Time Will Tell | ✔

Chapter 4 - The Lie

time will tell

flashback

"Aren't you going to talk? You've been sitting here staring at me for the past thirty minutes and I honestly don't know what to do," she mumbled, "or what to say."

I continued to stare at her with my eyebrows pushed together and my lips forming a straight line while my eyes were narrowed down on her. Just like her, I had no idea what I was supposed to say. I came here to talk, to confront her with what I had seen, to argue and to let her know how deeply hurt I was, but once I stepped inside her familiar room, my mind went blank. "Why?"

"Why w—" she cut herself off before she could finish her sentence and avoided to look into my eyes or my direction at all. She was sitting at the other end of the room while I decided to sit on her windowsill and the distance between us was still too small for me. "I never wanted this but it just happened-"

"Things like that don't 'just' happen, damnit!" I shouted so loud that her eyes nearly popped out of their socket and she had to swallow hard. "I am not here to listen to anything you say other than the damn reason why you had to cheat on me, hook up with one of my closest friends and leave me here like a stupid fool, Josephine. Tell me the reason and you'll never have to see this face again."

"How should I explain something to you when I don't even know how it happened myself? I understand that you're hurt but that doesn't mean that we can't try it again, does it? I love you, Miles and I won't ever stop loving you," she said with a quivering voice and I felt the urge to laugh. "I can't and don't want to lose you."

"You're pathetic. Everything that comes out of your mouth is pathetic. I trusted you, I loved you with everything I am — you were my first love and you're not even aware of the damage you caused. Don't you understand that I can't look into your eyes without feeling disgusted by you?" I was bad at putting my thoughts into words whenever I was angry, but I was still trying my best to make her understand that there would be no 'us' from now on.

"Miles," she cried rushing towards my direction before she kneeled down in front of me and  grabbed my hands in hers. "It wasn't my fault, I swear! I didn't want to tell you at first, but I can't bear to lose you forever."

I jerked away from her grip and exhaled out loud. "Explain."

She wiped her tears away and nodded repeatedly. "All of what happened is Andrew's fault. I think he was jealous of our relationship ever since you told him about it because his own relationship was miserable. I- I didn't know what to do whenever he asked me for advice and then it all started somehow."

"Wait what?" I shook my head as I shut my eyes tightly. "What does that mean? Did you two meet each other behind my back? Why didn't you tell me about this while it happened?" So she basically confirmed that both of them made a fool out of me for months and I wondered when she would have told me if I didn't find it out myself.

"He didn't want me to tell you. I think he truly loved that girl —the one he dated—but at the same time I had a feeling that he loved me too and he just asked me for all those advices to be close to me... I don't know it's very complicated. I was scared and anxious." She played with her thumbs as she mumbled those words while I was trying to process each word that came out of her mouth.

"And how exactly is all of this Andrew's fault?" I asked harshly. "You could have stopped meeting him, could have stopped helping him, could have told him to leave you alone. This is pathetic, spare me your lies I'm going." I pushed her away from me as gently as I could before I tried to walk past her but she was faster and locked the door to prevent me from walking out.

"I tried to stay away from him but he didn't let me. He is sick, Miles. This was his plan all along: to ruin our relationship just like he ruined his own. He didn't want to see you happy, see you smile, see you by my side. The night you saw us he forced me to kiss him and do...you know," she whispered the last part and now I was more confused than ever. None of what she said seemed to make any sense to me and I had no idea what to believe or what to do.

"Are you lying?"

"No, no I swear I am saying the truth! I am sure that Andrew has a sick obsession with me and he did it all on purpose. Miles please don't leave me." She wrapped her hands around my neck and forced me to pull her into a hug but I jerked away again. "Don't go." I couldn't recognize this girl and at that very moment I didn't even know whether I had ever truly known her or the person she pretended to be. She continued to cry in front of me while I continued to stare at her with my eyes focused on her own. Was this the same innocent girl I fell in love with two years ago? 

I'd lie if I said I didn't feel the urge to cry too. I was so damn broken and the fact that I lost a lover and a best friend in one plus another close friend added more pain to my open wound and it was very hard to act like the tough boy I apparently was not. What if she was saying the truth though? I mean Andrew did ask a lot of questions about Jo and I most of the time —questions such as 'Is everything alright between you two?', 'How is Jo doing?', 'Did she tell you what's on her mind?', 'Did you talk to Jo today?' and so on. 

Did he really have a sick obsession with her? And why didn't she tell me earlier about this? It was too late now. I was way too focused on revenge, way too focused to hurt Andrew with the same weapon he hurt me with, way too focused to see him hurt like me. "I don't want to see you for now. I want you to leave me alone until I decide to contact you again, okay? I need some space, some time to think about everything that happened."

"Miles—"

"No." I took a step back and held both of my hands out to keep her away from me. "I want you to respect that in order for me to forget all of this."  I obviously couldn't get over what happened because those dirty scenes were engraved deep in my brain and whenever I closed my eyes I was reminded by it. 

And then I finally walked out of her room and thought about a perfect way to get revenge on both Andrew and Josephine to make them suffer the way I suffered, to make them feel miserable, to ruin their lives like they ruined mine.

Little did I know that I'd ruin an innocent life instead.

  —  

author's note:

Oooooooooooookay we obviously know that Josephine is lying here to save herself and put all the blame on Andrew. We all know what happens next, don't we? Ugh. I had the worst writers-block for the past couple of weeks and that's why it took me ages to write and update this, so I am truly sorry if this chapter sucked because if it did, just tell me and I'll make sure to re-write it!!

The next chapter will be a chapter written in present tense and I honestly can't wait to write it oh my. A vote and a comment are much, MUCH appreciated loves.

Thank you.