Divergent souls || 2

Thrity three

CHAPTER THIRTY THREE ⇆ ANGELINA
Rowan will tell me the truth today.
It's been two weeks since he came back.
He hasn't been available most of the time, used to disappear to nowhere I knew of.
And now, I'll finally know the truth.

Maybe I should feel relieved? I don't, not at all actually, I stare at Rowan, looking up from my plate,  we're having lunch together, in my apartment, the stay is cozy and warm.

Unlike what's about to come, the silence that stretches between us is awkward, or tense I really cannot decide, I shove another spoonful of rice inside my mouth, trying to dodge all the sickening possibilities crawling up my mind.

"Why did you just call me...all of a sudden?" I ask, brows furrowed in confusion as I stare at him, he stares at his food for a beat, caught up in his thoughts, then he looks up at me.

His brown eyes dimming, "I'm ready to tell you all of it, Angelina, you deserved the truth all along, I just wasn't capable of saying it." He protests lightly, swallowing hard.

A lot of questions are clouding my mind. But I stay silent, knowing that what's about to come will answer most of them at least, he straightens, leans back and clears his throat.

"Last year of high school, it was lovely." The sarcasm is clear in his tone. But that's how he talks whenever he's in pain, angry or even just sad. It's something easy to notice about Rowan.

I stay silent, listening to him, afraid that my interruption might make him stop, "Actually, it was pretty fine, the usual, fights with father, a lot of stuff like that, it wasn't something new." He shrugs nonchalantly.

The mention of his father makes me grit my teeth, muscles tensing further, "Remember when they said that living with me has become a burden?" He recalls, it's an easy memory to remember. Cause that day was fucking hell.

They said he was too reckless, too immature, too dumb, while he's never been any of those things, they said his grades were going downhill, that he didn't do enough, it was painful for him, for me too.

After that night they went back to New York, since In high school, both of our families lived in LA, but they left, and told him that his Aunt can take care of him while this goes by.

The high school year.

I don't remember much after that, that incident was about two weeks before he disappeared, "I do." I finally reply, he nods, "Yeah so well, you know it already. I went to live with the woman. I didn't spend much time with her growing up, but now I had to." Rowan wasn't his aunt's biggest fan let's just say that.

Why? He said she was greedy, fake, a lot of shit, "First couple of days were fine. As in I survived, then after a week, that's when it all happened." He says, his voice dropping as his face pales slightly, the urge to reach out for him is strong, but I clench my fists to stop myself.

"What happened?" I find myself asking instead, he looks up meeting my eyes, "She tried...to touch me." He states coldly, terror fills my bones and my lips part in shock.

"What do you mean?" I ask, unable to absorb what he just informed me, he sighs exaggeratedly, ruffles his hair up as he tucks at the strands harshly, "I mean as in, I was undressing after school, and I found her coming inside the room, she..." he trails off, eyes flitting over to my features.

Studying me, "Are you okay?" He reaches out, his hand slipping through my mind, am I okay? I should be the one asking that, "Go on." I insist, telling him that I can take what he'll offer, at the end of the day.

All I'm doing is listening.
He's the one who faced this.

"She just stared at me, i was...well, naked, it felt like the moment was stretched out, I didn't understand what was going on, not at all, before I found her approaching me, doing the exact opposite of what I'd expected, I thought it wasn't her intention to see me fucking naked. But it was." His lips twist in anger.