The billionaire's sweet editor
Chapter 49: Iris: Apologies and surprises

Chapter 49: Iris: Apologies and surprises

I KNOW I’m nervous, but to wait outside the Adams residence for thirty minutes straight? That’s far beyond being nervous. It’s fear. Fear of the conversation waiting for me inside that house.

I try to open the door again, but my hand withdraws before I even touch the knob. I know talking to Jerald after ghosting him all this time is going to be weird, especially given how our last conversation ended. I thought I’d be ready for this encounter after all this time I spent collecting myself, but now that it’s happening, I think I need more time.

"There you go again, coward," I hiss at myself, clasping my mouth when Paul turns his head to face me. "I wasn’t talking to you," I stutter, looking away as my cheeks burn.

Well, thatwasembarrassing.

He turns back to his phone. I’m pretty sure he’s reading the dark mafia romance I recommended to him. All the facial expressions he’s been making match the exact faces I made when I read it, a fucking masterpiece.

Focus, Iris. Youhaveameetingscheduled

I have prepared for this encounter with Doctor William, my new therapist Lucas booked for me. William, as he asked me to call him, is such a sweetheart. In his late middle ages, he’s a well-spoken biracial professor like me, but much wiser and easy to talk to.

Lucas introduced is before our first session like he promised, and the first time I spoke to him, I knew my therapy sessions were going to be great. He had the exact same vibe as Baldy—my former therapist. He brought the same vibe to our first meeting, and I ended up telling him everything without him needing to ask.

From how I got my nyctophobia, to how I had a fight with Jerald last week and ended up ignoring him, to how it’s affecting me and my career, and how I can’t write because of the mental stress. I told him everything. Everything except how I like Lucas but can’t tell him because, as stupid as it might sound, I don’t trust my judgment on him. I feel like I’m missing something about him, or rather, he’s missing something about me.

In the end, Doctor Williams advised me to talk it out with Jerald if our argument is affecting my livelihood as I told him. Then there were my grandparents calling and alerting me of how many days they had left before they came back home. It was the wake-up call I needed to be the adult and finally text Jerald about our meeting.

I think he was waiting for my message every day since we fought because I sent the message at mid fucking night but he replied almost instantly as if he had already automated a reply meant for me. I have to admit, that bit of dedication from him made me miss him, a lot.

However, now that I’m about to see him, I suddenly feel like running away again. But if I’m going to be the better version of myself I want Lucas to see, then this is a path I have to take no matter what awaits me on the other side of the gate—be it good or bad.

Bracing myself whilst lamenting some confidence-boosting quotes to myself under my breath, my hand finally lands on the knob. "Ready to do it now?" Paul says, not taking his eyes off his phone.

With so much gusto that the car shakes, I nod my head. "Yes, wish me luck."

He nods at me as I open the door, leaving the car outside as I enter the closed space. It feels odd coming back here after I stormed away in a fit of rage, and it doesn’t help that everything looks a bit different than it did a few days ago.

The lawn looks greener, there’s a swinging chair by the veranda that looks almost identical to the one outside my room at Lucas’ mansion, and the flowers surrounding the space have bloomed. I feel like I’m walking into a strangers home, and I don’t like how my gut growls when I step in front of the door, raising my knuckles so I can knock on the glass.

"You’re here." All the anxiety I’ve been feeling stops when I hear Mary’s voice, her face appearing on the glass.

AtleastI’mnot

The French door opens as she takes a light leap straight into my arms, before hugging the stress out of me. The squeeze is a bit suffocating as if she’s trying to exorcise a demon within me. I think she does because the moment she loses her grip, I can breathe more lightly this time.

"I thought you were going to sit in that car until you got fed up and drove away."

I gasp. "You knew?"

"Oh, please. You’ve been living in that huge mansion for so long you’ve forgotten your roots? We heard the car sound when you were parking outside the gate. Our house is not that far off the gate like your boyfriend’s empire you know."

Swatting my hand and smiling at her, I step inside the house. Geez, even the inside has changed. The layout has changed. The flower pot, the sofas, the television, everything isn’t in the order I left it before.

Maybe because he broke the home stuff and he had to renovate the space. The walls look like they’ve been repainted, and he bought a new table. Even the smell is fresh and different. I think I’ve witnessed it all, until Jerald walks out of the kitchen, holding a tray full of piping-hot dishes with a pink apron wrapped around him and a matching chef’s hat on his head.

"He made them himself," Mary whispers in my ear, smiling smugly at herself before boasting: "I taught him myself."

I can tell she did. The scent oozing from that chicken matches her version of grilled chicken and veggies.

Jerald places the dish on the new glass table before turning awkwardly to face me, a cringey smile on him. He opens his mouth to speak, but nothing comes out of it. In the end, all he can do is scratch the back of his neck and mutter a whispered "hi" at me, head hung low as if he’s embarrassed to the core.

He isn’t the only one. I’m putting on this normal facade but deep inside, my blood is boiling. I’m pretty sure I’m bouncing my leg nervously, but my mind is too preoccupied with keeping a straight face to be bothered by that.

"Oh my god, are you guys kids? All it takes is an apology and you’ll all be on the right track, it’s that simple!" Mary blurts out after a long weird pause from us, gesturing everywhere like the angry woman she is.

When Jerald and I keep still without making any move toward the peace Mary wants, she decides to take matters into her own hands. Literally. She grabs Jerald by the ear, before doing the same to me, pulling us closer together until we can smell each other’s perfume.

"Ow, ow, Mary!"

"Mary stop, you’re hurting her," Jerald says, grabbing her hand and trying to rug it off my ear. Unfortunately for me, her grip is strong. They end up nearly pulling my ear off. I have to pinch Jeralds hand to stop him from making Mary fidget around with my ear.

"If you guys don’t settle this now, I’m making you bow next."

Jerald noticing my wince deepening immediately drops to his knees, pulling Mary with him to the ground, but she holds her stance without falling—and she still has my ear clasped between her middle finger and thumb.

For someone with nails, her grip is scary.

"I’m sorry for what I said last week Iris, that was very stupid of me. If you can find it in you to forgive me then please do, I’d be very delighted."

I don’t know if it’s the rage I’m feeling because my ear is being pulled, or if my genuine feelings came into display because of it, but tears begin streaming out of my eyes. "You, you fucking sicko. Do you have any idea how hurtful your words were? I couldn’t sleep that day, and I couldn’t write for an entire week after that. You made me start going to therapy again you fucking idiot!"

Okay, so maybe the last part was a lie but who cares? I’ve been bottling up everything in my head, waiting for this day to come so I can tell him exactly how he affected me.

"But you said-"

"What I said to comfort you doesn’t count, Mary," I shush her before she tells on me. She shuts her mouth in an instant, miming herself zipping her lips like a bag and letting go of our ears.

"I thought that might’ve happened to you whilst you were away, and believe me when I say, every day has been a hassle of me beating myself around for saying such shit to you. You didn’t deserve to hear that."

"Yes, I didn’t. Fuck you for saying that," I reply, wiping my eyes. "And fuck you for thinking you could just come up here and apologize to me and everything would be back to square one. I’m going to hold this on you until the day I can get my revenge on you."

"I’ll do anything to make you forgive me."

Fuck. I wanted to stay mad at him, but his apology is beginning to get to me. Besides, he had some right to be mad at us, even though what he said in the end was unforgivable.

"You can stand up now. You’re making me feel like some spoilt princess brat."

"But you are a princess, aren’t you?"

Thatvoice.

Both Jerald and I snap our necks and turn to the door where two figures are standing, blocking the sunlight coming in from the glass.

"I called Mom and Dad just in case you guys got into a fight again," Mary mumbles already in her mother’s arms. "Guess I didn’t need to call them, right?"

★★★★★