Nick immediately sprang in front of me, his stance protective and unyielding.
"Stay behind me, Ava," .
"It's me, Ava!" a male voice called out urgently.
I turned, but not a single memory of this man surfaced in my mind.
He seemed to have been searching for me for ages.
Despite his disheveled state, his eyes were alight with the joy of finding me again.
"I finally found you! I have so much to tell you. I was wrong before. Do you have a moment? Please, let's talk," Frank pleaded, stretching out his hand, eager to take mine.
Behind him, a girl stood, her expression a mask of irritation.
I sidestepped, narrowly avoiding his grasp, and took a step back."I'm sorry, but I don't know you. There's nothing to talk about," I said coldly.
Only then did he seem to realize something was amiss.
"You... what's wrong with you? I'm Frank!" he exclaimed, his voice rising in panic.
"Ava, are you still angry with me? I was wrong that night, but I tried to stop it later. Please, give me a chance to explain," he begged.
Behind him, Alice couldn't hold back any longer."Ava, stop acting! You thought you were so tough back then, always making people apologize to you. Now that my brother is groveling at your feet, you must be loving it! Enough already." she spat out, her words laced with venom.
Frank whipped around, his face contorted with anger.
"Shut up!" he roared at Alice.
Alice bit her lip, her eyes flashing with suppressed fury, but she remained silent.
Frank turned his attention back to me, his gaze intense.
"Ava, please. Just give me a chance to talk. We need to clear things up," I stared at him for a long moment, my expression unreadable.
Finally, I shook my head
."There's nothing left to say between us. I don't know you at all." I replied coldly.
On the way home, Nick stole several glances at me, his mouth opening as if to speak, only to close again.
I noticed his unease and raised an eyebrow."Spit it out, Nick. What's on your mind?" Nick sighed, his shoulders slumping."Alright. I have to know. When did you get your memories back? Or... were you never really loose your memory at all?" he asked, his eyes searching mine for answers.
I offered him a small smile.
"I did lose my memories, but my parents helped me piece them back together during their subtle tests. I didn't mention it because I didn't want to worry anyone. So, you have to keep this a secret, okay?" Nick returned my smile, a glint of understanding in his eyes."Of course, Ava. Your secret's safe with me," The appearance of Rank was quickly brushed aside as a minor distraction, a fleeting moment that I promptly relegated to the back of my mind.
Little did I anticipate that Frank would turn into such a relentless pursuer.
Wherever Nick and I went, Frank seemed to lurk in the shadows.
When we headed to the company, he trailed us at a distance.
If our destination was the mall, he would loiter at the entrance, waiting like a predator stalking its prey.
There were countless instances when I found myself questioning whether this was truly the same Frank. The one I remembered would never have deigned to follow me around like a lost puppy.
Finally, during one fateful encounter, his patience wore thin.
"Ava, is this because of him?" he growled, jabbing his finger in Nick's direction.
I couldn't help but laugh at the absurdity of the situation.
"Frank, have you lost your mind? When will you stop this nonsense?""Even without Nick, I would never look at you with kindness again. Do you really have no idea what you've done to me?""What have I done? If you hadn't humiliated Alice, I would have never taken you to that wretched party! And I told those fools not to go too far. I even stepped in to stop them in the end!""So what?!" I interrupted him, my voice rising to a near - scream."Should I be grateful to you? Thank you profusely for all the pain and humiliation you've caused me?!"
Frank's face contorted in desperation, his voice a jumbled mess.
"Dammit, Ava! You can't just walk away! I need to talk to you. This can't be the end!" I let out a scornful, bitter laugh that echoed through the air.
"What else could there be? More of your sick games with that wretched foster - sister of yours? Endure more of the hell you two put me through?" Frank knew damn well who was behind those blasted videos.
His shoulders sagged.
"I didn't know at first, okay? But when I found out, I tried to make it right. That's why I dragged Alice along to apologize!""Your apology means nothing to me!" I snarled, cutting him off mid - sentence.
I whirled around, determined to get away from this nightmare, but Frank wasn't having it.
He lunged forward, his hand clamping down on my arm like a vice.
Nick, his werewolf hackles fully raised, a menacing growl rumbling in his chest, charged forward.
"Let her go, you son of a bitch!" But I shot out my hand, halting Nick in his tracks.
"Alice is my adopted sister. As her brother, it's my duty to take care of her." So he spoiled Alice rotten-whatever she wanted, she got.
But this indulgence wasn't just simple brotherly affection.
The only reason he never crossed that line was because Frank could never shake the weight of their sibling label.
"But I swear, after getting together with you, I only ever saw her as a sister!""And what you did at the hospital that day-that was too far! You're supposed to be Alice's future sister-in-law, yet the first time you met, you forced her to apologize, made her cry. How could you humiliate her like that?""Alice is stubborn and sensitive-if she doesn't get payback, she'll make herself sick with anger. As for that leaked video... Yes, what she did was wrong. But your parents had it taken down, and Alice was punished. Isn't that enough? Ava, please... just stop this, okay?" He reached for me, expecting me to take his hand like I had a thousand times before.
"That day... when you left... I-I completely lost it." His gaze dropped, as if the memory alone was too painful to face.
Turns out, when Frank realized I hadn't actually forgotten about the party.
He trashed the hospital room-smashed everything in sight. Then he stormed back to our apartment and destroyed whatever was left.
When he couldn't find me, he obsessively called-over and over.
I turned off my phone, so he hunted through my records, tracking my location like a madman.
When he traced the signal back to the hospital, he ripped apart the room, digging through piles of tissues until he found the phone I'd thrown away.
And when he unlocked it-
Those vile, disgusting messages stared back at him.
I regret it-God, I regret everything. I'm sorry. I'm so fucking sorry."*
His voice cracked, hands shaking like a man on the edge of ruin.
His plan had been simple-just a little punishment, just enough to make Alice happy. He swore he would've stopped it before things went too far.
"I never thought-never fucking imagined-those videos would get out!"*
"I was a monster! Ava, please-just give me one chance to fix this! I'll make her apologize, I'll make her grovel. I'll send her so far away you'll never have to see her again! Just-just don't leave me like this!" His eyes burned with desperation, raw and wild.
"Frank, after everything, can you at least be honest for once?""Anything else you want to say? No? Then get out. And never let me see your disgusting face again." Frank's hands trembled violently, his eyes wide with shock, with horror-as if he couldn't believe I knew.
"I-Ava, I'm sorry, I didn't-" I stood, cutting him off with a single glance.
I walked away, leaving behind the shattered remains of whatever we once had.
And for three years, I never saw Frank again.
Until the news broke.
He burned it all down.*
Our old home. Every memory. Every lie.
And Alice with it.
A final act of madness-or perhaps the only truth he had left.