Mistakenly Eaten

41. Poor Nicholas

“Oh God! Even these sandwiches are delicious.”

Fiona commented, with her mouthful of the bite that she had just taken off from the sandwich that Althea had prepared to present to Nicholas. They decided to take some leftovers for the picnic.

“What you did back there was just pure genius.” She told Althea, making her chuckle.

“Well, I had to do something to make that Nicholas look stupid.” She scoffed. “I don’t know what his problem with me is.” She shrugged, making Fiona laugh out loud, who tried her best to not to let the contents of her food spill out of her mouth.

“Oh please! Once you called him a ghost and the other time, you called him an obnoxious man and the third time when he saved you, you slapped him and called him a predator and you still wonder what his problem with you is?” Fiona stated, making Althea bit her tongue and look down at her lap in a little embarrassed motion.

“Well, he should not look that scary. What’s up with his beard? That’s why I called him a ghost and when I slapped him, thinking that he was trying to take advantage of me, why didn’t anyone try to stop me? You all just stood there, watching me make a fool out of myself.”

Althea complained, making Fiona laugh out loud.

“Yeah! As if that would’ve been as much fun as watching you look so stupid.” She admitted.

Althea simply shook her head.

“No, but I actually feel like Nicholas has some real stupid problem with me. I don’t know why is he even so grumpy.” She mumbled, to which Fiona simply shrugged.

“That’s maybe because of what happened to him.”

“What happened to him?”

“He got left at the altar.” Fiona stated candidly, making Althea’s eyes go wide.

“What?”

Fiona continued eating the sandwich, until she realized that she had accidently spoken too much truth and told Althea more than she was supposed to know.

She immediately paused, in order to comprehend what she had just ended up stating, which made her choke on the bite that was in the middle of her throat.

Althea immediately passed water to Fiona and she took a few sips, finally coming back to her senses and the first thing she spoke was to make sure that no one in the house killed her for spilling the truth to Althea.

“Please, do not tell this to anyone, that I told you about Nicholas.” She begged and Althea was rendered even more confused.

“But how do you know all of this?” Althea asked and her question further widened Fiona’s eyes.

“I heard Salva and Serena. They both know Nicholas personally and they were invited to his wedding.” She immediately came up with a lie to mask the truth entirely.

“Oh! So, why did his bride leave him?” she asked, wanting to know more about what had happened, suddenly her interest piqued in the entire event.

Fiona shrugged, “That’s the worst part. Even he doesn’t know. He never got his closure and the girl, she didn’t even give any explanation. I heard that he was a player before he met her and he immediately and totally fell in love with her and she was the first girl that he ever committed to. He really loved and they got engaged and everything but she just left him at the very end moment and ever since than he had just been like that. Maybe, he wouldn’t have been that tough on you if you had met him before his fiancé left him. or maybe, he would’ve been the same. Can’t say anything.”

Fiona shrugged, continuing to eat her sandwich and Althea was simply left stunned.

Even though she was supposed to have little empathy for Nicholas after listening to the fact that he was a player but what his past was, shouldn’t have hurt him in such a horrible manner.

“Did he ever break someone’s heart, just like the girl broke his?” She asked Althea and Fiona paused for a moment, making sure to choose her words wisely, so that Althea wouldn’t be alarmed that she knows way too much about the director of the competition that she was also just supposed to be a part of.

She cleared her throat and shook her head, “I just heard that he never committed to any one and was not even in a relationship with anyone before he met that girl. You know how boys are. Never settling down until they are ready and he was really ready to settle down with that girl. The poor boy planned his entire journey and perhaps, he wasn’t even planning on being on this island, six months after his supposed wedding date but now look at him. stuck here with his pain and agony, with all of us. So, I guess he kind of deserves to be rude to people, because you know one human being hurt him…”

As Fiona continued to explain further about Nicholas’s condition, Althea couldn’t help but feel a sting of pain in her own heart for that poor guy.

She knew what it was like to find ones first serious love, the one that people think was meant to last forever and to that love, people give endless chances, over and over again.

Althea had done that her own self with Angelo. She had given him multiple chances, thinking that each time he came back, he would be different but he was never any different than before and in fact, each time he came back, she became even an easier target for him and his attitude and behavior worsened, finding new ways to torment her and hurt her.

She was glad that she had found Seb and Lur, who really helped her a lot and helped her realize and see that Angelo would do nothing but hurt her and keep on hurting and using her for the rest of his life.

He never considered as a lovable being and only used her for his pleasure and he was a vile man and that Althea needed to get rid of him in every possible manner.

Since, she was someone who had been hurt by someone’s manipulative and toxic behavior one too many times, that’s why maybe, she also understood Nicholas’s pain.

When you just couldn’t put a pin to why someone would hurt you, never get any closure and have to move on, on your own and realize that someone else’s behavior and their hurtful behavior was mainly because of the way their own brain worked and gave them some sort of sadistic pleasure or sometimes, some people are just too numb to even realize that their behavior hurt others.

She just wished that just like her heart had to go through a lot to realize that, Nicholas would also eventually end up digesting the reality and actually move on.

As she and Fiona made their way back towards the house, Fiona excused and walked towards the kitchen, whilst Althea walked towards the staircase but her speed slowed down and she took slow steps up the stairway, as she watched Nicholas in to the corridor, holding a file in his hands, that he read with quite intricate care.

She halted her feet and stood watching him closely, the thick beard grown around his face, his hair disheveled, the polo shirt he wore was covered with wrinkles, it looked like the man didn’t care how he looked like to others. His arms seemed lose around the hems of the sleeves, which showed that he wore a shirt bigger than his size or the fact that the shirt ones fit him and just didn’t fit him anymore, signifying that he had lost weight.

She could tell that the guy showed clear signs of heart break and depression.

She wondered if he also didn’t have anyone to share his sorrows with.

Althea never blamed her family for never understanding her pain.

She knew that her mother was extra caring towards her and if Monique ever found out what Althea was going through she might end up becoming seriously ill due to the stress and Irene was just simply careless about what happened at home and ever since she went Rome to study, she had become exceptionally aloof from the house.

Althea never blamed her family and simply understood that she needed to take care of her own self, mend her own heart and understand that she needed to handle her own pain.

She just wished that Nicholas would understand that as well. He seemed to be in dire need of help and being someone who had suffered from a broken heart and a depressing break up, she wished nothing but the best for the guy.

Nicholas halted right in the middle of the main foyer, as he noticed someone standing in the middle of the staircase and could feel a gaze upon him.

He immediately looked up and saw Althea standing in the main foyer, gawking at him.

As soon as Nicholas’s sparkling ocean blue eyes connected with hers, Althea gasped, shaking with fear that she was caught looking at him.

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