Biochemistry

Chapter 27

Gray's POV

The car ride back to the hotel was silent, I just held her close as she rested her head on my shoulder. The Heartfillia estate is a good 40 minute drive away and everyone else was staying there for the night. We had planned to as well until the presence of Bora revealed itself. We both fell asleep for most of the journey, I woke up to find my head resting on top of hers.

When we got back to the room, we both had a shower and changed into our sleepwear. Well for me that was just a fresh set of black boxers. She was in her silk, mint green cami top and shorts. It was midnight, I thought we were just going to go to bed to sleep off the night, she took hold of my hand. The expression on her face was serious and nervous.

"I want to tell you about what really happened with me and Bora." She is looking straight into my eyes, I can already sense her fear.

"You don't have to if you are not ready to tell me." I offer her an out, she seems so afraid and on edge, I don't want her to think she has to tell me because of what happened tonight.

"I want to." She pulls me outside and encourages me to join her on the day bed lounger on the patio. I wonder why this is a conversation she wants to have outside. I watch her as she takes a deep breath, looking out towards the sea. I then realise that out here she is surrounded by water, the pool and the sea, she is encompassing herself in the element that calms her the most. After a few moments of silence she starts speaking.

"Bora abused Juvia, but not the type of abuse most people would instantly think." She begins. Her statement is blunt, almost emotionless. Had it not been  for her change into third person it would be hard to distinguish that she felt anything about the situation at all. I instantly tense at her words, anger already building up, but I keep silent, this is a time I need to listen, not to go on a rampage.

"When we first met it was like a fairytale. He was so charming, kind and thoughtful without prompting. He took such interest in my life, wanting to know about my family, friends, hobbies, the career I wanted to pursue. I remember a few weeks after we started dating it was my 17th birthday, and I invited him to my birthday dinner. He said he wasn't going to go as I should spend some quality time with my friends, that we had just started dating and had spent a lot of time together those last few weeks that he thought my friends deserved to have me to themselves for a night. I felt that he was so considerate towards my personal space. It felt so different to the other relationships I had experienced up until then. Little did I know that all he was doing was drawing me in, creating a world that I would never want to leave." She stopped at that point, I assume she was taking a moment to gather up the courage to tell me the next part.

"Looking back, I should have seen the red flags from the very beginning. A few days after my birthday he asked me to officially be his girlfriend. I was happy. He bombarded me with texts everyday, at least thirty, and they were all really long messages. He would jokingly complain that he would send these lengthy messages and would have to wait ages to receive a response, even then only getting a sentence back, but I think anyone would have struggled to keep up the the volume he sent. I mistook it as he was just showering me with affection and just wanted to talk to me. A week after we were official, he confided in me that he was starting to get really jealous thinking about my ex boyfriends and how close I was to my male friends, you included. He told me that it was his problem and that he needed time to work on his insecurities and simply asked me if I could hold off talking about you guys for a while. He seemed like he was just trying to be open and honest, so I complied with his request. I even cut down contacting you, Nastu, Gajeel, every man in my life to make it easier on him." 

She looked guilty at that moment. Of course I remember that she didn't speak to me as much during her relationship with Bora, I just took it as she naturally wanted to spend more time with him as he was her boyfriend. I slowly started to realise the picture of the relationship she was painting for me.