His Love His Hate

Epilogue

 Joseph sat on his bed looking at a photo of himself and Jordan. He still couldn't accept the fact that his brother was dead. He sat there having memories of when they were little, how they had pranked some other kids in their neighborhood, and how he always took the blame for the both of them when suddenly there was a knock on his door. He wondered who it was because he remembered telling his mom that he wanted to be alone. He hesitantly got up from his bed and walked towards the door to open it, revealing Olivia with his mom behind her.

"Mom, I thought I told you I needed to be alone?..." He asked.

"And Olivia is the last person I want to see right now." He continued, glaring at Olivia.

"Joseph, you need to listen to what she has to tell you," Rachel said with pleading eyes.

Joseph eyed them both and turned back into his room. Olivia looked at Rachel with pleading eyes begging her to stay.

"It's okay" Rachel assured.

Olivia slowly walked into the room and Rachel closed the door, leaving her alone with Joseph.

"Why are you here?" Joseph asked.

"Joseph, I'm sorry."

"That's not the answer to my question."

Olivia took a deep sigh and decided to tell him everything to get this over and done with, so she began.

"You asked me to get along with Jordan which I did... I did it for you, Joseph."

Joseph scoffed at her statement. Olivia felt hurt by his reaction because she would never have talked to Jordan if he hadn't asked her to. She didn't want to dwell on his reaction so she continued.

"Jordan apologized to me. I didn't want to accept it at first because I wanted to think things through, but I felt like you wanted me to take the chance. So, I accepted his apology and decided to give us both the opportunity of becoming friends,"

Joseph sat on his bed, staring blankly at the wall. Olivia hoped he was listening to her.

"I remember telling you about our friendship whenever we got the chance to talk." She paused before continuing.

"Everything was going fine until we heard about the soldiers that were killed. We were all worried, so your parents asked Jordan to go and find out if the bodies of the soldiers had been identified... We prayed that you weren't one of them but Jordan returned with sad news to our dismay."

Joseph kept wondering why they had all thought he was dead.

"I was broken, Joseph," Olivia was already in tears.

"I wanted to die knowing that the only man I loved was dead and I could've prevented it."

Joseph was now staring at her intensely.

"I tried to commit suicide on several occasions but Jordan stopped me each time. He decided to move in with me for some time so I don't end up doing something dangerous... Both our parents also looked after me and eventually, I was registered to see a psychologist,"

Joseph could only imagine what Olivia must have gone through. He would've done the same if he were to be in her position.

"I thought I had a reason to live, not until my birthday did I realize that dying would've been the best option."

The memory of that day made Olivia break down in fresh tears. It was still fresh in her mind and she didn't think she'd ever forget that day no matter how hard she tried because it could've been prevented if Joseph had listened to her and consummated their relationship. He should never have asked her to be friends with Jordan.