The Experiment © [Completed]

Chapter 20 - Mad

"What happened to your proposal?" Dei asked, almost like a whisper.

"She declined it. Said she wasn't ready. Less than a month later I found out that she was actually seeing another guy. Three years and she threw it away for another bloke who couldn't even satisfy her." he chuckled bitterly.

"You still love her," she said.

"I don't, Dei. Damn, why would you think that?" he said, turning his face at her.

"Then why are you so mad?"

"Because she makes me mad, Dei! I may have lost the love I had for her, but the feeling of hatred that replaced it is just too hard to get rid of, especially after all the pain she put me through," he said, trying to contain his anger. "And you make me mad, Dei. So mad for pushing this unnecessarily."

"Well you can't blame me for feeling like I'm just a rebound," she muttered.

"Seriously, Dei?" RJ sat up and looked at her. "Three years passed since we broke up. In those three years, I slept around with different women with no plans of getting into any kind of relationship. You don't know how scared I was of commitment and of opening up myself to pain again after what happened with Christine. Then you came along and I allowed myself to bring down my walls, to forget that I was so scared of getting hurt just so I can make you feel how much I care about you. And now you're telling me you feel like you're just a rebound?" he asked angrily.

Dei didn't respond and just looked down, staring at her hands as her eyes began to brim with tears.

"I can't do this, Dei." RJ said, grabbing a pillow and walking out the door.

+++++

"Good mor...ning Dei," Beth's excitement faltered when she saw the shattered look on Dei's face as she walked in.

Dei looked like she had been crying all night. She had already showered and changed into fresh clothes but that still didn't improve her mood.

RJ walked in but ignored them both. He just grabbed a piece of bread from the table and walked out of the kitchen right away.

"Dei, is this still about Christine?" Beth asked, sitting beside her.

Dei nodded, taking a sip of coffee. "He told me everything."

"Then why does it seem worse?"

"Because I'm so stupid," Dei said. "I told him I feel like I'm just a rebound."

"Oh, Dei..." Beth said rubbing her back. "I've never seen RJ so happy like he is when he's with you. I genuinely feel like he cares about you too much. I don't wanna get on ahead of him and say this, but I think he already loves you. It's my fault for bringing up Christine's name, but it had nothing to do about what he feels about her."

"He must hate me now."

+++++

Dei went upstairs back to RJ's room to get her things ready, and found him standing by his window, quietly looking out at the street below.

She slowly walked towards him and touched his back. "RJ..."

"Dei." he responded, not looking at her.

"I'm sorry..." she said, choking up a sob as she wrapped her arms around his waist.

She felt him take a deep breath before turning around to face her. He looked once at her tear-stained face before pulling her in for a tight hug.

"Promise me you won't think about Christine anymore, Dei. She's history and she's a thousand miles away for any of us to be bothered by her. It's just you and me, Dei," he whispered against her head.

"I promise," Dei said hugging him tight.