After discovering the truth behind her part in Richard's life Juliette returns home. They say time heals everything, but as time goes on both break more and more inside with each passing day. Everyday life without each other isn't the same, and it i...
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J U L I E T T E
I swallowed my pride and stood there, carrying Aaliyah and watching the performance. Yashua went up first. He came out the opposite end, and our gazes crossed for a split second. A smile tugged at his lips, and I immediately looked down at the ground, focusing on anything besides him. Aaliyah bounced in my arms as he sang, obviously happy to see her uncle, and I smiled for her sake. The fans seemed to genuinely like his music, and honestly, his voice was amazing. I never really knew he sang up until I had to follow him on Instagram a while back.
"Hey."
Richard's lips connected to my temple, and my smile faltered the instant his voice entered my ears. As usual, he placed a hand on my waist and inched closer to me, closing any distance between us. His fingers graze the skin of my hips gently, but the touch itself made my heart sink even further. I guess he noticed because quickly after he asked, "Is everything okay?"
I nodded, and focused on anything else to not look him in the eye. Aaliyah smiles up at me, and I pecked her small head and moved side to side with her in my arms, making us dance along to the rhythm. Richard's grip on my waist tightened every time Yashua looked back or shot a look our way, his brown eyes focusing just on me.
Those fifteen minutes seemed eternal, and while time goes by fast whenever Richard and I are together, today was an exception. A big part of me wanted to leave, but a small yet much more reasonable part of me knew I needed to be here for Aaliyah.
Finally the time for the boys to come up came, and the stage blacked out. Richard, Erick and Zabdiel came out from my end, and rushed to their positions. Chris and Joel met them from the opposite end, right under the stage and as Solo Yo began to play the platform they stood on rose up. The spotlight fell on Zabdiel first, and the lights came on slowly as he began his solo. The screams from the girls brought a smile to my face, and Aaliyah covered her ears despite having protective ear gear on. I sang along to the lyrics, letting myself focus on anything rather than the obvious.
As my mind began to ease itself, my phone buzzed in my back pocket.
Meet me in the fitting rooms in 5.
❌❌❌❌❌❌
I managed to escape momentarily, handing Aaliyah over to Raul and convinced him I really had to use the bathroom. It wasn't a complete lie, since I did, but shortly after my curiosity got the best of me and I decided to meet with Yashua.
Taking a deep breath, I knocked on the door softly, and stepping back when I heard the knob rattling open.
"Hey." With the signature smirk plastered on his face, Yashua eyed me and stepped aside to let me in.
"If I go in there you better not touch me, and the door remains unlocked." My tone come off way more confident and secure than I felt in that moment, but I must've had a mean ass face to go with it because his smirk faltered after. Eventually, he agreed and I felt at ease enough to go in. I shut the door right after myself, standing a foot from it.
"I saw you."
"Good."
"I didn't stalk you on purpose, and clearly I wasn't out there to rape you. If that was my purpose I would have done that, but I didn't." He explained, but it still didn't justify the fact that he had been stalking me.
"Then why did you do it?" I challenge, my eyebrow arching in question. "Why go out of your way to follow me?"
"I'm not the person I made myself seem that night." I scoff at that, reluctant to believe any different. I highly doubt Yashua feels any remorse for what he did, it was more that he felt shitty for messing up the opportunity he believes he still has with me. "I wanted to talk to you, but I knew after what I didn't I couldn't. If I let Richard know I was out there is to let him know this isn't over. Since I first saw you there was a feeling that came over me that I couldn't shake. I've never felt what I felt for you for anyone before. I saw the way you looked at Richard that night, and even if it was only a couple days after you initially came, I could tell you were starting to love him. I've watched everything, even my future in La Banda being taken over by Richard. He didn't even want to go there initially up until I convinced him to. When I saw you, I wanted you, and to know that he could take you away from me made me so angry." He paused, looking me in the eyes hesitantly before taking a step towards me. I could see the anger in his eyes just recalling that one night, and it scared me but I stood in place.
"You're a good person, Juliette. People like Richard take advantage of that. I can't watch him hurt you again." His confession shocked me so much that I didn't notice his hands on the sides of my face up until they brushed past my ears, tucking away the same pieces I always tuck back. "I'm sorry to have hurt you that night. I was a jerk to you, and by the time I realized what I had done you and Richard didn't want anything to do with me. I let myself get wasted and out of control, and I hurt you. Worst of all, I let myself lose you completely." I felt like I couldn't truly process everything Yashua had just said, and there was a lump in my throat of words that wouldn't come out. His touch felt different with these feelings behind them, and the fast pace of my heart slowed once I realized I was somewhat safer. Considering everything he told me it makes sense that he felt so strongly about me, and I hated to admit it, but also that he followed me. I couldn't forget what he did to me, but I could say that after hearing him out I could accept his apology.
"Say something. Please." His eyes searched mine, and I'm pretty sure he wasn't able to read anything by my lack of emotion. I truly didn't know what to make of everything that happened today.
"Yashua, I-.." I stammered, not really knowing where I wanted to go with this. "I didn't know you felt this way. I'm kind of up in the air about everything, and considering what you told Richard earlier you can see why." Disappointed filled his eyes the moment I mentioned his name. "If I'm being honest, I do understand where you come from, but just know Richard isn't the reason you and I can't be together. It's me."
"W-What do you mean?"
"The only person that could correspond you is me, and I can't. Even if you had been the nicest person to me that night, or if you would have come up to me in Philly it wouldn't have changed what I feel for Richard." With that said, Yashua's hands slowly came to back to his sides, and I felt like I could finally breathe. He looked away from me and then nodded slightly. I felt bad for disappointing him, and felt a little bit more pain from it than I should have, but it was because he was part of Richard's family.
"Whatever is out there for you, will find you. You just have to keep going, Yashua."
"What if that is you?" I was quiet after he asked that. I didn't want to make matters worse, but I didn't want him to feel like he has a shot with me when I'm not willing to go there. "What do I do then?"
"Even if it is me, I'm clearly not the person for you." I could practically feel Yashua flinch at my words, even if I tried to be nice about it, there was nothing like the pain of rejection. "Take this, and move on from all of it— fighting with your brother, and waiting for me— and start your life. Start your career. Someone is out there waiting for you." A sad glow casted over his eyes, but I knew he understood that I wasn't purposely rejecting him by the small smile that appeared on his face. We shared a mutual hug afterwards and I was able to let out a huge breath of relief from it.
"And Juliette.." He stops me as I'm about to exit seconds later. "About Paloma..I..I didn't know you were still listening."
