•Leiara•
How can this be? My mind reels.
With the maids in the house, how can I be locked in? How did Willa get the spare keys to my room in the first place and take out my things?
Or was it the maids she sent?
No, that is unlikely. They wouldn't listen to her over me.
Are you sure?
Ugh please! I sigh when my subconscious mind hits me with that.
First, I have to find a solution. Panicking will only make me lose sight of things.
I take a few deep breaths.
In! Out!
In! Out!
After managing to calm down a bit, I start thinking of what to do. I need to contact someone; Colson's assistant to let him know I won't make it.
But without my phone and tablet, it is impossible.
I sweep my eyes around the room, searching for anything I can possibly use. My eyes land on the stand where I keep my laptop, but my hope shatters anew when I don't find it there.
I leave the door and go to my jewelry boxes. From there, I take out one of my wrist watches.
08:17 a.m.
I peer hard at it like I have lost my ability to read the time.
But goodness! I simply don't want to acknowledge how deep in trouble I am.
I swallow hard, drop the watch on the table and turn away.
I walk to my bed stiffly like a mannequin and fall on it. I grab the blanket, gather it in my grasp and start gnawing at it.
Grrrrr!!!! I am so done!
How could I let this happen?
I toss and roll about for moments, cussing myself out and expending my energy.
A while later, I sit up on my bed, knees clutched and back against the wall.
Really! How could I mess up this bad?
Tears threaten to well up in my eyes but I draw it back in with resolve.
Crying won't solve anything.
Maybe my grandmother in-law and everyone was right all along.
I am incompetent. If I wasn't, I wouldn't have slept so deeply while fully aware that Willa is in the house.
It's all my fault.
I palm my face with a sigh.
How could I even sleep so deep and wake up this late? Even without alarms in the past, my body was already used to waking up very early.
I'm never late to work as well. So how?
Probably because you were very stressed and tired last night?
I don't counter my subconsciousness. I simply sigh again and bury my face in between my knees.
Things can't get any more awful.
My grandmother in-law had just warned me to handle things perfectly, yet I already messed up.
It hasn't even been a full day.
I plunge deeper into despair, my head sinking further into my legs. But before long, I heard a car pulling into the driveway.
I jolt upright. My eyes open wide a little as I think about who it can be.
But that doesn't even need any thinking.
I know it's Colson.
I rush to my window. But it is pointless because our bedroom is far back in the house, so I can't even see the front of the house from the window.
But this is good. Colson will realize the reason I failed to go pick him up. I didn't purposely leave him hanging, nor did I forget.
"….."
W-well, even though I woke up late, I would've made it to the airport had I not been locked in.
At least, with this, I have something to use as a reason. And since he can see it for himself, he'll realize I'm not lying.
So he won't be that upset with me. He won't be, really, he won't—
My body shudders as I remember how cold and piercing Colson's eyes have always looked at me.
Fear mounts my chest and I swallow hard.
"It isn't entirely my fault," I mutter.
I walk to the door and reach out for the knob.
As soon as he realizes I am locked in, he will get the hang of—
A swallowing dread instantly shrouds me and snaps my eyes wide open.
My body quivers as my eyes slowly go down to the doorknob.
The door… is now unlocked.
It only took a small pull and it just opened.
My heart starts pounding.
No no no!
This ruin things for me.
He will never believe me now. He never does. To him, I'm nothing but a pretentious snake always playing the victim.
Hah! Can things get any worse?
Sigh!
Nevertheless, I need to explain everything that happened. I will not accept this.
I rush out of the room in just my night dress that is a silky, gold dress with tiny singlet hands. I do not slow down and reach the stairs.
From there, I see Colson at the door. He is yet to enter fully into the house.
Willa is already with him. Her smile is bright and she is leaning into his arms. But rather than continue downstairs, I pause.
I had just seen a little smile tug on Colson's lips as he looked at Willa. A face he's never shown to me.
A string of pain pulls lightly at my heart.
Focus Lei, this isn't what you're here for.
I pull myself out of the growing sadness. What I need to do is explain the reason I didn't go to pick him up.
I lift a foot to continue forward but Colson's gaze turns to me. His eyes gleamed with a harsh glare that totally contradicted the warm ones he looked at Willa with earlier.
The anger burns bright in them. But more than that, the hatred flares more ablaze.
My blood stills, and my muscles instantly lock up.