All I Didn't Say ✧ Michael Jackson

Chapter 21 | The Reason Is You

"Tatiana, please, stop crying." Michael asks, again, patiently. "He made you do it, didn't he?"

She lifts her head up from his chest and takes a step backwards. "Yes, Daniel said he would," she pauses to wipe the tears away. "He would make my life miserable if I didn't obey him. When Frank called me," she stares at Frank. "I was already on my way." Michael nods and holds her hands. "I ran away. I don't have a place to stay and I don't want to work with him anymore. I'm done." Her eyes are fixed on Michael again.

"What do you mean you have 'no place to stay' ?" Frank speaks up, getting everyone's attention. He hopes she's not planning on staying here.

"I lived with him." Tatiana lowers her head. "I just took my money and ran off."

"I hope you took enough money to get an apartment." Frank mumbles but no one hears.

"You never told me you two lived together." Michael sounds confused.

"We did, before I went on tour with you. I should have mentioned it, I'm sorry." Tatiana looks tired: physically and mentally. Her eyes are so red and swollen, Michael thinks they may explode. "But there was nothing between Daniel and I even though he thinks I'm his."

"Wow, this is all... weird." Michael lets out a sigh.

"Yeah. I just want you to know that none of those crazy stuff I said came from my heart. He threatened me and got aggressive, so I got really scared. I would never, ever do anything to harm or humiliate you. I love you too much to do that." Tatiana squeezes his hand and Michael's throat goes dry.

He stands up but doesn't make any eye contact with Aria who's still sitting on the couch in front of them, making a huge effort to keep her mouth shut. Hearing Tatiana say she loves him made her heart leap: it's like Tatiana is trespassing a restricted area where Aria is still building up the electric fences.

"You need to rest Tatiana." Michael's voice makes Aria step out of her trance. "You can stay in the guest room, c'mon. I'll show you the way." He helps her stand up, she's weak and she probably hasn't eaten anything yet.

As Michael goes up the stairs with Tatiana, Aria approaches Frank.

"What the hell is going on?" She asks. That came out more harshly than she expected.

"This..." He gives her the scandalous tabloid. "This is what is going on. My phone is blowing up, every single reporter wants a response from him, I could kill myself right now." Aria reads the headlines and swallows hard. "Tell Michael I had to go, I have a meeting." Frank walks to the door.

"Wait," Aria gets near him. "Take this with you. Burn it, rip it, whatever. Make this disappear from the world, please. Make every single copy disappear." Frank can't do that, they both know it but he still nods and she closes the door.

Aria makes her way into the kitchen, letting out a sigh that she didn't even knew she was holding in. She gives a bite on one of the toasts with eggs on top - it's cold already but Aria eats it anyway.

When she read the headlines Aria didn't even think about her relationship with Michael, she thought about him only, how will he handle another lie? 

She has always been protective over him, like a sister that protects her brother - now it hits her - that's what they are, basically. They'll have to tell the rest of the family in due time and one thing she knows for sure - Joseph won't be happy at all.

"Aria," Michael calls her name and she accidentally chokes.

"You scared me," Aria replies after a few coughs and drinks a sip of the smoothie.