SINS (Completed)

STITCHES RIPPED OFF

Ugh, he is so maddening! We glare hard into each other, shouting, angry, hating, each other.

He thinks I'm still moping over him. After what he has done, he has the nerve, to think I'm still moping over him. I am heartbroken, and maybe I'll continue to be for a long time, but I'm not moping around him anymore.

His hair fringe falls on his forehead slowly, and his eyes gleam icily. He stalks forward, and I hold my stance, my chest heaving with breathlessness.

One step. Two. Three. He isn't stopping. He reaches me, close. Closer. His eyes burn holes into mine, and I take a step back.

"Shut up. You got the internship. Which means you applied. In the whole of Liverpool, you had to apply to that one company, and you want me to believe that it had goddamned nothing to do with me?"

He keeps striding forward and I keep going backward. I know this place isn't endless. I know the end will come. I just try to stall his closeness for a few more seconds.

"Its not my fault if you feel that my whole world revolves around you." I state as a matter-of-fact and my back hits the wall with my last word.

Back, into the corner.

"YOU CAN'T!" Hardin bangs on a table beside me and the blasting noise, makes me jump. The papers fall from my grasp, and he inches closer, his fragrance hitting me square in the head.

My breath hitches and I try to swallow inconspicuously. His eyes, are fuelled with a strange energy, and he doesn't even blink. There is a palpable tension in the small space between us, and I try to come up with an answer.

"You will not work there." His voice turns slightly softer, but holding the same conviction. Arrogant, controlling, bossy. I inhale deeply through the nose, and decide to put an end to this.

"Hardin-"

"You will not, work there, Theresa, do you hear me?"

I regain my voice, and ignoring the betraying ache in my stomach on hearing my name again, I remember everything he has done, and everything he doesn't get to do anymore.

This person, after his epic betrayal and glorious torture on me for a full year, is giving me an earful about a decision that I didn't make, and stopping me from doing something that I don't even want to.

Where does he get that confidence from?

"It's not your decision to make."

"No it's yours. And you're going to refuse the offer." He replies immediately and I turn my head sideways, not wanting to look at his penetrating eyes anymore.

He's impossible. Scott, or no Scott, he is impossible if he thinks I'll ever refuse a professional opportunity because of him. And I won't even try to explain this to him, given as always he will never let one foreign word enter his thick, overflooded-with-bullshit brain.

"Hardin, get away."

"Under no circumstances, are you to set foot in a mile around that building, I'm not fooling around."

The seriousness of his voice makes me snap. It reminds me of all the few times, Hardin talked to me; not shouted, not wounded, but talked. When once in a while I would feel genuinely cared for; and even that, wasn't genuine after all.

"I said, it's none of your concern. What I do, where I go, it's none of your concern, you made sure of that!"

My words echo in the small enclosing, and breaks painfully towards the end.

Love me, stay with me and that's your choosing enough.

Every time I'm with you, every pain hurts less. I'm happy. I don't want to lose this, Tessa. Please.

My eyes sting with unshed tears and I shake, trying to hold back everything.

I look at his face, breathing heavily, and as I stare into those whirlpool of eyes, I feel a stabbing pain. Seeing my loss, standing personified in front of me, has some strange inexplicable power to hurt all over again.

His face appears stunned for a miniscule moment, and I almost feel that's a Hardin that I knew, standing before me. My lip quivers, and I feel a sob choking my throat.

He steps closer, placing his hands on either side of me and I push myself deeper into the hard wall. I feel my tears dancing in my eyes dangerously as his presence shrouds me in, completely.

His face is barely two inches from mine, his breath falling on my face, his eyes carrying warmth, and his fragrance running through my system like a drug I've tried so hard to give up.

His gaze shifts slightly to my mouth pressed together in a thin line, and he licks his lips in a rush.

"You can't work there, Tessa." His voice comes out as a husky whisper, almost pleading, but I know better.

His eyes don't flicker from my lips, and neither does mine from his. I fist my palm forcefully.

"I will work there, Hardin." I croak out, trying to pour every ounce of strength into my voice, which still comes out hushed.

"You're not going to listen, are you."

"To you. Is that even a question?"

He closes his eyes briefly, pushing himself further into me, my abdomen pressed firmly against his toned torso and my mouth opens involuntarily to let out a gasp, that I manage to swallow down.

A shoot of electricity runs through me like cold water, igniting every single nerve into hyper attention.

"You can't, Tessa, I'm serious. You can't. You won't. Even if I have to kill you to stop you, I will not hesitate."

What the hell.

"Yo-"

He places his index finger lightly on my lips, and my eyes widen, as a simultaneous tear drops just on cue. He inhales deeply, his nose lightly touching my cheek, and I close my eyes tight.

Oh fuck. A whimper escapes and I silently crumble within myself.

It's fire. He's fire. All those attempts of holding my own, and putting on a strong front, and he, with one single touch burns down everything to the ground.

I take my time to remember, how he felt. How he is feeling right now. A bewitching inflaming scent, a soft yet firm finger, his unmoving touch on my unmoving lips, the bridge of his nose breathing on my cheek, and his warm body radiating heat into me.

"We're done here." He whispers, his warm breath falling heavily on my skin, and my eyes fly open at his statement.

He slowly, painfully, pulls back; and with a final stare, his eyes giving nothing away, he pushes himself off the wall, taking a few steps walking backwards.

I narrow my eyes in confusion, opening my mouth to speak, when he turns around and starts pacing away.

I realize he had the last word and left me hanging, just like that once again, invading my personal space. And as the cold air of emptiness hits me, I find myself missing his warmth, missing his touch, and I go mad angry, frustrated to the core, at my own self!

"Hardin. Hardin! I'm not done! Just- you can't do that! Are you listening! It's none of your damn business- I hate you I -"

He doesn't stop, or slow down. Just keeps walking, until he disappears from my sight.

My sobs break out in a frenzy, as everything comes wrecking down on me. His love, his friendship, his betrayal. I close my eyes, trying to erase out the images.

"I'm not moping over him- I'm not mo- I hate you, and it hurts-"

Author's rant:

Hardin didn't fight fair. But then, when does he ever.

"Pain demands to be felt." Good writers know what they're talking about.

Vote. Comment. Love.

Feel your pains, before fighting them.
Until later.
S.