A/N:
Thanks for the 13k reads! I love you guys!
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"Tiara!" I jumped as I heard a familiar voice call from behind me. I had no intention of turning around, maybe if I ignored him, he would have gone away. Much to my dismay, Derrek circled around me, placing his hands on my shoulders to stop me from walking away. He drew his arms back a moment later. I couldn't bring myself to look up at him, so, I stared out to the side and crossed my arms over my chest.
"You're not going to change my mind, Derrek. I'm leaving." I turned around and walked over to the closest seat, then, I settled down and crossed my legs before placing my clasped hands on my thigh. I had made up my mind to leave and nothing was going to change my mind. Sure, it was a coward's move but I would have rather been a coward than a liar in the eyes of everyone I cared about.
Derrek walked up to me and I averted my gaze from him. A few moments passed and he hadn't said a word. I felt the urge to look up at him but I held myself back. If he was here to stop me from leaving, why wasn't he?
Before I could complete my train of thought, Derrek settled down beside me and let out a grunt as he did so. I glanced at him from the side of my left eye to see him getting comfortable in the metal chair but that wasn't what caught my attention, it was the plane ticket he had in his hands.
I instantly turned to face Derrek, wanting to be sure I had seen correctly. I had. He had a plane ticket in his hand.
"Why do you have a plane ticket?" I asked, my eyes scrolling from his face to the ticket and back to his face.
"Isn't it obvious? I'm catching a flight." He said nonchalantly as he glanced at his golden, expensive looking wristwatch, then, he glanced around us with eyes slightly narrowed.
"What?" I said in alarm. He couldn't have been doing what I thought he was doing, right? "Wait! You're not following me to New York, are you?"
"Would you have a problem with it if I was?" He arched an eyebrow at me and I sprang up to my feet. What was he thinking? He couldn't come to New York with me, that would have destroyed the entire purpose of getting away from him.
"You can't come with me, Derrek!" I told him firmly and he got up to his feet, taking a step towards me.
"Why not?"
"Why would you?" I had to refrain myself from yelling. We were out in public and the last thing I wanted was to draw attention to myself.
"It's as they say, if you can't beat 'em, join' em." He said with a shrug and I scoffed at his nonchalant attitude. There must have been a reason why he had gone on to buy a plane ticket to New York but what was it? I stared at him, trying to figure out his reason but I wasn't a mind reader, I couldn't tell what was on his mind. The blank expression on his face wasn't helping either.
"Derrek—"
"I know how stubborn you are, Tiara. I can't convince you to stay, so, I'm coming with you instead." He said, placing his hands on his hips as he rocked back and forth on his heels for a moment. I saw a hint of an unfamiliar emotion in his eyes before he returned back to his seat.
"You can't come with me!" I walked up to him, crossing my arms over my chest.
"Why not?" Derrek challenged, getting back up to his feet and I averted my eyes from him as he stared deep into my eyes, waiting for an explanation from me. I didn't know what Derrek wanted from me. I really didn't. Why didn't he just leave me alone when I asked him to? Why did he never come to me when I wanted him to? Why was he here?
"It doesn't matter. You can't come with me." I said, knowing I couldn't tell him the real reason why.
"I won't let you run away, Tiara." He said after a few intense moments of silence and I glanced at him to see that his eyebrows had pulled together and a frown had formed on his face. "I know that Candice is threatening you."
"Then you understand why I must leave. She's going to tell everyone, Derrek."
"I'm sorry. This is all my fault." He gave me an apologetic look. "If I never dragged you into this, none of this would have happened."
"If it wasn't me, it would have been some other poor girl. You and Candice played with me, Derrek and the game is never going to end unless I leave."
"Tiara, I—"
"I'm not a toy that you can pick up and play with whenever you feel like. You can't be nice to me today and hate me tomorrow and disappear the next day, then, appear out of the blue with a plane ticket, telling me that you want to come with me to New York. I'm done with this and I just want to move on from you and Candice and Ruby and this entire mess, so, for the last time, Derrek, you can't come with me to New York!"
I took in a deep breath to calm my nerves and pressed my lips together to stop myself from saying anymore.
Derrek didn't know just how much all of this had hurt me, how much he had hurt me but I needed him to know that it wasn't okay for him to come and go as he pleased. I had tried so many times to forget about him and just when I thought I could move on with my life, he showed up out of nowhere.
Derrek stayed silent for a few moments, tilting his head downwards and just when I thought he had finally given up, he lifted his head and spoke.
"I know I've hurt you and I've deceived you but if you let me, I would like to make up for everything."
"I can't, I'm sorry." I let out a sigh. I needed to leave him behind. I needed to let go of my feelings for him and I couldn't do that if I was around him. "Goodbye, Derrek." I turned around to leave but his voice stopped me.
"Don't leave, please!" Derrek pleaded, circling around me. "I understand why you want to leave but I don't think you should. You can't just run away."
"Derrek—"
"Look, I've lived like a puppet my entire life; my career, the way I've lived my life, those decisions had always been made by my father. I acted out in my teenage years and my early twenties because it was my way of living beyond my father's reach but even then, his hands were still holding onto me. The only thing he couldn't control was my relationship with Candice and that's why I was with her for so long.
Being with Candice angered my father to the core and I loved her because she made me feel like I was finally in control of my life, like I was finally free but then, I realized she was just as manipulative and controlling as my father was. She cheated on me and pinned her pregnancy on me just so I wouldn't leave her and I could blame her for making me lure an innocent woman into our selfish scheme but the truth is that, I was weak. I was too weak to go against my father and I was too weak to go against Candice but you—"
Derrek who had been staring into the distance as he spoke, paused as he glanced at me and I noticed his eyes had glistened with unshed tears. He gave me a small smile as he took a step closer to me.
"You are fearless, Tiara. I've watched you stand up for yourself over and over again. You stood up to your bullies, you stood up to your parents and you pursued your dream career. You have been an inspiration to me, Tiara and it's because of you that I could finally get out from under Candice's thumb after she managed to worm her way back into my life when I had lost my memory. It's because of you that I don't care if my father hands over the company to my brother. Hell, I don't even care if he completely disinherits me cause for the first time in my life, I feel truly free and it's all thanks to you, Tiara."
I stood there completely stunned by his words. Derrek had been inspired by me? How?
"I'm not fearless, Derrek. Stubborn is what I am and it has gotten me into a lot of trouble, so, I don't think I'm quite the role model you're making me out to be." I countered, rubbing behind my ear with the pad of my index finger as I felt a little awkward by Derrek's revelation.
"You really are stubborn." He nodded, laughing. "You are also brave and daring and yes, fearless which is why I'm completely shocked that you're choosing to run away from Candice."
"I can't let my family and friends find out the truth. They'll be so disappointed that I lied to all of them about being engaged for so long. They'll hate me." I sighed, tilting my head downwards. I really wished I could take it all back. I wished I could turn back time and stop any of this from happening.
"What if they already found out? Would you still leave?" He asked and I glanced up at him in horror.
"I'll leave. I won't be able to face anyone if they ever found out." I felt tears sting at my eyes. Of all the bad and stupid things I had done in my life, this was by far the worst.
"Tiara—"
"I can't stay. I really can't."
I noticed Derrek's eyes had been focused on something behind me and before I could turn around to see what or who he was staring at, he took my hand in his and pulled me along with him as he began to run.
"Why are we running?" I asked as Derrek pulled me into a corner. He peeked out from behind the wall he had put me up against and I felt my heart rate spike from how close to each other we were. He had a hand up on the wall boxing me in, so, I couldn't step away even if I wanted to.
I watched as his lips parted a little and his eyes returned to me, his head only a few inches from mine. He stared deep into my eyes for a few moments before stepping back suddenly.
"Um, your friends are here." He informed and my eyes widened in surprise. I looked out from behind the wall, trying to spot them. I should've have known that they weren't just going to let me leave. I was actually surprised it took them this long to come get me.
"Dammit!" I hissed as I spotted them up ahead, searching around for me. I drew my head back and took in a deep calming breath.
"Tiara, there's something I should have told you the moment I saw you."
"What?" I glanced at him, watching as he rubbed the nape of his neck and bit down on his lower lip. "What is it?" I repeated and he let out a puff of air before responding.
"They know everything." He informed. "Your friends and Benjamin, that is. Candice told them everything."