I kneel next to Aaron and give him a small wet towel for on his forehead.

He weakly smiles at me and sits down next to the toilet. "I'm sorry, Scarlett. This wasn't my intention," he sighs. 

I give him a small smile and let a hand go through his hair. His eyes flutter closed. I frown. He's very warm...

"Are you sick? The stomach flu?" I ask. He shakes his head. "I ate tomatoes, that's all." He removes the towel and shudders. "It's so cold here, why is it cold?"

He looks around and shudders again. I closed to the door to give him some privacy, and he nods at it. "Thank you."

I nod, too. His eyes are too black. His pupils are gigantic. I frown and shuffle closer to him, cupping his cheek. His eyes widen. "Wha—what are you doing?"

I open one of his eyes and look in it. "Are you allergic to tomatoes, Aaron?" He looks away. "I'm not sure. I just eat them when I feel like it. I know they make me sick, so I guess I just eat them to feel miserable." I frown, but nod. 

A flashback enters my mind.

I look closer at Aaron. Are those tomatoes on his plate? Is he putting a tomato in his mouth right now? 

I take a step back. My jaw drops. He told me he didn't like tomatoes... or maybe he just didn't like my tomatoes. Were they that bad?

I look back at him. "You ate tomatoes that day," I whisper. I stand up, my mouth wide. "You ate tomatoes that day in the restaurant! You knew you were going to get sick!" I whisper-yell. He seems difficult. "Er... yeah."

"Why would you do that? I thought you just didn't like my tomatoes," I gasp. His eyes widen and he sits up a bit. He winces at his stomach. "No! I just didn't want to throw up there," he hisses. 

I cock an eyebrow. "But you did at the restaurant?" He gives me a little shrug. "Anything I could do to get away from that chick. Jesus Halleluja, she was annoying. You know those girls who always laugh at everything you say? Ugh."

So he was pretending to like her... perhaps because he knew that man was there? Lorenzo? Or maybe because he knew she was one of his servants...

I decide to ask. Enough of this bullshit. "Why? Why would you do that?" He looks up at me, a desperate look in his eyes. "To get you safe."

My mind spins. To get me safe? "Then—was she one of Greco's servants? Was he there? Was someone looking at you? Why just then? And why not explaining to me?"

He groans and stands up. "I think it's best if we discuss that in the next room," he whispers. I nod and grip his wrist. "You okay? Do I have to go get a bucket for you?" He shakes his head with a frown and brushes me off.

"Nah. I'm good." I highly doubt that, but open the door and walk in again. I let go of his wrist and sit down on my bed.

Aaron joins Ethan on the floor. Owen spinning in my chair and Jordan is lying down on my rug. Elijah is pacing.

I catch Elijah's shirt when he passes by and pull him on the bed. His eyes are wide. "Scarl—" "I'm sorry about earlier, Elijah. Could you maybe tell me a bit more? I don't mind asking Owen."

Owen dramatically sighs and pushes himself off my desk. He rolls past Ethan, almost crushing his fingers. Jordan quickly rolls aside, avoiding to get run over.

That earns a laugh out of me. They're still so funny... they precisely fit together, all their personalities. 

Elijah's eyes soften. "I'm fine with talking. I just—you surprised me," he whispers. I nod, settling my attention on him again.

God, he's still so beautiful...

Nope. Nope nope nope. Focus, Scarlett. Elijah takes a deep breath and closes his eyes for a second.

"So, you saw us sitting at that table. I suppose Aaron already told you about the tomatoes?" I quickly nod. 

"I was talking a lot, I don't deny that. But it just didn't feel good. It was like— it felt like that whole restaurant was too small, too dark. And I heard those girls laughter and... I just pretended. It felt so bad. Gosh, Scarlett, I can't even understand how you didn't see I was so uncomfortable." His voice is almost a whimper.

My shoulders slump. He was talking a lot that moment, but I don't exactly remember his eyes or body language. I just saw that those girls were loving him. It blinded my vision.

"Jordan and Owen felt like that too when they pretended. Ethan just felt bad he wasn't wearing the bracelet ans that girl was all over him. And Aaron, Aaron kinda tried to poison himself."

I glance at Aaron, who rolls his eyes. He has more color already, so I guess he's a bit better. "Then why didn't you tell me?"

They could've just talked to me. If they had explained, I wouldn't of minded it. But no, they just acted very suspicious and guilty and didn't explain anything.

"We wanted to. Fuck, your face still haunts me at night. But when we were outside, you know who I saw?" I shake my head, although I can take a guess.

"Fucking Greco. Perhaps one of his men worked in the restaurant, or he passed by, but he probably came to check if it was real. If it was real we had new girlfriends. And— he saw us talking, and I we had explained and you'd have hugged as and appeared all happy he would know it was all fake."

My jaw drops. I hadn't realized that. Lorenzo didn't mention any of that.

"So we acted guilty so he'd believe it. After you'd left, he did too and we wanted to tell you it was all an act. All just a played game. But we couldn't find you. You had actually left." His voice shakes, I recognize pain in it.

"And all because we wanted to protect you. When you were breaking up with us, you didn't realize your life was in fucking danger. I wanted to hold you, to protect you, but I couldn't. It was safer to let you go."

Is he... Is that a tear?

I turn a bit and see it is a tear. I wipe it away. "I didn't know that," I whisper. He shakes his head. I look at the other guys, who are all looking down now.

They really seem to feel bad... but they hurt me too. They could have said it before they left, or completely ghosted me for two days.

"I understand now, but I'm still not happy you didn't communicate with me," I tell them. Owen looks up. "We aren't very happy with that either."

I frown and look at them. "But you didn't go after me... you let me go and didn't contact me for two years. What's that about?"

Jordan sighs. "You were hurt, Scarlett. We understood it and thought you didn't want to do anything with us anymore. We stayed here because we thought you were happy in Italy," he tells me. He looks up at me, and the sorrow on his face is heartbreaking.

"I wasn't."

He nods and makes a movement with his hand. "If only I had known sooner. I'd have gone to Italy and dragged you right back here. But unfortunately, we sent no one after you and left it all to you. And you did. You did come back. Not for us but... perhaps? Maybe we can figure it out someday. I know you can't forgive us, but you're safe now and that's important too."

I don't think they know about the incident with Lorenzo...

"I have something to admit too," I tell them. They stiffen, probably thinking something worse than I actually have to tell them.

"Lorenzo Greco sat next to me on the plane."

All the color drains from their faces. In any other situation I'd have laughed at how synchron it is, but now is not the time.

"W-what?" Ethan mutters. I nod. "He sat next to me and convinced me to go to his house. I think he was referring to a one-night stand, although I can't really remember it."

Jordan crawls up. "Did that bastard hurt you? Fuck, Scarlett, I thought you were safe."

I shrug. "Apparently not. And no, I got away in time." He sighs in relief.

"He's dead now." I nod. I had that expection for a year now, when I saw they were selling his house.

Elijah softly taps my fingers, making me look at him. "D-do you think you'll ever forgive us?"

I take a deep breath. "Maybe in the future."

*****
Hi, idk how we feel about the guys. Please comment on how mad you still are <3