The Badboy's Broken Promises *On Hold*

Chapter 05

Worth It

"How did you find out?" Charlotte asked quietly.

"My mum."

Charlotte took a deep breath, her eyes held a faint glint of shame as she focused on the people who were seated outside the shop.

An elderly couple was sat on the bench huddled up in brown winter coats and matching his and her scarves. The old man was eating a donut, while his arm was around the lady's shoulders who was drinking out of a coffee mug.

"My parents will never be like that." Charlotte sighed without taking her eyes of the couple.

Katia and I gave each other an 'I-don't-know-what-to-say' look. What do you say to someone in a situation like this? What do you say outside of 'I'm sorry' so that you don't sound like one of societies robots? How can you speak without sounding like you're pitying them? God knows that's the last thing she wants to hear.

She doesn't need advice or someone to tell her not to be so upset or that we're sorry for her. All Charlotte needed was comfort and someone to listen to her. A shoulder to cry on. Reassurance that no matter what happens, it won't change the way we see her.

"Can you believe I didn't know, for fifteen years it's been going on." She scoffed, "From when I was two until she left last week, and I didn't notice anything. But I should've, I should've picked up on the little things. Like how they'll get quiet every time I walked in the room, or when mom would leave early and come home late.

"Or the fact that she wore longed sleeved clothes and always covered her body, even during the summer and sometimes she'd be in pain, but she told me it was her old age. What a load of bullcrap. I should've called it then. What the hell is wrong with me, it's all my fault." Charlotte spoke lowly with so much anguish, that it was paining me to hear her broken voice.

I know she looked up to her father dearly, and now he probably feels like a stranger to her. It's not nice to look at someone you once knew and then suddenly not recognize them at all.

"It's not your fault," I spoke softly after a long silence.

She looked at me, tears threatening to spill from her eyes, "I know that, honestly I do, buts it's just- it's easier to blame yourself than accept that the person you truly look up to isn't who you thought they were. You don't want to believe that they're capable of such things, so you just put the blame on something else to try and justify their actions."

"Like when that thing about Ariana licking donuts blew up," Katia spoke with a smile, "I justified it by saying that's she was only tasting to see what donut to get and that she's famous, so she can basically do what she wants."

Charlotte lightly chuckled and shook her head, disappointment still prominent in her eyes, "I'm sorry, I've caused so much trouble, I just didn't know how to handle that situation. I wanted to tell both you, but once I told Katia, the reality set in. I didn't want relive that when I told you. I'm sorry, Amb."

"It's fine." I assured her, "I've never judged anyone for what their going through and I'm not going to start now. I just want us to go back to the way it's supposed to be."

"Me too," Katia agreed, "I've been dying to tell you guys about my latest escapade in Mexico." She wiggled her eyebrows and a huge grin formed on her face.