AN:
OK. I'm sorry that I just dropped a bomb there.
Again, please forgive me for the explicit language in this chapter.
Now let's continue the story...
***
I can't believe what I just heard. Jake... Jake is the father of the baby? It can't be...
"What the hell are you talking about, Vaughn?" Jake sounds as shocked as I am. However, I can't differentiate whether it's because he really doesn't know what Vaughn is talking about or because he doesn't expect to get caught. I don't know what I should believe anymore.
Vaughn scoffs. "Come on. Don't act like you don't fucking know anything about this," he bites out.
"No, what the fuck--"
Vaughn grabs a lamp standing on the cabinet and throws it harshly onto the ground, breaking it, the sound of the bulb shattered on the floor echoing in the room.
And that makes me almost scream. Quickly, I cover my mouth in my hand.
Vaughn looks murderous. His eyes are bloodshot red. He's shaking with rage, like his blood is boiled. "I didn't want to believe it either, but how dare you deny it. I saw it. I fucking saw it!" he roars.
Jake can only stare at him, openmouthed. He seems to lose the ability to speak.
"I thought I was losing my mind when I watched the video. But goddammit, it was fucking real. It's you. And her. Both of you." Vaughn's fists are shaking on his sides. He's mad. Extremely mad. "The more I looked at it, the more I fucking knew that my eyes weren't lying, and the sicker I became."
"You-- you watched a video?" Jake blurts out, disbelief in his voice. But somehow, it obviously sounds like he just got caught.
No... Jake. A tear falls from my eye. My heart breaks. I can't believe what he did to Vaughn.
"You fucking made her drunk," Vaughn hisses, and I can feel the pain he's holding inside his chest. "You trapped her."
"Look," Jake begins, but his voice is wavering. "I think you got it wrong--"
"Traitor!" Vaughn roars, and I jerk in shock. The more he's losing himself, the more my heart is getting shattered. "You couldn't just do that to the girl I fell in love with, and think that you can get away with it. You're a fucking traitor."
'The girl I fell in love with.'
My heart freezes in place as I hear him say about her. Then I remember his words to me.
'I love you, Mel.'
Fall in love. And love. They mean a different thing. He's in love with her. Not me.
He said that he loved me while we were about to have sex. And here he is, saying that he's in love with her, while she's not even here and while he's fighting with his best friend.
It's so different. We're so different. I feel my heart being crushed all over again.
And I can't even explain the expression on Jake's face. He looks like he's about to lose his mind as well.
"I don't know--" Jake stutters. "I don't know how you came up with such --" But then, he stops. And I want to scream inside.
Stop it, Jake. Just stop it.
I can't bear to witness this anymore.
"Is this... Is this why you hurt Melanie?" Jake asks, his voice laced with pain. And I swallow a big lump in my throat. "Did you do that for this? To destroy me?"
I brace myself to look at Vaughn, but now, he's expressionless, so different from a while ago when he looked beyond livid as he defended Camila.
Say something. Please. Say something, Vaughn.
Anything.
"Jesus Christ, Vaughn!" Jake hollers. "I get it if you want to destroy me. But Melanie... She's got nothing to do with this. Nothing. She doesn't know anything about this."
Vaughn remains unmoved. His eyes are empty. My heart beats rapidly, waiting for him.
Jake seems to realize the answer already, and scoff of disbelief leaves his mouth. "Tell me, Vaughn," he begins, his voice shaking. "All this time, did you really do that just for the sake of this fucking moment? Do you really not care about her, or have feelings for her... at all?"
I watch as Vaughn doesn't give any answer for a while. But then, he opens his mouth, and I don't breathe.
"It was just an act," he says, his voice still cold as ice.
And my heart stops beating.
"It's payback time," he deadpans.
The tears that I've been trying to hold now fall one by one, rolling down my cheeks. To hear those words is just so painful that I wish he could just kill me instead. My chest hurts, and when my hand reaches to touch it, my fingers find the pearl that's attached to the necklace around my neck. I grasp the pearl, holding it tightly in my hand, remembering his words the last time I saw him.
"I meant what I said when I gave you this. You are my present. You are my future. You are my strength, Mel. You've always been so."
Liar, I scream inside my heart.
You didn't mean those words. I'm just a tool for you, Vaughn.
I pull the necklace off my neck and throw it onto the ground. I can't hear anything around me anymore. I don't even want to know what's happening inside that room anymore. All I want to do is just to run away.
Feeling numb, I don't even realize that I'm sobbing hard as I reach the ground floor. Once I exit the building, I don't plan to walk back to my car -- which is parked at the backside of the building -- because I don't think that I'm in a proper state to drive now.
So I keep walking, until I exit the gate and continue my way along the pavement.
"It was just an act."
I hit my chest with my fist. Once.
"It's payback time."
I hit it again. Twice.
But why can't the pain go away? Why do those words keep ringing in my ear?
Why can't I just forget everything about him?
How can I be so stupid when it comes to you, Vaughn?
My vision is getting more blurry the more I walk further, and I'm starting to feel like I'm losing my balance. I don't even realize a car stopping beside me, until the person inside it calls me.
"Melanie!"
I turn my head toward the voice and see the familiar person behind the wheel, his head popping out of the window.
Derek?
He looks surprised as he finds me crying and walking alone on the pavement. "What happened? Are you okay?" he asks, sounding a bit panicked. "What are you doing here alone on the street at this hour?"
"I-- I just," I choke in tears. I don't know how to explain it to him.
But he's right. What am I doing?
"Get inside, Mel. I'll drive you," he says. "It's dangerous for you to wander around by yourself at night."
I take a deep breath, wondering whether I should accept his offer or not. But as much as I want to be alone, he's right. Despite how broken I am, I shouldn't be just walking around and not knowing where to go.
And after I give him a slight nod, he opens his car door for me to get in.