𝐁𝐄𝐘𝐎𝐍𝐃 | 𝐃. 𝐃𝐢𝐕𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐳𝐨 |

022

SERENITY PAYTON

"Hello?"

"Hey, Rin..."

"Jaren, hey," I said. Hazel and Aeysha's eyes got wide hearing the mention of Jaren's name. "How are you?"

"Uh, I'm good," he said with a chuckle. "But, look, I was wondering if you and I could meet up and talk things out because I feel like we let a lot of shit go unsaid."

I nodded and sat on the edge of my desk, balancing the phone between my shoulder and my ear. "I actually agree with that...when do you want to meet up? Are you gonna be in The Bay any time soon?"

"I'm actually here now...uhm, are you at work? Because I could come there if that's okay with you?" he suggested.

"Actually, that's perfect." I told him.

"Cool. I'll uh...be there in 10-15 minutes.." He said.

"Okay, cool."

Jaren and I said our goodbyes and hung up the phone. The moment that I set the phone down, I looked up and saw Hazel and Ayesha giving me skeptical looks, and I just knew that they were wondering what in the world Jaren was doing calling my phone.

I know that it looks odd for me to accept talking with my ex-boyfriend, especially given the way the two of us ended, but, Jaren was right; we both had a lot of things that had gone unsaid, that needed to be said. And I know that it seemed as if that I was doing this just for Jaren to get things off of his chest, but in reality, I needed this too.

People just assume that it was easy for me to leave Jaren, when in reality, it wasn't. It hurts seeing someone that you love be hurt, and it hurts even more knowing that you're the one that caused the hurt over and over again.

Jaden deserved answers and more apologies from me than I could count on one hand. Yes, he did some things that were wrong, but if anything, I did the most damage.

Why?

Because I led him on, knowing that he genuinely was in love with me, and knowing that I didn't have that same feeling towards him, so if anything, I was the one who was mostly at fault.

Even if people didn't see or understand it...

"Why in fucks sake, was Jaren Jackson calling you?" Hazel asked, taking a step towards me. "I thought you had cut ties with him."

"I did," I explained. "Sometimes he calls to talk to Landon."

Hazel crossed her arms. "And Donte's okay with that?"

"Yes."

"So what did he call for?" Ayesha asked.
"He's coming up here so we can talk about things." I replied.

Hazel raised her eyebrow and leaned forward. "Things? What are things? Stop being so damn vague."

"We're going to be talking about what happened between he and I. Damn, you happy now?" I snapped, getting annoyed.

Hazel scrunched up her face. "Why and the hell would you go and do that? What the fuck, Serenity. How would Donte feel—."

"This is not about Donte, and not everything in my life is about Donte, Hazel." I said, cutting her off, looking her dead in her eyes. "This isn't about Donte. This isn't about Landon. This isn't about Jaren. This is about me doing something that he damn sure deserves—."

"That he deserves," Hazel exclaimed. "Girl what the actual hell! Jaren humiliated you, embarrassed you, picked unnecessary fights with—."

"Hazel, I led this man on for damn near a year and some change all because I was too damn afraid to own up to the fact that I wanted Donte back! I constantly sucked up to Donte around him blatantly in front of his face and tried to play the victim card!