Forbidden Love: Fate (Zac and Ivy Trilogy Book 1) (15 page)

I hurry out of the dining room to the safety
of my bedroom, but just as I’m about to reach it, I feel a hand
grab me from behind and swing me around. I turn to face Zac.

“What’s wrong, Ivy?” he asks me, his voice
soft with concern, his emerald eyes darkening with worry.

I don’t waver. I don’t cave in. Instead, I
tell him, “What’s wrong? You ask me what’s wrong? Shouldn’t I be
asking you what’s wrong with
you
? I told you not to
interfere in my life anymore, yet you’ve to come to my house.”

“Because you ran away from me back then. I
hadn’t finished talking yet, but you ran away. I told you I’d find
you no matter where you are.”

“Should I be congratulating you for being a
stalker?” I ask sarcastically. “Just go home. I don’t have anything
more to say to you. I’ve explained why I don’t want to see
you.”

“No. Not until you answer me first,” Zac
says stubbornly.

“What do you want me to answer?”

“That you’ll be my friend.”

“No. That’s my answer. Now go home.”

God, why is he so adamant?

“No. I’m going to come here every day after
school until you accept me as a friend.”

“Zac, why do you want to be my friend so
much?”

“Because…” There’s something in his eyes
that I can’t decipher. It looks like he’s having an internal
battle. After a small second passes, he says instead, “Look, I just
want to hang out with you.”

“Well, I don’t want to hang out with you. If
my family knows you’re the brother of that man, they—”

“But your family loves hanging out with me,”
he interrupts. “Nancy and Moon like me. And Clare says I—”

“That’s because they don’t know you’re
Dillon’s brother.”

He suddenly has a smile on his face and his
eyes light up. “So before you knew Dillon was my brother, you liked
me too, right?”

“Zac!” I push him.

Talking to him doesn’t work. Why is he
twisting my words around?

“Just go. I don’t want to see you anymore,”
I yell.

“But I want to see you,” he says sadly.

“You know how much I dislike you. Just leave
and don’t come here anymore. And if I ever see you enter my
property again, I won’t ever forgive you.” I run to my room and
shut the door in his face.

Not a heartbeat passes before he drums on my
door.

“Ivy, please don’t act like this.”

I shout at him through the door. “Just go
away. Don’t associate with any of my family members anymore.”

“Fine, you’re still angry at me because I
made Mrs. Dale tell you off, so I’ll let you cool off first. I’ll
see you at school tomorrow, then.”

I’m not angry with him for telling Mrs.
Dale, nor am I angry with him for calling me countless times before
that. I’m angry because he’s being so persistent in his behavior,
when I’ve told him countless times already that I don’t want to see
him because he reminds me of Dillon. Because I’m scared and angry
with myself that it has to be Zac, who’s just an innocent boy
caught up in my family’s affairs.

I close my eyes and will myself not to cry.
“When I see you tomorrow, Zac, let’s just pretend we’re strangers.
Don’t come and talk to me.”

I hear a shudder followed by a long pause,
then heavy footsteps leading away from my bedroom, back towards the
dining room.

I hear him make his apologies to Gigi and
Clare. Moon whines a bit. Then there’s silence. I can’t help myself
then. I carefully lift the side of the curtain to see Zac walking
off to his car parked outside. I see him getting in and in a split
second, his face is turned to me. I panic and quickly shut the
curtain back in place, afraid he might catch me watching him.

Hearing the sound of his car zooming away is
like a knife in my heart. It hurts, and I’m bleeding slowly.

Why is he making my life so complicated? It
was fine before. Why does he have to come in and cause this
problem?

I place my palm on my chest. I can feel my
heart beating again. I shouldn’t even ask myself these dumb
questions. I know why I’m feeling like this. It’s because I like
him too. Not as a friend, but as something more.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

ZAC

Sudden Calamity

It’s over,
I tell myself. It should
be over. She slammed the door in my face. If that’s not enough of
an incentive to quit pestering her, then I don’t know what else is.
I’ve got to think about my pride. Plus, there’s our family history.
My brother killed her family in a car accident. We’re not meant to
be together. We can’t be together. Plus, goddamn, I’m so young.
There’s so much time to play around, so many girls to choose from.
So why am I so serious about this girl? Why must my mind not listen
to all of logical reasoning? Why must I feel so much pain when she
says we should stop seeing each other?

Why? Why? Why?

I stare at Ivy’s house. My car is currently
parked across the street. I don’t know what to do anymore. Should I
go in, or should I not?

But what does it matter anyway? I’m already
a stalker, just as she mentioned the night she slammed that door in
my face.

I look at the passenger seat where I brought
another fruitcake. Moon loved that cake. The last time I went over,
she was beside herself, sitting on my lap and eating the cake until
Clare told her to stop. Now I’m thinking of offering that cake
again, just to ask where Ivy is.

Wanting to kick myself, I stop moaning and
take action. What’s the point of dwelling when it’s not going to
change anything if I don’t take action? Water won’t fill a glass
until someone pours it, and food won’t cook itself until someone
cooks it. The case applies to Ivy and me too. If I don’t ask, then
I won’t know.

Stepping out of the car, God must see how
distraught I am because he saves me by sending Clare over to pick
up the mail. One look at me and she shouts from across the
gate.

“Zac, hello!” She waves at me. “What are you
doing hovering across the road? Come over here.”

I take her advice and march across. I give
her a forced smile.

“What’s wrong?” she immediately asks,
noticing my troubled face.

If I had a sister, I would like someone like
Clare. She seems to always understand my internal feelings.

“I’m fine,” I tell her, breathing a heavy
sigh.

“Fine?” she quizzes, her eyebrows forming a
frown. “Why the heavy breathing, then?”

“I’m okay.” I try to smile, but it won’t
reach my eyes.

“Well, I’m sure you’ll be fine again when
you have dinner. Nancy’s just making it now. Come on in,” Clare
says and opens the gate for me.

I stand back, still lingering on the
footpath.

Clare scolds me again. “Well, come on in.
Don’t just linger on the footpath.”

I remember what Ivy told me. Not to step
foot inside her property again. I’m not going to disobey her and
make her angry. I’m already suffering enough in my one-sided love
for her already.

“Ah…” I hesitate. “I’m only here to give
this to Moon.” I hand her the fruitcake.

Clare opens the plastic wrapper and her eyes
light up. “Fruitcake.” Clare beams. “You know how much Moon adores
you. She’s just come back from her sport activity and is feeling
quite glum, so I’m sure this would perk her right up.”

“Yes, I’m sure she’ll be happy,” I say,
hesitating at the threshold. To deviate Clare’s mind from thinking
I don’t want to come inside the house, I ask her instead, “Do you
know where Ivy is?”

“Why? You didn’t see her at school? I
thought you two go to the same school?” She probes me with her own
questions instead.

How do I reply to her?
I only scratch
my head. “We do, but I didn’t see her today.”

With that reply, Clare decides to tease me
even more. “Oh… missing her already?”

I only smile back, ignoring the burning heat
on my face.

“Well, if you want to know where she is, you
better come in. I don’t want to talk by the gate, you know. It’s
getting cold here.”

The weather at this time of year isn’t that
pleasant. The sharp wind is like a knife cutting into your skin.
Some say the wind in Dunedin is so cold it’s like getting bitten.
Since Clare was only supposed to come out to collect the mail, she
didn’t wear enough clothing like me with my thick wooly jacket,
thermal wear, and boots. Clare wears a flimsy shirt and cotton
pants, not enough to keep that cold wind from biting her skin.

I hesitate again.

She looks at me with querying eyes, shaking
a little to keep herself warm. “Why are you not coming in? It’s
freezing here.”

“Ivy doesn’t want me to visit here anymore,
so I won’t go in. She might get angry.”

I don’t expect Clare to laugh at my
explanation, but she does. I can feel my cheeks growing hotter,
despite that blasted wind blowing cold onto my face.

“You two…” she says between her laughter.
“You two act like boyfriend and girlfriend.”

My cheeks grow even hotter still, and this
time I feel the heat all the way down to my neck. If only it were
true, I’d be very happy.

“Don’t worry about Ivy,” Clare says after
her giggles die down. “If she yells at you, tell me. I’ll tell her
I was the one that invited you in. Come on.” Then she pauses, turns
to me again, and winks at me. “Or you could just say you’re here to
court my little Moon… or me? That would burst her blood
vessels.”

That has her bursting into another fit of
giggles. Feeling the cold air seeping into her skin, she rubs her
bare arms and leads me inside the house.

I chuckle under my breath and follow her
closely, feeling somewhat happy at Clare’s fun personality.

We are mildly chatting away about how cold
the weather is in Dunedin in winter when Nancy comes running out of
the house, a look of panic on her face.

“Clare! Clare!” She comes out crying
erratically. “Moon, Moon, she’s fainted. I can’t get her to wake
up.”

Clare looks at me, a frightened expression
on her face, then races inside to check on her daughter. I run
after her.

My heart is racing at a dangerous speed, but
I try to calm myself down. In a situation like this, I can’t show
I’m scared.

“Moon, Moon, sweetheart, wake up,” Clare
cries, already clinging to her unconscious daughter when I get
inside.

Moon is lying on the floor, her head tilted
at an odd angle, her eyes closed and her breathing uneven. I don’t
know what it is, but somehow I get this feeling it has something to
do with her diabetic condition. For this, Moon will need medical
attention as soon as possible. Without hesitation, I take my cell
phone out of my pocket and immediately dial for an ambulance.

Turning to the crying Clare, who minutes ago
was laughing and enjoying a carefree conversation with me about New
Zealand’s weather, a sudden sadness overtakes me. I want to help
her in any way possible. Seeing Moon in an awkward position, I
extract Clare’s fingers from her daughter and put Moon in the
recovery position. I take the blanket from the couch and drape it
over Moon, sitting down by her side, waiting for the ambulance to
appear.

Clare glances at me with tear-stained
cheeks, wondering why I would do such a thing.

“I’m sorry, Clare. I want to make sure she
can breathe easily,” I tell her. I don’t explain anything else to
her. She only nods, trusting my judgment.

I supposed my first aid training from last
year helps out a lot. When seeing a casualty fall unconscious, it’s
always imperative to put them in the recovery position, to make
sure their airway is open and if any vomiting were to occur, it
won’t choke them.

Once satisfied Moon is all settled
comfortably, I turn my attention to Nancy.

“Nancy, when did Moon faint?” I ask
calmly.

I can’t believe I’m this composed. Inside,
I’m a crumpling mess.

“A short moment ago,” Nancy answers,
gripping her hands together, like Clare is doing now.

“Did she have anything to eat?” I ask again,
moving my eyes from their clamped hands. I think if this has
something to do with Moon’s diabetic condition. Then it must be
something to do with her blood sugar level being too low.
Otherwise, she wouldn’t be in this state.

“I don’t know. I just picked her up from
school. She’s been complaining that she was so tired after the
sports. I was about to cook her something to eat, but when I came
back, she’d fainted already.”

All of us sit in the little lounge, with
Moon on the floor. I sit to one side, watching all three Hamilton
members. Clare is still crying openly, whereas Nancy sobs silently.
The sight makes my heart break.

“Moon will be fine. The ambulance will be
here soon.”

I’m not even sure why I say this, but maybe
I just want to reassure them.

Not five minutes later, the ambulance
arrives, and Clare goes to accompany her daughter while I drive
Nancy to the hospital.

Nancy’s hand is shaking when she holds on to
her bag. “We forgot to call Ivy, Zac. We forgot to call Ivy.” Even
as she says this, her hands won’t stop shaking.

Right now we’re on the highway, driving
towards the hospital. It’s a fifteen-minute drive by car. I know
Moon will be safe now that she’s under medical care, but my main
concern is actually Nancy. She’s shaking so much it’s scaring
me.

I swerve the car so it ends up parked at an
odd angle, then pull out my cellphone and dial Ivy’s number.
Turning to Nancy, I reassure her that I will call her granddaughter
so she won’t have to worry.

“It’s okay, Nancy. I’m calling Ivy now.
She’ll know. I’ll tell her to meet us at the hospital.” I try
comforting her, but again, the shaking won’t stop.

I hold her hand tight to stop her shaking.
Once she calms down, I release my hold and turn my attention to the
phone and pray to God Ivy will pick up on the first ring.