Chapter 3 Her First Sign of Love

Charlotte's POV

I repeated it thrice, hoping that my brain would get the memo and reset. Yes, he was handsome; he probably got the ladies with a snap of his fingers, but no, he was older than me and probably had a hot girlfriend somewhere ready to take me down with a rifle.

Speaking of rifles? Did he hunt?

A wave of cramps made its way through me and I fell on the bed, cuddling up in a fetal position. Taking deep breaths, I tried to focus on something to distract my mind from my ailing body, but all my thoughts went back to him again.

My phone rang, and I reached for it; swiping the home button away, I placed it to my ear. There was some shuffling in the background, as though there was a struggle to pick up the phone.

I sat up on my elbows, concern evident in my voice. "Hello?"

"Hi! sis."

I felt a bit relieved that it was Diana, my little sister. We were both five years apart. Mum had her after sixteen hours of labour, and thankfully, both of them had pulled through. I didn't give her any trouble when it was my turn. Mum had said that she had gone to the hospital and a few minutes later came out with me. Diana's story was far more touching because Mum almost had a haemorrhage.

"How are you? How's everyone?"

"What's wrong with you? Why do you sound like that?"

I was thankful for a sister like Diana, we always had each other's back. We could tell when the other was trying to mask pain, grief or even hold back excitement. "It's that time of the month, D."

"Oh shit, sorry about that."

I shut my eyes, her voice was soothing. Diana lived with my parents while I had chosen to move out, to pursue my dreams of being a programmer. Dad had wanted me to be a nurse, while Mum had shrugged when I told her I had an interest in tech.

"Whichever path you decide to take, I'm here to support you each step of the way." Her words had brought tears to my eyes and we shared a hug.

"Mum wanted to know if you'd be coming home for Gran's birthday next week. She had asked me to call you although, I had told her to do it herself-"

"D, I'm sorry." My shoulders slouched. We never missed Gran's birthday and this was her ninetieth bash.

"Charlotte but it's her ninetieth birthday."

"I know, I know, I feel so terrible. I wish I could make it, I do, but D, I have worked here, and I just started; I don't want to lose this. You know how much I have been wanting to get into Hans Tech."

There was silence on her end. I didn't need to see her face to know she was disappointed.

"D?"

She remained silent but I could hear shuffling in the background, a bit of muttering and whispers. I couldn't make out what it was, but I guess she was whispering to someone.

"Diana?"

I heard more shuffling before she answered. "It's ok, Charlotte; Gran would understand." And the shuffling sound was back again.

"Is everything ok there?" I asked out of concern. I had reasons to believe that Mum was also in the background. "Mum says it's ok."

Ditto, my suspicion was finally proven.

"Say hi to mum for me. "I love you, Mum!" I yelled at the phone hoping Mum would hear it.

I heard the sound of laughter, it was Mum. Diana, still chuckling, asked me the question I had been dreading for months now.

"How's love going for you sis?"

I grimaced not just at the question, but from the cramps that had resurfaced. "My love life is going well."

"Hmm." The shuffling sound returned. I was able to piece things together, realizing that she probably did that so she could whisper my words to Mum when she asked.

"You know what, D, why don't you just give the phone to Mum? Let me tell her instead."

"Well um...." She hesitated.

"Never mind, anyways, my love life is good and it's so sad I won't be making it home next week for Gran's birthday. Could we talk later, D? I really would need some rest right now."

"Yeah, it's ok, Mum says she loves you."

I yelled those same words back before the line hung up.

Diana was a nosy one; growing up, she used to rat me out to Mum a lot, even in the slightest things.

When I was ten, I reminisced about the wallpaper accident. It had poked out from the wall and my curiosity got the best of me. Letting the intrusive thoughts win, I tugged at it gently first, but the second tug had been a bit rough; I ended up ripping an entire section of the wallpaper out.

Mum had scolded us, but she didn't want to let it go so easily, she had asked for the culprit to step forward. I leaned back in my chair, trying to wait out her anger. The best thing she would do was yell, but Mum proved me wrong. She threatened to take Diana's toys and my Harry Potter books away before Diana bailed, outing me as the culprit, and of course, I got grounded.

My body craved rest but I had work to do. I was learning the Python language. Moving out was the best thing that had ever happened, I had freedom, could bend and break some rules and to top it all, I had time to rest without having to worry about making dinner back at home. I wasn't lazy, I was just tired of most things. Mum would always complain if my bedtime was past ten. She would scream and remind me that she worked harder when she was my age, woke up earlier too, and still made good grades.

When I moved here, I applied for internships in a lot of tech companies, but only Richard's accepted me. One would say I had privilege since I was white, but at the end of the day, it all boiled down to the person in question and if they were willing to take you in.

I had barely studied before the soft caress of sleep called me, a soft lull pulling me to its bosom and I gave in.

When I opened my eyes again, the sun had gone down and my curtains were drawn up. From my house, I could look into the neighbours. If I squinted more, I would tell what type of couch they had. I drew the curtains down before flopping on the couch.

Getting into a comfortable position, I turned the TV on.

The news reporter was giving live updates on the tech progress in London. He was in front of a building. At first, I didn't see it, but when I looked closer, I could make out that it was the company I worked for. A feeling of pride swelled in me. I was living the dream. My phone shone immediately, making a notification sound. It was a text from my colleague.

"Sent! Have a lovely night, Char."

My smile faltered as a familiar, well-built, six-foot-tall honcho crossed my mind. I turned up the TV volume, I wanted no distractions.