CHAPTER 72: NIKOLAI AND ELENA REKINDLES
CHAPTER 72: NIKOLAI AND ELENA REKINDLES
LILY’S POV:
“Nikolai”,
“Nikolai”.
Elena and I said almost at the same time, I looked at her with dagger eyes when she said Nikolai’s name so endearingly.
Nikolai completely ignored her, he held me by my waist and looked deeply into my eyes.
“Are you okay?”, he asked to which I nodded, he smiled at me and turned to Elena and Anastasia, his face morphed completely to something scary and vicious. Elena moved forward to Nikolai with a seductive smile on.
“Long time no see Niko–“, She tried to say but Nikolai interrupted her.
“I can see you so badly want to loose your hands, right?”, He asked Anastasia, completely ignoring Elena. I stifled back a laugh, Elena looked at me, never dropping her smile.
“Wha-what are you ta-talking about?”, Anastasia asked, trying to sound tough but I know deep down how scared she is of Nikolai.
He moved closer to her while keeping me behind him, Anastasia looked like she would pee her pants. Elena immediately stood in front of Anastasia, as if protecting her from Nikolai.
“Move”, Nikolai warned, sneering down at Elena but she didn’t flinch.
“You don’t want to do this”, She said.
It was hard to admit but she was right, this wasn’t the place or time to be confronting Anastasia, they were too many people and Mr Vladimir would be very angry.
I tug on Nikolai’s sleeves to grab his attention, he turned to me, his hard expression melting in a second.
“Let’s go”, I whispered but he heard me over the loud hall. He sighed seeing how uncomfortable I felt.
“We will talk later”, Nikolai said to Anastasia, holding me by my wrist and dragging me along with him. He treated everyone who tried to talk to him on his way like air and I just bowed my head in embarrassment.
He took me out of the crazy, loud and stuffy hall to a secluded place outside the ballroom before he let go of my hand.
Jaw clenched, eyes dark and unfocused, hand in his hair every second and sighing, Nikolai was tensed.
“What’s wrong?”, I couldn’t help but ask, he furrowed his brows and looked at me like he didn’t get what I said. I looked deep into his eyes and he muttered ‘fuck’.
“… I’m sorry Lily”, he said and it was my turn to have furrowed brows.
‘He was sorry? For?’, I asked myself.
“About?”, I asked him, he shot his eyes really tight for two seconds before opening, he moved closer to me and took both my hands while staring into my eyes.
“The rumor on the internet– but don’t worry, it isn’t true and I have already located who posted it and he is suffering for his sins right now, I promise”, Nikolai said in one go, as if scared that I would get mad and wouldn’t let him finish.
Truth is, I am not even aware of what he’s talking about or those girls at the ball, ‘What rumor?’, I wondered.
“Which rumor?”, I aired out.
“The one– the one on the internet? About me and you?”, Nikolai asked me in confusion.
“I have no idea about any rumors”, I said.
“Really?”.
“I don’t own a phone, remember?”.
“Oh, right”, Nikolai said, his face finally relaxing.
“What is it about?”, I asked him, becoming more curious because I haven’t seen Nikolai this worried.
“Nothing. It’s nothing”.
“Nikolai…”, If he is refusing to tell me then it’s something serious.
“It is nothing you should worry about. I have already handled the situation and those involved have been dealt with”, Nikolai reassured me and I didn’t want to stress it. I nodded and he hugged me tight.
***
We were back in the ball and the event was going well, lots of items were sold and millions were raised. Nikolai was glued to my side, refusing to let me out of his sight, no more side talks from anybody.
Mr Vladimir came to were we sat and faced Nikolai.
“Nikolai, come I need to introduce you to someone”, He said. Nikolai stood up and grabbed me to follow him.
“Just you”, Mr Vladimir said when he noticed Nikolai was going to bring me along.
“She goes wherever I go”, Nikolai uttered.
“She’s not a kid and you are not her mommy. She can take care of herself”, Mr Vladimir responded.
I could see Nikolai wouldn’t let it go, he won’t give in to his father and I don’t want to make matter worse.
“It’s fine, I’ll be alright on my own”, I reassured Nikolai and after a few seconds of hesitation, he nodded, he kissed my cheek and left.
I sighed and sat back down, trying to ignore the prying eyes and side talks.
“Look who it is”, I raised my head to see who made that statement. It was Irina.
‘Wait, she was invited?’, I asked myself.
She was putting on a silver dress and had her mask in her hand. I sighed and ignored her. We were never close so there was nothing to talk about with her.
She sat down on the vacant seat next to me, took a glass of wine and sipped a few drops.
“Guess you have seen Elena”, She said and I looked at her, she has a smirk on her lips.
“Why are you here Irina?”, I asked.
“I was invited”.
“By who?”.
“Nikolai”, She said and I furrowed my brows, “I guess he missed me”, she had a knowing smile and I wanted to slap her face. I didn’t respond and looked away.
“Seen the news online?”, Irina said again after being silent for a while, I didn’t say anything and she handed her phone to me. I shouldn’t have been too curious, but I looked at the screen and the headline was too obvious.
[SCANDAL ROCKS NIKOLAI VLADIMIR’S PERSONAL LIFE: Girlfriend, Lily left heartbroken as He reconnects with former flame, Elena]
‘This is just ridiculous!’, I said in my head. These bloggers are just so stupid, Nikolai didn’t reconnect with Elena and he doesn’t have any feelings left for her, I am not heartbroken and Nikolai won’t leave me for Elena.
“Scary right?”, Irina commented when I didn’t say anything. I pushed her hand that was holding the phone to my face away.
“Mind your business”, I said to her.
“Are you not worried?”.
“Why should I be? Nikolai loves me”.
“Elena was his first love and you know, first love dies hard”, Irina said and I gritted my teeth.
“That was in the past and he completely ignores her now”, I said.
She chuckled, browsed through her phone again and showed me a picture.
It was a photo of Nikolai and Elena, under the news headline. Elena had her hands around Nikolai’s neck and he held her shoulders, the photo was blur and his face wasn’t really visible to the camera, the fond smile was visible on Elena’s face. The photo was obviously taken in a secluded and dark place.
My eyes started stinking.
“It’s photoshopped”, I said, looking away.All text © NôvelD(r)a'ma.Org.
“You don’t believe that”, Irina uttered.
She was right, I don’t think this photo was photoshopped.
‘But why was Nikolai with her? Why were they holding each other? Do Nikolai still has feelings for her?’ I had different thoughts going through my head.
“But don’t worry, Nikolai made sure to take down the photos and punish whoever was behind it. For whatever–“, Irina was still trying to say when I abruptly stood up.
“I-I need to use the re-restroom”, I said and left, walking fast and head down, trying to get to the lady’s room before the tears come out. I bumped into several people but I apologized.
“Ouch!”, I hit my head on someone’s hard chest and I almost fell, he grabbed my shoulder with his strong hands to stop me from falling.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t–“, I paused when I saw who it was. Roman.
He had a friendly smile on his face.
“Carefully when you’re walking”, He said and I shivered, I quickly shook his hand off my body. He put both his hands in his pocket and smiled wider.
“Going somewhere?”, He asked.
“The restroom”, I said, moving away as he was too close for comfort.
“And where is Nikolai… he has been too glued to you since the ball, like your bodyguard haha”, Roman said and I couldn’t say anything.
“I have to go”, I said and was about to move when he held my hand again, I flinched. He came close to my ears to whisper something when someone grabbed him and pulled him away from me with so much strength that he crashed on a table, shattering everything.
“Nikolai!”, I screamed.
Fury was written all over Nikolai’s face, he wasn’t himself, he resembled a monster who was trying to defend his territory.
“I told you Roman, Lily is off limits”, He said.
.