Chapter 54

It really was a lot. I couldn’t think of any other thing but Ben that night.

A strong part of me knew that he was lying but another part of me, the stronger part of me couldn’t believe that he would lie like that, at least not with his dead parents. He would at least have the decency to not lie to me.

I was saved from my thoughts as my phone rang. I already knew who it was. He was the only one that would bother to call this late at night.

“Get home safe?” he said immediately I picked up the call.

“yeah, I did.” I sounded drained.

“Wow, I didn’t know you’d be that drained”. I nodded even though I knew he couldn’t see me.

“Ben showed up at my apartment few minutes ago.” It grew deathly silent from there.

“What?” he voice was low. “how did he find where you were?”

I massaged my head. “I honestly don’t know I tried to ask him but he didn’t give me a clear answer on that.”

He let out a sigh. “it’s fine. This doesn’t cancel our original plan. We make him jealous, make him wish he didn’t toy with you”

For a moment, it didn’t sound like it was directed at me. I mean he did tell me how much he wanted this as his personal revenge for what his girlfriend did in the past.

“Elias?...” I called, unsure of how I was going to go about it. ”what if.. what if we take a break in this whole thing.”

He did say anything. It was as if he was waiting for me to complete what I was saying, so I did. “we talked, he told me why he was away, and now I feel kind of bad.”

“what did he tell you”

“His family’s anniversary. Their death. You know that might be a very valid reason”

I might have just been looking for any excuse to forgive him, but then again, I didn’t want to be the one that was going to break or relationship over an argument.

“you know what of he is right. I might not able to relate but loosing people like that , especially if they are close to you it just...” I noticed that the line was quiet, too quiet. “Elias?” no response. I pulled the phone away from my ear to check if it was still connected but sure enough, the call had disconnected.

He had ended the call.

I tried to call back but it went straight to voice mal. I didn’t bother with it and just set my phone on the table. Or at least I tried to. I ran, quickly getting it thinking it was still Elias but it was someone different. Someone that I felt bad that I forgotten all these while.

I picked the call, not waiting for the phone to ring the second time.

“Tobias?”

I could hear the panic in his voice as he explained to me what was going on.

There was pure unadulterated fear In his voice.

“Tobias? Calm down, i can’t hear you.” I was already throwing on a jacket. And going out the house, kaya following close behind me.

“I’m at the restaurant. Can you please come get me?” he said, a little out of breathe. The fear in his voice got me moving faster than I would have cared to admit.

“I’m on my way” i ran as fast as I could, taking a taxi along the way. It was a good thing that I always had some cash at the pouch of my phone.

I ran out and right there I saw Tobias. He looked dishevelled.

“Tobias?” I walked to him. Looking around him. He didn’t seem to be in any type of danger from what I could see.

“I’m so sorry to have called you, I didn’t have anyone else to call.”

I nodded, embracing him, trying to calm him down. He still seemed to have this crazed look in his eyes.

“Its okay. You want to talk about it?” I said looking briefly at his legs. He was wearing one Croc on a foot and a sock on the other. The weather had become a little chilly but I doubt he could feel it now because of his state of mind.

He nodded.

I moved to take us in the restaurant but he shook his head no. “ please, she would find me.” I felt a chill run down my spine as she said that.

“she?” I had to look over my shoulders to be sure that no one saw us.

“i have no where to go, can I please crash at your place?” I didn’t even think about it for a moment. I was already shaking my head yes.

“sure of course.” We took a taxi back home, with Tobias clutching tightly to me and looking at the window and the rare view mirror every twenty seconds.

I wanted to say something in that but I reserved my comments.

We finally reached my house and I took him in, offering him a seat in the couch and making him a hot beverage.

“so, what happened” I asked him after a while of sitting there.

“my ex” he looked shaken up thinking of that person. “She found me again”

I looked at him, taken aback. “she?”

He just nodded his head, barely looking up at me.

“I thought you said you were gay.” He shook his head no. Burying his head further into the blanket I had given him.

“I wasn’t. It was just a cover, I didn’t want to ruin things” I looked at him like he had grown another head.

“ruin things?”

“my ex,” he took another sip of his beverage. It was obvious was things to stall. “I was scared that she was going to hurt you because we were getting close at that point. I figured if I told you that, you might get disgusted and leave but you didn’t, so I had to distant myself for you.”

I knew he was avoiding me at some point, but it just didn’t click that he would go such extents to avoid me.

“How bad is your ex?”

I asked trying to ignore the fact that he had ignored me all these while

“she saw me hug a girl once. And now the girl is dead.