Chapter - 17

Alex followed behind Margaret to her door. No one spoke a word all along. Margaret in the front would occasionally look back at Alex, thinking on how to bring forth the matters she needed to clarify. On the other hand, Alex looked everywhere except at Margaret. He wanted to turn around and run away as fast as he could.

When they reached her door, Alex finally spoke, "Well then, Good night Miss Cole," Alex greeted her and hurriedly turned around to leave.

But Margaret had it enough, and the dam of her patience finally collapsed. She could not take this game of silence anymore. She grabbed Alex by his arm, pulled him towards her and pinned him against her door. With her arms on either of his side, she even blocked his escape routes.

"Wha... What do you want? Why... ar... are you doing this?" With his back against the wall and nowhere to escape, Alex nervously asked. Being a movie buff, he has a pretty decent idea of where these situations lead to, but isn't this the other way round?

Margaret, who was irked a moment ago, suddenly found herself amused by seeing the look of panic on his face. She wanted to laugh but maintained her poker face with a great deal of effort.

"I should be the one asking this? What is going on? Why are you avoiding me like a plague?" Margaret asked.

"Me? Avoiding you? There is nothing of that sort. Maybe because I am so busy these days, that's why you felt like it," Alex said, averting his eyes from hers.

"You expect me to believe that? Do you think I am a child?" Margaret asked with her brows raised, "All you do is laze around the house, doing nothing but house chores. And you want me to believe that because of that, you don't have enough time to greet me properly, let alone spare a few minutes talking to me?" Margaret asked.

"Umm... something like that," Alex said, hesitating.

"Enough...You better tell me the truth before things get nasty". Margaret warned Alex as she placed her hand on his chest.

"What do you mean nas... nasty?" Alex asked, scared of what was going to happen. But deep down, he was looking forward to it.

Margaret smirked, "I don't think you are so naive to not know what I mean," Margaret bent forward and whispered in his ear.

"You wouldn't do it, would you?"

"Wanna bet?" Margaret asked. Her finger tracing all over his chest.

Before her finger could get any down, Alex held her hand. But unlike the last time, he was not at all gentle. Margaret flinched because of his grip.

"Alex, you are hurting me," Margaret tried to free herself from his grip, but his grip tightened even more.

"Is it fun?" Alex asked. He was not the sweet, innocent Alex Margaret was used to, "Every time I cross path with you, I am the one left embarrassed. You play with me as you please, and I just let you do whatever you want. Making me hope that there was something more to it, but then..." Alex wanted to say something more, but he stopped there.

"But... what? Say it... Don't keep me hanging," Margaret stopped struggling. She was not concerned about the pain anymore, instead, she was looking at Alex with some expectations.

"That day...you... that man... I know something is going on," Alex spew some gibberish.

"I didn't understand a thing," Margaret told him.

"It's nothing. You won't understand. It's best if we maintain some distance, going forward," Alex said and pushing away Margaret, he walked away.

"Is that it? You are not even going to explain yourself?" Margaret yelled from behind. But Alex didn't look back. He continued to walk away confidently with large strides.

'I don't know why you are pushing me away, but I am sure of one thing. You are jealous of someone...' Margaret thought, and then suddenly, something clicked in her brain.

'That day... That man...' Now everything was crystal clear for Margaret. Everything started from that day.

"How cute,"

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

*Creak!

Alex entered the house and sat then and there, leaning by the door.

"Fuck! What have I done? Aahh... How can I blurt out whatever came to my stupid brain? And can't you control yourself?" Alex began slapping his loud mouth.

But then his attention diverted to his hand, which was busy slapping his mouth, "And what were you thinking, holding her so strongly? What if you were to leave a bruise on that delicate hand?" Alex began reprimanding his hand.

"But hold on, that's not the issue here. What would she be thinking of me? I was acting more like a hooligan, abducting a woman. All the hard work I put in for that innocent little Alex is down the drain in a single moment of impulsiveness..."

"GOODDD! What have I done?" Alex cried out loud, "She may think of me as a freak, a rogue or worse, a pervert. What do I do now?" Alex wanted to cry, but not even tears were with him on this.

George had already hit the sack after stuffing himself to the brim. While Martha had her glasses on and was going through a few documents. She wanted to concentrate, but all this wailing and whining of Alex was making it hard for her. She silently crept out of her bed without disturbing the sleep of her husband. She opened the door of her slightly and peeked through the crack. Alex was cursing his rotten fate while sitting by the entrance of the house.

'Ahh... youth and its trouble,' Though Martha thought this, she didn't like the fact he was sitting there depressed over some girl.

"George, a cat is crying somewhere. Go and chase it away," Martha said out loud enough for Alex to hear, but George, on the other side, didn't seem to flinch.

Alex, when heard Martha, hurriedly got off the floor and swiftly made his way to his room, trying not to make a sound.

Martha smiled, as she watched Alex dash off, and got back to reading the documents from earlier.

Even after entering his room, Alex sulked around for a while before eventually crashing on his bed, hoping to get some sleep. When he reached out for the lamp to turn off the lights, he found a note stuck to it.

'We will go shopping tomorrow, So don't stay up late. MOM'

Alex smiled, reading the note. Though Martha told him to sleep early, he knew that it was going to be a sleepless night tonight.

* * * * *