𝐔𝐍𝐅𝐈𝐋𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐄𝐃

87 | clarity part ii

Axel doesn't look the least bit surprised to see me there. He grins like a fox and pulls his weight out of the fountain. Water drips down on the dry parts of his T-shirt and jeans, but he doesn't seem to care.

"What can I do for you Seven?" He asks tiredly and when I don't answer right away, he arches a brow. "Take a seat," he tells me gesturing at the beach chair sitting next to the fountain. "I assume this has something to do with the fight between you and my sister."

"Did Nox say anything to you?" I inquire, plopping down on the chair next to him.

"She keeps defending you every chance she gets which I personally think is more bad than good." He murmurs. "You see, Nox tends to give the benefit of the doubt to people who don't deserve it. Happened one too many times and look where it got her. She's scared to live out of her own skin just how she's scared to break out of it. All that happened because of one guy. One fucking guy who couldn't wrap his head around the fact that my sister didn't want to be with him anymore. She sensed something was wrong; he wasn't who he claimed he was. All those praises, those promises, and sweet little gestures were soon enough forgotten because the damage had already been done and nobody knew about it."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"I'm telling you this because I want you to know that I've seen this all happen before. My sister, she falls in love with some guy, falls a little too hard and fails to see the fucking signs because her judgement is clouded. And then when shit hits the fan it affects everyone around her."

I look at him straight in the eye as I say, "I'm not him."

"Of course, you're not. She was very happy when she was with him. I guess I can say she was as happy as she is with you. She was happy then and she's happy now, but it doesn't make a fuckin difference, because in the end he beat the shit out of us." He laughs bitterly.

"I would never lay a hand on either of you Axel."

"Did she ever tell you about the accident at Brimere Route or anything that occurred after that incident?"

I swallow down harshly. "No, she didn't."

"I see,"

"I was wondering if you could enlighten me about it." I say tentatively. Axel turns to face me with a bewildered expression. "I don't know what is going on in her head Axel and no matter how many times I ask her to talk to me about it, she just shuts down."

"Yeah," he sighs, "I know."

"I understand that it may seem intrusive of me to ask you this. Like, fuck she's my girlfriend if she trusts me, she'll tell me right?"

"There's no way she'll tell you about that night. She hasn't even told me about it and I'm her fucking brother." Axel scoffs. "Nox thinks I'm oblivious about things that concern her, but little does she know I have put two and two together a long time ago. I never liked Elijah ever since she brought him over to meet our dad, but he hadn't done anything that raised any suspicions either. Dad also adored him, so it's not like I could do anything about it."

"Why? Why didn't you like the guy?"

"I don't know man. Call it instinct, my intuition or whatever, but something wasn't sitting right with the dude." He murmurs. "Like sure, he treated my sister nicely when we were around and he did some grand gestures that made Nox melt into a puddle, but there were times she just seemed lost. Like she wasn't there." He cracks his knuckles one by one then scratches the back of his neck. "Nox tends to be like that. She always tended to get carried away, but he was supposed to be the center of her universe or some other spiritual shit; she was encapsuled by him. It scared me at times, if I'm being honest."