a twist of fate

chapter-5

Important! I just wanted to say I deleted the last chapter because it was really short and just added it in this chapter if it makes sense...it's just an extended chapter five so you can just scroll down a little if you've read the last chapter. from now this will usually be the length of all chapters (about 8 or 10 pages). please read and review!


previously~

eleanor decided to stay with lily at the penthouse and help with the kids if needed and also gossip with her friend. after about five minutes of talking and drinking tea on the couch lily heard the elevator door open and felt her stomach doing flip-flops as she saw who it was.

"rufus alison hello" lily said and walked towards them

rufus and alison both politely nodded and said hello to lily and started getting both dan and jenny's coats off

"oh let me get those" one of the nannies said and took the coats and went to keep them in the coat closet

"and how are you two cuties today?" lily asked and bent down to be at dan and jenny's level

"good!" they both said in unison

"dan do you want to go upstairs and play with all your other friends?" she turned to dan and asked

"yes please" he answered

she told one of the nannies to take dan upstairs then she looked at little jenny and pointed towards eric who was sitting on the couch munching on biscuits, she ran to him and they both immediately started giggling and playing

"thank you for doing this lily" rufus said to her after watching the sweet exchange between lily and his kids

"It's no problem really, you're both welcome to stay here if you want" lily was being polite of course she didn't actually want them to stay if it were just rufus it would have been fine but she didn't think she could handle alison

rufus politely declined not wanting to be in the same room as both alison and lily but alison quickly added

"oh rufus honey don't be silly, we'd love to! I have a day off anyways" this was just a part of her plan to see how rufus would act around lily and she could rub her relationship with him in lily's face

lily nearly puked at alison calling rufus 'honey' but kept the fake smile on her face and directed them towards the couch where eleanor was already seated

"oh where are my manners? rufus alison this is my friend eleanor waldorf" lily introduced as they all took a seat on the couch

both parties exchanged hello's and it's so nice to meet you's and eleanor started telling them about her fashion line while rufus told her about the gallery and alison talked about her art. lily called over her housemaid larissa and asked her to make another round of tea for everyone.

lily politely excused herself and went upstairs to well, breathe. it was getting kind of suffocating down there so she went to her bedroom with the excuse that she had to go check her work mail. she went inside her bedroom and sat on her bed with her head resting against the headboard and she closed her eyes wanting to relax for a bit. after a few moments she heard a knock on her door.

"lil you in here?" she heard rufus's voice as he slightly opened the door to see if he had the right room

"yeah you can come in" she sat up and started fixing her hair a little as rufus walked in

"you were taking a lot of time and the tea was getting cold" he said with his hands shoved in his pocket

"oh right sorry I just needed a minute" lily got up and started walking towards rufus

"I had a really good time with the kids and you at the park" he said softly as lily reached towards him

"me too" she replied and closed her eyes as he tucked a stray tendril of her blonde hair behind her ear

"I missed you" rufus said quietly, he meant it he really did miss her a lot, he knew it was wrong he had a wife but this was lily.

"I missed you too" lily whispered softly and caressed his cheek, rufus then slowly leaned in and so did lily just like they did back at the ice-cream parlor but this time they didn't have anyone interrupting them. he gently let his lips collide on hers and they kissed softly but passionately at the same time. lily wrapped her arms around his neck as rufus softly started massaging her sides. It felt so right to kiss him but it was wrong on so many levels, he was a married man no matter how much lily despised alison she was still rufus's wife so with every ounce of strength in her she broke the kiss

"we should uh get downstairs now" she said avoiding eye contact

rufus just nodded his head apparently still not fully comprehending what had just happened between them. did he really just cheat on his wife with lily? he did love lily, a lot at that, but alison was still his wife and he was still very much a married man. he was broken out of his thoughts as he saw lily walking out the door so with a sigh he followed her hoping alison wouldn't suspect anything

they both quickly headed downstairs avoiding looking at each other, still reeling from what had happened. lily sat back where she was earlier sitting and so did rufus, resuming their conversation with eleanor and alison.

alison noticed the guilty look on her husband and lily's face and made a mental note to ask him what had happened when he went to get her from upstairs. just then jenny and eric both informed the adults that they were hungry.

"all right darling, I'll ask the nannies to get to get you both something to eat" lily said smiling at the two kids and informed the nannies to start setting up plates for everyone, she figured all the kids would be hungry by now.

"I'm gonna go get the kids, excuse me" she said to the three adults and quickly went upstairs and told all the kids lunch was ready. It took her and the nannies a few minutes to get the kids to leave their games and toys but now they were all sitting at the dining table which had been set up in a way that all the kids can have a chair and a place to eat, of course jenny and eric were in high chairs.

for lunch, there was brown rice, mango chicken, lasagne, sandwiches, juices, ice teas and lots of other options for the kids to choose from. the adults were still at the couch watching over their kids eating, they figured they could eat after the kids were done.

"oh, lily how is william? has the divorce gotten through?" eleanor asked

"yeah it has and I don't know how william is, I haven't seen him in a month" lily answered, she was pretty used to eleanor's personal questions, she knew her friend didn't mean anything by it

"he doesn't come to visit serena and eric?" alison asked

"no...I told him he could but he hasn't yet" she answered, seeing somewhat of concern in alison's eyes, she nearly laughed out loud, Alison concerned about her? yeah right

"miss lily I set the table for you all, the kids are done eating" one of the nannies told them

"thank you we'll be right there" lily replied and the four adults got up and sat down in chairs as the kids dashed back upstairs to play and jenny and eric sat on the couch where they were sitting earlier.

they all didn't make much conversation during lunch, instead focused on eating. they all retreated back to the couch after they were done and after a few hours, parents and chauffeurs started trickling into the penthouse to collect the kids

"thank you for coming!" lily said as one of the last kids left with their parents, only blair, jenny, and dan were left.

"thank you for doing this lillian" eleanor said and kissed lily on the cheek and waved goodbye to alison and rufus

"we should uh get going too, kids say goodbye to serena and eric" alison said with her arm around rufus's waist

the kids all hugged and said goodbye to each other and promised to meet again soon

"thank you for having us here" rufus said and kissed lily on the cheek awkwardly and waved goodbye to both serena and eric, and the four of them leave the penthouse

serena and eric both go upstairs to play more and lily plops herself down on the couch and sighs dramatically, she starts thinking about what had happened with rufus, all of these feelings were making her very confused. she was exhausted and needed to relax, shopping could take her mind off of things she thought.

lily went into her bedroom and slipped into a white cut-sleeves top and a pencil skirt which hit her mid-thigh, she put on a pair of white heels and grabbed her chanel bag, and asked her maid larissa to watch the kids for an hour or two while she is out.

~a twist of fate~

during the cab ride back to the loft rufus was feeling nervous and on edge he looked over at his wife and saw the sort of pissed off look on her face. he was hoping alison hadn't suspected something happened with him and lily upstairs

dan was looking out the window sandwiched between his parents and jenny had fallen asleep on alison's lap both oblivious to what was happening with their parents. rufus looked down at his kid's innocent faces and felt extremely guilty, he did not want his family to tear apart because of this, he wants jenny and dan to grow up in a loving house with both his parents together but that did not stop his heart to start racing whenever he saw lily's face or even heard her name.

"what's wrong?" alison asks as she notices the nervous and far-away look on his husband's face

"nothing I'm just tired" rufus gives her a weak smile and starts twiddling with his thumb, debating whether he should tell alison about the kiss or not, he didn't even know himself what the kiss meant and how he felt, he didn't know how lily felt about it either was is just because they got caught up in the moment? or was it more than that? he didn't know.

alison nodded her head at her husband's response and started stroking jenny's hair. she would ask him what had happened with lily later when they were both alone, she didn't want to discuss this with her kids there in case a fight breaks out between her and rufus.

when the taxi stopped in front of their building rufus had come to a decision, he would tell alison about the kiss but first he needed to talk to lily about what had happened. he needed to know what it meant to her, satisfied with his plan rufus took dan's hand and lead him out the the taxi and alison got out from the other side with a sleeping jenny in her arms. they all headed up to the loft and as soon as they opened the door, dan went to read and alison went to put jenny to bed without as much as a glance at rufus.

he sighed heavily and thought about what would be the right way to approach lily about this, should he go over to her penthouse? no that would be inappropriate seeing as what happened when they were in a room to her about it on the phone? that would be too casual. rufus checked the time and saw it almost five in the evening and figured he could call lily and ask her to meet him at a cafe or central park to talk. he grabbed his phone and made sure alison was out of ear-shot and called lily.

~a twist of fate~

lily was shopping at barneys, her first stop in her shopping trip today, her driver had dropped her off at her favourite coffee shop first because she was in dire need of caffeine. she walked for a few minutes with her coffee in her hands, window shopping at fifth avenue. when she was done, she ditched the empty cup in a trash can and went into barneys.

she was now scanning through racks of dresses not looking for anything in particular, she already had a pretty shimmery top in her hand that had caught her eye the minute she walked in. the retail therapy was doing a pretty good job at making her forget about what had happened with rufus which lily was eternally grateful for. she was looking at a gorgeous purple bodycon dress when her phone started to ring. she put the dress back and dug through her purse to find her phone. she took it out and picked it up, not bothering to check her caller id.

"hello?" she said in her usual elegant voice and picked up the purple dress again to admire it

"hey lily..it's rufus" he said sounding nervous

lily almost dropped the dress that was in her hands, did he call to politely tell her to screw off and that he loved his wife? no that's not like rufus, maybe he just forgot something at the penthouse and asked her if he could come and get it? lily's brain was going into overdrive

"you there lil?" he asked after hearing silence from her end for a few seconds

"uh yeah sorry..um..w-why are you calling?" lily took a deep breath to calm herself and put the purple dress over the shimmery top, planning on buying both

"are you free right now? we need to talk about...what happened" rufus was hoping he wasn't making that kiss such a big deal but it kind of was since he was married

"oh uh.." lily started thinking of what to do, she was excited at the prospect of seeing rufus again but she really didn't want to talk to him about what happened because she was pretty sure what he was going to say. "sorry lily I just got caught up in the moment I love my wife very much" yeah no. lily didn't feel like being rejected by rufus but it's not like she wanted him to be with her, she didn't know what that kiss was about and she doesn't know if she wants to be with him or not. she does miss him and will always love him but she has to look at the bigger picture here. besides it doesn't matter, rufus was happily married and lily didn't want his family to fall apart because of her.

"sure, um where do you want to meet?" lily said. she thought about telling him she was busy but she figured she would just get this over with.

"how about sant ambroeus? in thirty minutes?" rufus replied referring to a high-end coffee shop on the upper east side, figuring lily wouldn't want to meet in brooklyn

"yeah sure I'll be there" lily then cut the phone and sighed heavily for the thousandth time that day. she quickly went to pick out matching heels and a clutch to go with the dress and paid for all the items. she checked her watch and saw she only had 10 mins to get to the cafe so she headed out and got a taxi, calling her driver and asking him to drop her off would take too much time.

~a twist of fate~

after getting off the phone with lily, rufus went into his daughter's bedroom where alison was too, he entered and saw alison was just done putting the little girl to sleep

"hey honey I have to go to the gallery real quick I'll be back in an hour or two" rufus said hoping alison would believe the excuse, he didn't want to tell her he was meeting lily and felt horrible for lying but it had to be done. he would tell her everything after he got back from meeting with lily

"oh sure" alison replied, keeping her gaze at jenny. rufus kissed his wife's cheek and headed into their bedroom and changed. he left the loft and took a taxi to the upper east side.

he reached the coffee shop five minutes early and headed in, he got a table at the far end of the cafe and patiently waited for lily to arrive. she sounded kind of distracted on the phone when they spoke earlier, he was hoping he didn't disrupt her schedule with this "talk" they need to have

after a few minutes he saw lily enter the cafe and his heart started beating faster. he saw lily looking around scanning the cafe to find where he was at, rufus waved over at her and she smiled and headed over to the table. she had two shopping bags in her hands and rufus realised she must have been shopping when he called her. she put the barney bags on the floor next to her chair and took her coat off and draped it on the chair.

"hey" she said smiling softly at him and sat down

"hey" rufus smiled warmly at her, they both sat there in silence for a minute before rufus spoke up ""do you want something to drink? coffee maybe?" he asked her trying to break the awkward silence

"sure, I just had coffee so I'll have just have a glass of water" lily said and tucked a stray piece of blonde hair behind her ears

rufus nodded and signaled one of the waiters to take their order, a coffee for him and a glass of water for lily

"rufus before you say anything I just wanted to say that what happened was extremely inappropriate and shouldn't have happened and I know you're very happy with your family and alison and I don't want to come in between that. I'm sorry for letting it happen" lily rambled after rufus had ordered.

"It's okay lil..I could have stopped it too I guess we just got caught up in the moment" rufus smiled warmly at her and held her hand from across the table and gave it a gentle squeeze

"yeah I guess...but did you mean what you said?" lily couldn't believe she was asking him this after giving him a whole speech on how she didn't want to come in between him and alison but she just had to know

"mean what?" rufus asked with a confused expression on his face

"that you missed me?"


I know the ending is abrupt but I like leaving chapters on minor cliffhangers lol hope you liked this chapter! xoxo lexi