The Ultimate Chance-Chapter 124

Song recommendation: Wish you were mine—Loving Caliber, Mia Niles.

_____

Chloe looked like she wanted to find a hole in the floor to hide in after being exposed.

"Maybe part of me did wish all those years of my life were not a lie." She revealed, to which Mabella scoffed.

"Why are you trying so hard to make me believe you still love her? Are you trying to make me jealous?"

Being exposed for the second time in a row, Chloe didn’t flinch. She stared right at the latter. "Maybe. But so what if I am?"

"You should give up." Mabella sighed. "Chloe, you know my boundaries.

"Boundaries? All I know is that you put everyone’s happiness before your own. You won’t admit it no matter how obvious it is. Why do you keep doing this to yourself?"

Mabella fidgeted in her seat and for a moment, she nearly fell right into the trap being laid out by the seductress before her. But when she regained her composure, she took out a file with Chloe’s name labeled on it and opened it. "Last I checked, you had made enough progress to be able to understand your emotions on your own."

"So you’re kicking me out." Chloe stood with a huff. "Why is that even surprising?"

"You’re making this harder than it already is."

"Am I? The only one making this hard is you, Mabella." She hissed out the name like it was a curse. Their eyes locked and Mabella, who had been avoiding her gaze, instantly regretted looking at her.

"Please leave."

"I was on my way before you thought of saying that. Good day, Dr. D’Aboville."

Mina helplessly let out a breath. Did she and Chloe have to fight every single second?

_____

After the discussion in her office that had ended in an uncalled for argument, Mabella didn’t think she would see Chloe any time soon. The latter missed her next session, which was not surprising in the least bit.

"I pushed her too hard." She gripped her phone tightly as she inwardly lamented. Who was she to blame aside from her indecisiveness?"

The phone in her hand vibrated, reminding her that she was squeezing it too tight. Part of her hoped it would be Chloe so when she saw Avery’s name on the screen, she had to school her expression.

"Avery? Aren’t you at work?" She checked the calendar as she spoke. It was Friday, the day of the week when Avery worked the hardest to earn her time off over the weekend.

"Hi, I hope I’m not distracting you. I need to ask for a favor and I figured I’d ask earlier." Avery spoke up.

"Of course not. Especially not if this is about sitting my adorable nephew so you and my brother would go out for some fun tomorrow." She winked even though the other couldn’t see her, and pictured Avery’s blush at being called out so blatantly.

"Is that a yes?" She confirmed.

"Yes. I’ll watch him." She gladly agreed. She wouldn’t have much to do the following day anyway. Maybe she would, if only Chloe came today. She was going to ask her out to talk but after hearing Avery’s request, she couldn’t wait to teach Angel all the new games she had learned from her little friends all week.

"Thanks, you’re a lifesaver. See you tomorrow morning?"

"Okay." She hung up with a smile. At least her weekend wouldn’t be boring. She only had to get through the rest of the day without thinking about Chloe—an impossible feat, she had to admit.

.....

Meanwhile, Avery had a smug smile when she returned to her office from her call with Mabella.

"What was that about?" Chloe asked. She had just arrived and as soon as she asked if Avery had plans for the weekend, the latter shot out of her seat about a call she needed to make.

"I’m so sorry. I forgot to inform Gabe of a very important meeting scheduled for this evening. I really can’t do much without my daily coffee and you know men. They won’t show up unless the instruction is explicit." She made up the first thing that came to mind with a stutter and laughed at how ridiculous it was.

"I understand that, actually. Maman says that all the time. Papa would have missed their wedding if he wasn’t reminded that he was the groom and the presence of both the bride and groom is kind of how a wedding’s supposed to work." She sarcastically chimed in, indirectly calling Avery out for lying. "You know you’re a bad liar so out with it. Who were you talking to?"

Avery let out a heavy breath. "Will you promise not to tell Damon?"

Chloe squinted her eyes. "I won’t tell him...unless you are doing something that would hurt him. You know he’s my friend, right?"

"I know. I’m not going to hurt him. I just know he will berate me for putting myself in danger if he found out I’m still trying to go after the Romanos." Seeing Chloe nod after thinking about it, she held back a grin. Of course she was a bad liar—unless she told an obvious lie first to give herself time to create a better one.

"Why would you..." Chloe stopped herself from lecturing her. "You have to take care of yourself. You know that, right?"

"I do, luckily." She chuckled. "I also need you to do me a favor."

"Bring it on."

"Tomorrow, Damon and I are going out. Do you mind watching Angel for the day?" She tried not to laugh out aloud while she spoke.

As expected, Chloe looked bummed. "You have plans with Damon? I was going to ask you to watch a movie with me."

"You were?" Avery feigned ignorance. She already knew what Chloe had come here for. The latter’s mood had been in the dumps after the last time she and Mabella met, so it was not unexpected for her to seek someone to spend time with and get away from her feelings for the weekend.

"I was. But alas, you had already made plans. We can go some other time. I’ll watch the little cutie."

"Thank you. What would I do without you?" Avery hugged her and immediately changed the topic to throw the other off. "How did the shoot go?"

"Great, I guess. I did my best, at least."

"If you need a break, you should take one. You cannot force yourself to go on with work when you feel so awful." She advised, but inwardly she was scared Damon might come in before Chloe left. They had a meeting together and if Chloe slipped up and mentioned their so-called date scheduled for the following day, she might find out it didn’t exist.

As if she had messed with someone in higher power and was incurring their wrath, Damon arrived.

"Sorry I’m late. I had to settle everything at Vaille first. Chloe?" He was surprised to see her. "Are you part of our meeting?"

"No. I just came to ask Avery out tomorrow." Chloe was yet to finish speaking when he asked.

"Did she say yes? That would be a bummer because I was going to ask her out for the weekend."

Avery facepalmed. How could this happen so fast?

"Don’t you..." Chloe shot her gaze between the two of them suspiciously.

"How funny." Avery rolled her eyes at him. "I have already convinced Chloe to take care of Angel tomorrow and now you pretend we don’t have plans? Are you standing me up?"

Damon played along despite his confusion. "I was messing with you, in case you forgot. You’re too busy on Fridays." He kissed her cheek.

"I’ll be on my way then. Have a lovely day, you two." She hugged them and left, and Avery finally let out the breath she was holding.

"What was that about?" Damon asked when they were finally on their own.

"That’s me playing cupid." She winked. "Luckily, you had plans for tomorrow so there’s that."

He playfully spanked her. "You shouldn’t be spending your time thinking about other people’s relationships."

"I know. I should be spending it on ours." She humored him. "But trust me, it will be worth it."

____

She was right. The following day, Chloe finally understood why Avery had been acting weird about her date with Damon and it was too late. Avery had just left with her boyfriend in tow when the doorbell rang. Thinking they had forgotten something, she opened the door, only to come face to face with Mabella.

"You? What are you doing here?" She reflexively asked.

Mabella was just as stunned. "If you must know, it’s my nephew’s home and I’m here to sit him."

"How odd is that? I’m here to take care of Angel. Avery asked me to." She retorted.

"I see." Mabella finally understood what was happening. No wonder Avery would call so early the next day to ask about it. Everyone loved Angel and she knew that. No matter how late she asked, everyone would be willing to make time to stay with him.

"I know what’s happening. Avery called both of us here deliberately. What are the odds that she would ask you to sit Angel when she knows Gabe would die for this chance?"

Chloe looked at her like she was speaking Greek.

"Do you want to bet that Gabriel is going to come in a few hours to take Angel away for an uncle-nephew day out?" She chuckled.

"Are you saying she is setting us up?" Chloe wondered aloud.

Mabella nodded and took her hand. "And I don’t think I want to waste her efforts. We need to talk anyway."