I feel like we’ve gone back to the year 2003, when we first met and got to know each other. I don’t know why the man suddenly changed his style. At least, when he was serious like when we were at the cemetery, I had no trouble talking to him.
But when he acted like a high school bully, I found it hard to control my feelings. The situation was familiar… and it made me feel young again!
“When the rain stops, you should leave.” I shooed him away again while we were eating chocolate porridge.
One of his conditions was that I cook him chocolate porridge in exchange for him stopping the rain so my dogs would behave.
“We’ll see,” he replied.
“What do you mean?” I glared at him while asking.
“If the rain stops. You’re heartless if you send me off to Stonewick like a wet chick.” He answered.
“And now I’m the heartless one between us? Maybe you forgot what you did to me!” Once again, Brent made me highblood. Because of his behavior, we were like best friends who just reunited and had no disagreement between us.
“Jamie, I can’t change the past, but I hope you’ll give me another chance to make you happy for the rest of our lives.”
He started to make moves to win me over again, hmmp, never!
“Indeed, you’re right. We can’t change the past; it happened already. I think it’s too unfair for me to be the only one still bound to the past, so I’m letting you go. I mean, I’ll let go of any feelings I have for you. From now on, I won’t waste my time thinking about you and all the mistakes you made with me. I’ll consider whatever happened before as a test given to me by God to reach what I have now.”
Why did I realize just now that I’ve been tormenting myself? Many people die because of excessive stress and overthinking.
“So, you forgive me then?” He asked.
“Do I have a choice, Brent? If I don’t forgive you, I won’t be able to start again, so I forgive you for all your wrongdoings. I won’t blame you anymore for why my father suffered a heart attack and died on our high school graduation day. I’ll also forget that before my mom passed away, she never forgave you for what happened to my dad. I won’t even bring up how difficult it was for me when I got pregnant and you disappeared. I’ll forget everything…”
After I said all that to him, I finally let my tears flow. I couldn’t stop myself from sobbing in front of him. He stood up, got bottled water from the refrigerator, and gave it to me.
“Stop crying, please. It hurts me to see you cry like that.” Brent said to me before hugging me tightly. I just let him, as I was too exhausted, and I didn’t have enough strength to push him away.
After a while, I broke free from his embrace. “I’m okay now,” I said to him as I looked outside to see if the rain had stopped.
“Jamie, I know I’ve done you a great wrong, so I understand why you did what you did.” He said.
I furrowed my brow at what he said. What did I do that he understands? But I didn’t ask him about it anymore.
“When I met Michelle, she mentioned what you did.” He added, further wrinkling my brow, especially when he mentioned Michelle’s name.
Wasn’t Michelle the one who talked to my father before and mentioned the pregnancy kit Kevin saw? That woman owed me something really big!
“When did you meet her, and what did she say?” I bombarded Brent with questions because I suddenly became interested in knowing what Michelle told him. Knowing that woman, I’m sure that she has nothing good to say about me!
“December 2004. I went home because I wanted to see you. You stopped answering my calls and didn’t reply to my text messages. Why?”
How could I reply when I immediately disposed of my sim card when I found out he had gone abroad? Can he blame me for what I did?
“Because I threw away my sim card and stopped using a cellphone after that.”
“I thought so, and that’s what you did, that’s why you didn’t reply to me. Anyway, I called Kevin to talk to you, but you didn’t want to talk to me, he said. I was so sad that time, and I wanted to go back home right away, but I couldn’t leave my mother. I found out that my father had another family a long time ago, but Mom didn’t tell me. I only learned everything when she got sick. She had no one that time. So, I left suddenly. I’m sorry.” He explained.
“How is your mother now?” I temporarily forgot my issue with him.
Would I still pretend to be nice when his mother was the reason he left Stonewick?
“She passed away last year. After all the medications, her body still couldn’t fight the cancer.”
“I’m sorry for your loss. But how were you able to go to America immediately when they are so strict with visas?” Even I got denied multiple times before.
“I was born there,” Brent answered.
“Really?”
He didn’t tell me about his dual citizenship. But wait, our conversation has gone on for quite a while, and he still hasn’t answered my initial question about what Michelle told him when they met.
“Going back to Michelle, what did she say about me when you saw her?”
“Maybe it’s better if I don’t tell you; it might ruin your mood again, and you’ll send me away?”
“Don’t fool me, Brent. Whether my mood gets ruined or not, you’ll still leave. Don’t tell me you plan on staying here? Have some shame! So, what did she say?” I inquired because something definitely seemed off. I felt that Michelle did something that I didn’t know.
“Jamie, if I hadn’t left back then, we probably would have a grown-up child by now.”
I was speechless at what Brent said. “Let’s not talk about that.” I told him.
My child’s fate hurt me every day. I lost that child before I could make her proud.
“When I found out about what happened, I was angry with you because I couldn’t believe you could do that. But in the end, I still understood you because being a mother is no easy task.”
“It’s good to know that.” I said to Brent after he spoke.
“A few months pregnant, you decided to have the child aborted. Until now, I still can’t believe you could do it.”