Thousand miles apart

His Past - 2

Zach's POV :

~ Recap

She let out a sigh "Zach, I asked you to let out so I could ease your pain. Not increase them" She said as she brought her hand close to my face and placed it on my cheek, slowly caressing them as we glanced at each other. I found myself staring deep into her chocolate brown eyes trying to calm myself and it worked. I felt as if all my worries fade away and I let them out. All my emotions, the pain I faced, my past...I let them out in one go.

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~ Present

I sucked in my breath as I glanced to the space and began, "Exact 5 years back, it was my 2nd year of college and since I constantly sucked at math, I couldn't carry on in my previous college but fortunately, I was good in football which brought me to Austen University, California which is one of the top 10 colleges in the US. Since I was a transfer student, I didn't know most of the things a student in that college should so my Principal asked a girl who was passing by the corridors to assist me.
Her name was Rebecca and of course, she looked beautiful. She looked at my timetable and found out that she had the same class as mine. As we were walking to the class, I saw a girl getting bullied nearby and as usual, the crowd who were watching it didn't help. While I was about to take the action, all of a sudden Rebecca entered the scene and stopped it. Since everything was clear, I walked into the class with her and then sir entered the class. As the class got over, I was about to get up when Rebecca took the initiative to talk to me and since she stood up for the bullies, I thought there's no harm in making friends, right? So I spoke to her and strangely, I found her quite interesting. Days went by and I joined the football team and that's where I met Brad, my connection with the girl increased in time and I felt a liking towards her." I paused and my eyes flickered towards Ana as she stared at me intensely.

I continued, remembering the past " When I informed Brad about her, he warned me about her saying she's a bully, a whore and that angered me to the core because she stood up for the bullies, she has never been with guys when I was around and how dare he call her that? But, my connection with Brad didn't decrease a bit since he apologized later on but asked me to be careful and I was happy about that. I then took my courage to ask her out and surprisingly she felt the same about me too. We dated and I asked her to be my girlfriend too and Brad wasn't happy about that but I shrugged it off thinking he's just protective of his friends. A year passed and one day our team won a match and one of them from our team initiated to throw a party to which he invited the entire college. Since Rebecca wanted to attend it, I took her with me and we took a lot of shots w-which led t-to..." Not able to face Ana, I closed my eyes in regret. I felt her hand slowly caressing my back.

"Zach, please don't force yourself." She whispered, softly but I shook my head, wanting to tell her everything. Not just to let her know but I want to let it out too.

"Well... you know what happened then. But she said she didn't regret it and I too let it go as it was fine since we were dating. Months passed by and I felt her acting weirdly which sometimes had me wondering if she was the same girl I lo- liked, sometimes she took leave from college and she wouldn't pick up my calls, or sometimes if I ask her if she was fine, she'd snap at me saying I'm annoying. Until that one day..." I paused, feeling the tears forming in my eyes. "That one day which changed everything, Ana, everything and I became a loser, a fool" I mumbled as I looked right into her eyes, trying to not break down. She was about to say something but stopped herself as she let me continue which I'm glad she did.

"One day, Brad called me to inform me that he noticed Rebecca getting into the nearby hospital causing me to panic as the thousands of questions swirled in my mind but most of all, 'is she fine? What if something happened to her?' I wondered as I drove all the way to the hospital. I asked the receptionist for Rebecca, just in case but surprisingly it was her who took an appointment. The receptionist asked me about my relationship with Rebecca to which I stated that I'm her boyfriend, she then informed me the room number with the name of the doctor. I went in search of the room number and strangely on this floor, I heard kids' cries which had me confused 'why would Rebecca be here?' I wondered as I continued to search until I noticed the familiar name of the doctor she took an appointment with. I was about to enter when I heard a familiar voice and the words that were uttered had me feel numb" my voice broke as I looked at the night sky.

"You know what Rebecca said?" I questioned her as I glanced at her with my eyes red. She shook her head and a dry laugh escaped my lips as I uttered the most painful words, remembering the moment.

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~ flashback

(At the hospital)

Just as I was about to open the door, I heard an unfamiliar voice that confused me.

"How do you feel after an abortion?" The voice asked, most probably the doctor. 'Huh?' I wondered as I remembered her question. 'I guess I'm in the wrong room' I thought and I was about to turn back when a voice stopped me in my tracks.

"It's hurting a lot. How long will it continue to hurt?"  I heard a familiar voice which calmed me but what I heard next, had my entire world collapse in one move.

"It's normal to hurt after the abortion but I'll give you some pills which could help you," The doctor said. 

"Abortion?" I painfully uttered the word. "t-this must be a joke. Yeah, this is it" I mumbled, not able to believe what I heard. I didn't know how long I was standing there until I heard the door open and I glanced towards the door to see Rebecca walking out. When she raised her head to find me standing, the panic was clearly visible on her face. 

"Why were you in there, Becca?" I asked, still not able to digest the fact as my red eyes stared at her intensely.

"How do you know I'm here, Zach?" She dodged my question as she tried to mask her shock which angered me to the peak causing me to walk close to her.

"Tell me that the thing about abortion is a joke, Becca" I tried to fight the tears forming in my eyes as I looked into her eyes which used to look at me with love is now looking at me with relief and for the first time, seeing her sigh in relief gave me anxiety. I waited for her to laugh off, telling me that it was a prank but I never found what I was expecting.

"Oh, you know. It's not a joke, Zach. I did abort" she said casually as though she was talking about the weather and I refused to let the tears flow down my cheeks as I tried to digest the fact. 

"Why?! Did you ever tell me about this?" I hissed through my teeth.

"What do you mean, Zach? First of all, I never wanted to be pregnant at such a young age and I can't let my dreams of being a model go in vain for that thing in my stomach" She rolled her eyes at me and I've no idea how I could control my anger anymore.

"That's not a thing for god's sake! It's our baby! How dare you make a decision without me?!" I yelled at her not caring about the nurses trying to warn me about the noise we were creating.

"Why would I? It's my wish if I want to get pregnant or not. Never in a million years would I be sitting in the corner, trying to take care of that damn baby. My main priority is being a model. I can't let myself shape off" She scoffed as she passed by me and I kept wondering if she was the same girl who grabbed my attention. That's when I knew I had to listen to Brad. I had to know everything, from the start.

"How long?" I asked as I stared into space and I felt her stop in her tracks.

"3 months 2 weeks," She said before walking out and I tried hard not to break down. 3 fucking months! and she would've never told me about this. The baggy clothes she wore didn't have me doubting since she used to wear high heels. Who TF wears heels when she's pregnant?!

I ran to my car and drove to Brad's place. I knocked on the door and as he opened it, I entered his room and finally broke down in front of him as I remembered every moment with her, then the baby- my baby! Was she a girl or boy? I couldn't even hold her/him.

~ flashback ends.

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As I told her the entire incident, I found myself being engulfed by a comfortable hug and not able to control myself, I finally broke down as I felt her caressing my back.

"And that's not just it... I found out that it was all her plan from the start. When she found out about me being a transfer student, she asked her friends to bully a girl so that she could pretend to save the girl and try to get me. She tried to be with me so that she gets popular and finds a chance to get into modeling through my influence." I choked. "Brad had warned me but I never listened. It's my brother who banned her from getting any jobs in modeling, got the money back from her but no one could get my baby back. My baby had nothing to do with this, s/he was innocent, and yet s/he had to suffer..." I cried and cried as she caressed my back until I was slowly and completely consumed by the darkness.