It's a Love-Hate relationship

CHAPTER 20: Do I have to wait for you to remove your hidden knife?

I begin to see black spots around my head after a few minutes of continuous bawling. I finally get a hold of myself and I attempt to breathe in and out to calm down. But it doesn't work as even though I've stopped crying out loud, the tears were still flowing freely. I close my eyes, trying my very best to forget Veronica's throat-strangling and heart-piercing words.

"Is this seat taken?" A deep voice breaks the silence around me, forcing me to look past the blurred view of my teary eyes. He sits down without waiting for my response but I surprisingly don't object to his strangely comforting presence.

"You okay?" I look at him and I think he gets the idea of my overly dejected state considering the guilty look that appears on his face with a five o'clock shadow. His grey eyes had an undecipherable emotion – something mysterious – that intrigued me to wonder why he was here.

"What are you doing here?" I wipe my tears, my eyes moving everywhere due to the embarrassment of being caught crying. Caleb stays mum before letting out a quiet sigh.

"I'm sorry," Those two bizarre words arise a whirlwind in my mind as my brain wheels spare no effort in analyzing those simple yet intricate words.

"For what?" I cross my arms over my chest, trying to act neutrally when I can't and also because I was kind of shivering from the cold breeze in the park.

"For the mess I put you in," No matter how much I want to stand up and scream at him, blaming him for Veronica's questionable deeds, I don't know why I can't bring myself to it. For a fact I do know that Veronica did what she did due to her unstable mind and obnoxious thoughts – it really wasn't sane for me to blame Caleb for it.

I stay quiet for a while before speaking.

"It's not your fault. Veronica..." I close my mouth as I sensed more tears threatening to spill. I shut them tight in order to not embarrass myself more in front of him.

"That's why I'm here actually," I look at him with a questioning look and wait for him to continue, "Veronica actually planned this party to...uhh...harass you." Even though I had a gut feeling this was the case, I don't fail to widen my eyes in surprise.

"What?"

"Yeah. It's true. I didn't know anything about it, trust me. When I arrived at the party, she was all over me and- "He stops, realizing the words weren't appropriate at the moment, and I roll my eyes.

"Anyway...after that, I wanted to tell her what I feel. I have no feelings for her..." He looks at me awkwardly, no doubt wondering why on earth he was telling me this. I nod and signal him to go on.

"But I overheard her talking to... those two girls she's always with. Whatever their names are. They were planning on humiliating you so much that you wouldn't even bat an eyelash at them."

I'll bat their heads in when I'm out of here, that I know.

"I knew it Veronica was up to something fishy so I continued eavesdropping her conversation with that Coleman guy. That's why I even came to... came to see if you were okay in the hallway." I grit my teeth in anger, thinking about murdering Veronica.

Literally.

"I didn't know she would go as far as your family life..." By now he was standing, his gaze intently fixed on me, possibly looking for a reaction. I sigh and stand as well.

"That was a lot to process." I shake my head, still looking down, "But thank you for at least trying to help. Vicious Veronica did what she wanted to do- "I stop speaking and look at Caleb with wide eyes. Did I just utter the nonsense nickname I came up with for that bitch, in front of Caleb that too?