NOT GIVING UP ON FOREVER

Chapter 67

"Anna..." he muttered, shaking his head as if he could not believe it. "I'm speechless. What for? Why, Anna??"

"I... I don't know."

"Do you love him?"

"No, I..."

"Then why did you do that? Why are you with him, Anna? Teo's a dangerous guy. He's a terrible person, Anna. You know nothing about him."

Anticipating the conversation, Anna decided that she would lose in covering what Teo had said about their mutual aversion and how she was on his side anyway. So she decided that they should ask for the bill because it was too late.

When they had paid, they went out into the street and stopped. Anna looked at Randall. There was no pain in his face, only a kind of disappointment.

"He'll pick you up?" he asked coldly.

"Yes," Anna replied. "Teo asked you to call him when we're done..."

"... sorting things out," he finished her sentence sadly. "Anna, don't go back to him. Call him and tell that you're not coming back."

"What? Randall, are you out of your mind? I have everything in Teo's house. Why shouldn't I come back? Where should I be?"

"You will stay in my place. I'll pick you up. Don't go back to him, Anna. He's a bad man, and he's deceiving you."

"In what way is he deceiving me, Randall? In all the time I've known Teo, he's never lied to me. He treats me well, and he loves me!"

"Loves you!? Teo never loved anyone. He is an unfeeling machine, focused only on making money!"

It seemed that this conversation would not be avoided after all.

"Randall, enough. I don't think so, and I don't want to discuss Teo behind his back."

"What did he tell you? That I'm bad, and he's the good one? Right?"

"He didn't say that."

"What did he tell you?"

"That you abhorred him after you lost a music contest, and your girlfriend ran over to him."

Randall snorted.

"Ran over? He forced her! He needs to get his hands on everything that should belong to me!"

"Randall, you're being immature."

"Really? Did he mention how he drugged Liz, how she ended up in the hospital? How he never even visited her and never even talked to her again?"

"I don't know the details of the story. It's all unfortunate, and I honestly don't want to go into all this."

"How can you say that? How can you be around a man like that, knowing what he's done to my life?"

"What do you want me to do, Randall?"

"I want you to take your things and leave him once and for all."

"Why would I do that?"

Anna waited for him to say that her relationship with Teo was a mistake, that Randall knew he loved her, that he wanted to start over. She prayed he would say something like that.

"Because Teo's a bird of bad omen, and I fret about you, Anna. I'll call him right now and tell him to return your things because you're not going back to this villa." With a quick movement of his free hand, Randall pulled the phone out of his pocket to dial Teo's number.

"Randall, don't be presumptuous! Don't call him," she swallowed, realizing that her forlorn hope had vanished. "I'm going to Teo's."

"Anna!" shouted Randall in rage. "Why are you doing this?! You want to hurt me by being with a man I hate for everything he's done to me in my life! He took the life that was meant for me. He's not the one who should be flinging money in all directions. I am! Lizzie wasn't supposed to be with him. She was supposed to be with me!"

The phone rang. It was Teo. Randall passed it to Anna, and she answered. He asked if he and Randall had finished their "date" because he was passing the station and wanted to take her home.

"Yes, we're done," Anna mumbled, trying to calm down. "I'm ready to go home."

There was so much pain on Randall's face at that moment that Anna's heart sank. But she realized that his pain had nothing to do with her, that it was not his feelings for her that hurt him, but because, despite his pleas, she was going with Teo, and that was the only thing that hurt him.

"I'll walk you out!" Randall barked, turning toward the station.