Chapter Twenty-Eight
Angela parked her car in her garage and went out to Damian's house. She pressed the doorbell again and again but no one opened the door. Impatient and disappointed, she returned home after waiting for fifteen minutes. Damian might have gone out since his letterbox was still full. She could see the card that she had stuffed in, peeping out.
She went up to her room and sat on her balcony. She had deleted his number angrily on the day she had returned home from Steffi's engagement. So she waited for him to return. When he didn't return at lunchtime, she made herself a sandwich and sat down on her balcony to eat.
Angela was close to tears of frustration when Damian hadn't arrived by dinner time. She had made a simple dinner for her father and herself as Alex and Arnold had already left for California. Her father came in and they quietly ate dinner. Angela was upset since she really wanted to patch up with Damian but couldn't.
After dinner, she trudged up to her room. She checked his room but Damian still wasn't home. Even Xavion hadn't arrived once to meet him. Maybe they were together somewhere. She didn't have Xavion's number.
She had dozed off to sleep when her dad's phone rang. The sound echoed through the quiet house and she woke up.
She could hear her dad's distressed voice talking into the phone. She opened her door and went into her dad's room. He had disconnected the call and was weeping.
"Dad, what happened?" She asked, rushing in to hug her dad.
"Your grandma passed away just a few minutes ago. I couldn't see her for the last time," he sobbed. Angela hugged him tightly and sobbed too, remembering the times that she had spent with her grandma.
It was late when she went back to her room. She pushed aside the curtains and saw Damian's room in pitch darkness. So he hadn't returned home.
Her dad had canceled their flight and rebooked an early morning flight. Since she couldn't sleep, it was no use trying. She checked the house. Packed the necessary last-minute stuff. Then she sat and sipped her coffee. Her dad too came down for his coffee. It was 4 o'clock in the morning. Their flight was in three hours.
They took a shower and locking up the house properly, they left for the airport.
Damian and Xavion returned from Grass Roots Farm by 5 o'clock in the afternoon. While Xavion went home, Damian trudged up the stairs of his house. His birthday weekend had been so hectic for him. But he was satisfied with how things were shaping up at the farm, his dream farm.
As he unlocked the main door his eyes fell upon a piece of pink envelope sticking out from his letterbox. Curiously, he unlocked his door and rushed inside to get the keys to the letterbox. He opened the letterbox and found quite a few cards and letters and birthday wishes for him and a red rose stuck to a pink envelope containing a card.
He carried them all inside and sat down on his sofa to check. He roughly checked the rest of the mail. One wish was from Robynn, another from Harry and Steffi, a card from some secret admirer which he tore off.
At last, he opened the pink envelope. His heart beat faster as he saw that it was from Angela. He couldn't believe his eyes that Angela had actually dropped in a card for him along with a rose. The whole of yesterday, he had hoped that she would once call and wish him but she hadn't called or messaged him. His heart had broken to a million pieces. He read the poem that she wrote with bated breath.
My life without you,
Has no meaning, has no hue,
Dull, meaningless, and oh so blue.
No one to laugh with at everyday things,
No one to talk to about what life brings,
No hand to hold, I'm walking alone,
No one to turn to, to call my own,
No goodnight kiss at the end of the day,
No one to chase my worries away.
I'm so lost without you by my side,
Like a leaf in the wind..like a shell in the tide,
You are my everything, my love, my friend,
My story's beginning, my fairytale end,
No matter how much you hurt me,
Torture me, torment me,
My love for you will always be true,
I'll always be devoted to you
And I'll die truly loving you.
Happy Birthday, Damian.
Your Angel.
He read and re-read it till he had memorized it well. It felt like a dream. She had actually confessed to him, her feelings. He couldn't believe it. Tears of happiness clouded his vision as he clutched the card to his heart and breathed in and out deeply. He still couldn't calm down. This was all he had actually wanted for the last few weeks.
So had she come to his house in search of him? He rushed to his dad's room to check the CCTV footage. Opening the door to his dad's room, he saw that his dad hadn't come home last night. He checked the footage and saw her stuffing the card into his letterbox and going away. He fast-forwarded the footage, disappointed that she hadn't rung the doorbell to meet him. He suddenly paused the footage and checked the time of the footage. Exactly two hours later, Angela had come and pressed his doorbell and waited for fifteen minutes at his doorstep.
He closed the footage and rushed out of his house. Going up to Angela's house, he was about to press the doorbell when he noticed the lock on the main door. The whole house was closed and in darkness. Where did the whole family leave? Confused, he returned home. He kept a watch but she didn't return till late at night.
The next day, Damian dragged himself to college. Without Angela, studying here had no meaning. He entered his first class and saw Juliette sitting quietly, all alone in her class, flicking through the pages of her book absentmindedly.
He quietly sat down at the back of the class. They didn't say a word to one another. The whole day, he just dragged himself from one class to another as if he didn't have any wish to live. Xavion came and joined him, his face cleaned up and his nose and forehead patched up after a fight with one of his classmates who too liked Juliette.
Damian didn't want to interact with anyone. He left after a few classes to attend his online class on agriculture. After Angela's confession, he couldn't concentrate on anything. The need to patch up and have her in his arms was all he could think of. He was surprised that her family hadn't returned on a weekday. Everyone was very serious about their work. They hardly ever missed going to work. It must have been something serious.
The whole week, he waited for Angela to return. He attended a few classes at college and returned home to attend his online classes. His dad still hadn't returned home and he was again worried about him.
By Friday, Damian however looked like a ghost with a week's unshaven stubble, haunting depressed eyes and shabby appearance. He didn't talk to anyone much, just dragged himself on and on. It was clear from his behavior that he was missing Angela more than ever. He came back home and after attending his online class, lay on his bed and closed his eyes.
The sound of two cars stopping in front of Angela's house woke him up. He might have dozed off due to mental exhaustion. Getting up, he drew his curtains and checked out what was going on. He wanted to dance with joy at the sight before him.
His Angela had returned along with her family. She got down from the car and looked up at his window, clearly seeing him watching her. She blushed and carried luggage inside the house along with her brothers.
Damian did a happy dance. She was back, she was back. And she wasn't angry anymore. He had noticed her telltale blushing. He picked up his binoculars and waited and tried to watch her room. But all the doors and windows were locked. He was too frustrated by now.
If he had his way, he would have broken all her doors and windows and jumped inside and kissed her senseless. But her whole family was inside. He groaned and punched his fist here and there with frustration.
After twenty long minutes, her balcony door opened and she walked out, her hair damp, fresh from a shower. He walked over to his windows and stood there to watch her. She looked at him and blushed. A small smile broke out on her lips.
Damian was excited beyond words seeing her response to him. He blew her a kiss and her smile widened as her blush deepened. Oh bliss, she was his at last.