Chapter 5: Irie’s POV

“September 17,” I thought to myself as I punched in the numbers that corresponded to the date on the keypad.

The pink light at the bottom of the lock lit up and was accompanied by a little melody before there was an audible clicking sound. Sliding the plastic sleeve down to cover the keypad again and grabbing the knob, I used all of my remaining strength and pushed the heavy door open.

To no surprise, when I walked inside, all of the lights in the apartment were turned off. It was well past two in the morning when I finally left the club and nearing four when I arrived back at my apartment. Surely by now, my boyfriend was asleep. But usually, the sound of the door unlocking would be enough to wake him up, he's that light of a sleeper, and he would've been down here by now to greet me. I the lights. Still there was no response. I guess he was still asleep. He must be exhausted from all of the extra hours he's been putting in at the office these days. Since these hours of rest for him were hard earned and well deserved, I tried to be as quiet as possible as I got ready for bed.

After washing up and changing into my pajamas, I scanned the main floor of the apartment once more and turned all the lights off before heading up the stairs that lead to the loft bedroom.

Immediately, I drew back the covers and once I had climbed into bed, I let out a deep breath to help myself unwind. I was just getting comfortable when I remembered that I had left both my phone and charger in my bag downstairs. Rolling my eyes in annoyance, I got up and e of the lights on so that I wasn't stumbling around in the dark. Before heading down the stairs, I looked back to make sure that I hadn’t disturbed my sleeping boyfriend. But what I discovered when I turned around was that his half of the bed was empty, the blankets completely untouched.

No wonder it was so quiet when I first came.

“Darren?” I called out, hoping if I did that he would appear or at least give me some sort of response. But all I got in return was silence.

The apartment isn't that big to begin with so he doesn’t have a lot of hiding spaces. He has to be here somewhere.

At least, that’s what I thought. After checking every possible place – the living area, the office, the kitchen and dining area – I still couldn’t find him.

The next thing I tried was my phone. Maybe he called and left a message or texted me, telling me where he was. That’s what he normally does. But the screen was clear of notifications for missed calls, voice messages, and texts.

This is so unlike him. He doesn’t just take off without a word. Did he get into trouble? No, he couldn’t have. Darren’s not the type to get into trouble. I'm sure he's fine. But just to ease my fears, I decided to give him a call. Hearing his voice would make me feel better.

“I’m sorry, the person you are trying to reach is currently unavailable,” the pre-recorded message played in my ear after several rings.

Maybe he left his phone somewhere. No, he couldn't have. Darren's not that forgetful, especially since his personal phone doubled as his work phone. He probably just has it on silent or he can't hear it ringing, wherever he is. 

“Please leave your message after the tone,” the message said.

“Hi Darren,” I said after letting out a deep breath to calm myself down. “I hope you’re okay wherever you are, since you’re not at home. Call me when you get this, okay? I love you.”

Hanging up, I then gathered all of my things and headed back up to bed. As I laid there, I tried to console myself with the idea that he just forgot to tell me that he was going out. That's probably it, I mean it happens to all of us. 

I woke up to the sound of running water. Rolling over onto my stomach, I extended an arm out and blindly felt around the bedside table until a got a hold of my phone. Dislodging it from the charging dock, I rolled onto my back before pressing the home button to unlock the screen. Even though the time at the top read nine, I couldn’t help but let out a groan. I had only gotten a few hours of sleep, but it was starting to get late so I had no choice but to get up.

As I stretched my stiff body, I headed down to the kitchen to brew myself a very strong pot of coffee. While the coffee maker was working its magic, I scoured the fridge to find something to eat, but all I could find aside from bottles of water were some fruits, vegetables, and eggs. I made a mental note to go grocery shopping soon before taking the carton of strawberries out and transferring it to the sink.

“Good morning,” a husky voice whispered into my ear as I felt a pair of strong arms wrap around my waist and a soft pair of lips gently press against my ear.

Shivers went down my spine and I could feel my knees weaken from his touch. I wanted to melt in his arms but I had to resist that urge, knowing that there was an ulterior motive behind his actions. Darren wasn’t normally this affectionate so I could just tell that this was his attempt in trying to steer me away from confronting him about his whereabouts early this morning. 

“Good morning,” I replied after prying his arms off and turning around to face him. 

“Sleep well?” Darren asked, yet another attempt to delay the conversation that we needed to have.  

“Where were you?” I asked, knowing that if I wasn't straightforward, I wasn’t going to get anywhere with him.

“I went out for a run,” he replied, purposefully misunderstanding my question.

“Okay, then what about last night?” I asked again. "Or rather, this morning. You weren't here when I got home."

This time, he had no way around it.

“Oh…well…um,” he began slowly. “Uh…I went out drinking with a couple of my friends since it was the weekend, you know. So one of them got really drunk and I ended up having to take her – I mean him – home and I couldn’t just leave him there alone all night so I decided to stay and take care of him. But then I ended up falling asleep there and since my phone was out of battery, I couldn’t call you.”

For some reason, I felt like he wasn’t telling me everything that had happened. But seeing how guilty and apologetic he was, I decided to trust that what he was telling me was the truth and not to question him any further.

“You’re not mad, are you?” he asked warily.

“No, I’m not,” I replied, shaking my head. “But I was worried.”

“I’m sorry baby,” Darren murmured as he wrapped his arms around me. “I didn’t mean to.”

“It’s okay,” I reassured him as I rested my head against his chest.

“I’ll make it up to you, I promise,” he said as he tilted my head up so that I was now looking at him.

When Darren said that he would make it up to me, I guess he didn’t mean that it would be today.

For the rest of the morning and all afternoon, he was glued to his phone. Whenever I asked him whom he was so busy talking to, he would say that it was a friend, one that I didn’t know.  

“Hey babe, I’m going out,” Darren called out.

When I looked up from my laptop screen, I saw that he was already headed towards the entryway. Placing my computer on the coffee table, I got up from my seat on the couch and walked over to Darren, who was now putting on his shoes.

“Where are you going?” I asked.

“I’m meeting a friend,” he said.

“Who?” I asked.

“Just a friend. Why do you have a problem with it? I just want to meet with a friend. Is that too much to ask?” Darren suddenly snapped.

“I was just wondering, no need to get defensive,” I muttered. “Are you going to be home for dinner?”

“Why do you care?” he asked exasperatedly.

“All I’m asking you is a simple, yes-or-no question. Why are you so upset?” I countered.

“Look, I get that you’re my girlfriend, but I don’t need to report every detail of my life to you and we don’t have to spend every waking moment together.”

“What are you talking about?” I exclaimed. This time it was my turn to get upset. “I’m just asking you who you’re going to be with and if you’re going to be home for dinner or not. And we don’t spend every waking moment together. If anything, we’ve been spending less time together. I hardly ever see you anymore.”

“You’re so clingy Irie!” Darren roared. “Has it ever occurred to you that I might want to have some time to myself sometimes?”

“Fine,” I sighed finally surrendering, not wanting to fight anymore. “Go have fun with your friend.”

And then, without saying anything else, he just went out the door.

It's like I don't even know him anymore.

I spent the rest of the night alone, working on the Calvin Klein event, which was now in six days, and eating Chinese take-out, since I didn’t feel like cooking. Occasionally, I looked over at the door hoping that Darren would come walking through it. But each time, I was met with the same response. Nothing. Eventually, I gave up on waiting for him to come home and decided to go to bed, since I had work the next day.

There only evidence I had of Darren coming home at some point after our argument last night were his closet door being slightly ajar and the cereal bowl and spoon in the kitchen sink that weren't sitting there last night. He knew how much it bothered me when he left his dirty dishes in the sink, so I could tell that by doing that he was trying to annoy me. I guess he's still mad at me. 

But when I walked into my office later that morning, I was pleasantly surprised to find a bouquet of flowers sitting at my desk. Taking a closer look, I realized that they were peach roses, my favorite, and it became clear who had delivered them.

“Because Mondays and I’m sorry for being a jerk. I love you, Darren,” the little card that came with the flowers said.

Smiling, I then went to grab some water to put in the vase that the flowers came in and placed them on my desk. I guess he wasn't that mad at me after all.