Found | Shuri (Searchin' Sequel)

| F O U R T E E N |

| Hazel |

I was frozen in one spot, trying to think of a good explanation as to why I was with someone I was told not to be with.

"Hi Shuri." Nadia's slurred words gave away the fact that we were drunk, though the sight of her definitely made me sober up quickly.

"Hazel, can I talk to you for a minute?" Shuri asked through her clenched teeth.

"I think I should walk Nadia home." I whispered, already knowing it wasn't going to be a good conversation.

"Trust me, she'll make it there safely." She mumbled before quickly saying something into her beads and walking inside.

"I think you're in trouble." Nadia whispered, making me giggle like a child.

I let go of her arm, saying our goodbyes before tiptoeing inside and to the the room.

She stood there in the corner of the room, her arms crossed over her chest, waiting for me to give her an explanation for what she had just seen.

This moment reminded of being a kid and getting in trouble by my mom, instantly making me feel anxious.

"I thought you weren't coming back until tomorrow." I managed to stutter out.

My nerves were getting the best of me and she could tell with my obvious shaking.

"I didn't want to leave you alone." She shrugged, "but obviously you weren't."

I nodded, allowing the loud silence to continue to fill the room.

"Would you like to tell me where you were going?" She asked, standing in the same spot.

She wouldn't move closer to me, and the look on her face was pretty much disgusted.

"Just out." I mumbled with a shrug like it wasn't that big of a deal.

We both knew it was.

"I've seen you go out many times. Not once, since you've been here, have I seen you go out looking like that or with her."

She couldn't even say her name.

"There's nothing that I would love more than for
you to be honest with me right now." She said, still waiting for an answer from me.

Lying would do nothing but dig me in a deeper hole. I knew what I was doing was wrong. That's why it was so hard to tell her the truth.

"We were going out.." I whispered, looking down at the ground.

"Going out?" She laughed like I had just told a joke or something.

"Is that funny?"

"It's funny that the one person that I asked you to stay away from just coincidentally became your best friend."

"Shuri-"

"I just have to know why, Hazel. Why would you make it a priority to become friends with someone that you know has hurt me?"

I stayed quiet as guilt began to wash over me. I had betrayed her trust. She didn't deserve that. I was trying to convince myself that this wasn't really my fault.

"Did you forget that won't tell me anything? I don't know what she did to you or why I can't be around her. You just barked an order at me and expected me to obey it."

She rolled her eyes at me, throwing her hands in the air.

"Oh please, spare me the whole innocent act. This isn't just on me. You knew."

Her words felt like darts, and I was the target. Each one hurt more than the last.

"I asked you to stay away from her." Her voice was calm, as her face fell into her hands. "That wasn't for me, it was for you."

"For me?" I laughed dryly, looking at her as if she were delusional. "No, you didn't want her to tell me all of the secrets that you won't. Like why you were with her the morning that Riri and Mallory got her or the reason that you two broke up was because you just stopped loving her."

My last statement made her laugh even harder.

"She told you that? and you believed her? Hazel, there are no secrets, I tried to tell you everything. You wanted to "focus on the future and not the past" You don't remember?"

She was right.. She did try to tell me, but I wanted to be done with it.. Somehow it still ended up biting me in the ass.

"I was with her that morning to explain to her that you are my girlfriend. That I didn't want her around you because I didn't want her to ruin you. I knew she would ruin us Hazel. I knew she would feed you bullshit and you would believe it. I've been trying my hardest not to let her mess up our relationship, but you fell into her game. You allowed her to manipulate you."

I was becoming overwhelmed with everything, and the more words that she said, the less I was able to process.

"Then why was she still referring to me as your friend?"

"To antagonize you. Because that's the type of person she is. She's manipulative and she can't stand the fact that there's someone else. I didn't just stop loving her. I loved her more than anything. She knew that and she used that to control me."

I felt even worse after hearing her say that..

"Maybe you should've explained this-"

"Everything doesn't require a damn explanation, Hazel!" Her voice had gone from calm to loud. "For once," She began pacing back and forth. "For once would you just trust someone and the way that they do things. Obviously, they do them for a reason."

We were back to square one and I was feeling the same anger that I felt when I found out about her and Riri.

"You don't always know what's best for me. You or anyone else. Only I do. I'm not some country that you run, you can't just dictate my life. I'm suppose to be your girlfriend. I deserve an explanation." My voice cracked, and tears began to pour.

"But I knew this time. You can't handle it. You overthink yourself into misery. You don't think we know that?"

"Maybe if I had clarification there would be no room for overthinking. Have you ever thought about that while you were deciding what was best for me?"

"You'll always make room for it." She let out a dry laugh. "Because that's what you do. You stand in the way of your own happiness. You find a way to dissect every little thing and make sure that it leads to you being unhappy. We're not your enemy Hazel. We're not the ones to blame. You are."

It felt like the breath had been knocked out of me from her words, only because I knew everything that she was saying was true.

It didn't matter if she had explained this to me earlier, I was still going to find a way to fuck it up.

She was doing her best to reassure me and protect me, but I couldn't just accept it.

Tears were still falling and my whole body was shaking.

She stood there, looking at the ground, hesitant to say whatever she had left to say.

I wish the words wouldn't have come out, but they did.

They broke me even more.

"Maybe you were right. Maybe us being in a relationship is too much for us."

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Y'all, I was actually really hesitant about posting this chapter butt here we are. So, hope y'all enjoyed it 💀