CHAPTER 02

ELENA. 

The vase shattered loudly and I saw Caleb freeze, his head snapped towards the door and our eyes met. 

"Shit." I heard him curse. He moved and I turned, knowing he was coming for me. What did he have to say? What other lie did he have in mind to let out?

"Where are you going?" Rhea asked, but I didn't wait to listen to Caleb's response, my feet acted up, padding quickly until I got to the sitting room. 

I grabbed my purse and rushed to the front door. Just when I grabbed the doorknob, I got yanked back unexpectedly. 

I lost my footing and I fell on Caleb. His smell. It used to give me this calm feeling, the scent I was addicted to, a scent I slept with my nose sniffing every night. 

Each time I visit Caleb, I always go home with one of his shirts, for my personal purpose. And he had been comfortable with it, to show how much I loved him. 

But now, this... What I was perceiving made my stomach churn. His presence made me sick. 

"Baby, where are you going?" He was talking in a low and calm voice. The same voice that calmed my stormy nights. 

"Let me go!" I snapped and tried to pull away from him but he was stronger, he always has been. 

I used to admire his strength, his biceps looked like it was specifically and carefully sculpted, it was mouth-watering. 

But now, they felt like chains bounding me to a place I didn't want to be at. 

"You're getting it all wrong." 

"I heard nothing, I didn't just see you and my best friend in bed talking bad about me." I turned slightly to see Rhea standing beside the couch with the sheets around her chest, she didn't look remorseful. I could've sworn I saw the side of her lips curl up. 

My heart clenched in an excruciating twist, it hurt. "Seriously, isn't it a good thing that I got to hear it for myself? I've been loving people who hate and betray me."

"Nobody hates you--"

"That's enough Caleb. What are you even trying to say?" Rhea stepped closer. She stared at me, and I almost couldn't recognize who I was staring back at. 

Those lively brown eyes I used to admire stared dead at me, like I was something irrelevant. 

"You saw what you saw right, you heard what you heard right also. You weren't hallucinating." She said, "What are you going to do about it?"

"Rhea." Caleb tried to make Rhea stop talking by pinching the sheet but Rhea slapped his hand off. 

"There's no use in trying to sugarcoat something she already saw with her eyes." Rhea rolled her eyes and turned back to me. "I'm tired of you. If Caleb doesn't want to say it, I will. I saw Caleb first, you know I had a crush on him yet you went ahead to snatch him from me."

"Snatch him from you? He approached me." I countered. 

"Well, News flash, it was all a game. And he confessed that he liked me first, you just keep clinging and throwing yourself at him. Since we both feel the same way for each other, we just decided to go ahead with our feelings."

"And me? When did you two plan on telling me that I was a liability?"

"Soon." She shrugged. "We just felt bad that you're jobless, so we planned on waiting for you to get a job then you can live on your own. That was very generous, right? You should be grateful that I had the nice and philanthropic heart to feed a jobless grown-ass woman like you for nearly a year." 

I took two steps backward, my chest heaving as I stared at the both of them. Two people I couldn't recognize. Rhea was more shocking, more heart shattering. 

No. 

I shook my head vigorously. I couldn't stand here, I couldn't think straight. All I wanted to do was run away. 

And that was exactly what I did. 

I turned and yanked the front door open, freezing breeze with droplets of rain splashed on me. I shuddered, goosebumps appeared on my skin immediately. 

"It's raining." Caleb called after me as I stepped on the front porch. "You hate rain." 

But I was far gone, the street was empty, and deserted. The air was foggy, making it hard to see what was in front of me. It wasn't just small droplets, it was raining cats and dogs. My legs felt heavy underneath me, like they would give up any minute, but my brain kept screaming; 

"Run. Run." 

I continued running, each drop of rain on my body felt like I was being stoned ice. It was painful, but it wasn't as painful as what my heart was feeling at the moment. 

Something flashed at the back of my eyes, my feet froze and I stopped. Everything around me felt still. My heart was pounding loudly in my ears. 

My heart felt heavy and my eyes spun. Everything went black. 

Low beeps, thick stench of antiseptic, bright lights filtering through my closed lids. My brows twitched, my eyes moved until my lids finally opened. 

The lights were too bright, and I had to close my eyes again for a few seconds before finally opening them again. White lights, white walls. 

I sat up immediately, staring around the room and recognizing it to be a hospital. 

Hospital? 

My brain did a flashback, I had passed out on the concrete floor under the torrential downpour. How did I get here? 

I tried to stand up, but something pricked my arm. I noticed there was an IV injected into my arm, I plucked it out and grabbed my purse that was on the side table. 

When I stood up, I felt dizzy, and held the edge of the bed and steadied myself until my vision and brain cleared. 

The door opened immediately, and someone dressed like a doctor walked in. 

"You're awake, Miss."

"How did I get here?"

"A young man brought you here."

My brows twitched, was it Caleb? 

"Brown hair?"

"No, black hair. He just left."

"And he didn't tell you his name?" Why was I being inquisitive? The person didn't have brown hair, it was obvious it wasn't Caleb. "Forget it. Thank you, I'll take my leave now, wait-- am I in debt?"

"He cleared everything. And you're not strong enough to--" I was already out the door, taking large strides to the front door. 

"In case he comes back, tell him I'm grateful." The words sounded bitter coming out of my mouth. 

My heart still felt heavy. Even after yelling about me hating rainy days, he still didn't come for me? 

A large lump grew in my throat and I swallowed

hard. I guess they were both right, I really was a liability. 

A burden. A garbage that needed to be taken out.