Chatter 138: A broken revelation

Chatter 138: A broken revelation
Laura drove through the busy streets, her blurry eyes stuck to the street ahead of her. She cleaned the tears that prickled underneath her eyes and stepped on the break.

“He just needed you to get his inheritance back.”  Rachel's voice echoed in her head and her grip around the steering tightened.

“You were nothing more than a ploy in his little take back game.”

Her heart that she had been struggling to put together had finally scattered into millions of shards. She had been stupid. Extremely stupid. She should have known it from the very first moment he tried to get her back. The way he had been so persistent, so irrational about a lot of things and tried to dictate whom she went out with. Was that all she had been to him? A key into his bright fledged future?

She couldn't stop the tears that had begun to roll down her eyes like a trail of water. She couldn't explain the pain that tugged at her chest, so much so that she felt herself unable to breath. She should have just moved on from Leo after the whole divorce. She should have let go of such flimsy and hard feelings of whatever she had for him. Most importantly, she should have guarded her heart when Leo had indeed come back on his knees from her. She was played so evidently and like the fool that she was, she had actually fallen into the whole thing quite well.

“You brought this upon yourself, Laura.” She muttered underneath her breath as she cleaned away the tears that kept falling. “You have…no right to cry.” Her voice broke in each word and syllable.

How could Leo have done her so dirty like this? What had she done so wrong that he had hated her from the first moments they got together?

It seemed like he had made it his life mission to toy with her heart every now and then. He had done it for the past five years and she had watched him do so quietly at the situation in which they had gotten together. But their time, she had handed him the reins by herself and allowed him to drive her off the bridge without hesitation.

Without wasting much time, she stepped on the break, ignoring whatever thoughts she may have had as she had one person she had to confront at this point.

After some minutes, her car finally came to a stop outside of an apartment gate. She was quick to alight the vehicle before going to bang against the gate. It didn't take a while before the gate was opened and Laura pushed it open and stepped in forcefully.

“Where is Nathan?” She asked the security man who stared back at her with a baffled expression. “Are you deaf of something? Where the freaking hell is your boss?”

“He's…” not letting him complete the statement, he turned around and went towards the building. “Nathan!” She shouted his name as she banged against the door with full force. “Nathan, open this door!” She banged at it several times.

The next moment, the door was pulled open with Nathan looking completely surprised at her presence.

“Laura?”

Without wasting time, Nathan started hitting against his chest as she pushed him inside the building. 
“How long did you know this?” She asked, still hitting his chest. “How long did you know things were good to end this way!” She barked at him.

“Laura, wait, calm down.” He said, as he held her hands to avoid any more hits. He kicked the entrance door shut and turned towards Laura who was visibly trembling in his arms. “Laura…”

“You knew I was just being used for his inheritance,” she suddenly said as her voice had lowered. “You knew all of this, and yet—you did nothing?”

“Laura, wait…”

“How could you do something like that to me!” She shouted as she struggled in his arms, the tears now falling down in a hurry. “Why wouldn't you say anything if you knew.” 

Nathan watched her struggling in his grip as she broke down slowly, just like he foresaw this situation.

“Laura, I'm sorry.” He said, watching her finally stopped struggling and her shoulder shook as the tears fell from her face

“Why did he have to hurt me again?” She asked as her hand which he still held onto lowered. “Why did he suddenly have to show up just to drag me back into the dirt?”

Nathan watched her break down and he let her. It was the only way she would feel better afterwards. He had indeed tried to warn her about his cousin, on several attempts he had tried to pull her away, though he wasn't quite explicit on the reasons. But watching her in front of him the way she was, a side of herself that he had never seen her lay out, even while she was struggling with Leo while married, she had never let him see her break down this much.

Taking a deep breath, he pulled her towards himself and wrapped his hands firmly around her, feeling her cold skin rub against his. “Take your time.” He said while caressing her head.

Laura didn't have much to say but for the first time in a very long while, she let the tears break her completely, leaving no form for pretence or composure whatsoever. She had laid herself bare right there before Nathan as she no longer had the strength to hold in everything. 

Leo had betrayed her in the worst way possible. She should have guessed that something was suspicious when a husband who once detested her presence suddenly glued himself to her like some leach. There were signs all over the place, the pressure that appeared on his face severally as she tried all that he could to make sure he would have her. She had thought it was all sincere, that maybe somewhere and somehow—he had finally fallen for her as deeply as she had done.

But it was all bullshit.

The smiles, the laughs and confession, the promises, every one of it was fake and pure deception that she had foolishly believed all in the name of love. But rather than love for her, he was just moved and powered by fear. All his actions were driven on the fear to lose everything he thought belonged to him, and he didn't even hesitate to plunge at her at the first chance he got.

Self centered and insensitive, just like she had always known him to be. And the broken revelation had been placed right in front of her as the blind folds had finally been taken off.

Some minutes passed and Laura had calmed down, although she was yet to utter anything. She sat besides Nathan who stared at her with worry etched all over his face at her silence. Her eyes were buffy and swollen from crying and her face and lips were plain as they seemed devoid of color.

“Are you sure you don't want anything?” Nathan asked but he didn't get a response from Laura. She just stared at the space before her, staring at nothing in particular and remained unmoving. It like she was in a daze and tried to let lots of things process itself in her mind at the same time.

Nathan on the other hand knew that the news had indeed hit her with so much force and that her reaction was indeed quite normal for what had happened with her. But knowing what she had gone through with his cousin at the beginning, this situation had obviously hit her more than it would anyone else.

“Do you think I was stupid?” She suddenly said after long minutes of silence.

“What?” 

She turned her blood shot eyes to stare at him with exhaustion painted on her face. “For believing? For trusting him blindly and foolishly like I had done?”

“Would you be satisfied with me if I said no?” He asked and surprisedly, that earned him a smile from her.

“Well, not quite really.” She said as she lowered her gaze. “I believe I should have been smarter than this. I should have seen this from a mile back.” She said as she let out a heavy breath. “Love really does make someone do a lot of stupid things huh.”

Nathan smiled as he stared at her. 
“Indeed.” He said calmly. “I know that more than anyone.”

Laura suddenly turned her eyes back to Nathan who stared at her with a smile and something flickered in his eyes that he didn't try to hide.

And she swallowed hard.