A Twisted Tale

No Going Back

Meera's POV

When Val walked into the house this evening, I was sitting in complete darkness. I was unable to even look at myself in the mirror because of what I had done. I was so lost in my own misery that I couldn't make eye contact with him. I didn't even feel him wince when he kissed me. Didn't see how strained his smile was when he was giving me one. All of it hit me when I was about to hand him over his cup of tea. I dropped the cup when I saw his face. I ran to his side and touched his face with care and exclaimed "What happened?"

Val looked stricken when he said "Let's not discuss this. I was roughed up by someone. Let's leave it at that." I was not planning on letting the matter go. Especially when Val looked like he wanted to share the information with me but was scared of my reaction nevertheless. "Tell me. Who did this?" I asked again softening my voice. "I don't want to ruin your relationship with him by taking his name. As far as I know, it's already strained right now." I took a moment to realize the implication but he didn't have to say anything further. I whispered "It was Mark, wasn't it?" He had a pained expression on his face when he nodded his head. I was appalled at what Mark had done. I didn't want to believe that Mark could do this. But then again, Mark didn't give me any reason to trust that he didn't have any hidden agenda.

A man who has hidden his feelings from me for all these years, could easily have kept his hatred for Val at bay until now. I asked Val to tell me about the whole incident in detail. "Mark called me up and asked me to meet him. I was already worried about our conversation yesterday so I decided to meet him and see if I could find out something. I drove over to his place this morning to speak to him. He told me about what happened between the two of you and he made it sound like you were throwing yourself at him. I didn't like it so I said you were mine and that you would never do something like that. He got angry when I said you were mine. He started beating me up and I did nothing. He said he would do anything to get you to be with him and continued to punch me until he gave up and threw me out of the house. And here I am now." He said.

I kept quiet for a long time because I didn't know if I was truly disappointed or angry with Mark for doing this to Val. I never claimed to love Mark yet he went against my wishes and made it sound like I was all over him. I didn't want to believe that he could be this short fused but then again, why would Val lie to me? Val has been nothing but a devoted boyfriend. Whenever he was placed under scrutiny by one of my family members, he was always patient and kind while answering them. I personally have had no issues with him throughout the relationship and that's exactly why I chose to move forward with him. I wanted to call Mark and give him a piece of my mind but I didn't want to do this over the phone. So I chose to meet him in person and give him a mouthful instead. I called up Leah and asked her if Mark was in yet but she said no. So I decided to check the one other place I knew he would be at. His home.

I was about to knock on the door when I heard his voice yell "Can we bloody not discuss Meera right now?! Kissing her is always going to be the biggest regret of my life! And I did nothing wrong by punching him in his face. He deserved it! Thankfully I'll be leaving tomorrow. That way I wont have to see her face again." I pulled my hand back and stood there stunned. Whatever I was to confront him about, flew out of the window. All I could think about was that he didn't even want to see my face. Though I won't admit it out loud, he hurt my pride. I wasn't going to show him my face then, I thought to myself as I left the building.