Chapter 2 Liz and Max text

"Ok. chat later." Liz put the phone on top of her drawer after texting Aarush and started to cry more. This was a side she had never seen of Angie, the woman who had taught her virtues of a woman since her childhood days.

Aarush wanted to ask more but felt Liz was not in the mood so he decided to wait till morning when they would both walk to school together.

After hours of waiting for Max's call but getting none, Liz fell asleep until late in the night when she was awoken by a call from max.

It was a direct international call but he cut the call before she could answer it.

Max knew Angie would be so annoyed at hearing Liz talk on the phone in the middle of the night so he quickly texted Liz to come online.

"Check WhatsApp" Max told Liz in the text and she quickly turned her data connection on as it was lower than 20Mb.

Liz used to call Max Dad because her own father was scared of fatherhood.

Max had happily taken in Liz right from the day she was born but Angie frowned upon the idea of another girl living in the house.

Max was the one who at times renewed Liz's data bundles since he was aware that Liz's part time jobs were online were a little stressful and yielded less.

From a young age, Liz loved paying for her own basic needs so Max obeyed and only interfered when he saw she was broke.

"Dad, Douglas was in the house with Angie upstairs." Liz texted max the moment she was online.

Other messages from friends popped up but her main focus was on Max.

"What, Liz are you sure?" Max asked in text and questioned how long Douglas had been in the house and what he would do whenever he was in the house.

"I don't know, I got home early from school, you know there was a fire and I heard them laugh upstairs, so I went to check on them and they were a bit nude."

Max was still typing and then he abruptly went offline and didn't come back online again.

She texted him about the whole scenario and waited for his reply but got none so she plugged her phone to the charger and switched on the socket and waited for his reply but received none.

Her Airtime was low to make an international call and she couldn't borrow so she dozed off after waiting for so long.

When she woke up it was morning and Aarush was in their usual spot waiting for her.

He had called a couple of times but her phone was in silence and he had sent multiple texts too.

He had even sent her Airtime and sms worried that she was perhaps broke but she had not seen all of this.

After looking at her phone and seeing it was already 7:30am, she unlocked her home screen and read a number of pop ups notifications from Aarush,she sent him a call back message and he called immediately.

"Babe, I'm sorry, Give me 10 mins to freshen up. I will be there."

"Okay love, I will wait." Aarush said in a warm tone.

Liz rushed to the bathroom and had a quick shower. When she was done, she rushed to the kitchen to pack some breakfast but found the kitchen occupied by Douglas, the man she couldn't stand seeing anywhere in the house.

He had finally managed to take control of Angie and was also lustfully looking at Liz with his bare chest and revealing underwear.

As he greeted Liz, his lips curled into the worst smirk.

Liz turned around and left the house feeling more challenged since she was so humiliated.

"Douglas is really running the house," Liz sobbed but wiped away the tears because she knew Aarush would question her a lot if he saw them.

Aarush watched her run to where he was waiting, and even though he immediately realized something was wrong, he decided to act as though nothing had happened.

After all, Liz was a sensitive person who would become annoyed by even the little things.

"You appear lovely." He said to her as he combed his fingers over her braids and Aarush made fun of her.

He was trying to put a smile on her and it worked but deep inside, Liz was burning with anger.

"You are the apple of my eye." Aarush teased Liz and she beamed.

"Quit kidding." Liz insisted as she thanked him for the credit boost.

" I'll do that again because I adore you."

As they headed to school that morning, Aarush continued to make her laugh with jokes and stories from their earlier days as he reminded her of them.

Aarush was aware of the Douglas and Angie rumors and had even independently verified them, but he didn't want to be the one to tell Liz the news because it was a little confusing and unreal at that moment.

Since the national examinations were to take place in a month and Aarush and Liz would be finishing their high school careers at Benson, it made more sense if they concentrated more on their studies than the rumors.

Max didn't text again, and Douglas began to visit the house more frequently until when he moved in with his belongings.

Liz waited for Max's reply but it never came through and Aarush became her only pillar of hope.

Liz kept trying his phone number and checking out his Facebook page for some information but it was all quiet.

By the end of the year, Liz and Angie were already on non speaking terms and Douglas was already handling the house purchases and he was also Authorizing whatever Liz wanted from Angie.

The situation at Liz's home became more open to everyone who knew them and there was no more talking about it since Liz was the only one who was openly against the relationship.

Many times Liz wanted to open up to Aarush but it was hard for her so she kept the whole ordeal to herself.

They both spent quality time together after the exams and a couple of times Liz went over to Aarush's home after his multiple invitations and got to know everyone in the house.

When the results for the final exams were out, Aarush had scored higher marks and got an offer to join one of the prestigious universities around the country while Liz was among those that passed from the third grade.

There was just no hope for her and she had to ask Angie for support as Max was nowhere to be found.