Undateable

Thirty-Nine

I nodded. I moved my eyes to the vase beside the television. I wasn't really focusing on it – it just sat in my line of sight.

"And you're scared that if you tell her this secret, she'd refuse to get back with you?"

I nodded again.

"This is an easy one," dad laughed. "You tell her the truth."

I glared him. How could this be an easy one? It's killing me inside. How could I even possibly tell her the truth when it risks the chances of her heart breaking? I couldn't do that to her, especially after seeing how she reacted when I just broke up with her without nay context. But this time, she'll be infuriated. She won't trust anyone anymore. How could I do that?

"I can tell you are fighting yourself over this but trust me when I say this, the truth will always come out. Whether it comes out now from you, whether she finds out herself or whether you tell her in ten years' time."

"Why would I tell her in ten years? It'd become irrelevant then."

"Because you will be ridden in guilt. The very fact that you think telling her this secret will hurt her feelings is the very reason why you have to tell her, Cade. And the very fact that you're fighting yourself over it is good enough reason to tell her now. You are going to continue to feel this for the rest of your life up until you finally do tell her. And from all my time living with your mom, I learnt one thing. The longer you wait to tell her, the harder or worse it will become."

"But what if it will ruin our chances of ever being together?"

"It's not fair to her. You can't be in a relationship filled with lies."

I exhaled deeply. I looked at my wrist watch and it was time to go to pick her up. I looked at dad and nodded, telling him I will think about it. And I did. I got in the car and drove all the way to Kaia's home contemplating whether I should tell her or not. I was afraid to tell her. But if I really did want to start this relationship from the start, without any ill-intent, she would need to know the truth.

I pressed the doorbell and in seconds, Mrs. Harper opened the door. Her eyes widened the moment she realized it was me.

"Cade? What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to pick up Kaia," I advised.

She nodded, slightly skeptical. "Ah, I see," she said, her voice soft. She had her eyes at her feet as though she was thinking over something. "Well, Cade, I don't really need your services anymore, so you don't need to keep dating Kaia," she said.

"I'm sorry, what?"

She looked over her shoulder to check if anyone was listening in. She opened the door slightly, gesturing me to enter. As I entered, she asked me to follow her into the study room. She took a seat at the other side of the table while I sat on the one nearer to the door.

"I actually wanted to speak to you so it's probably good that you came by," she said.

"Is there anything wrong, Mrs. Harper?"

"I was wondering why you returned the payments I made to your account?"

"Because I didn't want them anymore."

"I didn't offer it to you as a gift, Cade. I gave them to you as part of our verbal agreement. You were to date my niece, and I would pay you a particular sum," Mrs. Harper explained.

"And I terminated that agreement prior to the completion of one hundred days and thereby I had to repay all the payments you have made as a consequence of my termination," I responded with a vague smile.