our troubled love ᵒˡᵈ ˢᵗᵒʳʸ

+~twelve~+

A/N: This chapter is a little fast-paced, and a bit of an emotional roller coaster. Everyone has their own unique way of reacting to pain and stress, and this is Jia's. Her emotions are all over the place and honestly I can relate.

    "I love you."

    His words echoed in my head, over and over again. His voice was constantly in my mind, as though he was begging me not to forget him.

    But I knew I wouldn't.

    It had been about three weeks since Aiden had left. It was my first time being away from him for so long since the day I met him. The first week I was in pain. I was filled with rage, yet sorrow. My face was always red and my eyes always wet with tears. By the second, I was numb; devoid of emotion. I was done with being hurt. Done caring about my dad and his cruel actions. Done trying to fight something I couldn't overcome. I just went along with what I was told and stopped trying. There was no point.

    Now, I was sitting across from Anthony in the same place we had our first 'date', silence filling the space between us. He cleared his throat in an attempt to break that silence.

    "So," he started, looking anywhere but my eyes. "I guess you know now."

I glanced up at him, and then looked back down at the food that had been sitting there, cold and untouched for the past fifteen minutes. "Yes."

"Aren't you curious why I didn't say anything? Did you recognize me too?"

"No."

"Are you even going to try to talk to me?"

"Not really."

Anthony sighed, slumping back onto his chair. His voice faded out, and the sound of the waves beside us faded back in. It took a few minutes of quiet for him to speak up again.

"I had a crush on you in high school."

My eyes shot up to him questioningly. "What?"

"Yeah." He paused, the corners of his lips turning up slightly. "I did. Even after you left, I had hope that maybe I'd see you again."

"Oh." I didn't know how else to react. This probably would've meant something to me if I didn't feel so numb; if I hadn't stopped caring about everything.

Anthony frowned. "Is that all you have to say?"

I finally picked up my fork, just to twirl the spaghetti on my plate around it. "What else can I say?"

Anthony sighed once more, seeming to grow impatient but managing to keep his cool. "Look, I know this whole thing is crazy and you're not too happy about it, but we can't just sulk about it forever. Maybe we can make this work somehow. I mean, I wouldn't really mind-"

Somehow, what he said triggered something in me that I had been holding in for so long. For the past few weeks, I had been putting my feelings aside and letting everything happen on its own. And now that the feelings were coming back,  I couldn't stop it.

"Make this work?" I said, my voice harsher than I'd meant for it to be. I dropped my fork back down and looked him in the eyes for the first time since we'd gotten there. "You really wouldn't mind what? Being married to someone you don't love?"

Anthony flinched, taken aback by the sudden change in my tone. "I really liked you back in high school, maybe with time I'll-"

I slammed my hand against the table, making him flinch once more. "You'll what? You'll force yourself to fall in love with me? And if some miracle happens and you do grow feelings for me again, what about me? Would you really be okay with marrying me, even if it means I'll be miserable for the rest of my life? Of course you would. You 'really wouldn't mind' as long as you think you love me!"