When Elliot leaves the cafe, for a while none of us talk. There's pin-drop silence from us, only the overhead music playing softly. We all look at each other with blank looks on our face, trying to comprehend everything.

And that is when Maverick starts laughing.

He only chuckles at first, and that chuckling turns into full-blown laughter, where he's bending down, clutching his stomach and roaring with laughter. Madhura joins him, shaking his head at her best friend and laughing regardless. And soon we're all laughing, feeling like a weight has been lifted off our shoulders. I look around everyone, the smile on my face showing no signs of leaving. I could only wish that Aliana was here, that I would be able to see the happiness on her face after everything that happened. She'll be happy when she comes to know, and I hope I'll be the first person she calls.

"Dude, that was ama-" Eli starts, just as my phone rings. I fetch it out of my pocket while the rest of the gang continues talking about what just happened. Ali's name is flashing on my phone, and the smile on my face widens as I pick up.

Speak of the Grasshopper.

"Grasshopper-" I sing her nickname, the giddy mood of mine seeping into my voice when she cuts me off immediately.

"You told Mia?" she asks her voice tight. My smile falls a bit, but without thinking too much about it, I answer her.

"Told her what?"

"About Elliot. You told her?" she asks faster now as if she's struggling to get it all out. I can hear her pacing in her room back at her parent's, where she is for the weekend.

"Yes, I did. What happened?" I can't help but get worried now. This was clearly not the reaction I expected.

I hear her take a shuddering breath and say in a shaky voice, "Who told you to tell her?"

I feel my heartbeat fasten and I quickly walk out of the cafe, "What is happening, Ali?"

"Why did you fucking tell her?" her tone is panicked now like she doesn't know how to cope with this, "Whose idea was the thread?"

"Aliana, babe, why are you panicking? What is going on? I'm really confused, we just wanted to teach him a lesson."

"Did I tell you to? Did I tell you that I needed help? Nathan, I know you had no foul intentions but couldn't you all tell me one time before doing such bullshit?"

I stop walking around and my jaw drops open, "Babe, we just wanted to help."

"I'm not a damsel in distress Nathan," she almost shouts, her voice dripping with frustration, "I can handle my shit."

"Ali-"

"Leave it, Nathan," she says and hangs up, not letting me get a word in. I stare at my phone for a few seconds after she hangs up, confusion completely clouding my senses. Never in my wildest dream did I expect such a drastic reaction from her. We had expected her to be happy, really fucking happy.

But judging by that reaction, I'm beginning to think there's more to this Elliot issue than I've seen on the surface. I run my hand through my hair and a deep sigh leaves me.

I feel someone walking out and standing next to me and I turn my head to see Eli next to me.

"What happened?" he asks without me even saying a word.

I sigh and look out towards the campus, "Ali's not happy at all. She's actually really fucking pissed at me."

"Why?" Eli asks and I shrug.

"She didn't want our help. All I wanted to do was help," I say in a small voice.

Eli's quiet for a while before turning to me, "I didn't tell you this because I didn't think it was important to back then but now I'm connecting the dots. When I told Mia about Elliot, she went a bit pale and she got unnaturally mad at a stranger she wasn't supposed to know."

"You think there's more to it?" I ask, despite knowing the answer beforehand.

"Definitely. We don't know something and that something is a pretty big thing, looking at the reactions of both the girls."

I sigh and put my arms in my pockets. I run my eyes over random college students walking all over the campus, the setting sun shining a golden hue over us. Looking back at Eli, we look at each other and I nod.

"Let's hope we didn't do the wrong thing."

⋈ ⋈ ⋈

Aliana hasn't replied to any of my messages I sent her last night. All my calls were ignored, and she wasn't home, as she was at her parent's place for the weekend when everything with Elliot went down. It was Saturday then, it's Monday now, and I feel like shit. I hardly got any sleep last night, all night was spent turning and twisting in my bed. I kept replaying her words in my head, trying to pinpoint the reason behind her reaction. We tried contacting Mia as well, but both of them were nowhere to be found.

I get up from the bed groggily and grab my phone from my nightstand, checking it for the millionth time to find no messages from my grasshopper. I sigh and get ready for my lectures. Walking into the kitchen, I find Eli in a similar state to mine, and I guess it's because Mia isn't around.

I walk to all my lectures in a zombie-like state, trying desperately to get hold of Aliana by texting and calling between lectures. By the time lunch rolls in, I quickly make my way to the Bakery, knowing for a fact that Aliana will be there right now as it's her shift starting time. When I walk towards the Bakery, I find Aliana behind the counter. There are hardly any people in the Bakery as it isn't peak hour and I thank my lucky stars for that.

I open the door, and the overhead bell catches her attention. Her head snaps up, and as soon as her gaze lands on me, she averts her eyes back to her work. I walk towards the counter and lean against it.

"You're ignoring me," I say, but I don't get any reply. I run my hand through my hair and sigh, "Grasshopper, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to overstep boundaries. I just wanted to help."

This time, she sighs and looks up at me, her lips downwards as she looks at me guiltily, "I'm sorry. I overreacted."

I smile at her and grab her hand. She looks down at our hands and back at me, "But you don't know the entire story."

"So tell me. Tell me everything you want to tell."

Her expression is conflicted, her eyes jumping around and I see her battling with the demons inside her head. She looks at me a moment later and starts, "Fine. I'll-"

"There's a fire!" I hear someone scream out loud, and we both whip our heads towards the kitchen where we can see a black cloud of smoke coming out. Aliana's hand in my hold goes cold. There's chaos in the Bakery as people run out of it and I grab her hand to take her to safety when I realise she's not moving.

"Ali come on!"

She shakes her head and rips her hand from my hold and runs straight into the kitchen.

"ALI!" I shout and run behind her. When I catch up to her, I hear her calling out for Mia, and it's my turn for my blood to run cold.

"MIA!" Ali's calling out. I enter the kitchen and find some of the ovens on fire, which has caused the smoke and the fire alarm to go off. I see Mia and one more person in the kitchen turning off all the good ovens before running towards us. Taking that time, I grab the fire extinguisher and crack it open, spraying it all over the fire. After a few more sprays, I'm successful in putting out the fire and for a few seconds, none of saying anything.

"How?" I ask Mia, and she shakes her head in disbelief.

"I had put them to preheat, and a few minutes later, I started smelling smoke. Before I could do anything, there was a fire," she pauses and looks at Ali, who staring at something behind us like she has seen a ghost, "This has never happened. I've been doing this for almost two years now."

Aliana keeps staring at the backdoor, and we all follow her gaze and what we see renders us speechless.

Because staring at us through the opened backdoor is Elliot himself, smirking as if he has played the best prank.

"Well Mia, I suggest you should check your ovens for grease and oil before preheating them," he says, looking at all of us, lingering his gaze on Aliana a little longer than required.

"What are you doing here?" Aliana says in a tone I've never heard her use. Her voice is low and almost dangerous, full of anger and disbelief.

"I'm here to see you of course! I didn't expect your little boyfriend to be here though. Wrong timing I guess, right Ali?"

Mia takes a step towards him and he smirks at her.

"Mia Davis, how have you been?"

She scowls, "Not good now that I've seen your face."

"Playground insults babe. Grow up," he continues smirking, and my blood boils when he talks to Mia that way. Before I can say anything though, she continues.

"I'm not insulting you and nor am I playing any games. You set my kitchen on fire."

He shrugs and says in a bored tone, "A harmless prank really. No one was gonna die. Just thought if I'm going down, so should all of you."

Mia laughs humorlessly and says, "Are you hearing yourself? You set a fire. A fucking fire. To our kitchen. What the fuck is your problem?"

"You know my problem," his smirk drops and so does his voice.

"I cannot believe you. You've been blaming Aliana for something she didn't do for years now. For fuck's sake, get out of your head. The one who was actually affected never blamed her, why are you so hell-bent on making her life hell?"

"Because she made my life hell!" he exclaims, and Aliana's hold on my hand tightens.

His dark eyes land on Aliana and he smirks again, "Didn't you, poor little Ali?"

I turn my neck to see her looking downwards, and with that, he snaps my last string of patience.

"Stay away," I say, not leaving Ali's side.

"You don't know anything, so you stay out of it," Elliot growls.

"I might not know anything yet, but I trust them both. So, get out of here and stay out."

Elliot takes a step towards Ali and I take a step ahead towards him. He glances at me and back at Ali and smirks, "We'll see about that. See you later, Ali."

And with that, he walks straight out from the backdoor.

I look at Ali after he walked out and Mia turns around to look at her.

"Why didn't you tell me he has been harassing you again?" Mia asks her.

"You know why damn well. I couldn't tell you," Ali whispers.

Mia throws her hands up and looks defeated, "Ali, you're my best friend. But if you don't wanna let go of your unnecessary guilt even after all this time, I don't know how to help you."

Ali lets go of my hand and stares at Mia, "I never told you all to help! Stop treating me like a damsel in distress! I can handle my own stuff!"

"Sure you can," Mia comments sarcastically, angering Ali even more.

But that does nothing to stop Mia, "You never want to take anyone's help, your ego doesn't allow you to. Let go of it! Allow someone in! For God's sake let us help you!"

"I DO NOT WANT YOUR HELP!" Ali's loud voice rings out in the kitchen, and both of them don't say anything for a while.

Mia nods slightly, her eyes hard and mouth set in a straight line and says, "Fine," and walks out from the backdoor.

Aliana's stance doesn't change even after Mia walks out, her chest heaving up and down with anger. She looks at me a moment later and walks out herself, but this time I follow her because I'm desperate for answers myself.

"Ali!" I call out to her, and she runs to her car, closing the door behind her and I quickly run to mine, following her car. I notice that she's going to Mia and her apartment and realise Mia may not be in there, making it the perfect opportunity for us to talk. She gets out, and I follow her, not letting her shut the door behind her.

"Aliana, what just happened?" I ask her as soon as we enter her apartment.

She whips around and laughs humourlessly, "What happened was that my past managed to ruin my fucking life again."

I take a step towards her, and she takes one step back, "What was Elliot talking about?"

"Leave me alone Nathan. Please," she begs and turns around, and I run around her to stand in front of her.

"You know I can't. Just tell me! How difficult is that!" I exclaim, getting irritated by her walls which never seem to let me in. Even after months of dating, I still find her holding herself back whenever she notices that she's letting her guards down.

"Nathan," she starts, eyes clouding with tears.

I shake my head, and my impatience gets the best of me, "This time you have to let me in."

"What do you want to know?!"

"Who is Elliot? Is he your ex? Are you still in love with him? Is that why you deal with his bullshit every day?"

"I deal with his bullshit because I have to! Not because I'm in love with him, because I literally know nothing other than dealing with everyone's bullshit!" she screams the last word.

"And whose fault is that? What is so difficult in saying no to people!"

"I CAN'T! I can't, and you know that," she says, and a second later, she chuckles darkly, pointing a finger at me, "And I remember, Mr Wright, you were gonna teach me right? Teach me how to say fucking no. What happened to that? I'm still the same loser I was. Nothing has changed."

"Nothing has changed?" I exclaim and walk towards her, "Aliana, nothing has changed because you want nothing to change!"

She takes one step towards me and looks up at me, eyes ablaze, "You have no idea what you're talking about. You don't know me."

"THAT'S THE PROBLEM!" I turn around and run my fingers through my hair, pulling slightly at the ends, "I should! I want to know you! How will I know you if you don't tell me? I'm not a fucking mind reader!"

I hear Aliana take a sharp breath from behind me, "Then don't try to. I never told you to try it!"

I turn back around to face her, "But you've forced me to! I'm your boyfriend! The whole point of a relationship is to have a partner to share stuff with. To support each other. But I can't even fucking try because you never tell me anything!"

Walking towards her, she opens her mouth to counter when I beat her to it, "And why can you say no to me but no one else? I'm in the dark about everything."

She takes a few steps back as I continue walking towards her, and as she stumbles into the table behind her, we hear a sickening crash. She turns around quickly as my own eyes fly towards the source of the crash.

And when we notice the object on the ground, the world around us crashes as well.

⋈ ⋈ ⋈

Hi. I'm sorry I'm terrible at working according to my set schedule. But oh my this chapter. I'm not gonna say anything, but ya. This chapter took me a while to get in the flow, but the minute I got in the zone, the words flew out of me. 

Anyway, Question then?

Q. What kind is your own anger? Are you a volcano who bursts after a while or are you short-tempered but simmer down quickly? 

Also, we're 18k as we're posting this. 18. And so so many people are finding the book and adding it to their reading lists, and I can't contain my happiness. Thank you so so so much to everyone who's taking their time to read my crap. Thank you so much. I love you all. Okay gonna run now, Ciao! Give me your feedback about the chapter!

Love,

Anya <3