Astrid's heart deflated as she saw that it was not Darius. She started to wonder who it actually was. She had a few on-and-off friends, but she wasn't sure if they didn't know her phone number.
The only person back in England who knew it was the guy that helped her get the SIM card through the back door process.
Curious, she picked up the phone and pressed it against her ear. "Oh, my God! Is this the Astrid Peyton?!" The woman on the other end screamed out immediately.
Astrid flinched in confusion and shock at the scream. "Yes, who is this?" She questioned. Nikoleta and her parents turned to her, suddenly interested in her conversation.
"Oh, yes. My name is Mindy Hopkins. I'm a freelance journalist in London. I managed to get your number from Jeff. He helped you get the number, right? I'm quite good at getting information. I have so many questions to ask you. How did you manage to win the heart of probably the number one biggest—"
Astrid hung up.
"Who was that?" Nikoleta asked, worried.
"Some journalist from London, apparently. She somehow got my number." Astrid shrugged, acting like it didn't bother her.
If she had thought about how Darius's popularity and status would rub off on her, she wouldn't have agreed to any of it.
Would she ever be the same Astrid that would enjoy her cold Friday evenings in a park reading her favourite crime and mystery novels with a cup of ginger tea in her hands? Absolutely not, she answered in her head.
Her phone rang again and again, nonstop. Every single time it rang, she would get giddy inside with a little glimmer of hope that maybe it wasn't the same number. That maybe it would be Darius.
It was always the same number, never Darius.
On the fifteenth ring with the same number displaying on her phone, she sighed in disappointment. "I think I need a bit of rest." She announced, walking up to her room.
She sat on the recliner in the balcony, staring at the blue skies that had no clouds in sight. Her phone rang again and she finally decided to block Mindy.
She felt at peace with herself after the little gesture, closing her eyes and hoping for sleep to carry her in its arms.
Just when she was dozing off, her phone's ringtone jerked her awake and she groaned. Checking the phone, she saw that the country code was different from the one in London.
+39?
She didn't know what country's code started with those numbers, but she was thankful it wasn't Mindy Hopkins anymore.
She groggily picked up the phone and listened, waiting for whoever it was on the other end of the phone to say something.
Was it a prank call? For all she knew, Jeff was probably having a field day with her phone number. Were people paying him good money to get her number?
"Now, who's this? A freelance journalist from Sweden? Japan? What?!" She snapped into the phone after the frustrating silence. If she had just been woken up by a prank caller, then they would get it from her.
"Astrid."
Darius.
She controlled the urge to smile, even though he couldn't see her. She was supposed to be mad at him or closed off, even.
"How did you get my number?" She asked, playing it safe.
"I have my ways. Did you tell my mum anything?" His words somehow managed to tear her heart in two.
He didn't ask her how she was doing or if she slept well. He probably wasn't going to. Why did Astrid keep thinking he would be the perfect gentleman to her? She had to get a hang of the fact that it was a fake proposal. She always had it coming.
"I didn't." She answered.
"I think she's starting to catch on. Don't tell her anything before I get back. I'm still thinking about how to do it." He instructed.
"I—"
Before Astrid could even say anything more, he hung up. Taken aback, she frowned at her phone. What his problem was with the world, she had no idea.
Finally, she slept off on the recliner after letting Darius's words and actions roll off her back.
.
"Ma'am?" Astrid opened her eyes slowly as the familiar voice of Mary called out.
"Hmm?" She replied, rubbing the sleepiness away from her eyes.
"You slept out here once again." Mary told her, helping her get up.
"You know, I actually liked it out there." Astrid smiled, climbing into her bed and slamming her head on a pillow.
"I asked her to bring you in. You're looking quite sunburnt." Nikoleta said, stepping out of Astrid's closet. Astrid looked down and saw that the top left part of her hand was red.
"I don't feel it burning, though." She rubbed her numb skin, checking it out. Nikoleta dismissed Mary with a wave of her hand and opened one of the drawers at the corner of the room.
Taking out a yellow-ish ointment, Nikoleta sat beside Astrid and started to rub it on her red skin. "When Darius was just a little boy," she let out a soft giggle, "he used to get a sunburn every single time his father and I took him to the beach."
"But that didn't stop him from loving the beach. Every summer, he would want to go to a different beach in a different country. Who were we to say no to him?" She soothed the sting by blowing Astrid's arm gently.
So he had commitment issues with beaches, too? Astrid joked in her head.
"I know you're not going to like what I'm about to say... but as his mother, I'm very happy that Darius settled for you. I know he's a hard person to be with. He makes mistakes; too many of them. But I want you to find a way to accept his flaws and still love him, the same way he kept going back to the beach."
Astrid nodded, wondering how she made his sunburn issue translate into their relationship or whatever it was that they had.
"I noticed you've both been off for a while now and for some reason, I can't help but think it's his fault or that he did something." Her voice broke and Astrid saw the tears threatening to spill out of her eyes soon.
"We don't have a misunderstanding." Astrid shook her head, lying. Everything between her and Darius was a misunderstanding.
"I can see it. The way he doesn't call you, how you don't want to go bridal shopping. Trust me, I know you don't have a headache. I'm sorry on his behalf. He finally found a good thing and he's throwing it around." The tears finally spilled out of her eyes and Astrid hugged her.
"Don't be sorry. I'm the one who accepted this. If I didn't know how to handle this, I wouldn't have. After all, I love your son." Lie after lie found ways to seep through Astrid's lips.
How long would she keep up that act? How would Nikoleta feel when she would find out the truth? How heartbroken would she be to find out that her son had no intention of spending the rest of his life with any woman?
Would she even forgive Darius, this time?