Chapter 25
“Sebastian, the one who’s been the most pitiful all along is actually you!”
I stared at Cameron, my mouth slightly open. “A bet?”
His smirk deepened, and he almost seemed to glow with a sense of triumph.
“You didn’t know, did you? Back then, you looked so clueless. Her friends made a bet, saying if she could get you to like her, she could make you do anything. You thought she was your savior all along, didn’t you? Don’t you feel ridiculous now?”
“Shut up, Cameron!” Jessica shouted. “Just shut up!”
Her legs trembled as she weakly stood in place, her knuckles white from clenching too tightly. Her eyes were wide with panic as she looked at me, her chest heaving with each breath.
In the cold, silent hallway, I simply stared at her. From the way she looked now, it felt like I was seeing the fearless girl from the past, the one who always stood in front of me.
I remembered how she looked when we were sixteen. She had bent down slightly with a smile, saying she would make sure her cousin looked out for me. Meanwhile, her friends had recorded the scene on their phones.
Back then, she said she wanted to capture the moment of my rebirth. Turns out, it was all just a game to her.
I felt a bitter laugh rise in my throat as tears filled my eyes.
“Sebastian…” Jessica quickly walked up to me and cautiously tried to place a hand on my shoulder. “I was wrong. I’m sorry. I was a jerk back then. You can yell at me, hit me do whatever you want…”
“Don’t touch me! Jessica Smith, you turned me into a joke. If you had told me earlier, I wouldn’t have clung to you for so long. Was it funny to watch me follow you around like a dog? You must have been laughing the entire time, huh?”
I glared at her with reddened eyes. “Did you praise yourself for getting such a good dog? Just throw a scrap of unwanted meat, and you can make him spin around in circles?”
“That’s not –”
She tried to speak, but suddenly doubled over as pain shot through her stomach.
Feeling some twisted satisfaction, Cameron laughed.
I gripped my bag tightly, refusing to give her a second glance, I turned and walked out without looking back, my bloodshot eyes staring ahead.
“Sebastian!”
Jessica shouted behind me, but I kept moving, my steps quickening as I went.
Somehow, Thad already come to terms with it. The moments I once believed to be my salvation were nothing more than a trap.
When I got home and saw Selena, I couldn’t hold back anymore. I walked over and pulled her into a tight hug. Even as a man, I couldn’t stop the tears from falling
Selena’s arms held me just as tightly. “Seb, if you’re not feeling well, tell me. I’ll stay with you.”
I leaned into her, pressing a soft kiss on her collarbone. It was the first time I had done something so intimate.
1.2
Chapter 25
I
+15 BONUS
Selena flinched at the touch, and in the next moment, she pushed me away as if she had been shocked by a jolt of electricity. She stepped back quickly, panic in her eyes, like she had just remembered something horrible.
Seeing her reaction, I thought maybe my kiss had frightened her.
“Lena, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that…” I said, trying to calm her down.
Selena curled her fingers into a tight grip, trying to steady herself. “That’s not it, Seb. I just… There are things I haven’t told you. A trauma from my past, so 1-”
I stepped closer and gently hugged her again. “It’s okay, you don’t have to say anything else. From now on, I won’t do anything you’re uncomfortable with.”
Selena looked up at me, her tear–filled eyes searching mine “Don’t you want to ask me what happened?
“It’s in the past. It doesn’t matter anymore, does it?”
After I said that, tears streamed down Selena’s face. She buried her face in my chest, and I could feel her body tremble as she cried.
“Seb, have you ever thought that maybe I’m not as perfect as you think I am?”
I rested my chin on her head. “I never thought you were perfect. I just know that being with you makes me happy.” Something told me that Selena had gone through something terrible, but I knew she wasn’t ready to talk to me about it, and that she had her own reasons for that.
Meanwhile, Jessica realized that Sebastian had blocked her second number. No matter what she tried, she couldn’t, reach him. So, she sat outside the apartment complex the entire night, refusing to leave.
Sitting in the cold with only a thin jacket, her red, swollen eyes stared at the lights around the compound, watching them briefly flicker in the early hours. In a daze from the pain in her head, which felt like sand grinding through her skull, she finally found the right floor and summoned all her strength to knock on the door.
It opened quickly, as if the person was afraid the noise would disturb whoever was inside. Selena stood there, her hair loose and dressed in a baggy, comfy sleep shirt.
Jessica was momentarily taken aback. Selena had stayed the night at Sebastian’s apartment?
Jessica’s fists clenched at her sides and she bit her lip. Avoiding her friend’s gaze, she looked into the apartment, then firmly said, “Where’s Sebastian? Get him out here.”
