Elizabeth Harrison's Hope For A Better Tomorrow

8: An Apology And A Slap

Leo's lips curled into a smile as his hand went to her shoulder. Elizabeth almost jumped but Leo pressed her shoulder – asking her to stay put. "You really need to memorize the directions. Now let's go, we are getting late." He said – Elizabeth could smell a hint of smoke on his breath as he was standing close to her. He made her turn around – Elizabeth was too stunned to act on her own and followed Leo's lead who silently walked through the various men and women with his arm around Elizabeth's shoulder – nobody dared to stop them as they slowly and calmly walked. "Learn directions. Don't ever walk into an empty street this late at night, it can be very dangerous. If you ever walk into a street as vacant as that – turn around and calmly walk away. They could have robbed you or worse – hurt you. Be careful, Ms. Harrison. There will not always people around you to save you." He spoke murmured without even looking into her eyes. Elizabeth was still a little shaken as they slowly walked out of the street. She didn't even realize that she was holding her breath which she released when Leo withdrew his hand off her. Leo pulled away from his hand when he knew that the people from the street weren't watching them. He took a step back from her, "Don't go there again and the street on right three blocks ahead – that also has many drug users ready to mug people," He told her before he shoved his hands in his hoodie's pockets and turned around to walk away.

Elizabeth realized that she didn't thank him and stopped him before he could walk away, "Hey, wait." She said. Leo halted and turned around to look at the girl that asked her to stop, "Yes?" He questioned. She sighed and tugged her hair behind her ear, "Uh – I wanted to thank you. If you weren't there I am sure those people would have mugged me." She said. Leo nodded his head and was about to walk away again when she once again stopped him, "Wait –" she said and bit her tongue – she mentally cursed herself for calling him out again. He sighed and turned around and waited for her to say something, "Right – uh – I wanted to know – how did you know that I was there?" She asked. He shrugged, "I saw you walking there," He replied. Elizabeth knitted her eyebrows, "And why you didn't stop me then?" She asked. "I thought you knew where you were going." He replied. She narrowed her eyes, "So, you knew that there are drug users and hookers on the street waiting for people whom they could mug and you also knew that I was new in town – still you let me walk in there? Why? So you could come in to save me and be a hero?" Elizabeth's voice rose a bit. People walking around her didn't mind giving them a look.

Leo glanced towards the lady walking by while she was interested in what was going on between the two of them. She averted her eyes away and quietly walked away when she saw Leo looking at her. He turned his head to look at Elizabeth and heaved, "If that's what you think then go back into the street and watch me never come to save you." He replied and turned around – this time walking away. Elizabeth blew her cheeks out and rubbed her forehead, "Why did I do that?" She whispered to herself as she sees Leo walking away.

"There is so much in my life that I regret. Your grandfather really wanted your dad and me to have children. We really didn't even get to enjoy our married life before we were asked when to have children. Your father told his parents and I told mine that we weren't ready yet – it stopped them from asking us questions for a while before it all started again. 'Ruby is everything okay with you?' 'Ruby, why don't you go to a doctor and see if there is a problem?' 'We will ask Owen to see a doctor as well.' All this would make me feel so pressured – no one was trying to understand that we were just not ready, so we decided to try for a child and that's the first thing I regret the most. Don't get me wrong here, Lizzy. I am not talking about the beautiful children I had. I am referring to let our parents and the society in our head. She should have stick to our plan, but no – we let them drive us to the point where we started to panic when I failed to get pregnant. We tried for a year, but when I could fall pregnant – people started to talk again. Instead of being sympathetic – they started to complain – like I was living for them. Well, that's when we found Marcus – he was an orphan – not even a year old. We decided to take him in and even that didn't make the people around us happy – after all he wasn't our biological child.