#Chapter 95: A Helping Hand

Abby

“Need a hand?”

Just as I’m about to toss the greasy pan into the soapy water to soak overnight and call it a night, I hear

the all-too-familiar voice call out from behind me, and everything seems to stop. It’s all I can do to stiffly

turn around, my eyes widening and my heart pounding.

There he is, standing in the doorway, his hands in his pockets and his hair slightly tousled. I should be

excited to see him, but I’m not.

The nerve of him, showing up like this, after everything.

“Karl?”

“Hey, Abby.” A soft smile graces his lips, but instead of charming me like it used to, it just fills me with

rage.

“Karl, what the hell are you doing here?” My voice comes out so low that it’s hardly more than a growl.

He pauses, as though searching for the right words. Finally, when he speaks, it somehow fills me with

even more rage than before. “I miss you, Abby. Let’s work this out.”

“Work this out?” I think to myself. The thought of it almost makes me laugh, but at the same time, I

can’t hold in my rage anymore. In a knee-jerk reaction, I rip off my apron and hurl it at him, although I

would really prefer to hurl the frying pan instead.

“Get out, Karl!” I spit the words out like venom, my voice laden with a mixture of anger, surprise, and a

hint of betrayal. “You have no right to be here! I’m not working anything out with you!”

Karl, calm and collected as ever, dodges the flying apron. His eyes never leave mine, and his

expression remains surprisingly level and open. He steps forward, cautiously, as if approaching a

wounded animal.

voice tinged with an emotion I

okay?”

voice booms across the kitchen, but there’s

I can’t quite hide. Seeing him makes me want to cry,

once.

been a week since I last saw him, and yet somehow

I can

unperturbed by my demands and takes another

sincerity if I didn’t know

Abby, I just wanted to talk to

my voice failing to hide the unmistakable waver in it. “You

what you did with

closer. In fact, he does more

us, backing me up against the wall. I

me, pulling me into the warmth of his

should scream and tell him to

kitchen. But I can’t.

I hate to admit it, his arms around me feel

her senses heightening

that’s been accumulating inside me

still belong,” I say, finally

away. It’s my way of trying to put some semblance of

not sure if it works. “Not

around me

But I had

here like he still has a right to be a part of

emotions, wrestling with anger, confusion, and a haunting

restlessly inside of me, equally agitated and conflicted, although I

suspicion that she’s more agitated at me right now than at him,

snap, glaring at

rare ingredients, knowing fully well what they

You manipulated the man I

he says,

don’t care about his orientation, Karl,” I hiss. “What matters

into leaving behind my back. Do you

does

turning a shade that stands in stark contrast to his

hands in his. His skin is warm, and for a fleeting second, it’s like

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