Eric came to my apartment first thing in the morning and lied down beside me in bed without saying a word.

I didn't know how to feel about it at that moment. He didn't bother me in any way and gave me the space I needed. Never did I ask for his care and kindness, especially for this reason, but somehow Eric just does it. For all it was worth, he wore me down with his concern. I wanted him to be angry with me for loving another guy instead of him alone.

Since Eric's visit, the next thing I heard was the cling clang of the silverware from the kitchen.

The omelet was made the way I liked it. Breakfast was appealing, but it wasn't appealing enough for me to want to eat it. "That's all for you," he said nervously, wiping his hands with a napkin. Eric wasn't much of a cook, but he did excel in everything he tried to do. Apparently, cooking was one of them.

I sat down not too willingly, facing a plate full of food with an empty stomach but with no appetite at all. Looking at everything on the plate, I could literally feel the warmness of the food fading away.

And just like that, I remembered the whole thing again. Everything about that long night. I thought after all the hours of crying last night, I wouldn't care anymore to go through another tear. It was getting tiresome. My eyes were tired, even too tired to blink.

Besides the incessant ringing in my mind, it was Eric who filled the void. I stared at the food so much that I barely noticed him sitting beside me.

"Come on, Avery. You gotta eat something," Eric said. "Elizabeth's been calling since last night. I told her you slept in late, but I'm sure she'll be calling again."

"I'm not hungry," I replied weakly, still not looking at him.

"It's three o'clock in the afternoon. I'm sure you're hungry," he insisted. "Here. Open." I turned my head away from the spoon. "I can feed myself, Eric. I'm not an invalid."

"But you're my wife. I'm gonna have to feed you for the rest of your life." He put down the spoon and moved his chair closer to me. "Okay.  Let's just talk. What happened when you got home from the party?"

"I don't want to talk about it," I said.

"If you tell me, I wouldn't bother you with the food anymore," he said in a cute grin.

"Fine." I sighed. "After you and Audrey told me the snarky secrets you've been keeping from me all this time, it kind of ruined the whole night so I asked my mom to take me home. Does that sum it up for you?"

His adorable grin turned upside down. Eric didn't see that coming. Thinking all it took to cheer me up was to shoot me one of his signature smiles was ridiculous. His mouth was open, but he failed to say the words.

"Don't bother," I said. I stood up angrily and exited the dining room. "Look, I'm sorry, okay? But you know that's not gonna help either of us right now." Eric shouted.

"Yeah? You should've thought of that before lying and keeping things from me!" I leveled to his tone. Rebuilding the treehouse, throwing me a birthday party," I scoffed. "It was all guilt. I was so stupid to even fall for that."

Eric went up to me angrily. "That was not guilt! I didn't do all those things because I was guilty. I did them because I love you!" The conversation escalated quickly. Teary-eyed, he sighed and continued in a low voice, "Even if you don't feel the same way..."

Eric didn't say anything after that. There was an averagely long pause. "I'm sorry... I didn't mean to," I stuttered, rubbing my sweaty hands against each other. "So...W—where, is...uh, where's Audrey?" I filled the silence.

Obviously, he felt the same way. He couldn't look at me straight in the eye without sounding like a fool. "Sh-she—she's...she's at the mansion. She wouldn't leave until she knows you're okay."

Taking a deep, heavy breath, I touched his shoulders and made him look at me in all seriousness. "Eric, can you just please give me some time on my own? I just... It doesn't feel right. I can't do that to you."

"What doesn't feel right? Who have you lost?" he asked with great insistence with one knee down.

I scoffed, feeling extremely annoyed. "You just really couldn't wait to see me break down, don't you?"

"What are you talking about? I'm trying to help you," he said angrily.

"What part of you can't help me don't you get, Eric?" Frustration was in my voice. "Nathan left me! He left me because I was so stupid and selfish. I left him two years ago because I was too scared to love him!" I bawled my eyes out. I couldn't understand anything anymore. All of the remnants of his memory crawled back at the same time, and it was already hard enough not to get stuck in every single one of them.

"But God knows in those years while I was away, he was the first thing I would think about. He was the one I would miss, and write about, and pray to before I sleep at night."

When I mentioned his name, Eric suddenly turned quiet. Not only that, but he also looked surprised and acted too absurd. At first glance, he was jealous. He was hurt at the sound of his name. But the longer I looked at him, he appeared more than jealous. His eyes widened, and he was sweating; definitely scared of what he heard. I wasn't sure how to read what was on his mind.

"This is what I meant. You were not the right person to help me with this," I said.

"No... It's alright. I'll give you your space," he wiped the sweat on his forehead. "I just have to talk to Audrey for a minute." Eric stood up and went to the living room.

I stayed still where I was, confused why he had to talk to Audrey immediately. Eric's troubled voice talking to the phone from the living room reached the kitchen, and it wasn't hard to eavesdrop at all. "Audrey, where are you? You need to get here right now," he said urgently. His hands were shaking like he couldn't keep himself calm.

"You're right. It's happening," he said. What was happening? Was Eric talking about me? Listening to their conversation made me curious and more curious. Maybe they had newer secrets they were keeping from me which meant they weren't sorry the first time.

And I wasn't happy.

"See you," was the last thing I heard. Standing up, I decided to confront Eric straight up to his face. I walked towards him with a stern face. He put his phone inside his pocket the moment he noticed me in front of him. "What are you hiding from me? What secrets this time, huh?" I crossed my arms and took one step closer to him.

"I don't know what you're saying." He laughed nervously, taking a step back. "I was just telling Audrey you miss her. Maybe her company is what you need right now."

"But that's not what I heard. It was something else," I insisted.

"Would you really take the word of your sleep-deprived, heart-broken, possibly depressed self than mine? Because you're not exactly in good shape," he replied confidently. "You're just hearing things."

He was right. I didn't bother to continue the argument any longer, but I still had the feeling he was keeping something from me. I sat down on the couch silently, still crossing my arms, and chose not to speak to him.

A few minutes later, there was a signature melodic pattern of knocking on the door. I heard that type of knock plenty times now. I was certain it was Audrey's. Eric came to the door, and there entered Audrey.

Wearing tight ripped jeans, a cropped white t-shirt, and a big silver necklace of a swan, she looked like her usual high-maintenance self. She ran to me the moment her eyes saw mine. "Oh my God, Avery..." her voice went soft as she held my face and looked into my eyes. "What happened?" she asked me as a mother would to her daughter.

But I didn't want to make myself forget of the role she played with Eric. I moved my face away from her hands. "Don't act like you weren't in on it with him." I looked over to Eric who was watching both of us.

"Didn't I say sorry? I betrayed you. I know that," she said, "I mean, you know me of all people, I hate being lied to. You know how much I value trust more than anything."

"It was wrong of me to do that to you. But today's not about that. Today's about me making it up to you and being here for my little sister," she added, touching my hand.

She was sincere. I saw it in her eyes that she was indeed sorry. "Okay," I said with a smile on my face. "But neither of you can help me. I need to deal with this on my own."

Audrey sighed and stood up, reaching out her hand to me. "Why don't you come with me?"

This question always hit different when Audrey was the one who gets to say this to me. I already knew what she would offer to make me feel better. "Audrey, I love you but I'm not going shopping with you."

She scoffed. A smile appeared on her face.  "We're not going shopping, silly. I have somebody you might want to meet."

"If it's not Nat—" I cleared my throat. I almost said his name, and I didn't want to cry again. "If it's not anyone I wanna see, forget it, I'm not going."

"I promise we're gonna have a great time," she begged.

"I'm not so sure about that," I said with a groan. She heard me loud and clear, but instead, she pulled my arm playfully to make me stand. "No, I don't wanna go!" I screamed, putting all my weight down to my arm. We played like little girls. There were little giggles.

"Audrey, stop!" I shouted again, this time with a full, cheerful laugh. Still, she refused. I used to think she enjoyed seeing me miserable because of the circumstances in the past, but somehow, I saw her genuinely happy seeing me smile.

Eventually, she let go. But my smile was still on. "Alright, where are we going?" I said in a laidback tone.