Beyond His Green Eyes| ✓

Insouciant

Insouciant; free from worry, concern or anxiety.

C H A P T E R    S I X T Y - F O U R 

"What the hell is he doing here?" Noah snipped, his jaw clenching immediately. 

I managed to convince him to get into the classroom that was the closest to us with his dad, so there wouldn't be a scene outwards. I closed the door after his dad entered. Noah's gaze hardened every second and didn't leave his dad's face for a moment. 

I walked closer to him, his dad standing at a sufficiently farther length. "Noah, just think about what we talked about at my house, okay? Let it go, babe," I whispered, ready to leave as I turned around to leave but couldn't as Noah caught my wrist before I could take one more step. 

"Where are you going?"

"Letting you both talk," I said with a small smile.

I couldn't have imagined how awkward this must have been for his dad. But his hold on my wrist didn't loosen so I was helpless. "Can't you just stay in here?" Noah said, knowing full well himself how ridiculous that sounded.

I gave him a look, and he rolled his eyes at me. "Okay, okay, fine. Just stay right outside this class, please?"

"I'll still be able to hear everything."

"I'm going to tell you each and everything the second this ends so you might as well save us the time and stay right outside," he said, arching an eyebrow. "Please?"

I nodded, grasping that he wouldn't let me do anything otherwise and the situation was too sensitive to argue more, so I agreed. "See you outside in a few minutes," I told him, and he inhaled a deep breath and nodded slightly. 

I stepped outside and closed the door behind me and stood a little far from the door, but I knew this was about to get loud and that I would be able to hear every word. I just hoped that after everything, finally, things would be alright between them because no matter how much Noah denied it, he needed his dad in his life.

"What the hell do you want?" came Noah's unmistakably stiff voice.

"That move, you pulled at the end of the match was very impressive," his dad commented.

Noah's scoffed. "Cut the bullshit; I know you're not here to talk about my match, so don't beat around the bush with me."

"I just want to fix things with you," his dad said, maintaining his calm.

"Really? But why? If it was so easy for you to leave me out of something so important and pretend as if it didn't happen, why do you want to fix shit now?"

"Because you're family, and you don't give up on family," I could sense the pleading nature in his dad's tone.

"You, of all people, don't get to talk about family to me! You lost me all the family I had in one fucking night!" Noah bellowed, and I winced at how sharp his words were.

"You don't think the memory of that particular night haunts me every day that I live? You think it's easy to pick up your life after losing your wife and unborn child in one night?" his dad replied, and his words seemed to echo as Noah didn't speak anything at all. "You don't think I wish every minute of every day that I would've just stayed in and not gone out?" His dad was the only one who was speaking this time. "Noah, they were my family too, and I lost them just like you did!"

Scarlett and Jay came running up to me as they saw me standing outside the class. "Hey, why are you standing here?" Before I could answer, we heard Noah's voice from inside.

"Don't try to excuse yourself by saying that," Noah said, lowly.

"Is that Noah I heard?" she said, moving to open the door and I pulled her back, telling both of them that he was talking to his dad inside.