Alone I Break | LingOrm FF

~ Part 9 ~

"P' Lingling, please. I need to know why you did it," Orm repeated when Lingling had yet to answer her question as to why she'd dumped her out of the blue three years ago.

Running a tense hand through her hair, Lingling sighed and sat down on one of the plastic chairs near the porch swing. There were a number of ways she could start this conversation, but none of them seemed right. So, she decided to begin by saying something she'd wanted to say ever since that night when she'd broken her heart.

"I'm sorry for what I did." And she really was sorry. The last thing she'd wanted to do was to hurt Orm, but that was exactly what she had done.

"That's good to know," Orm said sarcastically. "But it doesn't tell me why."

"I'm going to explain. I promise, Orm," she tried to appease her, shifting in her chair to face her fully. "Just let me get all this out."

Orm pursed her lips but relented. "Okay."

Taking a deep breath, Lingling prepared herself for the long overdue answer to Orm's question. She only hoped she didn't hate her even more afterwards.

"That night when... I didn't intend to break up with you," she began, trying her best to keep her eyes on hers. "I was just so confused about everything, and the words came out."

"That's comforting," Orm mumbled, shrinking back further on the swing.

"I didn't mean it like that," Lingling corrected. "I lo- cared a great deal about you. Whether you believe that or not, it's true. I was never happier than when I was with you. But it wasn't as simple as that."

"It should have been," she disagreed vehemently. "We were happy together. That's all that should have mattered."

Yes, Lingling supposed, that was all that should have mattered. Unfortunately, there had been other things that had invaded her consciousness.

"Orm," she said, hoping that that she didn't sound like she was mocking her. "You were just turning seventeen. I was twenty - two. And James-"

Lingling couldn't even finish the sentence before Orm was cutting her off.

"James? What did he say to you?!" she demanded, hurt that her brother may have had something to do with her and Lingling's breakup.

"It's not what you think," Lingling quickly amended. "He just...a month or two before your birthday, when he realized our dating wasn't some random thing, he just asked me to make sure I knew what I was doing." At her confused look, she added, "He wasn't against us being together. I don't want you to be upset thinking he was. He just wanted to make sure you didn't get hurt."

"Well, obviously that didn't work," Orm shot back.

The comment stung, more so because it was the truth. She tried to push it out of her mind. "Mikey said almost the same thing to me as James. They cared about you and didn't want you to get hurt. I understood why they were both concerned, and I had no intention of ever hurting you. But then..."

"Then, what?"

Lingling shifted in the uncomfortable chair, her hands twining in her lap. This was the part she was dreading. The part that no matter how she said it, it probably wouldn't come out as she wanted. But she needed to try. She owed that to her.

"You remember I had started my training for joining the Police Department a few weeks before your birthday?" Orm nodded, so she continued. "And you also know that Anuwat was friends with my uncle." Again, she nodded. "The day of your birthday, Boss came to see me after one of my classes."

Twisting her hands together, Lingling averted her gaze from Orm's narrowing eyes. She knew she was already putting together the pieces.

"He told me that he was aware of our relationship, that others were too, and that it was reflecting badly on me because you were under eighteen."