CHAPTER 33

MELISSA QUIZON

"Melissa, what's happening to you?" Wright asked calmly while holding an umbrella.

I sighed. "I'm done. I'm so fed up."

His forehead furrowed. "What do you mean?"

"I'm tired of loving, Wright," I said inanimately.

Please, make me numb. I could no longer take the pain.

I snuggled into his warm arms. He didn't care if my clothes were wet. I felt his breath in my ear. "Don't say that. Please, baby."

I closed my eyes. I could no longer feel the cold caused by the rain when he hugged me. "I wish I couldn't feel a damn thing." I weakly pushed him. I forced myself to look at him even though my eyes were blurring with tears. "I wish I hadn't loved you before. I wish I had just followed Grandma's advice to me. I wish I hadn't met you again. I'm such a fool."

"Melissa, you're not stupid. I'm just an asshole."

"I'm a fool. Because I wish that you loved me. I'm a fool because out of everything I could have given you, I chose my virginity."

"Melissa—"

"It's my fault I'm a fool, right? You said that before. And I agreed to it, eh. I am a fool," I said. "Wright, I'm hurting. So much. I already told you how much, didn't I? Because at that time, I made my world revolve around you. I didn't listen to everyone. And I did it because I loved you so damn much, and I didn't want to lose you. But—Wright, were you blind? Because you didn't see everything I did for you, and you just left me. And now, someone understands me. He didn't neglect me. He helped me stand on my own feet. But because of you, he left me. Because he thought I'd be happier with you."

Eugene didn't have to leave. Why did he decide for me? I knew I was selfish, but I also knew what was best for me.

"Melissa, I love you so much. You know I'll do anything just to make you happy with me. You don't need any other man. I'm here. I won't leave you; I promise," Wright struggled to say. He held my hand and placed it on his lips.

"Stop asking me to trust you, Wright, when I'm still coughing up water from the last time you let me drown."

"I came back to correct my mistakes. It's not too late, right? Mel? It's not, right?" He cupped my left cheek. "I'm ready to accept your punishment, Melissa. Just give me a chance."

I shook my head and removed his hand from my cheek. I saw his shoulders drop. "A chance to break my heart again?"

He cleared his throat a few times, but he couldn't stop his tears. "No. To bring the pieces back to their place, Melissa. Let me love you again. Don't leave me. Don't break me, baby. I'm begging. baby, please, I'm afraid of losing you! "

"I'm done with us! Don't you understand me!" I shouted.

"Mel, don't do this, please. I know you still love me."

My palm flew to his cheek. I didn't feel the pain from my hand slapping Wright. "'I love you?' Are you kidding? You're not even a loss in my life, Wright."

"That's not true. You're just hurting. That's why you're saying that—"

"You're right. I'm hurt, but you're wrong when you say that I still love you. Can't you see? I'm dismissing you from my life! Because you don't matter to me anymore!"

He dropped the umbrella and hugged me tightly. I couldn't make him let go even if I pushed him hard.

"No matter what hurtful words you say to me, I won't give up loving you, Melissa," he sobbed. "I'm not a coward like I used to be."

I felt the pain in every word of his. "You're not needed! I don't need you! You're just a nuisance in my life—in Reid's life!"

He turned me to him. Like me, he was already wet from the rain. "What else is missing, Mel? What else do I need to do? Can't you forgive me?" I shook my head. "I won't hurt you anymore, Melissa. I have learned. We can forget the past. It won't happen again."

"Easy to say. Hard to believe."

"What else do you want? I'll give it to you. Please. Just take me back again. I'm begging you. Please."

I stared at him. "Let me go."

He gasped. He couldn't believe what I said. "No. Not that. Melissa, letting you go means killing myself. Please. You'll take away the air that I breathe. Please. Anything other than that."

"Let me go," I repeated.

He knelt, regardless of the mud that splattered across his pants. He grabbed my hands and repeatedly shook his head. "I don't want to. I don't want to. I can't. I'm begging, baby. Don't do this to me. Don't do this to us. Don't, please. "He looked up at me. I stared at him. Blank. Emotionless. I took pity away from my heart. I became a stone. A cold one. "You want me to kiss your feet? You want me to worship you? I'll treat you like a queen. I'll give you everything. Just, please, don't ask me to let you go. I can't. Not like this, Melissa. "

"Your love will only complicate everything," I whispered.

Wright hugged my waist and buried his face in my stomach. "Please, baby, don't tear me up. Please."

"Let me go, Wright." I pushed him.

When I got away from him, I immediately turned my back on him. Even before I could go far, his arms stopped me.

Wright, please. Stop already.

It was time to love myself more.

"Melissa, please. Don't ask me to stop loving you. I can't. The only way for me to stop loving you is for me to be six feet underground," Wright said.

"Wright, please—"

His hands trembled as he touched my face. I felt him caress me very carefully. "Melissa, I'm begging you. For our son. Give me a chance. I won't screw up this time."

"Reid is a smart kid. He will understand why we can't be together, Wright."

"Please, Melissa. Don't be so selfish. Reid needs me, too."

I knew. "I can't change that, Wright. I'm not denying you from being Reid's father. I just want you to let me go. Stop clipping my wings, Wright."

He closed his eyes for a long time. I didn't know what he was thinking. When he opened his eyes, my heart skipped a beat. There were mixed emotions in his eyes.

Sorrow.

Fatigue.

Pain.

Suffering.

Grief.

"If I let you go will, you be happy?"

"Yes." I could live. This was what I wanted. Anything heavy lightens once you let it go.

"Is this really what you want? To be left alone?"

I was not alone. "I have Reid. He's my everything."

"But I can be your everything, too."

"I've had enough, Wright."

He pulled me closer to him, and he leaned my head on his chest. I heard the strong beating of his heart. I bit my lower lip to stop it from trembling. He took a deep breath.

"I will…let you go. Not because I want to, but because you want me to. I'll let you go so I can't crush your heart, even it means taking away my right to live." Abundant tears welled up in my eyes as his lips touched my forehead. "Baby, I want you to know that it burns my heart seeing you love someone else. Someone who isn't me. You're the best thing that's ever happened to me, baby. I love you."