Scion University

[ Chapter 33 - Reconciled ]

CHAPTER 33 - RECONCILED

R. 18: Read at your own risk.

~>.<~

My lips went dry.

"I-"

My mind went haywire. In just a second, thousands of thoughts ran through my head. We wanted to talk about the same topic, I was prepared for that topic, and yet here I was speechless. I couldn't even move.

"Vandia, I... I know it is too late to tell you my side of the story but before I do, tell me why, why didn't you give me a chance?" Ace paused and gave me a bleak look which sent a pang of pain in my chest. I felt regret. I let the silence hang in the air for a few more seconds before finally responding.

"Ace, I was mad. Anger got the best of me. I was stuck in the thinking that you left me when I needed you the most, I hated you, I hated your guts," I halted to take in a breath.

"I needed you Ace, I wanted your assurance, I wanted your comfort but all I got was a coward, someone who wanted to back off, someone-"

"Accepting reality is an act of bravery," he stated.

"Your life was on the line. Letting you die, risking your life, only then will I feel like a coward. Vandia, breaking up with you was the toughest thing I ever had to do. It wasn't the fucking scar I got from my mom, it wasn't my dad's whips, it wasn't the torture I had gone through in my first year in Beta. Vandia, it was breaking up with you, but I did it anyway. I did it because I knew it was the only way I could protect you," he stared deeply in my eyes.

"Now call me a coward for doing the hardest thing I ever had to do."

His hands were clasping one another and the veins in his arms were very apparent, he gulped, making his Adam's apple move. He looked very stiff with how he was sitting. It made me guilty, more than ever.

I knew he wanted to protect me all along, I knew that, but my stubborn head kept denying it. I was so caught up in the idea that I could have protected myself but looking back now maybe I really was the childish one.

"I know, I told you it was my family and Joey's life that I could not risk but it really was yours. I knew how stubborn you were, you were going to tell me that it would be alright and that you would take care of yourself and that we should push on the case. Tell me if I'm wrong," he paused and I couldn't respond because he was right.

"I expected that and believe me when I say that I wanted to work with you. I wanted to overthrow Mr. Macklet together, you and me, but at the same time I knew we wouldn't be able to do anything," he paused again, scanning me, waiting for a response but I remained quiet.

"Vandia, we were still so young back then, what could we have possibly done? If we had pushed the case back then, both of us would have probably ended up dead. I knew I had the money and the connection but was that really enough to overthrow Scion, to send Mr. Macklet to jail, to protect the person I love?" he highlighted every question.