Love At Last

THE KISS

On our way home, I thought of why she let herself be ridiculed by those women as I tried to get the reason why those women treated her the way they did from her.

“Lily,” I called out to her but she didn’t respond. “Lily?” I called out again.

“Don’t ask,” she replied. It was obvious she knew why I called her.

“Why though? Why don’t you want me to ask?”

“Because my reply would be a bit embarrassing.”

“I still want to hear it though. Why did you let those women ridicule you the way they did. That wasn’t fair at all,” I protested.

“It’s in the past now, right? Let it remain there.”

“C’mon Lily. I really am curious right now, you know?” I pestered.

She tilted her head to the side to look at me. “Why do you want to know? It’s really not necessary so just forget about it, okay?” she wasn’t ready to budge, neither was I.

“I helped you back there you know? This is the least you could do to show your appreciation. I never asked, neither did I try to pry before, but now I really want to know what they said was all about,” I insisted.

She heaved a deep sigh and asked, “you want to know? You really do?

“Yes!” I affirmed. “Please tell me,” I added.

“Fine, I’ll tell you everything.”Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org exclusive © material.

“I’m all ears, miss.” I was ready to hear her story.

“I had Jacek with my first and last boyfriend when I was eighteen. I was blindly in love with him that I didn’t think twice when he asked to violate me. We had sex just once and it unfortunately resulted in me getting pregnant. When I found out about my pregnancy, I got scared and freaked out but first decided to share the news with its father who completely denied and rejected the pregnancy,” she narrated. Her eyes began to well up.

“It’s okay,” I rubbed her back.

“I told my parents about the pregnancy and they also turned their backs on me – they threw me out of the house not wanting to have anything to do with me and Jacek, despite the fact that I was their only child. I felt like the whole world was against me. With no one to turn to, I called my granny and she said I could come over to her place which is here in Nedford,” she wiped her tears continuously as she sobbed.

“If you need to cry, don’t hold it in, let it out,” I urged her.

“Nana has been the only…,” she gasped as she couldn’t control the tears anymore, “the only…,” she tried to speak but the tears wouldn’t let her.

I hit the brakes of the car and stopped in front of Lily’s house. I held on to her hands and made her face me directly. “Calm down and talk to me, okay?” I spoke mildly.

“Nana was the only one who stood by me…,” she managed to say and burst into another round of tears. I held her closely and rubbed her back in a bid to console her.

“Listen to me okay?” I asked with her still in my bosom. “Your parents were the ones who wronged you, okay? They did you dirty. So you don’t have to swallow whatever nonsense people spew at you, okay? You don’t have to let the guilt of what happened to weigh you down and make you forget who you really are – a beautiful successful and independent woman and a loving mother,” I emboldened. “Now listen to me…,” I held her petite face in my palms, to my face, “you don’t have to listen to what anybody has to say, okay? Just be the woman you aspire to become. Do not let anyone talk or look down on you, okay? Being a single mom is not something to be ashamed of,” I said all in a bid to encourage her. She did nothing but sob and nod repeatedly.

I used both my thumbs to wipe her teary face gently. I then lowered my head slowly, bringing my lips closer to hers. She said nothing but close her eyes gently – the scene from the hotel was being replayed again. This time, I hoped nothing would interrupt us as I went in for that kiss. Nothing interrupted us this time and I ended up planting the most passionate kiss – which l ever had in forever, and lasted seven seconds – on her lips.

*JAROD’S POV*

It came to my knowledge that Lily was back in town and that made me happy. I decided to have a heart-to-heart conversation with her and apologize for everything I did to her.

I went over to Lily’s but she wasn’t around; she was at the competition. Instead of rushing over to see her – since the competition was almost over – I decided to spend time with Jacek while waiting for her to come back.

“This isn’t the way you do it, Jacek,” I held his little hands and helped him play the bike-racing game on my device. He chuckled. “I’ve won!” he exclaimed on winning that round. “Good job, little one,” I cheered him heartily. “Congrats.”

“Jarod are you sure you want to keep waiting?” Mrs. Anie walked in and asked.

“It’s fine ma, I can wait.”

“You should have headed there instead. You’re supposed to be with her on this one,” she said.

“I know ma’am but we had a little bit of misunderstanding which I’m here to say sorry for.”

“You still don’t want to tell me what’s wrong?”

“I suggest you ask Lily,” I said politely. “If she chooses not to, my hands are tied.”

“Lily always tells me to ask you instead. Why are you both tossing me around?” she asked jovially and we both laughed.

“I’m sorry ma.”

“It’s okay, I understand. I’ll force the truth out of either of you eventually.” I chuckled.

“You sure you don’t want anything?”

“Yes ma’am. I’m okay.”

“Okay then,” she said and went inside.

After waiting for over thirty minutes for Lily and still saw no sign of her, I informed Mrs. Anie and took my leave.

On getting outside, I saw a familiar car parked a few meters from Lily’s house. I looked through the front glass and saw Lily and Cayden. I watched from a distance and noticed Cayden being all touchy; I saw him hug Lily and wipe her face. ‘Was she crying?’ I thought. I was annoyed by the scene I beheld; I wanted to go over and give Cayden a hard punch on the jaw. I held my horses and decided to watch the duo a bit more. It was then I witnessed the most heart-breaking scene I’d witnessed in forever – Cayden kissed Lily on the lips!!! As if that was not enough, Lily didn’t oppose and let the kiss go on for seven whole seconds.

I was completely ticked off by what I just witnessed. I moved further away from eyeshot to prevent any of them from seeing me accidentally.