Chapter 55

**Kapittel 55**

**"You're supposed to be** upset and be mad! You're supposed to break this engagement with me and not say those things!" she seethed through her cries. She balled her hands into knuckles, feeling so pained, so burdened. So he wasn't planning on letting her go all this time. She couldn't believe that all of this was happening. Everything felt so surreal, like a hazy dream. Allison raised her cold, trembling hands on her face and cried. All the guilt. All the burden. She just wanted everything to stop. Heck, she should have stopped it since the beginning!

"Please break up with me. Please!" she angrily said to the broken man, who did nothing but watch her cry in frustration. "I don't want to get married yet, and we don't have feelings for each other, right?! So why do you want to keep this engagement!" she asked as she was about to smack Hades' chest, but her breathing hitched when he held her by her shoulders to restrain her and said the words that she never expected him to say, "Because I love you!"

Her jaw fell on the floor, and her mind went black. What did he just say? "Wh... at?" she couldn't register what he said just now.

Allison's heart started beating rapidly when she felt his big, warm hands cup her small face. She unconsciously bit her lower lip as she bore her eyes on his, staring at her lovingly like she's the most important person in his world. She couldn't help but wonder. Her breathing hitched, and she felt her stomach tied into knots when he said with his most tender voice, "Allison, my baby, I love you."

In an instant, her mind started panicking along with her heart that was beating rapidly more than ever. He just confessed to her! He just said that he loves her!

"No, we're done. If you're not breaking up this engagement, then I am," she said and immediately thought of what should she do next. Run, said her panicking mind, and she did. She ran away without caring if people would gawk at her and think of her as a runaway bride. She ran away, leaving Hades deadpanned and heartbroken.

Allison pressed the elevator's button that led to her penthouse with a cold, shuddering index finger. The abode that she used to live along with Brent, her childhood best friend. She gave off a sigh and closed her eyes before slumping her back on the cold wall of the elevator. Within a dash, the scenario of what happened earlier flashed before her mind.

It caused her heart to lurch. The pain was coming back again. Even though she had already declared the end of their faux engagement, she still felt burdened with everything. That scene happened too fast, and she wasn't thinking straight. She was too livid to make a logical move when he told her that he didn't care if she had his child or not. He would still marry her.

She fluttered her eyelids open, and a blurry vision of a woman who was wearing an ethereal white wedding gown right welcomed her sight. She stared at the blurry figure, scrutinizing it from head to toe. She heaved another sigh. This was such an unanticipated day. She never thought that her life would lead to something like this. Her head shot up when she heard the elevator make a small ring, and the doors opened. Her eyes widened in surprise when she saw a person before her, waiting for her arrival.

"Dawson," she muttered through her hitched breath as a tear fell from her right eye. It had been weeks ever since she saw her best friend's face.

"Hey there, hun," said Brent with his arms flailing wide open, waiting for her to lunge at him.

Allison did not hesitate any further, and she immediately stepped out of the elevator with only a pace and assailed him with a tight bear hug.

"Woah!" she heard her best friend grunt, but she neither cared nor pulled away, and instead, she embraced him tighter and buried her face that was wet of dry tears. She missed this guy so much.

'I'm here. I'm home,' she thought that rendered her to cry once again but in sadness or grief, but euphoria and relief. She's finally back. She's finally home. It used to be a feeling that she normalized back whenever she went home after hours of studying in the university's library but now, it felt so unreal. It was the feeling that she had been longing for so long, and she didn't realize it.

"I missed you..." she trailed off with a raspy voice. How she missed being with the guy hugging her right now.

She felt him pat her back softly, giving her solace. "I missed you too... Ally."

Allison cried harder. Her heart lurched in pain and nostalgia. It had been a long time since she heard her childhood best friend call her Ally. It sounded so comforting, so... relieving. It was like an old song she missed listening to. Out of the blue, a memory flashed in her mind. The reason why she ended up being engaged with Hades. The reason why her life turned upside down: it was to hide Rebecca and her child's whereabouts and presence from Brent. To keep her promise sealed. But seemed that it was now time to tell the truth. It was now time to stop this damned madness.

'I'm sorry, Rebecca,' she mentally thought before sniffing while gripping on her best friend's shirt, earning the courage to unveil her secret. "Dawson?"

"Hmm?" she heard him hum softly like a tiny feather in the quilt. Even it sounded so nostalgic that she wanted to hear it again.

"I... I need to tell you something..." she stammered, taking deep, slow breaths as if preparing herself.

'I can do this. I can do this,' she encouraged herself mentally, but her encouragement only did the opposite. Allison's grip on his shirt grew tighter as her breathing began getting ragged, along with her tears that were starting to flow even more. The guilt deep in her heart couldn't take it. She had only two choices: to tell Brent the truth or to keep the secret. Different options but with only similar destinations, and that was mistrust.

"That I got Rebecca pregnant?"

She gasped audibly. She raised her head to meet his knowing eyes and asked with her throat dry. "H... How did you..."

He stared at her for a moment like he knew what was running in her mind, then chuckled. He leaned down to her and kissed her forehead before spinning around along with her. "Brent!" she shrieked in surprise because of his sudden action. But what surprised her more was the people before her and him.

It was Rebecca and Johnsy!

She rooted was in her place, staring at her two friends sitting on the couch who staring at her back. She felt a lump on her dry throat as her hands went cold and sweaty. She gulped. Tears then began forming in her eyes. She opened her mouth and tried to say something, but her voice was choked deep in her throat. She didn't know what to feel. She couldn't even name what she was feeling right now. A mixture of warm relief, nostalgia, and love rendered the pain, anger, and betrayal begone.

"R... Rebecca... Johnsy..." she called her friends' names with her voice broken and thick.

Before she knew it, her friends stood up and hastily assailed her in their arms. Their warm gesture rendered her cries to go harder. She couldn't believe it. She couldn't believe that this was happening. "God, Allison, I'm so sorry for bringing you into this mess," she heard Rebecca apologize with a small, cracking voice.

She held her pregnant friend's shoulder that was insanely quivering, soothing the latter with just a soft touch. "No. It's okay, Rebecca. It was my decision."

"But still!" the latter cried harder.

"Shh," she hushed the latter, trying to soothe with all the best she could despite herself being broken.

"I'm sorry if I wasn't there for you two," she heard Johnsy apologize with her tears flowing down to her cheeks. "I wasn't a good friend enough for you guys."

Tears were shed. Emotions were poured. Hugs were reciprocated. Apologies were accepted. Everyone inside the penthouse was full of unsaid feelings but expressed with nothing but tears and embrace. But despite all of them, there was only one thing in Allison's mind, she was home. She was finally home.