Discovering the truth is never as painful as discovering a lie.
Ethan.
It was the name of the man Blake told me about that had been haunting Melissa for a long time. The guy that her father made her marry because he wanted nothing more than to unite their two companies and gain more wealth. The guy that broke her and Max’s love story and who abused her every day in their marriage. A scum.
I couldn’t possibly fathom what was going through her mind, seeing again the man that inflicted so much pain upon her in the past. I remember when I met Blake again. I just didn’t know how to act. I was afraid, yet I couldn’t hide it. I was angry, yet I couldn’t maintain it.
I looked at him once again and remembered what Blake told me about him, which made me wonder why he was here. Blake said that he had died in a car accident a few months after marrying Mel, so why was he here in front of us then? Could it be that Blake had lied to me?
No, he wouldn’t have lied about a situation such as this. For all I knew, this guy could have faked his own death.
The question remained: what for?
“I see you have changed. What happened to the nerdy, scaredy cat Melissa?” he asked, and she glared at him with so much rage I never thought will ever see coming from her. I wanted to do and say something, to help her get away from him, but I was unable to. My words disappeared; my mind froze. If someone who abused his wife and then faked his death came to us, just what was he capable of? What did he want to do with us?
What could he do to us?
“She had died the night you died too,” Melissa continued through gritted teeth, her voice never too loud, and I realized she was afraid. She was so, so afraid of this man. “But here you are, alive. Can’t say I’m happy about it, though.” She forced an evil smirk to which he simply responded with a grin.
“That’s right, wife,” he emphasized that word. “I’m back, so doesn’t that mean that the good ole you should be back as well?” he asked as her eyes widened.
I couldn’t say a word to protect her. My lips wouldn’t move no matter how hard I wanted them to.
“I will never go back to who I was with you, ex-husband,” she spat back at him, and he raised his eyebrow.
“We’ll see,” was all he said. “I heard that I have a daughter now? How is she doing?” He put a sweet face on, and her face lost all color.
“Good without you,” she said, and he shook his head. It was pretty obvious by now that he was trying to scare her and intimidate her, yet she tried to stand her ground.
“Really? I saw her yesterday. She has my hair…Now, now, I want to play with her and get to know her, ya kn—” he started, but the sound of Mel’s fist hitting the table as she stood up prevented him from doing so.
“Stay the fuck away from my daughter!” she yelled, and everyone turned toward us.
“Now, that’s not how you should treat your husband. We’re still not divorced, you know?” he asked in a cold voice before putting a fake warm smile. “She’s my daughter too, honey. Did you forget already?”
That was not true. He couldn’t use that as…
“Go to hell” she whispered, and he chuckled once again. That was pure evil I could see in him, and I gulped. I immediately saw him as a monster; that man didn’t have a shred of humanity when talking to Melissa.
“Everyone, please excuse us. Me and my wife had a little fight. Please don’t mind us,” he said to everyone else, and some even chuckled. My eyes widened. How were they so easily manipulated into believing him? How could he switch on his poker face so fast and act so naturally? Why was he like that? What was wrong with him?
“I have to go now. Business,” he told us before his eyes landed on me. I tried to hold my stare but failed. Although I couldn’t look at him, I mustered up some strength to talk back to him and make Melissa relaxed.
“You two are no longer married. By the law, once one is announced dead–” I started, but he interrupted me.
“Kaley Evansville…Blake’s soon-to-be wife, he had made a good choice, but the way you two met…” He shook his head dramatically. My eyes turned to his face once again, terror flashing in them.
He couldn’t possibly know about…
“Well, that’s all from me. I’m on my way.” Clapping his hands with an evil, satisfied smile on his face, he turned to leave but not before taking one last glance and saying, “You’ll never be happy with him. We’ll make sure of it.” And then he was gone.
Neither Melissa nor I said a single word after that, and there was a long, dreadful silence for a few moments before her eyes became watery as she finally started to act alive.
“He’s back…He really is back…” she whispered, and I came next to her, pulling her up and leaving the money on the table for our food before heading out to her car. Grace left with a taxi long ago, saying how she wanted to recall old days when she ran away from home in them and leaving us the car.
I was glad she did.
Once we got in, she finally burst out crying, and seeing as she was not in a proper state for driving, I got my phone and quickly dialed Blake’s number from my contacts. Putting it next to my ear, I heard him answering after the fourth ring.
“Kaley, already miss m—” he started, but I interrupted him.
“Please come and get us,” I said, my voice panicked, fearing that Ethan could still be around somewhere. He said that I wouldn’t be happy with Blake. What did he mean by that?
“What? Where are you? What the hell happened?” I glanced at Melissa, and she nodded her head, sobbing. “Kaley, what the hell happened?” he asked again, and I closed my eyes before speaking.
“E–Ethan…Mel’s ex…We saw him,” I said, and Mel cried even harder as if I just slapped her by confirming his existence.
“W–what? He’s dead, are you sure—” he started, but Melissa yelled at that moment, “I fucking know his face too well, Blake! It was him!” And then there was a long, dreadful silence on his end.
“Where are you?” he asked. I could hear his rage on the phone, and I understood. It was someone who hurt his little sister.
“In front of Starbucks, next to the Shopping Center, the one where the fair is,” was my answer. “In Melissa’s car, parking.”
“Good. Stay there.” And with that, the line went dead. Pulling my phone back in my pocket, I glanced toward Melissa. She was a mess.
“What did he mean when he talked about how he knew the way you and my brother met?” she asked out of nowhere. I skipped a breath. I knew that this moment was going to come sooner or later. I just prayed for it to be much, much later.
“Mel…I…” How could I tell her? How could I possibly explain to her what had happened?
“Answer me!” she yelled back, and I flinched. I wasn’t ready. She was a mess. If I were to say it right now…
“Please…I don’t want to talk about that,” I pleaded her, but she didn’t seem like giving up, although I prayed that she would. It was her brother after all.
“You know all about what happened with me and that bastard, but won’t tell me that one little thing! Do you think that’s fair?” she screamed, and at that moment, something snapped inside my head because I suddenly yelled back at her.
“What the hell do you want to know? That I lost my virtue to Blake so he could give me money for Ayden’s surgery and then got pregnant? Are you happy now? Are you?” And her eyes widened.
“Kaley,” she started, but I simply raised my hand to silence her. I didn’t want to talk to her at the moment at all. “Save it.” And with that, I got out of her car and stood outside, waiting for Blake.
I had no idea what had just happened back in that car, but I did know that both Mel and I messed it up for good. What the hell was wrong with me and my life? One moment, it was so peaceful and tranquil, and in another, I snapped at my best friend and told her what I never again wanted to think of.
I knew. I fucking knew that I couldn’t just run away from the things I wanted to forget the most, but it was the only way I could find to move on. It was the only way for me to cope with reality.
Ethan’s words that they won’t allow me to be happy with Blake echoed in my mind. I began to wonder what he meant with that. Who were “they” to begin with? How did he even know how Blake and I met? How long was he around? What all did he know about me? Just why the fuck was he here, anyway?
I don’t know how many minutes passed in silence as I went forth and back with that question until I heard the sound of a car parking.
“Kaley!” I raised my head to see Blake getting out of his black Audi I was so jealous of, with Max trailing behind him.
“Blake…” I found myself standing up before I rushed toward him and hugged him the strongest I could as he did the same. I didn’t want to lose him. One of the thoughts that passed my mind was that I’ll be away from Blake, that Ethan might even kill one of us or separate us, and I just couldn’t stand the pain of not being able to see him. I feared losing him.
“Did he hurt you? What did he say?” he asked frantically, worry shown on his face, and I shook my head.
“Blake, he knew about—” I started before Mel’s voice interrupted me.
“You fucking bastard!!” she yelled and came storming toward us from the car, and I knew it was because she now knew the real story between the two of us. “How could you?” And with that, she slapped Blake. I gasped, my hands on my mouth, as I couldn’t believe what just happened. Silence covered us like a veil of disaster, a premonition to the end.
Everything broke. At the moment, I came to a standstill, everything around me broken. I should’ve known better that the peace was just an illusion, and I could never be freed of cruel reality. It was all my fault once again. I should’ve told her the whole story, yet I only said it like it was all Blake’s fault. I always ruined things, didn’t I?
“What the hell…” he started in confusion, and the only answer at that moment I could think of was one single sentence that made it all clear to him.
“She knows.” It came out like a defeated whisper, and his eyes widened, realization dawned on his face as he calmed down.
“You sick basta—” she started, but this time I interrupted her.
“Stop!”
“Kaley…”
“Shut up. He didn’t know what I needed it for!” And something in her head seemed to click, but she didn’t want to stop.
“Still…”
“It’s none of your business. Now, please leave that matter alone,” I yelled again, but she simply didn’t know when to shut up.
“But he still…”
“Goddamnit, shut the fuck up, Melissa!” I said for the billionth time, and she finally shut her mouth. Finally!
“I don’t know what the three of you are talking about, but I think that it would be for the best if we all went home. We’re going to cause a commotion,” Max suddenly joined our conversation, and we all nodded, “I’ll drive Melissa, and you take Kaley home, Blake.” And with that, we all parted our ways. Were he and Blake together before I called or they came together precisely because of it? I reminded myself again that I should’ve known better.
The ride with Blake was silent. It wasn’t our usual comfortable silence. Although they didn’t take him away psychically, I never felt more distant from him than at that moment. Not even when we argued that last time.
“When he came…he said he knew how we met and what happened.” I didn’t know if he was angry at me for telling Melissa, but I wanted to clear it up before it managed to distance us completely. “She wanted to know what he was talking about…I didn’t want to say, but she was pushing and pushing and pushing, and I…just snapped. I told her what happened.”
“What else did he say?” was his gruff question, and I gulped. I didn’t want us to be like strangers. I couldn’t stand that. I loved Blake.
“H–he said that I’ll never be h–happy with you…That ‘they’ will make sure of it…” I could feel the tears forming in my eyes now. It’s probably because I’ve just grasped the whole situation that just happened. It weighed me down a lot; it was like I was thrown into the ocean with a rock to pull me deeper and deeper. I don’t want to feel that awful again.
“Who are they?” he asked. I knew how pissed off he was at the moment. His hand visibly gripped the steering wheel.
“I don’t know…He didn’t say.” I sobbed, and he abruptly stopped the car by the side of the road and hugged me as I sobbed into his chest.
“I’m sorry, Kaley. You were scared, weren’t you? Don’t worry. I won’t let them lay a single finger on you. I swear!” he promised, but it felt so hollow at the same time, like he was only saying it because I needed to hear it.
If the rock was pulling me deeper under the vast ocean, then Blake was on the surface. The more time passed, the more he became unreachable to me, like a reminder that I was not meant to be his.
Ethan truly did keep his word in some way, didn’t he?