I Trusted You

I Trusted You
LUCAS

Everything seemed so surreal to me. In a twinkling of an eye, I had lost Ella. It was hard for me to believe that Ella pretended to be in love with me. Nova seemed to be convinced that she had been acting, but I tried to reason with her.

"No, Dad, you do not know her as much as I do," she said. "I've known her for years. She's someone who will do anything, just to be on top. Please, Dad, listen to me."

"It's fine," I said to Nova, as I stroked her hair.

"I hate Ella so much," Nova added. "You know, before, I just saw her as my enemy. I didn't really hate her, I just disliked her. But now? Forget it, Dad. Ella is really evil."

"I understand," I said to Nova. "I'll never give her the chance to come close to us again. It was my fault for giving her the opportunity. Please forgive me."

Nova smiled at me. "Thank you. I'm also sorry, Dad. If it weren't for me, Ella wouldn't have set her sights on you. You would not have been her target, and you would not have gotten hurt in the process."

"I laughed. "What do you mean by getting hurt?"

"Forget it, Dad. Even if you do not admit it, I know that you're in pain right now, and I'm very sorry about it."

"Shhh... it's okay, darling. Don't say such things," I said to her. "It's okay. Everything will be fine. Just be strong for your Dad, okay? As long as you're strong, I'll be okay."

Nova closed her eyes and I kept stroking her hair until she fell asleep. After that, I went back to my room. I stared at my bed. It was hard to believe that just a few hours ago, Ella and I had been lying on this bed professing our love to each other.

I lay on the bed and tried to sniff in her scent, which was still left. It was pleasant, really pleasant. Well, like they said, all good things eventually came to an end, and my love story with Ella seemed to have come to an end too.

I recalled how I promised her that we would always be together and she made the same promise to me. I had to move on. Forgetting her would be difficult because she had come into my life in a flash, but then she had hurt me in a way I never thought possible by going after my daughter, Nova. That was really a very cruel thing to do.

I opened my gallery, which had all her pictures. Ella didn't know, but I had gone to her Instagram page and saved almost all her pictures. I spent my time looking at them during the time I traveled.

I missed her so much, but these pictures, each time I looked at them, I would smile as I would be reminded of all the sweet and adorable things she did when we were together.

I began to delete the pictures one after the other. There was no point in keeping them anymore since everything between us was over. I deleted all the pictures, except one. I wanted to delete it, but I couldn't.

I had taken the picture only this afternoon. We were both lying on the bed, and Ella was kissing my cheeks. She looked so cute, and we looked so good together.

I couldn't bring myself to delete the picture, so I left it and placed my phone beside me. I felt very uncomfortable and irritated. I knew I wasn't going to get any sleep tonight without some help, so I turned to the next best thing - alcohol.

I got up and went to my wine cabinet, took out some bottles of wine, and began drinking. I kept drinking, knowing that I was going to pay the price for it tomorrow, but I didn't stop until I was completely wasted.

I lay on my bed, drunk and out of my wits, and the only words I could utter were "Ella, why? Ella, why did you hurt me so much?"

I didn't know how I slept that night. Prior to that time, I had always tried to avoid Nova seeing me in such a vulnerable state. I didn't want her to think I was weak. She needed me now, and I ought to be her strength. But it was so difficult to let go of Ella, perhaps because it was the second time I was losing someone.

I had lost my love once, and the pain was almost impossible to bear. Now the case with Ella only reminded me. The pain was as intense as it was back then, although, at that time, I had thought that I didn't have a reason to live anymore.

Perhaps if I didn't have Nova, I may have taken my life - a cowardly thing to do if you ask me. But dealing with the pain wasn't easy. It was depressing.

"I don't want Nova to see me this way," I thought, right before falling asleep.

However, Nova came into my room during the early hours of the morning and gasped when she saw how miserable I looked.

My head was aching and my stomach was in pain. When I opened my eyes and saw her, I felt ashamed because I knew that the role she was playing ought to have been played by me.

She quickly went into the kitchen and made some hot soup for me to help me feel better.

As I accepted the bowl of soup from her, I smiled bitterly, "Do not burden yourself with looking after me, Nova. You need all the rest you can get because you were in the rain last night. As for me, I'll be okay."

"I know," Nova said. "I just want to do this for you, Dad because I know that you're hurting more than I am."

ELLA

I woke up early in the morning although I had barely slept a wink last night. I kept crying and thinking about everything. I realized that Aiden was the culprit and the enemy who did all this to me.

He was my best friend, and I trusted him. Perhaps if he had regarded me the same way and been open to me, I would not have lost Lucas. I would have been aware of his feelings.

I never would have sent him to Nova if I had known that Aiden had feelings for me. Of course, even though I sent him to Nova, I never asked him to date her or get into a relationship with her. I still could not figure out why Aiden would do that.

Why would he date Nova? Why would he make her feel that he loved her when he did not? Either way, I was determined to confront him about it.

I quickly got up, took my bath, and got dressed. Just as I was about to leave my room, my Mom came in and asked, "What is it? Where are you heading to? Today is Sunday, you don't have to go to school."

I smiled bitterly, "Don't worry about me, Mom. I'll be fine. I know that there's no school, and that's not where I'm heading to."

"Then where are you heading to?" my Mom asked. "Last night, you were crying a lot, and you seemed to have been through something. It seems you were not in the mood to talk, but you need to tell me about it now. "

"I know Mom, I'll talk about it when I get back. Please, there's just something I need to do," I said to her.

"Alright then, take care," she said.

After speaking to my mum, I left. My Dad had gone out that morning, and I knew that he was very surprised about everything that had happened. I wouldn't be surprised if he had tried to find out the guy I was dating.

Yes, if there was one thing my dad couldn't bear, it was seeing my mum and me in tears. I was going to tell them the truth because now there was no need to hide it anymore.

I arrived at Aiden's house and knocked on the door. When he came out and saw me, he smiled. "Wow Ella, you're here."

I shook my head and asked, "Why Aiden? Why did you destroy my happiness?"

"What are you talking about?" he asked.

I scoffed, "Are you for real? Last night when you told Nova everything and even added more, didn't you know what you were doing? And now you're asking me what is wrong?"

Aiden shrugged. "I'm sorry, I don't really recall what happened. Yes, Nova and I went out. I had so much to drink, and apparently, I passed out or something. I can't recall. Someone took me back home because the rain fell on me. As I'm speaking to you, I don't feel very well. I think I'm sick."

"To hell with you, Aiden," I screamed as tears threatened to pour out of my eyes.

Aiden stared at me in surprise as I had never spoken to him in that tone before.

"How could you, Aiden? How could you do this to me? You told Nova that you're in love with me. How could you be in love with me, and I would not know?"

Aiden stared at me in surprise. "How did you find out about-"

"Shut the hell up!" I yelled again. "Do you know, Aiden, I regarded you as my own, my best friend, and I shared everything with you? You knew how much Lucas meant to me. I told you from the very beginning.

Yes, I sent you to Nova, but for what purpose? I only asked you to find out about Lucas. I only asked you to be friends with her, to be a connecting bridge between us so I could be friends with her. I never asked you to date Nova.

Even when I became suspicious that something was going on between the both of you, I asked you so many times, and yet you refused to tell me. You wouldn't tell me, no matter how I asked.

Why? Why didn't you tell me that you were dating Nova? More importantly, why did you date Nova when you knew you were not in love with her? Why did you deceive her?

Why did you make her feel that you had feelings for her when you did not? Do you know that I lost Lucas because of you? Because I trusted you!"

"I'm so sorry," Aiden said. "Listen, I'm sorry I didn't tell you about my feelings for you. You've always been so driven and focused on your academics. You never had an interest in a romantic relationship or a guy, so I kept quiet about my feelings, and I planned to tell you once we graduated.

I thought that you wouldn't want to be in a romantic relationship until after school. I was the closest guy to you, and that was okay for me for the time being. But then Lucas happened. When you sent me to get close to Nova and I heard about Lucas, I thought it wouldn't work out between the both of you.

So, I gave you all the support because I was hoping that if it didn't work out, I would still be there to comfort you and eventually tell you about my feelings. The only reason why I didn't tell you was that I was waiting for the right time.

After hearing that you and Lucas were dating and in love, I was broken. My heart was in so much pain that I couldn't take it. I'm so sorry, Ella.

I didn't mean to do what I did. And as for Nova, I really like her - I like her as a friend. But then when she confessed her feelings to me and I couldn't say no. I was afraid of how hurt she would feel if I turned her down. I'm sorry, Ella. I'm really sorry."

"No, I refuse to accept your apology," I said before turning my back and walking away.