Leilani.
By the ti I arrived at my room monts later, I found Jarek and Maya already there, waiting for with small grins on their faces.
And at first, I was suspicious. I wondered why they were in such a good mood until I noticed the bouquet of white roses behind Jarek’s back— one that he tried so hard to hide with his body but failed woefully due to how large it was.
They also ca with a small buttercream cake, and from how sweet it slled, I knew instantly that it was mango flavored.
My favorite.
I smiled. "You both didn’t have to do all these!" I exclaid happily as I took the flowers from Jarek, but just then... just as I was about to pull him into a hug, the door creaked open and Gavin peeked in.
However, as soon as I saw him, my good mood instantly deflated. I frowned.
"Hey!" He called out to sweetly, but at the re sound of his voice, my blood boiled. Anger coiled tight at the base of my stomach and a sensation, akin to nausea, began to form in my guts.
And I knew... goddess, I knew that he’s been trying pretty hard to get on my good side. I knew that he deserved another chance... but whenever I saw him... whenever I rembered how he had always ’punished’ in the past, I couldn’t help but feel angry all over again.
He was the one to hit the most. Besides father, he had dealt with the worst kinds of emotional trauma; So why couldn’t he just let be?
Why wouldn’t he leave alone now that I wanted nothing to do with him anymore?
Gavin, despite noticing the way my face had fallen, still slipped into the room, and it wasn’t until then that I noticed the small box in his hands.
He lifted it up, until it was above my head, and inford ; "I got you so presents. And one of them is that book you’ve always wanted; Mischief or Wisdom."
At his words, I turned to look at him and as soon as my eyes t his, an intense sadness surged through my veins. I shook my head slowly and took a step back, unconsciously rembering how I’d asked him for that book for three consecutive birthdays. How I’d practically begged him to get one, even though it wasn’t an author signed copy.
—And how on all occasions, he’d reminded of how worthless I was to ask for gifts.
In his words, I was just "a piece of abandoned garbage who would probably make the book go to waste as I was too stupid to read it."
He had gotten Chalice a pair of black Louboutins that cost way more than several copies of the book, and I could still rember his face when he turned to after helping her into the shoes and said; "only Chalice deserves to be given gifts because she isn’t pompous or evil like ."
A shudder ran through my body at these mories and I shook my head again, my eyes eting Gavin’s as I drawled; "I can’t accept it."
The look of pain on his face was palpable. His face crumpled and sothing akin to despair flashed across his features before he schooled it into his usual carefree expression.
He nodded. "I understand." He answered, but the tremor in his voice spoke of a different story.
Even the way his hands trembled slightly made understand that he was shaken by the entire thing. Well, duh... I was too!
I flashed him a small smile— one that I didn’t feel— and nodded, whilst making sure that I avoided Maya’s eyes as best as I could, and whispered; "Thank you for the book though, but I’ve finally outgrown it."
He chuckled. "I never knew I’d live to see the day you’d say those words."
He then turned to leave after engaging in so very surface-level conversation with us. But just as he was about to go, a thought suddenly struck and I called out to him.
"Gavin?"
At the sound of my voice, he stopped and turned around, a smile splitting his face as he held out the box to , as if thinking that I’d changed my mind and wanted to accept it now.
Goddess, that just goes to show how much he didn’t know .
How much he didn’t understand .
I looked away from the box, ignoring it like it was sothing straight out of hell and sighed. "I wanted to ask you about sothing."
He stilled, and then slowly... very slowly, he withdrew his hands. "What is it?"
"Did you know that a sex tape of circulated around the pack at so point several years ago?" I asked, and as soon as I did, his face stained a bright red.
He looked away in embarrassnt, but I didn’t miss the way his Adam’s apple bobbed, or the way he looked so disgusted, one would think he’d seen literal faeces.
He shook his head and then nodded... then he shook it again. He hissed; "I did. So stupid boys in the pack then made sure to circulate it around the pack. They even played it at soone’s birthday party. I can’t rember who but I think it should be Liam or Gary."
Just like Aganes had told .
I nodded. "And if I told you that it wasn’t in the video, would you believe ?" I asked, and to my utmost surprise, Gavin didn’t hesitate. He didn’t even stop to think about it for a mont.
He simply answered with;
"I would. After everything that’s happened this past few weeks, I would."
And that... that made a special kind of warmth bloom in my chest. I whispered; "it wasn’t ."
"And I believe you. I’ll also try to find out about how that video ca to be in the first place, and if possible, expose whoever must’ve done it... be it AI generated or not."
I wanted to let him know that AI generated videos
were not a thing six years ago, but deciding to simply let him be, I nodded and smiled. "Okay."
"I’m sorry." He drawled, surprising even further.
And goddess, I couldn’t help it. I couldn’t care less about whether I still haven’t forgiven him or not. I simply pulled him into a hug and pressed my face against his chest, my heart thundering in my ears when I realized to my utter bewildernt that this was the first ti I’ll ever hug Gavin.
That this was the first ti we would ever get this close— and I an ever! As in; in my entire life.
The thought made feel so kind of way, but pushing it away, I held onto him tighter and closed my eyes, allowing his warmth to wash over .
Gosh, I wish he was always like this. I wish I never lost him to all those lies.
—And now, it was already a little too late.
We broke apart when a familiar scent filled my nostrils and I glanced at the door only to find Chalice peeking in with a look of utmost horror on her face.
My smile widened when her face crumpled even more; and for the first ti in my life, I did sothing that I always hated... sothing that was always done to by her...
I let myself into her head the way she used to do to , and I drawled through our mind link: "Get ready to lose everything."
The look on her face had my chest swelling with pride and when she staggered backward, my smile only grew.
And then I squealed; "Oh, hi Chalice! I didn’t think you’d co!"
I forced all the sweetness that could muster into my voice while I spoke, taking pleasure in the way her face went pale, losing all its color.
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