Misstaken ✓ | #Wattys2019

29. t h i s i s g o o d b y e

second last chapter! (i miscounted before oop—)
thank uuuu for reading <3

All the thinking was driving me crazy.

I didn't want Jaslyn to appeal to my emotion, and Cleo to justify my logic. Perhaps the closest thing I could get to the best voice of reason was Kylie, but she was gone now.

Both Kylie and Yuri were gone.

Unless, on second thought...

I could go find them. This was good, anyway. I needed finality.

"What do you want?" Yuri spoke rudely into the phone when I had entered the booth to talk to him through his cell. On hindsight, I probably should have gone to see Kylie first, who had gotten a much lighter sentence, and would definitely be more welcoming.

I had studied the laws a little, so I knew what was going to come. I tried not to shed a sympathetic tear. After all, they were my best friends once.

"What you did wasn't the way out, Yuri."

He smirked, "Say what you want, princess. I still can't believe you fell for that scum. If you had been with me, maybe you'd think differently. Maybe your expertise, or even your charm to him, could have helped our case. But it doesn't matter now, because we won."

His glee was unrecognizable. "I heard the Sheldons are getting hell after it was revealed what they had done. And I heard that Nicholas is leaving for Angola soon, the officers were talking about it. They have nothing now."

"Are you insane, Yuri? What the hell happened to that jovial boy I used to know?"

"The old Yuri is gone. Dead, the moment he found out the truth. For so long my sole purpose had been nothing but to reveal the truth. I'd sacrifice everything for it—"

"No, I know you. It's never your sole purpose to kill. Something changed. What did?" I stopped short. "Don't tell me — it was when I started to be with Nick?"

He huffed. "It wasn't the trigger, but it was a catalyst. Even you supported that monster. I couldn't stand losing to the Sheldons, who had everything. Not you, too."

"No." I cut him off. "Don't kid yourself. We were friends, Yuri. Friends that didn't possess the autonomy to make choices for each other. Friends that were meant to support one another. We've always been."

He seemed solemn this time. "I don't think we can ever go back to that."

"No, we can't. You almost killed my boyfriend, and you killed his father. I won't ever forgive you. But I hope you will find your answer someday. When you do, come find me, ten years down the road."

With that, I was out of the door. But before I could exit, Yuri called me back.

"Wait." When I looked back, his eyes had lost its seriousness now. He was thinking again, more like the Yuri I knew. "I won you. For once, my summer project beat yours."

"Seriously? You called me back to tell me that?" I folded my arms.

He shook his head. "Remember ever since our first project when we were kids? We said whoever wins the summer project has to be granted a wish from the other."

"Don't tell me stupid things like you want to be with —"

"No." He said. "I was going to wish that you'll take care of Kylie. She's going to be released in a year for her lower hacking involvement, and she's going to have a hard time. We've always relied on each other, you know."