Sequel to 'Choices'.
When he said, "It's no where near enough-" he really did mean it after all.
Hardin Scott has held a stunning record at breaking hearts, especially when he is served Theresa Young's.
Bleeding in love, Tessa has concluded that pe...
I turn around, my legs shaking and I make a rush for the door. I try, somehow try to shut out my senses, because every single one of them seethes and burns.
It's so brutally ruthless that I was trying to get a broken, old photograph of Hardin and mine repaired this very morning.
"Tessa-" I feel Hardin hold my elbows and turn me around to look at him.
His face is flushed, a concern, with an underlying panic and his eyes burn with a strange look of need.
"You don't- listen to me, alright just listen to me-"
"Save it, Hardin. Trev told me already that you've had a strenuous night, a rough morning, and now I can understand why. So just save your energy, God knows you need it to hurt me."
I croak out through the painful lump in my throat, and before even a single tear drops from my burning eyes, I thrust the apology paper into his hands and turn on my heels to leave.
All this time that I thought he's hurting, that he's crying out for help-
I know there might me some lame excuse that could save him, but I'm not in the state to hear it. I'm not in the state to listen to anything at all.
I don't care if this creates a misunderstanding because there's nothing left for misunderstandings to damage that hasn't already been damaged. But I can't wipe out Sienna and the entire scene from my eyes.
I just, can't look at him, not right now.
*
Trevor
I look at Hardin, fixed to the floor a few paces before the foyer. In a moment, Tessa is out of sight, and a screaming silence descends into the room, bathed in lingering misunderstandings.
"I should just-" Sienna steps to me, and I look at her sternly.
"Leave? Yes." I clip, and she scrambles out immediately, with an understanding nod.
I look back at a motionless Hardin, who is clutching the paper, looking down at it with a lost expression. His face is etched in a painful frown, and I know this pain is not just of today, this- is a long time coming.
I move to stand beside him, but he doesn't respond to my movement. He doesn't respond to anything.
"Did the hate get too much to bear yet?" I ask him softly, and he doesn't even flinch. Just his eyebrows furrow deeper, as if to hold back an outburst.
"I could have easily clarified everything Hardin that this, this is not your fucking-session mess, this is your I-have-to-hate-Tessa-but-I-can't anger session mess.
That nothing went down with Sienna and you didn't hurt her, again. But you, not me not anyone else, you owe her that explanation."
I say to him quietly, because even though I arrived some time back, I know nothing is on between Hardin and Sienna.
He is too lost in his own fight, and the one with Tessa to- indulge anywhere else. I'll have to ask him what she was doing here, sometime later.
The amount of pain on Hardin's face right now- this is the summit, this is his ultimate limit and I can see it. He almost shivers, like a child crying in sleep and I place my hand on his shoulder.
"You know for two weeks- in fact for two years now, I've seen you battling yourself. Maybe no one could see it, but I see that love, Hardin. That love in you, that's selfish and twisted and marred and scared, but love, nevertheless.
And I know you can see it too, you can feel it.
You think I don't understand why you've been so angry since the last two weeks, why you're not sleeping, why you're- avoiding her?
Because that day in her apartment, for once, the thought of actually losing her was worse than the impulse of hating her, wasn't it?
For once, you felt someone's life to matter enough to break your heart if it stopped to exist, and that- scared you. You knew that you loved her, and that scared you."
Hardin doesn't utter a word, doesn't make a single movement. Though I know he has heard everything, he just continues to stare at the paper, like it's a lost piece of his. Like it's an answer. Like it's a rescue. Like it's Tessa. Or maybe, they all meant the same thing to him.
"All this time, all this revenge, this anger, you said you hated her. But you know what I see today? I see a desire, a desire to mend. To clear your name in her heart, to explain yourself, to justify, to fix.
That day, you cracked, Hardin and today- today you break.
Because you can't get bear the burden of another betrayal on your conscience. You can't bear the thought of her hating you anymore.
You can't hate her anymore yourself, Hardin just fucking admit it, it's getting stifling now." I tell him through a pained, tired, helpless groan trying to make him see. Trying to make him hear-
Everything that he knows, but pushes it to the back of his mind, for some old misunderstood vendetta.
Today, when I see him, I have no doubt that he loves her. That he has always, loved her on a subconscious level, exactly like Tessa has.
And both of them have been fighting so hard to resist this irresistible impulse, this uncontrollable reflex of loving each other. This is their natural state of being, and they have been trying to run from it.
And today, Hardin has no answer. Today, he has no argument to make. Because today, Hardin's hate has lost. Disastrously.
I see water pooling in his eyes, dancing dangerously, and along the corner, a single tear falls. I press his shoulder lightly, and rub his back reassuringly.
"Get over the fear of love, Hardin. Get over it please. This fear is not worth that loss."
Author's rant:
What do you tell a doctor if you pass out due to second hand emotional stress? Give me ideas. Please.
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I know this chapter was short, but I didn't want to include more because it would ruin the essence of it.
But I also remember that missed DOUBLE UPDATE SATURDAY so there's * drumroll * another update!!!!!!! Go ahead, send me virtual flying kisses.
