Mosaicked Feelings

XLIV: Forever

Masked screams of resistance in the darkness filled the dim silence in the room, followed by the shuddering sound of being hit.

An eerie scene displayed, what looked like an unmoving body of his, that seemingly moved from several attempts of being stabbed brutally.

The silence was interrupted by him shouting threats for exposing private and explicit videos of his girlfriend.

Another video of breaking into a house, in an attempt to film, followed by pleads of let go's and forgiveness.

Every single video and clip, portrayed the same theme, the same thing, and the same person.

My ex, Hayden.

And his girlfriend Iris.

My face contorted into a frozen stun and my body was paralysed in my position, with Edward's phone still in my trembling hands. Somehow, I couldn't manage to bring myself to look at him now, unable to digest the one after the other, revelations. I felt him shift uncomfortably in the bed, probably unable to decipher my expression. Nevertheless, my voice remained stuck in my throat, and the silence grew several decibels with the passing minutes.

But Edward decided to break it. "It was all for you Michelle, and there was no other intention or purpose behind it. I know I did it for the best,"

Those words somehow helped me to peel my eyes away from the screen and towards him, and the glimmer in his eyes caught me off, guard.

"I-" I choked, not knowing what to say. I averted my gaze back to the phone again in extreme nervousness, backing away from the opened album. My shaky finger hovered over another album that was named after me with a heart emoji. "C-Can I... See this?"

I looked at him wide-eyed, and he nodded, the ghost smile on his face not leaving. He scooted dangerously close to me, and typed in the passcode, with his phone still in my hands.

The album unlocked and it was the polar opposite of what I had seen earlier. Pictures ranging from my young age to the present, all were revealed by a single tap on the folder. Pictures, I didn't even remember I had taken, some of my old recorded videos, all of them were there. Some of them were screenshots of my conversations with friends, my university classmates, my college mates, acquaintances, my dad, everyone.

"How..."

"I know all of that is too much to take in, but I had access to your phone so... Yeah. But do you realise now how much I love you, and how much you matter to me?" His voice broke in again, silencing my pacing thoughts.

My eyes snapped towards him again, and my lips curled into a small smile. I didn't know what I was supposed to do, what to think, or what to feel, so I let Edward's words take charge of that.

"I... Yeah, I do believe you," I stammered, feeling uncertain and scared, my tone not matching my words.

And then, we spent the night together, with Edward feeling happy and assured that I didn't leave and me feeling apprehensive, masquerading it with reassuring smiles.

By early morning, I crept out of bed, wriggling out of Edward's grip, just wanting to see Mum. I sprinted out of the room, and in the living room to find her busy in the kitchen with something. I took a seat on the couch, greeting her good morning and she smiled brightly at me.

"Good morning Shelly," She chirped in her usual cheery way, looking completely unaware of mine and Edward's argumentative discussions from last night. "Do you want pancakes or bacon?"

"I'm not hungry right now," I groaned a little, as I sipped some cold water from the water bottle on the table.

"What's up with you again?" She asked, slightly suspecting something.