Twenty minutes later, he arrived at Irish’s townhouse. The yearning he had for her felt like stage five of a deadly disease. Noble attempted to block her from his psyche but failed miserably. That girl lived in his brain. He’d been wondering what she was doing every single hour of the day. If he got hungry, he thought about what she had eaten that day. When he laid down to go to sleep, he pondered if she was getting a good night’s rest. Noble was dying on the inside because he didn’t have his heart.
Getting out the car, he walked up the small set of steps and rang the doorbell. A few moments passed by and the door opened. Ivory appeared, wearing an innocent beam with a waterbottle in her hand. She looked to be in the middle of a workout with sweat coating her almond skin. Ivory’s look was vastly different from Irish. Her hair was jet black and her eyes were a light brown color. The only feature Ivory and her sister shared were freckles that danced across her nose and cheeks.
“Oh, hey, Noble.”
He gave her a nod. “What’s up, Ivory? Is your sister here?”
Shaking her head, she confirmed, “No, she’s out of town. She went to see Cali in Diamond Falls.”
It felt like an arrow had shot through Noble’s heart. He had his mind fixed on seeing his Pumpkin. He wanted to hold her in his arms and engulf her scent. Knowing he couldn’t do that left him so weary internally.
“You know her birthday is Saturday so she’s celebrating it with Cali,” Ivory offered.
He nodded. “Yeah, I know… You good, though?”
“Um, yeah.”
“Do you need anything?”
Immediately, her brows furrowed. “You really mean that?”
“Yeah, why wouldn’t I?”
“Oh, I… just… I don't know but no, I’m okay. Just didn’t expect you to ask me that.”
He smirked. “Why not? You're important to Irish, right?”
She bobbed her head.
“Then, you're important to me.”
“But I thought you two broke up.”
Noble rubbed his hand down his waves. They had broken up but deep down in his heart, he knew it was temporary. Their emotions had been high. He had made a bad decision and Irish called him out for it.
“We just took a break.”
“Oh, okay.” She leaned against the door frame. “Thank you for looking out for my sister. She’s been through a lot… even with Jovanis. He was good to her but I know their situation took a lot out of Irish sometimes.”
Noble nodded. “Yeah, I know.”
“I just want her to be happy. I don't want her to suffer anymore. She deserves to live a soft life. Irish had to carry a lot on her shoulders, including me. I’ve been a burden all her life so can you promise to take care of her?”
Noble despise how Ivory thought she was a burden to Irish. There was nothing burdensome about the way Irish cared for her sister. She was her baby and he needed to let her know that.
“Aye, you're not a burden to your sister. You're the first person she thinks of in every situation. When she speaks about you, it’s always with love, so don't ever think you’re a burden. You're Irish’s heart.”
Ivory’s gaze drifted to the ground as she bobbed her head. “Okay.”
“If you need anything, just holla at me. You got my number, right?”
“Yeah.” She smiled. “I did a background check on you when Irish told me about you. I needed to make sure you weren’t a con artist.”
He smirked, not offended by her efforts to protect Irish. “Yeah, a’ight. Be safe, Ivory.”
“Okay, bye, Noble.”
He walked back to his car, plotting inside his mind on how he would get his Pumpkin back.
