Her Verdict (Part 2)

A Story by x0void

What if you were just "the other girl" in his story? and to leave means to make him happy? Would you fight destiny? or would you just let him be free?

“So, there’s a party tomorrow at Daniel’s. It’s her sister’s birthday, you know, Kathleen, from the freshmen” Cole called me just when I was about to lose to my sleepiness.

“Oh,” was all I managed to say. I’m still trying to retrieve my full consciousness.

“So I’ll pick you up at seven?”

“Oh, no. I actually can’t. Grandma’s coming home tomorrow. I promised mom I’ll cook and then attend dinner.” I sat up.

“Oh. Then I won’t attend the party too,” he said.

“No.” I opposed. “Go. Daniel’s gonna be disappointed if you don’t go.”

He hesitated.”You’re right. I should go. And maybe I can just go there with Kyla,” I felt a stinging pain in my chest, “We have errands for Mr. Harisson tomorrow afternoon. We can just go to Daniel’s together.”

“You have errands tomorrow? You didn’t tell me that.” He tells me everything.

“Oh, I guess it slipped out of my mind.”

“So, you’re going with Kyla?” I asked. Maybe I heard wrong.

“If you don’t mind. You don’t, right?”

“Sure.” I mumbled. “Uhm, I better sleep now. Goodnight.” I stalled. “I love you.”

“Love you too,”

I hung up.

I am not hurt. I am not jealous. I kept on repeating this to myself. I stood up and went by the window seat. I sat down and stared outside the window. The trees looked ghastly under the silver moonlight while they swayed through the motion of the cool wind. I could hear the crickets cry all around me. I tried to focus on the strange collision of the forces of nature in front of me and ignore the pain I’m feeling in my chest. I hated to admit that it was pain I’m feeling, but it was futile trying to fool myself.

I don’t want to be this kind of girlfriend. And I hated myself for feeling this way, because I knew that feeling this way would mean I’m losing trust in him. And our relationship, which bloomed for four years, was all about faith and trust. That’s what made us strong and lasting.

As I continue to stare at the dark clouds passing by the moon, giving the clouds a shadowy glow, I looked back at the time Cole and I made our promise. It was a dark night, just like tonight, although it was raining that night. It was the night of the day when I heard about Janna being Cole’s ex-girlfriend and how they were seen in the park together that weekend. Janna was my seatmate by that time, but Cole never told me about her. During that time, our relationship was just starting out, six months after I said yes to him. When I arrived from Lauren’s house, I saw him standing in our porch, drenched. He seemed to be waiting for me. I would’ve had ran over there and wrapped my arms around him, if only a throbbing pain in my chest hadn’t stopped me. For the first time in my relationship with Cole, it pained me to see him. I wanted to run away. I wanted to hide from him forever. I didn’t want to see him. But instead, I just stood there, holding an umbrella, looking all idiotic when I saw his face. That was the first time that I saw Cole with that expression on his face. He looked pale and his eyes looked strain. His whole body tensed when he turned around and saw me. He didn’t hesitate any second, he ran towards me and stopped when he was only a foot away from me and all I could do was stare at him. A cool gust of wind blew towards me but all I could focus on was the beads of raindrops falling across Cole’s face. Up close, I could see his face more clearly. He looked frantic, like he hadn’t slept for the last couple of days. His lips were turning blue because of the cold and he was already shivering. He was only wearing a pale blue T-shirt and pants.

“Xyriel, I-I didn’t cheat on you,” he managed to say, stuttering because of the cold. “I-It’s true that Janna was my ex-girlfriend, but I-I didn’t tell you because I a-assumed that it di-didn’t matter to you, and besides, things would’ve go-gone awkward between yo-you two, and you’re seatmates,” he rubbed his palms for heat. “And du-during that weekend, I-I just accidentally bumped into-to her that day, we-we just talked a little bi-bit because I overheard that he-her grandma just died, and I knew her, she was crying, so-so I hugged her to comfort her. Nothing more happened between us.” he trailed off, waiting for my response. But when he sensed that there wasn’t gonna be any, he continued, “I didn’t mean for you to get hurt Xyriel. I never want you to get hurt. And believe me, I want to punch myself right now for hurting you. Please give me another chance, Xyriel. I promise you, I would never hurt you again,” he tried to search my face for any reaction. But I still couldn’t find my voice.

“Please,” he said once again. There was a hint of desperation in his voice. I’ve never seen him so weak and vulnerable before.

“I’m angry at myself too, you know?” I snapped. “I don’t want to believe what other people are saying, but"I don’t know" I want to believe you, promise"It’s just that"“ I stumbled over my words, tears started welling up behind my eyes. I expected him to get angry at me once I admitted that I easily lost trust in him. I waited for him to flood me back with everything that I made him feel. But he didn’t. He just stood there looking at me intently. I wanted to cover my face and hide. I felt ashamed of myself for feeling that way and for still feeling it right now.

“I’m sorry"I’m really sorry,” tears fell on my cheeks. I was covering my face with my one free hand crying when he took a step towards me. Then carefully, as if I was something fragile, he wrapped his arms around me and buried his face in my shoulder. The umbrella I was holding fell and tumbled in the ground.

Raindrops fell from above. I was surprised with what he did. I wanted to hug him back, to make him feel that he wasn’t alone. But all I did was continue crying my eyes out. And all he did was wrap his strong arms around me. It made me feel safe; those arms that welcomed me for the past six months, those arms that promised never to hurt me, those arms that accepted me despite my imperfections. We just stood there, alone in the rain. I didn’t know how long. All I knew was despite the cold rain and wind, he made me feel warm inside.

“We both made mistakes,” he finally said, breaking the silence between us. “I should’ve told you about Janna. You’re my girlfriend. You had the right to know that. And honestly, I decided to keep that from you also because I didn’t want complications,” he breathed out, “I love you, Xyriel. Nothing will ever change that, not even destiny.”

I finally hugged him back.

“I love you too,” was all I was able to say.

He drew away, “What about we make a promise to each other,” the light was back in his eyes, which made me smile, "I promise to trust you, to listen to you first before others, whenever something like this comes up in the future, promise?” he held out his pinky finger.

I crossed mine with his, “I promise.”

After dinner, I climbed up to my bedroom. Mom said she’s doing the dishes, since I was the one who cooked the meal. Grandma led herself to our living room to watch Hell’s Kitchen.

”So? How’s the party?” I asked Lauren, as soon as I closed the door and dialed her number.

”You mean, how’s-the-party as in have-you-seen-my-boyfriend-is-he-together-with-that-newbie-cause-if-he-is-I’ll-need-you-to-put-poison-in-her-cocktail?” Lauren laughed. I could hear the loud boom of party music around her.

“No. I meant how’s-the-party as in are-you-having-fun?” I said trying to convince myself more than Lauren.

“Of course I am. I love every party which offers free food and drinks,” she giggled. “Look Xy, as much as I want to keep talking to you to make you jealous for not being here, I really need to go, I just saw him! You know, that cute guy we saw at the homecoming party.”

“You mean the one you were stalking?”

“I wasn’t stalking him,” she whispered. “I just wanted to get to know him better; we once talked at the party you know? We’re practically friends.”

“Yeah, by liking and commenting in every status he posts on facebook and then retweeting every tweet he has on Twitter even if it’s, “Taking a cool shower, refreshing.” And come on Lauren, he just asked you where the bathroom is when you “talked” at the Homecoming Party,” I said.

“Well, thank you for cheering me on Ms. Optimistic,” she murmured. “You definitely helped me, A LOT,” her voice rose at the last two words.

“Woah, fine. Too sensitive, geesh,”

She sighed. “Really, I need to get going, I’ll call you later? maybe by twelve? ”

“Sure.” I answered. She hung up.

I couldn’t sleep that night. I tried reading “Les Miserables”, writing a feature article, watching “Titanic” but at the end I found myself tossing and turning in bed with my pajamas and a T-shirt on. I kept on thinking.

Okay, Xyriel. You are jealous, just admit it. Admit it, then move on. What you’re feeling is normal, but remember to trust him, okay?

But every time I imagine Cole together with Kyla, the throbbing pain in my chest keeps on coming back. D****t Xyriel! Get over it!

Just then, my phone rang. I looked at the wall clock just above my study table. It’s still quarter to eleven. It can’t be Lauren, unless something happened. I grabbed my phone under my pillow and looked at the caller ID. It was Daniel.

“Hey,” he said. His voice seemed tensed.

“Oh, hey Daniel. I’m sorry I couldn’t attend your party, my grandma came home tonight,” I said, even though I knew that that wasn’t the reason why he called.

“Oh, yeah. I understand, I actually called you to tell you something,” he said, his voice sounding a little frantic.

“What is it?”

He stayed silent for a few seconds.

“Daniel, are you still there? Is everything all right?” I said, alarmed by Daniel’s silence.

“Yeah,” he muttered, “I feel like I’m betraying him once I tell you this, but you’re my friend Xyriel and you’re a great girl, you deserve to be treated better.”

“What are you talking about Daniel?” I sat up and felt myself tense.

A few seconds of silence. “I saw him,” he whispered as if he wasn’t sure of what he’s doing.

“Who?” my voice rose in anticipation.

“Cole,” he breathed in deeply, “I saw Cole on the rooftop"“ he stalled again, “I saw him and Kyla"kissing.”

From that moment on, all I could hear was my own heart breaking, shattering into millions of pieces that nobody can ever put it back together.

© 2011 x0void

Author's Note

Last part Coming up! Continue supporting the story :)

*Oops. I guess there is still a part 4 :D.. I'm not really good in estimating things. Sorry bout that.. I'm gonna release part 3 really-really soon.. very sorry for the delay.