I'm Supposed To Hate You ||Malum AU||

Chapter 24

Calum got home first that afternoon, and had shut himself in his room without an saying a word to his mother before Michael had turned onto his street. He wasn't expecting Michael to knock softly on his door, his voice gentle and quiet.

"Calum, can-can I talk to you?"

"You're probably going to anyway even if I say no."

"No, I understand why you're mad at me..and I'm sorry. Please just let me in."

There was no answer from Calum, however the door swung open and the his tanned face appeared in the gap. He didn't know why he opened it, maybe it was the pleading in Michael's voice, or that this side of Michael was rarely seen by anyone, never mind Calum. He wasn't going to deny him the opportunity to show Calum he had a heart after all.

Michael stood, blinking at Calum, frozen to the spot.

"Are you going to come in or are you going stand there blinking like an idiot?"

"I..I just didn't think you'd open it, that's all." Michael explained, stepping into what was technically his room too. Calum shut the door behind him, and sat down in his bed. He raised an eyebrow expectantly at Michael, waiting for him to start speaking.

"I wanted to apologise, properly this time. No pride, no crowd of nosy students, no Luke hissing in my ear, just me, and what I have to say." Michael began, suddenly feeling very vulnerable under Calum's glare. Calum nodded, but he continued to glare at Michael.

Michael took a deep breath, and cleared his throat.

"I'm sorry Calum, for sticking my nose where it wasn't wanted and continuing to mention it when I knew you didn't want to talk about it. It was selfish of me to only think about my curiosity, not about what you might be feeling. I don't know what the fuck you're Dad did to make you hate him so much-"

"-And you're never going to know." Calum interrupted. "I haven't told anyone."

"I know that." Michael replied, slightly snappier than he was aiming to be. "As I was saying, I should have respected that your dad is a sensitive subject and I really won't blame you if you hold this against me forever."

"Is that it?" Calum asked, raising an eyebrow. "I'm sorry Calum, I was selfish, hold it against me forever if you like."

"I'm not good at apologies."

"You're telling me." Calum scoffed. Michael's patience was being tested, he had apologised, as well as he could. He had swallowed his pride and actually felt bad for his actions and all he got was Calum snapping at him for his apology not being up to his obviously-too-high standards.

"At least I tried." Michael snapped. Calum let out a chuckle, a humourless, empty chuckle.

"And you expect that to be enough. Oh, you made an attempt to apologise, here I forgive you for bringing up the memories I've been repressing for 5 years, I forgive you for bringing back to painful memories that hurt me more than I care to admit. I forgive you for reminding of the day my childhood innocence was ripped from me, the day the ideal picture I'd painted of my dad was torn in two." Calum seethed, jumping to his feet. He stood, mere inches from Michael, his fists clenched and his jaw locked.

"What do you want me to say?" Michael snapped back, visibly gulping as Calum towered over him, though there was barely a inch of height difference.

"And now you're arguing with me. Unbelievable." Calum scoffed, backing Michael up against the wall so he couldn't move. Michael wasn't going to lie, he was absolutely terrified. If he thought Calum had been mad at him before, it was nothing compared to the anger radiating off the Maori boy in that moment.

"What did he do to you?" Michael whispered, barely able to speak.

"He didn't do anything to me!" Calum shouted. "He didn't do anything that's going through your head right now. He wasn't sick or twisted like that. My family were always safe and protected around him, but other people sure as hell weren't!"

"Calum.."

"I idolised him! I idolised the man I knew, the man I thought it knew at least. I thought he was a fucking Saint. I couldn't have been more wrong."

Michael didn't know what to say. He couldn't move, he was trapped between Calum and the wall behind him. He looked awkwardly around him, avoiding eye contact with Calum in case it made him angrier.

"He had us all wrapped around his goddamn finger. He had us convinced he was a nice guy, but he in reality all of the flowers and presents that he bought us were to cover up the evil man he truly was!" Calum was almost hysterical, his brown eyes wide, his pupils dilated so far his eyes looked like black holes to his soul. Michael had always joked about how he liked how dark Calum's eyes got when he was mad, but up close, it's wasn't as funny.

"Calum, what are you talking about?" Michael choked out, swallowing nervously.

"What am I talking about? I thought wanted to know what happened to my dad. I thought you were curious to why I hate him so much. Now I'm telling you, and you don't want to hear it."

"Calum, you're scaring me."

"I learned far too early that everyone isn't as nice as they make themselves out as. My 12 year old self got such a shock when the police showed up at my door in the early hours of the morning, looking for my dad. Being the naive child I was, I told them, I fucking told them they had the wrong guy, my dad couldn't possibly have done anything wrong." Calum voice cracked halfway through the sentence, and tears built up in his eyes. He was still standing over Michael, but he seemed smaller now, like he was 12 years old again.

"Why were they at your door Calum?" Michael asked gently, placing his hand on Calum shoulder. Calum's jaw clenched and unclenched as his eyes flickered between Michael and the wall behind him and then back to Michael.

"It's clearly bothering you." Michael added, hoping he was doing the right thing. Calum shrugged Michael's hand off his shoulder and walked over to the other side of the room. Michael watched him as he paced up and down, pulling at the roots of his hair frustratedly.

"Why was your dad arrested?"

"BECAUSE HE'S A MURDERER! There I said it, are you happy now!"

There it is.

I had planned for this to be revealed later in the book, maybe in a chapter or two, but Day 4 of them sharing a room seemed like a good day to do it.

Hope you enjoyed the roller coaster of a chapter. See you next week.