Chapter 11
It took at least fivedays for Nikos to get another opportunity to speak with Papous. Not for a lack of trying either.
The man had intentionally changed the subject when Nikos had tried to branch the subject or he just wasn’t able to get him alone. Even now, as they had lunch together, Nikos was unable to get Papous to look at him, no matter how many times he made conversation that was, more often than not, pointed toward the older gentleman.
It had taken him a while to get rid of Mr. Antov. It had taken him even longer to convince the man not to sue, although Nikos wasn’t sure he had any grounds to stand on for wanting to sue. Even then, it was better to not have to deal with that if he didn’t have to.
“So, about the hotel—” he started as soon as he saw an opening when Yiayia cleared the plates.
“Not now,” Papous glared at him in a hushed whisper, his eyes following Yiayia’s movements in the kitchenette.
However, Nikos had had enough with Papous not wanting to talk to him, so he pushed. “We need to talk about this! I wasn’t going to sell—”
“Walk with me,” Papous pinned him with a glare, then abruptly stood up, heading to Yiayia.
He whispered something to her that made her smile, and then she turned around to give him a hug. Nikos looked away from their intimate moment, as always, feeling like a little boy eavesdropping on something he shouldn’t be.
Papousdidn’t wait for him. He turned, picked up Yiayia’s flower vase that sat in the middle of the kitchen island, and walked out the door. Nikos was off his feet and out the door too, not wanting to lose Papous again.
They walked to the side of the house with the flowerbed Papous had built for Yiayia all those years ago. Bending down, the older man picked up some flowers, replaced them in the water vase, and then went back inside without a word.
A few minutes later, he came back outside, and he made his way toward the beach. Nikos’ stomach twisted in uncomfortable knots as he realized they were finally going to talk. When Nikos was younger, he would quietly follow his dad and Papous around as they worked around the hotel. This felt extremely like that, except now he was following Papous, not because he was observing him at work but because he had done something extremely offensive in Papous’ eyes.
“I wanted to sell,” Nikos said, unable to take the silence. “When I came back here, I did want to sell because I didn’t want to run the hotel. But, that’s changed, Papouli.” He thought about giving his reasons why he didn’t want to run the hotel, but every one of them sounded a lot like an excuse. “I have ideas,” he added when Papous didn’t acknowledge him, “ideas that I wanted to run by you.”
And yet again, Papous didn’t respond. It was five more minutes of walking and Nikos was about to ask if Papous had heard him before he halted.
“Turn around,” Papous instructed, his eyes not reaching Nikos. He obediently turned around, wondering what was going on inside Papous’ mind.
“When I was a little boy,” Papous started, “my father told me about how I would, one day, run this hotel. It’s something that I’ve always known. Something that I always took pride in.”
“What—”
“You see, Nikos,” Papous didn’t let him interrupt. “This hotel,” he paused as he gestured to the grand structure they were facing, “it wasn’t always in the Kappellis name. There was a time when my grandfather, your great-great-grandfather, lost the hotel. He was tricked out of ownership and he spent years fighting to get it back. It changed ownership in the course of eighteen years and, each time, they changed how it looked. Each time, they chipped away at what this hotel was supposed to be, a sanctuary for people looking to get away from the craziness of their lives. So, when my grandfather got the hotel back, he asked my father to promise that it would remain in the Kappellis name. My father made me promise too, swearing that the hotel would remain in our family name.”
“To you, these might look like just buildings to auction off,” Papous made a sweep of the hotel that they were now facing. “But, to me, it’s our entire family history. I was only a boy when my father renovated the hotel to what you see now. It used to be mortar and brick, but he wanted more. So, he changed the hotel to what it is today.”
Nikos had listened intently, wondering what point his Papous was trying to make and when he’d give him a chance to convince him, once again, that he changed his mind about selling.
“This hotel is the Kappellis legacy,” a small smile played on Papous’ lips, but it disappeared as fast as it had come. “This is our home,” and then he was frowning, “our history.” He stopped talking, eyes sweeping across the grand structures of The Atlantis like he was taking it in for the first time.
As if in slow motion, Nikos watched Papous trying but failing to not break down. He swallowed multiple times, his Adam’s apple bobbing up and down with the motion as his eyes blinked rapidly. Papous’ hands shook before he curled them into a fist, then turned around at Nikos.
“You want to sell the hotel? I’m not stopping you,” his voice broke and so did Nikos’ heart. “That is your choice as the new owner. But I made a promise to my father that it would stay in our family for as long as I lived. So, here is what I’d like you to promise me,” he pinned Nikos with an unwavering stare even as moisture gathered in his eyes. “Promise that you will wait until your Yiayia and I are six feet under, then you can sell. Allow me the chance to die, knowing that I fulfilled a promise I made to my father all those years ago. Please, don’t make a liar out of me.”
Before Nikos could gather his wits about him, Papous turned around and headed back to where they came from.
Nikos watched him go, unable to process what just happened and the fact that he’d just witnessed his papous breakdown for the first time in years. The last time he had shown that much emotion, he’d lost his son.
* * *
“What?” came a snippyvoice from the other end of the line.
“Oh, hi, Ava,” Olivia said, surprised that Ava had finally picked up.
She had spent the past few days trying to get in touch with her former best friend. The first time she had called, Ava had picked up, but once she realized it was her, she had hung up quickly. Olivia was borrowing Iossif’s phone since she tried speaking with Ava.
Ava didn’t respond, but she didn’t hang up either.
So, progress?
“How have you been?” Olivia asked, tapping her fingers nervously on the bench she had sat on with Nikos the day they went out.
“Seriously?” Ava scoffed. “What do you want, Clarke?”
There was a hint of hostility in Ava’s voice, but Olivia could hear the note of sadness and exhaustion in her voice, which was enough to tell her how Ava was.
“I wanted to apologize,” she started. Ava didn’t respond. “I’m so sorry, Ava. About everything.”
“Is that all?” Ava asked when Olivia stalled. She wasn’t sure where to even start.
“I—I...”
“Well, if that is all then, have a good day, Clarke.”
“Wait! Wait! Please,” Olivia pleaded in desperation, not wanting to lose her friend again.
“This apology is a little too late,” Ava interrupted whatever Olivia had to say. “If you were sorry, you would have been here with me, helping me fix this mess you created. But you left!”
“No, I—”
“You left me.” Those three words were laced with a lot of pain and betrayal that hit Olivia right in her heart. “You left me to face the world alone.”
“Ava, I had no choice,” Olivia tried.
“Yes, you did. You could have taken me with you. You could have told me where you were going and asked me to come—but you didn’t.” Olivia was full-on crying now, as was Ava on the other side of the line. People around looked at her like she was crazy, but she didn’t care. Not when her best friend was breaking down on the other end of the line and she wasn’t there to hug her.
“You’re not a cruel person, Olivia. I know you’re not. The things you exposed about my father that night, I wanted to tell the world, too. Don’t get me wrong, the way you went about it was all wrong and it shouldn’t have come out the way it did, but I was ready for the world to know because I was tired of the fa?ade Papa forces onto the family. But then, your family accused me of drugging you and you didn’t say anything? You just ran away?”
“Ava...” that was all Olivia was able to get out between hiccups.
“We promised to face everything together, remember?” Ava’s voice broke. “Back in high school with Timothy Clayton? I was with you throughout that entire scandal. We escaped together to my family’s ranch, and we made that promise. Do you remember what you said to me?” she asked, sniffing on the other end as she shuffled around.
“You said, ‘No matter what happens, we’ll always be there for each other. We’re a team, Ava, through thick and thin’,” Ava quoted Olivia’s words to her, which were shared between two scared kids who had no one but each other to rely on for comfort.
“I meant every word,” she pleaded, “I just... I don’t know...”
“I could have forgiven you for a lot of things, but not that. You left me. Why did you leave?”
“I had to,” Olivia said, uselessly.
“I’d had the longest day with people harassing my family, so I visited my best friend. Only, I was told that you left. They wouldn’t even tell me where you went. Just that you were gone and I should stay away from you.”
Olivia’s voice cracked as she replied, “I know I can’t undo what’s done, but I want to make things right. I want to be there for you now, Ava. I miss you, and I’m so sorry for leaving you behind. I’m sorry for not calling you sooner.”
“What can you do to fix what’s already broken, Liv? What can you do to restore my trust in your words? Because I truly do not trust you anymore. And that, right there, is the problem. I can’t be friends with someone I can’t trust.”
“I’ll find a way. I promise.”
Ava did not answer, and Olivia didn’t know what to add to that.
Their conversation ended with a heavy silence, and the only sound was the both of them breaking down for different reasons.