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T
he next morning, Angela was slowly shaken awake by the slight rays of sunlight flooding in through the blinds across the bedroom. She shifted around in bed for a while with her eyelids still pressed together as she exhaled heavily.
She had barely even opened her eyes when the thoughts of last night began to rush back to her mind; she froze in her lace and refused to open her eyes. She remembered the bottle of whiskey at her door and the way she had almost tripped over her feet at the sight of David.
David....
He was stuck to the back of her mind like glue; he would be in every crevice and at the back of every thought of hers. The way his hands had latched onto her body, how she had slipped so easily into his arms, was almost surreal.
Her breath hitched at the thought, and she gulped. Slowly, she began to pull herself out of bed, and the events of last night were still circling in the back of her mind; she had barely even made it out of the door when the smell of breakfast reached her; something fresh was definitely being cooked, and she could smell it from a distance.
She rubbed her eyes as she tightened her robe around her body and hurried towards the open kitchen by the living room. She had expected to see him there with his messy hair and wide smile staring back at her, but to her surprise, when she made it out of the door, she came face-to-face with the empty living room.
The couch had a folded blanket placed upon it; for a moment, her smile dropped from her face when she thought about the fact that David had left. She turned around, and instantly, her eyes landed on the marble countertop, a plate of freshly cooked waffles with what looked to be berries on top.
Angela slowly walked towards the plate, and she saw a small note sticking out of the side of the plate. Angela picked up the note and held it between her fingers as she read over it.
Thank you for yesterday; it was splendid. I was occupied with work so I couldn't stay longer, but I hope you like my small token of appreciation. - David.
A smile spread across her face in that instant. She held onto the note tightly, and her eyes moved towards the plate of food. She sighed before she reached for the plate of food and the fork that was neatly placed by the plate; she was just about to reach for a bite when she was distracted by a knock on the door; Angela's heart skipped a beat for a moment, half of her heart and her mind hoped that David would be on the other side, but she knew deep down that it wasn't possible for it to be him.
Angela dropped her fork by the counter and rushed towards the door; she was still half awake as she pulled open the door and faced Toby. He stood there with a huge box in his hands as he stared back at her with his eyes wide open. Before she had even said a single word, he spoke up almost too loudly for it to be the first thing she had heard in the morning.
"I'm sorry to be bothering you this early, but I think I found something else that I can use to our advantage."
She nodded her head as she pulled the door wide open for him to step inside. She led the way and made sure to pull the blinds open; she noticed the same expression on his face; he seemed to be mesmerized by the place; he turned to face her as he spoke with his jaw practically falling towards the ground.
“No way! This is your place?”
A smile appeared on her face out of nowhere when she saw his reaction; she gave him a firm nod. She was about to offer him some food when the boy placed the box on top of the coffee table in the middle of the lounge. She watched as he rushed towards the countertop in the kitchen. Before she could say anything or stop him, it was already too late, and she knew that there was nothing she could do about what he was about to see.
At first, he stared at the plate of waffles on the counter; he turned around to face her as he spoke with excitement still in his voice.
“Are you for real? You’re so rich that you have waffles every morning for breakfast?”
She was about to open her mouth to wave him off, but she paused when she saw what happened next. His gaze shifted towards the note on the edge of the countertop; she cursed under her breath as she watched him slowly reaching for it.
She couldn't do anything; she watched the smile on his face drop slowly as his shoulders fell to his sides, and his expression shifted towards fear completely. She took a step toward him, and before he had the chance to say something, she spoke, hoping to make it better.
"Hey, Toby, let's talk about this. Just hear me out, okay?"
He stared up at her, and she could tell that the way he had looked at her had shifted; she could sense the look of being betrayed all over his face as he took a step away from her. He wanted to speak, but it seemed as if the words were getting stuck in his throat; there was a moment of complete silence all over the apartment; she wanted to say something, but she knew anything she would say would just make it worse.
He finally gathered the courage to look back at her as he spoke.
“I can’t believe it...are...are you in a relationship with him? Have you been on his side all along?”
Angela shook her head immediately; she took a step closer towards him, but he held his hands out, stopping her right there as he shook his head and spoke; this time, his voice was low, and she barely heard him.
"Stay...stay away from me; I trusted you; I came to you, and you lied to me."
There was less anger and more hurt laced in his tone. Angela noticed that he moved forward, and he was about to grab onto the box on the table; Angela knew that if she let him go, it would be hard for her to get to him, and so she spoke up.
"Toby, please, you're jumping to conclusions; you need to calm down. This is all part of the plan. Remember, we talked about this? We talked about bringing him down?"
The boy looked up at her; she could tell that he was holding back tears as he shook his head, and the broken words left his mouth.
“Yeah, we talked about bringing him down, not cuddling with him and going on dates or whatever the hell you are doing."
She sighed; she didn't know how to make it better or how to make sense of what was going on with her and David. She tried to speak, but she just couldn't sum the words up in her mind. she watched as he abruptly reached for the box on the table. He picked it up, and just as he made his way to the door, he turned around; half of his body was already out of the door when the words left his mouth in spite.
"I looked up to you; I trusted you. I thought that you were nothing like the corrupt lawyers you look down on, but I guess I was wrong about you all along."
She felt his words hitting her all at once, and she sighed; what he had said had gone straight to her heart, and soon enough, she heard the front door closing with a loud bang. She was standing in the middle of the apartment in complete silence, the silence that was burning holes in the back of her mind.
She was shaken out of her thoughts at the sound of her phone buzzing. She looked down at the caller ID, and her heart skipped a beat once more. He was the last person she wanted to hear from now. David's name was flashing across the screen, and without thinking twice, anger and disappointment rushed through her body. What was she thinking? How could she betray the kid like that?
Angela was acting out of anger towards herself when she slid her finger across the screen; as soon as she had declined the call, she didn't wait for him to try again. It needed to end. She took a deep breath as she clicked on the Block button. Her heart sank, but she refused to give in. She needed to fix things with Toby, and she needed to do it fast before he made a mistake or took a step towards danger.
