4

“Never give up without a fight”

~♡~

I walked to my house with heavy legs. Each footstep felt as though I had a rock tied to me and I had to put my entire energy to do the job. When I reached my house, I walked past it to my neighbour’s.

I walked up to the door and knocked on it. After a few seconds, the door opened and Anna stood in front of me. She smiled up at me and I found it hard to respond with the same gesture.

Anna and I had become pretty close in these few months. I’ve always loved Anna when she was a baby. And she liked playing with me back then and now too. And I’m glad she isn’t like her brother.

“Anna, can you.. please call your brother?” I asked, holding onto the door frame.

“Yes!” She grinned and ran back inside to fetch his brother. After waiting for a few minutes, Brett appeared in front of me.

“What?” Brett’s voice rang in my ear. He was looking irritated when I faced him and his eyes were narrowed, almost questioning my presence.

“You told me you’d meet me after school.” I reminded and hid my injured hand behind my dress to conceal it from his vision.

He rolled his eyes. “Yeah, so?”

“You didn’t show up,” I said, accusingly.

“Yea... I forgot I guess.” He shrugged it off and looked around carelessly.

Suddenly I felt the growing anger in me. He didn’t have a clue about what happened to me and it could’ve been avoided if he was there.

But he didn’t. And I had to go through it again. Go through those horrible memories and get hurt all over again. I couldn’t control it. While he asked me why I was staring at him without responding, I pulled my hand and slapped him across his face.

“What the fuck!” He said when I slapped him again on the same cheek.

“You forgot?! That’s all you got to say?” I said and threw my hand across his face again but he caught my wrist just in time to avoid another blow.

“What the fuck are you-” he stopped when he felt the liquid in his palms.

Tears flowed out of my eyes as he gripped my hand tightly. His hand turned red as he clasped my bleeding wrist with his fingers.

He let go of my wrist in shock and stared at the blood in his hands.

“What.. what the hell happened?” He came closer to me and took my hands in his.

“What happened?” I repeated. “You happened. This happened because of you! Had I not waited for you... Had I not walked back home alone... maybe, this would not have happened!”

Endless tears ran out of my eyes as I stepped back. “You know what? Just forget it. Leave that damn project to me and never show me your face again. You don’t have to pretend that you don’t remember me because I know you do! From the very beginning! And now, I don’t care. I don’t care what happens to you. I’m done waiting for you. I’m done thinking for you and I’m done caring about you!”

I said those words in a hurry and walked back to my house in anger.

“Chloe, wait!” He said and pulled me by my free hand. “Get inside. You’re hurt.”

“Leave me, Bretton. You don’t have to pretend as you care.” I said and pulled my hand away from him. But he pulled me towards himself, nonetheless.

“You are going to get inside.” He declared and pulled me inside with him. “Don’t try to fight me. I’m not going to leave you.”

“You have no right to take care of me!”

“I have all the rights to do this. You said this happened because of me, right? Then let me fix this.”

“Anna, get me the first aid box from the drawer there.” He asked as he pulled me to sit on the sofa.

“Why is there blood, Chloe? Are you hurt?” Anna asked once she gave the box to Brett.

Brett opened the box and took some cotton to wipe the blood out of my hands. “Anna, go inside.”

“No, I want to-”

“Anna,” Brett warned as he put the burning liquid on my wrist. I closed my eyes at the burning sensation and let it pass away.

“Okay.” She said and went inside.

Brett wrapped the band-aid on my wrist and I pulled it from his grasp when he was done. I was about to get up when he pushed me back.

“Your leg.” He said.

“I can take care of it.”

“God, you’re crazy! Why do you have to be so tough!”

“I am tough? And you think you’re easy to deal with?” I said. “You have no clue what I’ve been through when I dealt with you for almost a year. So don’t you dare tell me that I’m being unreasonable or stubborn because you have made me behave like this!”

“Chloe.” He said. “I know I shouldn’t have done that. I know it was my mistake that I stood you up.”

“But there’s no point in apologising now. Everything is done and he.. he..” I cried as I looked down at my injured hand. It was hurting so bad. I always tried to control my pain but right then, the pain was a little too much for me to control. It is beyond my ability to bear it.

“Chloe, who did this?” He asked.

“I.. I don’t know.”

“Chloe. I know when you lie.” He said. “Tell me, who did this?”

“You do?” I snorted. “You don’t remember me, Bretton. How do you know that I’m lying?”

“Of course I remember you, Chloe.” He said. “How the hell do you think I’ll ever forget you?”

His words made me stop. “You remember me?”

“Yes.” He said. “I remember you.”

“Then why did you-”

“Let’s not talk about it.” He said. “Now, tell me who it was.”

“If you don’t want to talk about it, then fine. I don’t want to tell you anything either.” I said.

He sighed and gently placed his hand over my leg. He took the leg into his hand and treated it with utmost tenderness and gentleness. He carefully wiped the blood away and cleaned it. After he was done, he tied the band-aid to my leg.

“Chloe.” He said. “I’m sorry.”

I looked up at him in astonishment. I never thought he had it him to offer any apology to anyone. Especially me.

“I know it’s my fault.” He sighed. “None of this would’ve happened if I stayed with you. And the guy, whoever hurt you, wouldn’t have done this. I’m sorry.”

I looked at him and I could sense the sincerest feelings in him. He was looking deeply saddened and the guilt in him was evident in his face.

“I.. I have to go home,” I said and hurried to get up but yet again, I was pulled back.

“Christ, what’s the hurry?” He said. “You’re not going anywhere tonight. You’re staying here.”

“What?” I asked.

“Yes.” He bluntly replied.

“I am going I stay here?” I asked him in bewilderment.

“Yes.” He replied as casually like ever.

“With you?”

“Yes.”

“Alone?”

“Yes. Plus Anna.”

“Whole night?”

He sighed. “Yes.”

“No,” I said. “I’m not going to stay here.”

“You have no choice.” He said. “I won’t leave you like this alone. That creepy guy might come back.”

“As if you care.” I snorted and stood up. “You don’t get to order me around alright? I can do whatever I want.”

“It’s either the easy way or the hard way.” He said.

Before I could say anything, he threw me over his shoulder.

~♡~

“Stop looking at me like that and eat,” Brett said and accumulated the food in his fork and took a bite of it.

I glared at him and remained unmoving.

He sighed. “If you don’t start eating, I’ll have to make arrangements as to how to make you eat.”

I scowled at him and harshly took the fork and ate. Anna giggled from beside me and I tried hard not to lunge at him for this. But sadly, I couldn’t because I was tied to the chair by his belt.

“I told your mom you’re staying with us,” he said, his mouth full of food. “And she doesn’t mind.”

“Did you tell her what happened?” I asked in apprehension. She can't know this. She’ll be worried about me and leave her work and come here. And I don’t want any of that to happen.

“No.” He said, much to my relief. I know she loves me way too much and is already worried that I got hit by Brett’s car. Telling her that I was hurt by Parker will only worsen things.

“What did you say then?” I asked him. If he didn’t tell her the reason, he might have told something that convinced her.

“I told her.. you were scared to be alone and asked if you could sleep here.” He said and the fork in my hand felt as I looked at him in astonishment.

“You did what?” I said. “You told her that I was scared

to be alone?”

“Yes.” He nodded.

“I wonder how she even believed it,” I said. “I’m always alone and I was never scared before.”

“You’re always alone?” He asked, glancing up from his plate.

“Yea,” I said. “Mom does night shifts because she gets higher pay with that. So, I always sleep alone.”

“And you’re not scared of living alone? That an intruder might come up?” He said.

“Well, I never thought of it, to be honest. And, I’m kinda used to it so it never occurred to me that it is unsafe.” I said.

He shook his head in disapproval and went back to eating.

“You cannot do that when you hardly even know who I am.” I pointed out.

“I know you.” He said. “More than you can think.”

“Really?” I asked. “Then prove it.”

“I can.” He said. “Tell me what you want to know about yourself from me?”

“What's my full name?”

“Chloe Ava Morgan.”

I rose my brow. “What’s my age? Exact.”

“17 years, 7 months. Do you want the days?”

I shook my head. “My birthday?”

“17th Feb.”

“My favourite colour.”

“Black.”

“My favourite person.”

“Your mom.”

“My most memorable day?”

“The day when we went to the beach in nothing but our undies. You were mad because I wet your clothes. But you ended up loving it.”

My eyes almost flew out of my sockets. How did he know that it was my most memorable day? It wasn’t even a relevant question to ask but I did so that I could prove him wrong, but no. He did it. He told the correct answer.

“Okay, Bretton,” I asked. “I’ll ask you one last question. And I’ll agree that you know me well if you answer this.”

“Okay..” he said.

“Have I ever been in love?” I asked.

He looked at me and kept boring into my eyes when I said those words. I didn’t dare to break the eye contact because I wanted to know if he ever felt the love I had toward him. Did he ever think of the possibility that I liked him?

I didn’t seem to understand what was going on around me. I was completely indulged and sank into his beautiful green eyes. He looked beautiful. Everything about him is so perfect. He’s just perfect. Perfect for me.

He blinked a few times before he leaned closer. And when he spoke, his voice was low.

“Yes.”

I sank back into my chair.