"Who's there?" The sharp fright in my voice was loud enough to scurry anyone hiding behind the thorny lilac bush. It had been making noises since I got home. I didn't know exactly who or what it was, but my gut told me it was a man.

Nothing is more dangerous than a man.

Someone was staring at me with intent juiced in his pupils like I was some easy-target harmless prey that went the wrong way. His laser-pointed eyes penetrated through the fabric and melted whatever he found amusing inside.

Accompanied with his small, sudden movements, he camouflaged well in the wind, continually provoking the hair on my skin to stand in chorus.

I steadied myself, thinking about the wisest thing a girl like me could do in a situation like this. The sounds of thudding and rustling leaves grew louder, still coming from the bushes.

"I-I'm go-going to call the cops!" I screamed out in the open as I gripped my purse tightly, my eyes surveying in all directions. "I'm—uh, I'm giving you one last chance, criminal! You better run now or else —" I shakily took out my phone from my purse and pressed the first number on speed dial.

While waiting for an answer, every second was a full lifetime. In those anxiety-filled moments, time was my sneakiest foe. And as I sunk into a bowl of my worst fears, I was about to go off the deep end when a heaven-sent miracle was delivered to me, via express mail.

I heard ringing.

And it came from behind the bushes. Hurriedly I checked my phone again and to my surprise, Nathan's name was on the screen.

A ridiculous, maniacal snicker burst from behind, a loud thud followed shortly as the laughter grew more insane. Nathan was probably lying on his back holding his belly while his tears flowed in the corner of his eyes at the same time.

My rational fear was suddenly replaced with anger.

"You know, there will come a day when I'll salvage you," I said, gritting my teeth as I walked towards the bushes. Shoving the leaves away, I shouted, "I could've died from a heart attack, Trevmore."

"I'm sorry, hahaha!" He resumed laughing all the more after seeing me totally pissed. He finally got the hint to quit the jokes, wiping his happy tears with his shirt sleeves. "Good. You missed me. The feeling's mutual." Nathan stood up and dusted off his jeans.

I crossed my arms. "I didn't say I missed you."

"You didn't have to." He got some tiny branches out of his hair. "So... am I a cop now?"

Rolling my eyes, I said, "You are such a weirdo." Upset, I took out my house keys from my purse and walked quickly towards the door to avoid Nathan.

"So-sorry. Wa-wait. Listen, Ave-avery, wait! Alright, alright. I'm sorry. I'm being a jerk. Sorry for scaring you out like that." Nathan told me in a serious tone as he followed me to the door, trying his very best to get my full attention.

Inserting my keys to the door, I ignored his every word. I just wanted to get inside and be by myself. "Just let me in, please. We need to talk," Nathan said.

When the door opened, I got inside as swiftly as I could without letting him in. His arm managed to get through the small opening. Pushing the door forcefully, Nathan spat out words out of desperation. "Do you remember when I told you about Audrey blackmailing me?"

"Don't care," I said, giving it all my force as I pushed the door.

"I just wanna say, I hope you forgive me." He stopped resisting after that, and I won.

"What are you talking about?" Although remaining upset, I opened the door to let him in. My curiosity was peaked. Nathan came in and we talked in the living room.

"Audrey told me she owed you big for helping her save Lion's Den."

"So that's what the big fuss is about? She doesn't have to pay me back." I sat down.

"N-no. It's not about that." Nathan stood up, inserting his shaky hands into his deep pockets. Unsure of what he'd say, his face looked down to the ground and a deep breath was his way of filling in the silence.

"She told me it was about time that I tell you the truth, Avery."

"Truth about what?"

"I— I brought them all here," was his dull response.

"Brought who? Both of my fathers at dinner at the same time?" I scoffed, remembering that exact day.  "Don't be silly, that was all coincidental."

"No, I'm not talking about any of your dads." He sighed. "About everything."

"I — I don't understand."

"I told your parents that I've found you."

All that time used silently blaming Eric from destroying the new life I've created for myself was a lie. The truth was too much, I'd rather hear another untrue story — at least I wouldn't feel like I've been shot straight to the heart without a warning. 

Tears fell. My whole world fell apart. My other half, whom I've dreamt of living my entire life with, betrayed me with a confession that took too long to happen.

My lover destroyed my peace.

"Y-you...you were the one who told my parents where to find me? I— I don't get it. Wh-why would you do that? Why would you do that to me, Nate?"

"Avery, listen. Please just listen to me."

"It — it was all you. You told them," I said, walking around the room out of frustration, both of my hands placed deep on my scalp. "You told them where I was, but they didn't come for me right away, so it would appear as they gave me time just as I asked in that letter I left to them the night I ran away. They bribed Professor Brawston to scare me. Then the Founder's Ball. And then Eric came.

And to see whether or not you were lying, my parents hired a private investigator. And that's when he saw Eric and me on the Founders' Ball. A-and then my dad showed up at school the day after. It all makes sense now."

"Out of everyone, you were the one who truly knew what freedom meant to me," I said, tears gathering in my eyes, "but you were the one who sent me back."

"That's not fair, Avery. You can't put this all on me," Nathan said, knocking off the wooden chair. "You left me too! You left me." He emphasized every word.

"Did you know your parents figured out we dated back then?" He asked, turning his back towards me. "When you left, they thought I was with you. Your mother told me to find you or else she would take away our family's life's work — our farmhouse."

I didn't say a word.

"When you were gone, I went hell-bent on looking for you. Day and night, nonstop.
It was confusion — and — and love, but most of all, i—it was anger that filled me up and drove me not to rest until our eyes would meet again, so I could ask you myself why you left me."

"I knew that they knew," was my reply. I paused to ponder. Both my hands interlocked with one another while my thumbs massaged on the back of each palm, rubbing off the anxiety that brought the heat. "The morning after the amazing night we had, I returned back to the mansion. Obviously, they were furious. I tried to reason out, but it was too late. They knew where I was."

"And then my dad told me to stop seeing you..." I continued my story, unable to look into his eyes without feeling like a failure. "He was so angry at me, Nate. He kept telling me again and again that I must end whatever was going on between us. I saw it in his eyes. At that time, I was not his daughter."

"Nathan, he threatened to ruin your life." My eyes couldn't carry all the tears anymore.  "My father gave me an ultimatum, and—" I whimpered, trying to get ahold of him but he pushed me away. "I loved you so much, I'd rather choose to see you from afar than not see you at all."

Nathan stood still as he appeared stunned about what he heard. He couldn't grasp a single thing in his mind.  Not only that, but he also refused to let me touch him.

"If I hadn't left, I would hurt myself by not being able to see you, to talk to you, or to touch you in the most enchanting way I could. Even to think about you, he deprived me."

"When they asked me to find you, Avery, even when I had no idea what was going on. I didn't even know you left." He sat down again. "I didn't find you in Treposienne, where you said you were. I didn't find you anywhere. I thought to myself maybe you just wanted to be left alone, which was weird because the last time we saw each other was without a doubt the best night of my life. And I thought you were on the same page as me."

"That was the best night of my life." I looked in his eyes.

"Doesn't matter. You still left me," he said. "That's what I don't understand. Why would you leave me if you were happy?"

"We could've pushed through with our plans. We could've eloped. I was ready," he said.

"That's the point, Nate. You were ready, but I wasn't. I was petrified. My gut kept telling me that I was making a mistake. I was unsure. It was too soon, you know that."

"Well, y—you, uh, you— could've told me the truth, Avery. If you thought we were rushing things and I was pressuring you into doing something you're not ready for, then you could've told me. I would understand. I loved you."

"I was trying to protect you! Why can't you see that?"

"You think marrying Eric protected me? You fucking broke me."

"I knew you would never stop loving me so I did what I had to do. But no matter what I say or do to push you away, you wouldn't stop getting closer to me. Do you have any idea how hard that was for me?" I yelled.

"All those months searching for you, I had realized that was how much your absence made me feel. Broken. Hopeless. A living lost cause. I was so scared to death to lose you, only to find out I never did," he said, staring intently at me.

"I didn't lose you, Avery. You lost me."

Our relationship had been doomed from the beginning, at least that's how I had seen it coming. The problem was, the truth was never there. We committed to a love that was complicated, young, and foolish. And a love like that was a seedling that our angry feet had stomped on when what we should've done was water and nourish it, and plant it in good soil.

Whatever happened in the past, it hurt me.

But it hurt Nathan more.

"Nate, please. Please, please, hear me out."

"Why did you even agree with the idea of us running away together if you had your reservations?"

"I wanted some recklessness in my life, Nathan. I wanted danger like I was on the run all the time and that my life meant something.
And you...you made me feel that kind of feeling — powerful, unstoppable, free," I replied. "But I also wanted a man who had dreams and goals, and... And I didn't think you had any."

"Well, you should've been an actress then, that way you could've auditioned in a bunch of overrated action movies," he said with arrogance in his voice, "because you sure as hell didn't know what you got yourself into."

"You can call it however you want, and add whatever poetic twist or drama you can, but it only meant one thing — You didn't see a future with me." He scoffed. "That's just...awesome. Exactly how I pictured it."

He walked away slowly.

"You know what you are? You're a hypocrite."

"Excuse me?" My brows spoke for themselves.

"You claim to be this girl who's fun and who doesn't care what people think. But no, Avery, you're far from the girl you think you are because you're afraid to take risks."

"Af-afraid to take risks?" I chuckled. "Every time I'm with you I put aside every bit of love I have for you because I'm afraid they'd find out!"

"You're so full of yourself, Avery! You want it all! I'm sorry, princess, but this is the reality: You can't have it all."

"That's why you left your old life. That's why you chose to be with me when everyone who cared about you told you otherwise; because when you tuck yourself in bed, imagining the grandeur, the glorious, perfect bubble that is your life, you start thinking about the kind of life you would have with me," he added.

"But I truly did love you. In fact, I still do. And maybe the love I feel for you isn't the bravest but believe me, I'm trying. There may still be fear in my love, but that doesn't make it any less real."

There was flame igniting inside both of us. Pulse was racing. Our bodies have demanded what they craved, and our minds have agreed to unspoken satisfaction.

"Then show me the love you say you have for me, Avery Bridgette." Nathan's hand reached out to my waist, locking me in his buff arms. I conserved what little breath was circulating inside my lungs as these yearning eyes trailed fervently to his eyes and his lips and back.

The tension spiked and escalated to the extent of lovemaking. It lasted long and hard like how it usually went down. Afterward, we rested. It ended with my head lying on his arm while we pant heavily looking up the ceiling.

"You and I are dangerous to each other," he continued to gasp for air. "If we were caged like those hungry wolves out in the cold with no food nor water nor clothing, we would rip out each other's dry skin and chew on our own cold, raw flesh, and drink each other's urine for cleansing every once a while. And when the day finally comes, when we're pedaling in the brink of death on a unicycle, I would use whatever energy I have left to give your clitoris life, and you would rest your beautiful tongue on my penis. So the very last memory of you of me will be the taste of heaven that only I can provide, and the same goes with you. At least, in our final moments, as we take our ending breath, our minds would register that we made it in heaven, even if we did not. That would be the best gift we could give to one another — to be forever in paradise."

"That is gross and borderline disturbing. You are scaring the shit out of me," I said, staring emptily to the ceiling. "Could you be any weirder?"

Nathan laughed. "When you told me you loved me in the middle of the road, did you mean it?"

"Uh, can I be perfectly honest?" The top part of my nose crinkled and my eyes shut.

"That's all I want," was his reply. He turned to me and cupped my face with his two firm hands.

"I didn't mean it at that time. I only said that so you would turn around and hear me out."

"But wait, let me explain —"

"That must've been so convenient for you. You reel me in like tuna," Nate said, releasing my face.

"Shut up and let me finish, Trevmore."

"And then it hit me," I said, holding his hand. "If I remembered right, I had quite a crappy day that day. Eric's mom played fake cancer card, her son was being a dick, and I helped the maids clean up the mess I made in the kitchen."

"Then I realized I wanted to get away from the shit I was in, and then some part of me was, you know, wanting to feel your embrace. After a long shitty day, you were the man I wanted to be in deep shit with."

"It's like we're meant to go through shit together, and get out of it together," I said.

"The audacity for you to accuse me of being gross and disturbing," Nathan smirked.

The night was generous as it was young.

We had more rounds of insatiable, hot sex. We were glorious and contented.

The sun peeked through the blinds. It was another day, but this time I felt lighter. My conscience was cleansed. My soul was free. I had never felt more alive.

I awoke with a blooming face and a happy vagina. A mixture of pain and pleasure. Toxic words dipped down in acid were spewed and cured. The war had ended. Peace had taken over.

All was well.

Still underneath the blankets, I turned to the right side of the bed expecting to see my love, but he had gone. All of a sudden, a yellow sticky note flew right on top of my nose, and it said,

"Just so you'd know how it feels to be left alone naked in bed. Not exactly the most amazing feeling to wake up to in the morning, isn't it?

P.S: I took your underwear for safekeeping. It smells so darn good."