Hal's POV
Have you ever had this vibe that something bad was going to happen? Like when your heart starts to beat faster than it normally does, you feel a stirring in your stomach, and you get this premonition of something bad happening? Well, this vibe I was feeling slowly woke me up, and once I opened my eyes, Alana was no longer beside me. Now this had me fully awake.
I frantically looked around the room, seeing nothing has changed but our scattered clothes on the floor. What I did notice though, was my shirt drawer open and the bathroom door open. A semi-dried up towel was neatly hung over my desk chair near the bed with the fresh smell of strawberries and passion fruit.
Alana's smell.
Suddenly, I started to panic. Why? It's obvious enough, she's going to find out. I should have made a better decision to get my butt off this bed and look for her, but I remained seated on the bed, panicking like a child who got caught sneaking food in the middle of the night. I should've known better that this curious kitty would venture off. Just seeing her curiously trying to open the door to my childhood room this afternoon should have rung some bells, but then again...
I was more focused on what we were going to do a few hours ago.
Sighing, I eventually got up and threw on a pair of boxers, not bothering to find a shirt.
Walking out of my room, my heart started to pump harder as I caught Alana entering my room. She quietly shut the door and that's when I proceeded to the room that lead to my oblivion. I placed my ear against the door, listening closely. Alana's soft feet padded against the wooden floor, her footsteps becoming slower and slower until they came to a stop. I breathed in nervously, questions running through my head like:
Would she be mad?
Will she hate me?
Or most importantly,
Will she lose feelings for me?
That question scared me the most. I knew that I should have told her I was Haley. What was the big deal? The big deal was that I was scared that Alana wouldn't love me. I was scared that after I kissed her, she probably thought of me as some disgusting player. I was scared that if I was the fool I was years ago, she wouldn't have shown this much affection to me now. I was a mess, I fell for girls easily, a player, but once I saw Alana in that late afternoon school parking lot, I couldn't take my eyes off her. She was fairly young back then, not really stunningly beautiful but pretty. She looked plain and simple, but that's what I liked about her.
Alana was unexplainable. Her beauty was natural, and it gave off this good vibe where you'd want to spend every second of your day with her. I knew that she was bullied back then, I knew a lot of things about her. I knew her father, who was very fond of me. He knew my father, my REAL father. They were close until he passed away from a heart disease before graduation. I was left with a depressed mother, a young Athos who sobbed for days, and myself. I decided not to go to graduation because my father had always been there for me instead of my gold digging mother who rarely supported me. Going there alone would just make me feel even lonelier.
The name Haley was a thing of the past once my father was buried in Memorial Cemetery. My name was also buried with him. No one ever dared to call me Haley after that. I lost contact with everyone I knew except for Antoinette of course. She helped me through a lot of things. She helped me change in to the person I was now.
After I took my graduation certificate in the mail, 2 years later my mom remarried and that's how I met Sophia and Blake. My step father was just a man I knew had authority over me, but he supported me in football and college, treated me like his own kid, and made me CEO of Brougham Corporations because he felt that I needed to lead. He saw me as a leader and that made me respect the man even more.
Alana's father also became fond with my step father. That's when I decided I wanted to start over with Alana as a new and polished person. Marriage would let me keep Alana forever since I missed her after those years I chose to forget my past. I loathed her and now I have her.
But now, I'm not even sure if Alana will be mine anymore. I'm scared.
"Haley..." I heard her soft voice gasp through the door, sending shivers down my spine. "Oh my god."
I shut my eyes tightly, taking a deep breath before I turned the knob, opening the door fully. I watched as Alana held my MVP junior varsity football trophy in her small hands. She jumped a little as I cleared my throat, her body swiveling in my direction. We stayed staring at each other quietly for a while, our breathing the only sound. None of us wanted to take a step on the thin ice we were standing on. It didn't matter who took the first step because the ice was still going to break. We were stuck.
"Why?" she finally spoke after what seemed like hours of staring at each other. Her bottom lip trembled as she pointed to my fully carved name in the base of the trophy. "Why didn't you tell me?!"
Her voice broke and she looked away, closing her eyes as tears escaped her eyes. I felt my heart crack at the sight. I made her cry. I made her fucking cry. The worst part is...
I didn't even know what to say or do.
I just stood there, staring at my heartbroken baby sobbing quietly to herself as she held the trophy close to her chest. Her shoulders shook as she tried to control the endless tears but it was pointless.
"I didn't tell you because I was afraid." I answered quietly, hesitating whether I should hug her or just stand here and give her some space. "Look, I was going to tell you--"
"But you never did." she interrupted, placing the trophy back with a scowling feature on her face.
I guiltily nodded, "I'm sorry."
"Sorry?" she asked angrily, walking towards me in a deathly slow pace, a very angry expression masking her scowling feature a moment ago, "Hal-- or should I say Haley?" she spat with attitude, stopping just a few centimeters away from me. "Is that all you can say?"
I gulped nervously, scratching the back of my neck as I tried to avoid her piercing glare.
"What do you want me to say?" I asked, looking down at the small girl with an equal glare. I didn't like being scolded at all. Maybe it wasn't a good time at the moment to be giving Alana attitude but I just didn't like being scolded. I knew I was going to get hell from her.
Alana huffed, her eyes becoming a shade darker as her fists tightened, "All these years, you've been Haley."
"No shit, Sherlocks." I accidentally mocked, feeling regret washing over me.
Fuck, I'm in a load of shit right now.
I was shocked when Alana shoved me on the chest, more tears brimming in her eyes as she tried her hardest to maintain her angry composure, "You're a fucking asshole you know that? Is this some kind of sick joke? To play around with my feelings?" her voice cracked but she refused to give up and cry.
She started to wipe her eyes with the back of her hand, sniffling like a little girl, "I hate you so much!" she yelled, tears streaming down her cheeks like waterfalls, "I had feelings for you back then. I still do but you should have told me." she mumbled between sobs, covering her face with her hands.
I reached out and touched her wrist but she immediately slapped my hand away, giving me a glare.
Wow, great job Haley you fucking did it.
I had so many words I wanted to tell her, but they were all stuck in my throat. Even as I opened my mouth, no words came out. I just stood there quietly, observing Alana sobbing.
"Was this entertainment for you?" she asked, staring at her toes as the last of her tears dripped on to the wooden tiles.
"No, I mean yes it was entertaining... No I mean..." I let out a sigh, pinching the bridge of my nose, "It was a thrill starting fresh as a new person... one that didn't fuck up in highschool."
She sighed, shaking her head, "I'm leaving." she announced quietly, walking past me without even the tiniest glance at me.
I then became enraged.
"I changed for you!" I yelled, grabbing her wrist.
Alana flinched but I paid no mind to it as my fuming anger blazed like a volcano, "I love you Alana, you mean the world to me and you know that I would never do anything to hurt you!"
Then suddenly, Alana's free hand collided with the side of my cheek.
"Why don't you just stop being selfish Haley!" she screamed at the top of her lungs, "For 10 fucking years I've been moping around, thinking about you! You know what the worst feeling was besides being lonely and bullied? It was being fucking lead on by someone I was overly in love with!"
Wait... she was in love with me?
"I was hurt really bad Haley." she mumbled before pulling her wrist from my grasp. "I think it would be best if we didn't see each other for... forever." she said coldly, her expression shortly turning blank as she walked away.
I started to panic again as I watched her walk down the fleet of stairs, giving me one more disappointing cold glance my way before she disappeared.
I wasn't going to give up though.
"Alana!" I called out, following her footsteps. "Wait!"
As I made it down the steps, she was already making her way out of the house with my Maserati keys in her hand. I caught up to her, holding the door open with one hand and hooking my arm around her waist. She gave me an annoyed look.
"I'll call the cops for sexual assault." she looked down at my arm around her waist then back to me, the cold look in her eyes sending goosebumps forming around my body.
"Are you sure about this? You're getting married with me in 2 months and it's for the sake of your parents." I mumbled, searching for a hint of emotion in her eyes.
They remained blank still.
"Haley." she said my name with a vicious chill, "I don't give a rats ass about merging companies with you." she managed to take my arm off, "I don't need anyone to help my parents company because we'll do it on our own. Even though it'll take a while I'd rather work hard by myself instead of marrying a man that lead me on."
Alana, turned around and made her way to my car. Shivering as the breeze swept against her beautiful bare legs, she entered my car, ignoring me as if I weren't here and started the engine. The car roared to life and she drove off quickly, moving to the city streets and disappearing after a turn.
I stood there in between the door, staring at nothing but the sand and waves. The moon was slowly being covered by the clouds as I pondered, feeling a huge weight slam against me. Everything felt empty and lonely. The quietness made me feel uncomfortable.
But the thought that Alana was gone from my life forever, was the worst feeling. I felt like I lost a part of me, lost someone who I childishly thought didn't love me. I was afraid of nothing but myself. I was an obstacle to myself and the barriers were my selfish emotions. None of that mattered anymore. Alana slipped away from my arms...
And she was no longer mine.
A/N*
*sniffles* Happy 4th of July everyone :'( I was having the feels for this chapter. Oh! And I'm sad to say that TFM is almost going to end :O Maybe like 2-3 more chapters? Idk, but I know for sure Alana and Haley's journey is coming to an end soon. Anyways, what do you think about this chapter? Comment, vote, and share so I'll feel very VERY motivated to add another chappie ;) This took me a while but THANKS FOR ALL YOUR SUPPORT LOVELIES <3