" Everything okay?" He asked, coming back into the room with a cup of tea a few minutes later. "You look like you've seen a ghost." He sat down on his side of the bed and passed her the mug of tea he'd brought her.
"Fine. Everything's fine." She mumbled, taking the mug from him and pushing herself up so she was sitting up against the headboard of the bed. He looked at her questioningly for a moment, but decided not to push it any further. She head her phone vibrate quietly on the bed side table and for a moment she thought she might be sick. Charles was still looking at her, watching her face to try and work out what had changed in the five minutes it had taken him to go down the stairs and make a cup of tea.
"So, I wonder what you thought about maybe meeting Sam today?" He asked, breaking the awkward silence that had descended on them. "I said that I'd take him to the park, Nothing exciting I know, Nothing exciting I know, but I thought it might give us something to do. I'm sure he'd love to meet you."
She hesitated for a second. How was it that the night before she'd been sitting there talking to him as though there may actually have been some kind of future for the two of them, like they could somehow have been a family. For a moment, it seemed like there was a light at the end of the tunnel, like maybe she was going to get a second chance to be happy after everything that had happened. Then in a matter of seconds, Artan had reappeared and suddenly it had all come crashing down around her.
Part of her wanted to tell Charles, she knew he'd hold her and make her feel safe again, that he'd do everything he could to make sure it was all going to be okay. And that was exactly why she couldn't tell him. She knew Artan, and she knew that he meant every single word of what he said. He wasn't going to just stop. He'd be there, waiting and watching, he was never going to let her be happy with Charles. What frightened her most, was the thought of Charles getting hurt because of her. She'd seen Artan at his most desperate, and she'd almost been killed. If Charles and two section hadn't happened to have been next door she was in no doubt at all that she would be dead. She'd been lucky, and she didn't think she'd be as lucky this time round. It turned out that sober and angry Artan was even more terrifying than the drunk and desperate man she'd left behind when she'd gone to Afghanistan.
She could hear it in his voice on the phone. He was angry, and he wasn't going to stop until he felt like he'd got revenge. She wasn't about to let Charles and Sam get caught up in the middle of it. She should never have let him get involved in the first place, never mind kid herself into thinking there could actually be a future between the two of them. She'd let herself get attached, and that was what was making the fact that she knew she had to walk away so much harder.
"Actually." She said slowly, trying to work out what she was actually going to say to do this without hurting his feelings. "I think I should probably go back to London." She prayed for a second, as stupid as it was, that he wasn't going to ask.
"Oh." His face fell. "Is everything okay? Do you want me to come with you?"
She shook her head, already getting out of bed and picking up her clothes. "It's fine, thanks. But I should really get going." She was pulling her jeans on, trying to remember where she'd left her shoes.
During her search he'd somehow ended up in front of her, a hand on each of her shoulders as he turned her to face him. "Molly are you sure everything's okay?" He asked. He already knew the answer, something had happened. She hadn't just woken up this morning and decided to get the first train back to London for no reason. He'd thought things were going so well between them and now she couldn't even look at him.
"It's fine, everything's fine. I'm really sorry okay, but I have to go. Please just let me go." She pleaded. She hadn't thought about how hard it would be to see the hurt on his face. "I'll call you tonight and explain? Please, I just need to go."
He hesitated for a moment, his hands still on either side of her shoulders. "You know I''m not going to stop you Molly, if this is what you want to do. I just wish you'd tell me why."
She could feel the tears forming in her eyes, and she knew she had to get out of there now or she wasn't going to. She grabbed her shoes and her bag, snatching her phone up off the bedside table. "I'm sorry, I really am." She mumbled, kissing him quickly, before forcing herself to pull away from him. She ran down the stairs and out onto the street, and she didn't stop running until she was well clear of the house just incase he had tried to follow her.
When she was sure she was far enough away he wasn't going to come looking for her, she stopped and leant back against the wall of a shop, trying to work out where she actually was. She hadn't got a bloody clue where she was, never mind how to get to the train station.
Her phone buzzed again in her pocket. One message from Artan, and three from Charles. She stared at the message from Charles for a moment, and it took everything she'd got in her not to walk back around the corner and go and find him. She hesitated for a moment staring at the texts. Her fingers hesitated over the buttons for a moment, before she clicked back and then clicked on to the message from Artan. Her heart was pounding in her chest as she wrote the message.
Coming back to London, meet me in Costa at Stratford 3pm. We need to talk.