You Before Me |Neymar Jr.|

Chapter 40

Before we start the chapter I just wanted to say Ramadan Mubarak and thank @iloveutina for the positive feedback and votes :). 

Natalia's POV

"Woah, woah, woah, wait," Neymar interrupted, putting his hands up. "So you're telling me someone else wrote this letter pretending to be Elliot?"

"yeah."

"Are you sure?"

"What other explanation is possible?"

Neymar was silent after that.

"But what about the people who came to your house?" he finally asked. 

"I don't know. Maybe they were fake?"

"Natalia I think you're over thinking things," Neymar said, looking at me worriedly as I paced back and forth in my room. 

"No!," I snapped, pulling my hair in frustration. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to snap."

"It's alright, I just think you should get some rest," he said, taking my hand. I nodded and layed down on the bed. I didn't realize how tired I was but I was out as soon I got comfortable. 

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

Three days later 

"Did you get anything?" Neymar asked, coming into the kitchen. He dropped his duffel bag in the corner and grabbed a bottle of Gatorade from the pantry. I shook my head, looking up from the set of notes in front of me. I had sent an email to Elliot's head officer in hopes of getting some sort of confirmation. The more I thought of it, the more convinced I became that the officials that had come to visit me weren't really officials. 

"How was practice?" I asked, switching the subject. 

"Eh, same as usual," he shrugged. "The boys miss you though."

"I should come down sometime, haven't seen them in a while," I nodded, closing my notebook. Neymar opened his mouth to speak but my phone started ringing loudly. 

My mom was calling. 

I stared at the phone as it continued to ring loudly. 

"Answer it," Neymar said, nodding at me. I sighed and slid my finger across the screen. Neymar pointed upstairs, letting me know he would be in his room. 

"Hello?" my mother's honeyed voice came through the phone. 

"Hi," i replied shortly. "Is there something you need?"

"Sweetie I just wanted to check up one you, see how you're holding up. I'm sure you heard about Eli."

"Yeah. I'm great," I replied flatly. 

"Oh. Well are you coming back to visit?"

"No."

"But what about graduation?" she asked, trying to sound concerned. 

"I changed universities. I only enrolled at USC for 2 years. I started at AUP last year."

"What? Why didn't you tell us?"

"Didn't think I had to," I replied. 

"Natalia Marie Rousseau, don't give me that attitude."

"What attitude, at least I'm not fake and I actually show my true emotions."

"Young lady do not disrespect me. I am your mother, you would be nothing without me."

"You see the funny thing is, I don't really give a fuck," I snapped, gripping my phone in anger. 

"Nata-

"Don't Natalia me. You never cared to ask me how I'm doing in the whole 2 years I've been here. You never praised me, never told me how proud you are of me. You never hugged me or showed me affection. All you do is scold me and boss me around. And I'm sick and tired of it. If you were my mother you would know that I switched universities. You would know that I'm graduating next week. You would know a whole bunch of other things about me. My favorite color, favorite food, or movie. But you don't, you never cared. Do you even know when my birthday is?" I asked, feeling my heart rate skyrocket. 

It was silent on the other line, only my mother's heavy breathing could be heard. 

"I- I don't know what to say," she finally said, sounding defeated. 

"Yeah and Elliot's death was your fault. You pushed him too hard. You and dad. Both of you knew how much being in the Marines meant to him and you just disregarded all the hard work he put in. You just shoved him aside like he was trash and look what it did to him. So I hope your happy," I spat, letting out all the hatred I had stored inside me. 

"Elliot's death was not our fault," another voice spoke sternly. The cold and harsh tone made my skin crawl. I could hear soft sniffles from the other line which surprised me. Was my mother crying?

"Like hell it wasn't," I said, rolling my eyes. 

"Natalia you don't know anything," my father snarled. 

"I know enough, I read the note."

"What note?"

"The note Elliot wrote."

My body froze as he started to laugh. It was something I would never forget. A loud horrifying laugh that echoed in the empty kitchen. It made my father sound almost psychotic. But why was he laughing. 

"Natalia I raised you to be smarter than that," he said in a condescending tone. 

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"Sweetheart, Elliot didn't write the letter. I thought you would've figured that out by now."

"Then who did?" I asked. I waited for his answer, my heart nearly pounding out of my chest. I leaned closer to the phone, anticipating his answer. 

"I did of course."