Because I Love You✔️

Chapter 28: Her Choice

Anger flared up inside him before it faded into a sickening hollow sensation.

If anyone else had said that, he'd have brushed it off, but Amelia was bizarrely honest.

"Why would she be sorry for anything?" he demanded, looking at the distant sky. "You and I both know that she hates me with every fiber of her being. If she didn't, she wouldn't look at me the way she does. Like I'm... something worthless, something... filthy."

The word rolled off his tongue like a bitter musing.

"That's not true," Amelia protested, faltering when he looked at her flatly. "She... um..."

"I appreciate you trying to help," he said with a deflated feeling, "but after seeing what she did to me with your own eyes, how can you expect me to believe that she's sorry for it?"

"Because she is!" Amelia weakly protested. "She really is, Phil!"

He closed his eyes for a moment.

"Forget the fact that she whipped me until I nearly bled to death and then locked me in a cage the size of a closet for two weeks," he muttered, refusing to acknowledge her claim. "Even now, she looks at me like I'm vile... like she hates every fiber of my being. She's not sorry."

"That's not true," Amelia countered, looking more than a little depressed by his denials. "She's apologized several times. Doesn't that matter?"

"No, because she didn't mean any of them," Xaphile muttered. "If you had seen the expression on her face when she'd said it, you'd understand why I'm telling you this."

Amelia bit her lip, because no matter how much she wanted to deny it, she hadn't been there, so she couldn't say he was right or wrong.

"Phil, please," she eventually murmured. "I want you to talk with Ella. Just the two of you.

"What? You can't be serious..."

"I am," she shot back. "I want you to go out into the woods and just... talk with her. Things will flow more honestly after the conversation I had with her yesterday, believe me. She has a better idea about your situation and has begun to think about things she never considered. I'm sure she now has a lot she wants to get off her chest... so just talk to her. For real, this time."

He almost opened his mouth to retort a definite 'NO!' but he couldn't ignore the look in her eyes.

Those crystal blue irises were shimmering with too much anxiety and worry.

He felt depressed more by the fact that he was giving in than the fact that he had to talk to Ella.

"Fine," he sighed, closing his eyes. "If that's what you truly want... fine, I'll try."

"I'm not attempting to force you," she quietly told him, pushing her glasses up her nose. "I'm just worried, that's all. Things can't stay like this. We mustn't fight amongst ourselves."

He responded by giving her a simple nod.

"All right," he muttered, rolling his shoulders and shaking his long hair out. "I'll talk to her."

"Thank you," Amelia breathed, looking relieved. "I really do appreciate this."

Much to her surprise, though, he abruptly flicked his reigns and rode on ahead, long tail curling around the saddle as his mount sidled up next to Ella's. Leaning over, he tapped her arm, observing how she jumped and gave him a startled expression.

"Do you need something?" she sourly demanded. "What are you doing?"

He bit back his irritation and sighed, "do you have a moment?"