SEBASTIAN

"What are you doing here?" He asked bluntly.

She didn't flinch, she was used to the straightforward attitude, but as soon as the words left his mouth he regretted it.

This was no way to treat her.

Hope Daniels.

The only person he had called friend, till things fell apart.

"Good to see you too Jason, I've missed you," she replied sarcastically.

"Don't be like that Hope, I've not seen you for years and now you just magically appear from thin air in my home?!" He explained.

Reminding her of that fact seemed to lessen the tension in the room a little bit. He could visibly see her shoulders relax, her facial features became softer too.

He could tell she was thinking back to what had ensued between them before it all went to flames.

"I'm sorry, I just couldn't stick around, not after you rejected me," she confessed.

For a moment they just stared at each other, memories flooding through. Her eyes were telling him to understand her, to see why she had to do that and as much as he wanted to, he just couldn't.

She left when he needed her the most. That was all he could think about. That was how he recalled the past.

He just lost his parents, he just discovered that someone he always trusted was just a lion waiting to pounce on his entire family, and then he had to lose his best friend.

He needed her by his side. She was the only one that he could talk to. They spent nights together, sometimes talking about just anything and other times they just stayed in silence and he loved every bit of it.

They were mischievous together, breaking rules and even sometimes turning into their werewolf form in uncharted territory. They ran together and experienced so much happiness.

In the end, all it took was a refusal for her to just let go, to throw all they had away.

She wanted to be more than friends, she wanted his heart, but he was still hurting and all he wanted was a friend, nothing more.

He didn't love her the way she wanted to be loved and he tried to let her know. He was gentle with the rejection, he tried to make her see reason with him, that he just didn't see her that way and he did not think that he ever could.

He was terrified to lose her but he lost her anyway, just like everyone in his life.

He was completely broken. She ran away from the pack and since then he had never laid eyes on her, until now.

Why was she here now?

"Well you chose to leave, nobody forced you," he said nonchalantly, as he walked towards the table to pour himself a drink.

"Don't tell me you're still holding a grudge!" She scoffed.

He was taken aback for a moment but he kept calm.

A grudge she said?

He finished pouring the drink and sat down and with his leg crossed he looked up at her.

She was not the same, she's not the Hope Daniels he knew.

How could she accuse him of holding a grudge! A grudge?! He held no grudges. He was just disappointed and in pain.

She messed with his head in ways she could not imagine. Probably she had no idea what she meant to him just because he didn't want a romantic relationship with her.

To be honest for a period he did hold a grudge, but the pure pain outweighed it. Then later he just had no expectations from her. He waited for a long time to see her face again.

Maybe it was just a prank, he thought.

However, days turned to weeks and weeks to months and months to years. After a couple of years, it finally dawned on him to stop wishing for what could never be. She was gone, just like that.

How could she accuse him of still holding a grudge?!

He didn't give her a reply but a look that spoke more than words. He showed her that she did not know half of what she did to him.

If he spoke at that moment he was afraid he would say something he could not take back and probably break whatever they still had beyond repair.

"I'm sorry Jason," she finally conceded.

He could see the sincerity in those words. Finally, the facade she was putting on was crumbling bit by bit. She was starting to look like the girl he once knew.

She had to live outside the pack for so long and he couldn't help but wonder if she was okay. How had she spent those years on her own?!

For a while, after she left, he blamed himself for what she did. If only he could just pretend for a while, maybe then he just might have prevented her from going.

If only he could lie to himself and her that he felt something more for her, maybe, just maybe things wouldn't have turned out the way they did.

Still, he had no idea she was going to run away. He didn't know that she could simply just go and live without him. They were a package, right? Or so he thought.

"I'm sorry too, Hope," he responded.

He was sorry he could not love her that way. He was sorry she had to go through whatever she went through just because of him, just because of love.

Life never went as planned, at least that was one thing he had discovered early on and he was sure she didn't plan to leave that way. Life just happened.

She was the spontaneous type after all. Always doing things before thinking about the repercussions. She always drove him crazy when she was around, but he loved her still.

"I know Jason, I know," she said softly.

However, there was still the issue of why she was here now? She was sitting down right now, they were a few feet apart but close enough.

He could sense a feeling of dread from her, he sensed it since he stepped into the house. He wanted to get to the point earlier on but they had to at least resolve the past. The tension in the room was too much to ignore.

Now though, he felt they had come to a place where they could at least be honest with each other. They still had so much to talk about, but right now he needed to know why she felt this way.

"What's going on, Hope? I know something's not right," He said.

She didn't look up after he asked her the question. She was probably having second thoughts saying whatever needed to be said. But it was important, else she wouldn't be here.

"He's back Jason."

She finally said, looking at him, staring into his soul and in an instant he knew whom she was referring to.

Over the years he had imagined when he would receive this information, how he would react to this particular news. Was he ready to face Sebastian?

"How do you know that?" He inquired.

"Because I was with him" she responded in an instant.

"What do you mean?!" He asked, absolutely confused.

"It's not what you think Jason," she started, but he had already stood up and created as much distance as he could between them.

What did she mean by that? What was she doing with him?

"Sit down Jason, I can explain," she said with anticipation.

"I can hear you just alright from here, Hope," he told her.

She let out a tired sigh. She was finding it difficult to speak but the least he could give her was a chance to explain herself. He wasn't sure if any explanation could exonerate her at this point but he at least had to hear her out.

Never did he imagine a situation where they would be having a conversation like this. Had she forgotten all that Sebastian did?! No, she couldn't have.

She was just a few months older than him and she was very much aware of what went on that night. She was with him through it all. He remembered how he leaned on her for strength.

Even after all was done, she was still with him, holding his hands, telling him that it would be alright even though he knew she was lying. Things could never be the same forever after that night and she knew it, they all did.

So now he could not understand what was going on? Was she still the person he knew?

She was hesitant to start, but he needed to at least know how this madness came about.

"Speak hope, or just get out," he told her. He was running out of patience and he could not even bear to look at her at this moment.

"I was alone Jason!" She exclaimed, "I was out on the street and I was alone. I did not know that it would be so hard, I wasn't thinking when I left, I just could not bear seeing you even though I knew it wasn't your fault. I was the one who fell in love. It was my first time being away from the pack and for years I had no idea what I was doing," she said.

"So how does Sebastian come into all this Hope?!" He yelled.

"He found me, or should I say one of his minions did. At first, I didn't know that he was behind it all, but after a while I did, but then I was already so dependent on him that I could not bear going out into the streets again. You wouldn't understand Jason, it was hell," she replied, each word coming with a teardrop.

"I could never understand Hope. How could you?!" He asked.

If things were so hard for you then why didn't you just come back

How could you Hope? How could you continue to betray me time and time again? How could you do this?

"I had to! It wasn't easy, it wasn't an easy decision, but I… I had to, I had to," she muttered.

It was more like she was trying to convince herself than him. She just kept mumbling some incoherent words while Jason felt like he was going crazy.

By now he was pacing back and forth, trying to process the information but he couldn't. She was there when it all happened!

How could she forget about all that?!

He was beyond hurt, he was beyond disappointed, he was heartbroken, completely flabbergasted.

His eyes saw red, nothing she said mattered anymore. He could not see reason with her, not with this. This was a line that should never have been crossed, she had crossed it and destroyed it.

He didn't know emotions could switch over so quickly for in that instant he loathed her. Her very presence here irked him but anger was what he felt the most.

She was in tears, begging him to forgive her but he could not even see that. What she said kept repeating in his head, what she did was inexcusable.

How could she?!

In an instant he saw himself surge towards her, something was taking over him and he was scared he could hurt her for real.

He held her hand as he pulled her up to face him. They were face to face, he could even feel her breath, he could see her tears, her eyes were red and puffy from crying but none of that mattered to him.

She betrayed him, twice! How could she sit there and cry like she was a victim? How could she try to make him feel sorry for her when she was at fault. She was always a selfish one but he thought she had limits.

He once trusted her, he opened his heart to her, showed her parts of him that no one knew and no one ever will, he loved her even if it was just as a friend, but still he loved her. Now he felt nothing but hatred.

"Why are you here, Hope?" He snarled.

"I left Jason, I left when I found out what he was planning," she whimpered.

He studied her. He knew she wasn't lying.

Gosh!

Knowing Sebastian, whatever that plan was, it wasn't anything good!