NOT GIVING UP ON FOREVER

Chapter 70

Anna waited until morning, but Teo did not come until the following night. He reeked of alcohol. Without a word to the agitated girl, he undressed and went to bed.

Anna wanted to talk to him, but she didn't know what to say. Her quenched eyes betrayed only the pain for Randall, and she was sure that all the words, if she opened her mouth, would be about him.

Still, she was mortified by the way she treated Teo, the way she'd made a scene on the platform, hugging Randall and screaming of her affection.

She knew everyone had heard everything. She knew she had caused Teo an unbearable affliction. But what could she do? How to change the intentions of the heart? She tried her best to banish him from her heart. But she still doted on Randall. Even after he told her to sod off, she continued to love him despite all.

She was not ashamed that she beseeched Randall not to leave her, that she shouted all over the street she loved him. If the entire world had been listening to them at that moment, she would still have screamed that she loved him and begged him not to leave...

Even knowing he didn't love her back.

"Why," Teo's voice broke into her thoughts.

"What?..."

"Why, Anna?"

"Teo, I..."

Teo swung around to face her and looked her straight in the eyes as he fought his way through the gloom.

"Why do you bestow your heart on someone who treats it like it's trash?"

"Teo..."

"Why am I not worthy of cherishing your heart, Anna?"

Anna covered her face with her hands. She would not cry anymore. For all the hours she had been home alone, she seemed to have cried a river. But she couldn't look into Teo's sincere eyes, even through the night, knowing that whatever she said would only hurt him.

Teo sighed heavily and said:

"But you must know that I will still love you. Even after you yelled at the world that you didn't love me and you dispatched me out. Even after every time you trampled me in the mud. Even after I let you go. I love you, Anna, no matter what, and you always remember that. And I expect nothing in return. I'm just telling you to know that. I love you, and that's why I'm letting you go. I will no longer hold you in the shackles of this hateful union. Forgive me if I have unwittingly led you astray from the path your heart desires to follow. Just mind this—he doesn't love you, Anna."

With that, Teo looked once more into Anna's tearful eyes with anguish, smiled sadly, and turned away to sleep.