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'There she is!' My father stood from his armchair and raised his arms out, his face falling when he saw my tear stained cheeks and bloodshot eyes. 'What on earth...?'
'Leave it, honey,' my mother told him. 'Pop the kettle on for us.'
My father nodded and disappeared into the kitchen, leaving my mother and I to sit together on the sofa as I continued to softly sob.
'I thought something might have been going on for you to come home a day early,' she said to me, taking my hand. 'You sounded very down on the phone.'
'I am,' I croaked. 'Everything has just gone to shit.'
'And now you're cursing in front of me,' she chuckled. 'What the hell has happened?'
'I don't even know where to start,' I sighed, sniffing repeatedly.
'Well, let's start from the last time I saw you,' she replied. 'Everything seemed good, you were going out with this Alex who owned the club, so what's happening with that?'
'Mum, I lied to you about Alex,' I whispered, shaking my head slowly. 'I'm really sorry for doing that. I just couldn't tell you the whole truth.'
'Well, what is the whole truth?' she asked, with a soft frown. 'There was no Alex?'
'There was an Alex,' I sighed. 'But the guy I was actually referring to wasn't him. His name wasn't Alex and I wasn't even seeing him. His name was Caden and he's my boss.'
'Oh...oh...' she murmured, beginning to understand.
'We weren't in a relationship,' I told her. 'We were just...'
'Okay,' she interrupted, nodding quickly. 'I understand. You could have told me. I wouldn't have approved and I would have told you it was only going to end in tears but...well, evidently it has.'
'There was an Alex though,' I croaked. 'Alex worked for the company and he was a nice guy, no, he was a perfect guy. We started to go out and I'd began to forget all about the Caden situation and everything just went downhill fast.'
I proceeded to tell her everything from the date with Alex that was interrupted by Caden and Alicia and everything that had happened that night up to the whole of VC finding out about Caden and me. I told her that I'd lied to cover for Caden and that Alex had given me another chance only for me to find out he had been the one to start the rumours and then damage my car tyres. Opening up about everything Alex had done and being able to admit how hurt it had made me feel felt like a weight off my shoulders.
'God, honey, you've really been through it.' My mother comforted me by squeezing my hand and everything that I had done to keep my walls up and block out how I was feeling just shattered. I welcomed the pain and the hurt and alongside it, I detested myself for the things I had done to keep up my charade of not giving a damn.
