Don't - Mark Tuan Fanfic (Third Book for 'Can't')

16 - More Betrayal?

My breathing becomes irregular when I hear the voice of the boy at the other line. It's becoming harder and harder to breathe.

"Cris? Is this you?"

I still can't answer. I still can't believe it. I suddenly hope that I'm still high and that I'm just hallucinating.

"YAH! BRAT!" The boy on the other line says, clearly annoyed. "What? Where are you? Why aren't you answering? Where the heck are you?"

Shouldn't he think I'm back in LA?

It's all coming together. All those times he has watched over me. All those coincidences he'd be at my apartment when I open my eyes from a very bad dream and Mark wasn't around. He was there. He was always there.

Those nights when I've had too much of the pills ... he was there. I thought he didn't know about that. But, thinking of it now, he did. He did know and he was making sure I was taking them.

But, why?

Wasn't it a coincidence meeting him then? Was it all planned?

But, that's impossible. He's become close to my mom ...

Shit. My mom.

Of course.

If there is one other person who would know my mom's daily routine, it would be him. He would know when my mom wouldn't be guarded.

"Z...Zu...Zuho...." I finally manage to say his name. My voice shaking.

"Hey." His voice becomes softer, as if worried. "Are you ok? Tell me where you are. I'll go there." I hear his footsteps going faster and a door opening and closing. Aside from that, I hear another person with him, whispering. I couldn't hear what he or she is saying though.

He knows I'm still here ... He knows I didn't take the plane to LA. What else does he know?

"Cris." He calls my name when I don't answer. "Who are you with? Damn it!"

I slowly put the phone down after hanging up. My tears coming down once again. Is there really no one I could trust?

"Who was that?"

How could he do this to me?

My memories of Lara come rushing to me. Of how beautiful our friendship was ... or so I thought. I remember now how she threw that friendship aside and went for her greed. All those years of depending on her, confiding my deepest secrets, those years of pure, innocent, trust ... She threw them all.

I stare at her father in front of me, tears unstoppable as I see the marks on his face. The marks that show and prove how ruthless his daughter had become.

I now remember how handsome he used to be the first time I saw him enter my house with a scared, little girl holding onto his hand.

And now this?

It's still very clear in my memory the first time I met Zuho. It's like it just happened yesterday. He was one I always depended on since Trey wasn't there anymore.

Trey!

"I wanna go home, Uncle Ed." I sob, going on my knees as I cry on my hands. "I wanna go home."

"Ssshhh..." He rubs my back. "There now, Cris. I'm taking you home. Don't you worry now." He forgets about his bleeding arm and kneels on the floor with me. "We just need to get Mark first. Where is he?"

Mark! SHIT! My sobs automatically stop and I look up at him.

"I was trying to contact him through the number your dad gave me, but I couldn't. Were you with him?" He asks.