I ran a hand through my hair, letting out an exasperated sigh. It was as if the universe was trying to communicate with me when Aunt Mandy talked about Pietro.
I had done the right thing by letting him know we could never be together. I laid back gently in bed as I thought about my lies. What would I do if Aunt Mandy wanted to see Dylan or wanted to call and thank him?
I was done with Dylan and I couldn’t think of calling him again for any reason but if Dylan revealed to Aunt Mandy that not only had he not given me any money but we had also broken up, I would be under heavy probing.
My chest was heavy as I shut my eyes, trying to find some peace and sleep but I could not help but think back to that night. It was also my father’s fault, right? He had done a despicable thing. He had and even if I had not taken it very seriously back then because I was young and stupid, I knew better now. My father had done a very very despicable thing but then Pietro took it too far. Way too far.
It didn’t matter, thought. There was just a week more. A week more and I would be done with Pietro Giacometti. My life would move on and there would be no need for all these heart ache.