43. Chapter 42
Chapter 42
Alisha
M eeting Felix’s mum had been a success and it was clear how much the woman cared for her son. She’d given him her details as well as asking him to come and see her where she worked. You could visibly see she was sorry. It was up to Felix to fully forgive her and I knew he’d also want Mira’s input on it all. That was why shortly after the meeting, we pulled up at her house and spilled the details.
“She looked healthy then?” Mira was making us all a cup of tea and had set down a plate of Apfelradln, which were deep-fried apple rings dusted with sugar. I took my first bite and was in absolute heaven.
“Yeah, she said she didn’t drink anymore. You could tell,” Felix responded, picking up an apple ring himself and taking a large bite.
“Hmm,” Mira let out, placing our drinks on the table. Her house was quite cosy, perfect for one person. In terms of her decor, she kept it simple, dark brown wooden chairs, a soft, grey velvet sofa with a throw on top and a medium sized TV hanging on the wall in the living room.
“She also said she loves me. That she always has,” Felix continued and this caused a flicker of emotion to appear on Mira’s face.
“Right,” Mira said. From what I could see, she would probably be a little bit stubborn about the exchange and rightly so. But now that her brother had met up with Valerie, she could make her decision. I knew Felix and Brenna wouldn’t push her to it either.
“Is that all you can say?” Felix asked and Mira shrugged. I gave Felix a warning look, because Mira clearly didn’t want to get into it. Plus, I didn’t want these two to argue. So Felix slouched back into his seat and brought his cup of tea to his lips.
We didn’t talk more about Valerie and after about an hour at Mira’s, we decided to let her get on with things. She said she had a list of things to do today before going back to work.
Me and Felix headed back to the chalet, to talk about our plans for tomorrow. Felix would be starting his first day on trial and I would be on a call with Grayson and some other colleagues in the company. We needed to discuss the February and March issues, and hopefully with my input, I’d be able to create more exciting articles for them. Now that I’d travelled to Austria, I wasn’t afraid to go to other places. I’d thought about Spain, perhaps. Somewhere warm. As much as I loved the cold here in Austria, I was keen to wear a different attire.
Felix had been silent on the drive to mine but I didn’t blame him. He had just seen his mother and it was a huge deal. I admired him, he had been calm and collected throughout the entire meeting and didn’t for once let his true feelings take over. That was strength, and being a part of that with him meant so much to me, that he trusted me and wanted me to be there. It convinced me that I really was in love with him. I’d fallen hard.
“Right, I’ll make us some food and you sit back and relax,” I said to Felix as we got through the door. Ophelia was sitting on the sofa, giving us a wave as her other hand was poised above her keyboard. She looked as though she was in the middle of typing an email. She was also still in her velvet pyjamas.
“Making us some food. Do you want any?” I asked my friend, shrugging my coat off to hang up on the hook near the door. Felix did the same and took his boots off, arranging them neatly next to mine.
“Well, if you’re offering.” Ophelia turned her head to give me a chaste smile. She looked more tired than usual and I hoped she wasn’t working herself too hard, but she did love her job, talking with people and doing lots of research. She was dedicated and the company was lucky to have her.
In terms of food, I’d make us all K?sesp?tzle which was pasta mixed with cheese and topped with fried onions. The fridge was still fully stocked so me and Ophelia really needed to cook these last few days so that we wouldn’t waste anything.
“I’m going to keep your friend company,” Felix announced. Perfectly fine with me. I liked it when they got along and the fact that I didn’t need to even ask him to join her was adorable.
“No problem.” I grinned, starting to ransack through the fridge to grab the cheese and a bit of milk. The pasta was in the cupboard and onions were already lying on the kitchen counter. I would try to make enough so we could have leftovers and have a late night meal if we needed it.
I realised I was cooking so much more here than back in England, I’d usually have ready meals or my mum would cook and freeze food for me so that I was covered for days, sometimes even weeks.
I thought about my grandmother too, on my dad’s side, how much I missed her cooking but she was miles and miles away in India. She lived in Kanpur, the largest city of Uttar Pradesh in North India, with my grandpa. They only came to England once or twice a year and I wondered whether they’d be coming this Christmas. I missed them a lot. It was always wonderful when the Dutta family came together. I thought about Diwali and how a few years ago we had spent it in Kanpur, how gorgeous it was. I also thought about taking Felix one day, to see my extended family. There were so many exciting things ahead that I wanted him to be part of.
With our early dinner finally prepared and bubbling in the oven, I rejoined Ophelia and Felix who were in mid conversation. I just about caught what they were talking about, giving their opinion on the TV show The Walking Dead. Ophelia was a die hard fan but Felix had never watched an episode so he was nodding along with whatever Ophelia had told him.
“Normally, I don’t like guts and gore. But if there’s a storyline, I can try it,” Felix said. He shared the same sentiment as me when it came to TV shows, I didn’t like watching programmes that didn’t have a good plot. The only ones I really liked to watch now were Friends, Bridgerton and The Fresh Prince of Bel Air . All three made me laugh and cry when I needed it.
“How are you holding up anyway, Felix?” Ophelia asked, shutting her laptop lid down. She was bold to ask him outright but that’s just who she was. Straight to the point.
“Today was an interesting day. I think I’ll meet my mum again, and maybe go and visit this art gallery she works at. Just need to see what Mira decides next,” Felix replied, scratching his chin. The stubble there was growing thicker and I hoped he wouldn’t shave it all off. I loved a man with facial hair. Especially this man.
“Yeah, Mira texted me earlier. She’s not one hundred percent sure, you know. Guess she’s got a lot on her mind, going back to work and then the idea of seeing her mum after all this time. You both have been through so much,” Ophelia said sadly. She was probably thinking about her own parents and how it hadn’t worked out between them. Several months ago, she had told me she wished they would talk but they hadn’t seen one another in years. Ophelia would find it a struggle going back and forth, listening to them complain about one another from time to time.
It was probably a reason why she hadn’t fallen in love yet. Seeing what happened between her parents would be enough to turn you off the idea. If she was happy the way things were, then that was perfectly okay.
Her sparkling green eyes met my own dark brown ones and she silently let me know she was alright with a squint of her eyes. Sometimes, the two of us didn’t need to exchange words, we just knew each other.
The timer went off on my phone to let me know the pasta was ready to take out of the oven. I dished our plates quickly and we ate comfortably together, reminiscing about the last few days in Ischgl and then about our flight plans.
We’d be travelling back in the afternoon, which gave us enough time to tidy the chalet, hand back the keys and then get a bus back to Innsbruck Airport. I knew once I returned back to England, life would be very different and I’d feel like a part of me would be missing. But sometimes in life, you had to have a little distance for the heart to grow fonder.
If Felix and I were meant for one another, we’d gravitate back to each other.