Royally Kissed | ✓

31; the painful beginnings

She nodded sagely, and with a soft voice, she replied, "In some way, it's my fault. Trust me, I know what it feels like better than anyone in this room right now, and I understand where you guys are coming from. But I thought about it. Really thought about it. And I realized that trust is never really a two-way thing, just like love, and it's a risk most of us are willing to take, regardless of how things would turn out−whether the person whom you trusted and love would return the feelings or not."

"Sure." Jouwee scowled, the darkness looming overhead, and stood there all akimbo. "But he lied to you. Right from the start he meant to play with your heart! I'm probably just really pissed at him right now but even if this anger will die down, I don't think you can convince me out of what I feel about him."

Paige bobbed her head at her, jolting another shrug. "I understand. Either way we dive into a relationship with someone because that's just how it is, Jo. Nothing is so sure in this world, except for change, as it is the only constant thing in the world. If this change is meant to make me grow, then I'm quite thankful that he came to teach me a lesson."

She placed her palm flat on her forehead and tilted her head up to the ceiling. "Oh, my lord," she muttered under her breath. "She's hopeless. I can't believe this is happening right now."

While Jouwee succumbed into her frustrations, she turned to Owen who had a deep wrinkle creasing the middle of his eyebrows, his mouth pursed as he stared at her with a calculated look.

"Mr Singh wouldn't be too happy to hear this," she said, referring to his therapist. Perhaps that did the trick, because his countenance marginally softened, although his lips remained shut. "I know how much you hate getting into programs or classes where you have to share your innermost feelings."

She beamed when Owen crossed his arms, his business suit crinkling as he did so. His voice turned several octaves lower like his words were meant for her hearing alone. "I'm not seeing him anymore, for your information. This is purely healthy anger expression. If before I couldn't control it even at the slightest issue, now I've learned to see the difference between what's trivial and what's worth the anger. You can't deny the source of my frustration. It's you we're talking about, Paige."

He paused to sigh, his eyes shut tight that it was evident how much his patience was hanging by a thread. When he opened his eyelids, his gaze was gravitating−a suggestion that he'd wanted her to just look at him, and all of a sudden, he was the focal point of everything there was in the room.

"You don't fucking deserve to be treated like this. I don't care what you think, but you've been pretty worried about him all this while, to make things better between you two because you value people, you value relationships, and yet he made a fool out of you," he gritted his teeth, and if she were to look down at his hands, she would probably see them balling into tight fists, "I know this. I was like him once. Now I'm just trying to get things back the way they used to be. And I'm hopping mad because he doesn't realize what he's done yet. Stupid motherfucker."

"Huh," the corners of Jouwee's lips tilted up into a sneer, "sounds like a love speech to me."

Paige shot her an icy stare, and Jouwee shrugged nonchalantly, but Owen didn't seem to mind the comment. He was very much calm and collected at this point, despite the furious claims.

"Thank you, Owen," she said, as soon as her cheeks went back to normal. "And I really, really am grateful for the concern, the both of you. But we're not having this conversation to plot a murder, you see. I just want to let you in on what's going on with my sudden drama back there. Let's get back to practice, please?"

She'd stared at Jouwee and Jax practicing together while Owen caged her hand in his, stifling a chuckle when her friend had thrown Jax a dark look. The latter simply ignored her and listened to what the dance instructor was saying, making Jouwee's features deepening the aggravation.