Accomplice《Lilix》

PART 28: Answers

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"It's about time. I was starting to think you weren't going to show up."

Lila looked up at Felix from the steps of her apartment's alleyway door. At nearly midnight, she wasn't a fan of waiting outside. Especially if he was going to be late. Either way, the cover of darkness was what they needed.

Felix, dressed in all black, glared down at her. "Do you know how hard it was to get here?" he hissed.

"Don't think you're the only one who's got it bad," she said back. "I've had reporters ringing the doorbell for days. You know how close I was to screaming at them?"

Leo's purring interrupted their spat. He sat in Lila's arms, his tiny claws gripping the fabric of her cami. Felix smiled at the sight. "So this is Leo," he said. He reached out a hand to pet the cat, then instantly took it back when Leo hissed in response.

"Aw, look at that. Hate at first sight," Lila laughed.

Felix rolled his eyes. "Whatever."

She smiled as he sat down next to her.
"So, what did you want to talk about?"

"You, me, and everything in between," he said. "But first off, how are you feeling?"

"You ask me that like I'm about to break any second," she said with a roll of her eyes. "I'm fine. Most of the time."

"Can you blame me? You could've died."

"But I didn't."

Felix let out a sigh. "You're...unbelievable."

"Strange compliment, but I'll take it." The atmosphere lost its lightness, and she felt like she had no choice but to acknowledge why they were there.

"Can you tell me more about what's going on?" she asked. "You didn't sound like yourself on the phone."

Lila sat there as Felix explained, taking in every word and letting them hurt her heart. "He used the dead father card?" she said when he was done. "I didn't think he had the guts to do something like that."

Felix nodded and kept his eyes on the ground. "The worst part was that in that moment, I really did feel like a disappointment," he said quietly. "There was just this sudden guilt, and I didn't even know what it was for."

Lila nodded in understanding. "Yeah. I know a thing or two about guilt."

Felix looked at her. "Is this about Kira?" he asked. "You two used to be friends, right?"

"Unfortunately."

"She almost killed you. You shouldn't feel bad for getting back at her," he told her. "I'm the one who should feel bad for not telling you enough."

They sat in silence for a bit. Not a single word was uttered until Lila finally managed to admit, "This...isn't about that. When I said Kira was horrible, I meant it. She just snapped. Belle became her plaything so slowly, I almost missed it." A chunk of her hair fell in front of her face, but she didn't bother to move it. "I didn't try to stop her," she whispered. "The girl was breaking, and I didn't do anything."

"Why?" Felix asked.

She didn't say anything. After asking herself that question multiple times, she still only had one answer. One stupid, pathetic answer. "I was scared, I guess. I thought if I could just stay on her good side, then everything would be fine. I didn't even know that Belle was--"

She stopped. She couldn't say the word out loud. It hurt too much. They hadn't been close, but it was still painful to think about.

Felix reached a hand out, and with the lightest touch she'd ever felt, carefully moved her hair out of her face. "You told me that you ruined her life," he said. "What did you mean?"