Page 27
Story: The Day Love Died
What the hell?
“Yes. Leave!” Selene couldn’t remain quiet any longer. There was no way an important talk was going to happen without her meddling in it. “You, too, need to leave, Ryan,” she said with a sneer. “That bitch.”
Kellen sighed in exasperation and shoved his forefingers into the gap between his eyebrows.
Isaac Arthur, who had been standing calmly next to Selene until now, clasped her elbow in a serious way. “Selene—”
Selene tsked in disgust when he cut her off, though.
“No, Dad, let me talk! Shhh…” She pulled her extremely pale-looking father aside and swayed a little. “Let me tell them how hard I thought it would be, but look,” she said, looking at Kellen with a triumphant expression in her eyes. She was drunk, and her face was dreamy with this obsessive love. “Look how easily I got rid of her from Kellen’s life. All I needed were a few altered photos made by a professional. Nothing more,” she said with a laugh. “Aw! I still remember how in love Ryan and Lena looked in those pictures… oh, how in love they were.”
There were a lot of gasps.
The harm had been done. Isaac Arthur closed his eyes in disappointment.
Ryan was the only one who grinned. His mouth curved up into a smile that was full of anger, revenge, and deep sadness.
Kellen was speechless. It felt like an electric wire was hitting him. As Selene’s words slowly sank in, his heart stopped pounding.
Photos that have been changed. The images of Ryan and Lena have been changed.
Celeste lurched back and fell onto a chair. She sat there frozen, holding on to the reality that had been revealed.
“Fools!” Selene was laughing so hard that she couldn’t stop talking about her heartache, not realizing how much trouble she had just caused. “All… all of them are bloody fools.”
It was a rough pull-off of a blindfold of hate and mistrust. Waking up to find that everything around me had been wrecked while I slept was the worst way to wake up. Kellen was in the thick of that mess. He remained there like a statue, thinking over and over every loud syllable that Selene had said.
“Of course, Selene,” Ryan said with a chuckle. “And since you’ve told them so much about your good deeds, why don’t you also tell them exactly how Lena was hit by a car that night? Let them know how well you planned the whole thing.”
Isaac Arthur said defensively, “My daughter is drunk and clearly not making any sense!” as Selene tried to respond joyfully again. “You won’t be able to prove anything based on what she says now.”
“Oh, but sadly, I’ve gathered enough witnesses and seized the men your darling daughter hired to do her dirty work. It took me some time, but I can finally say that I’ll be nicely proving everything that she’d done with my Lena,” Ryan said indignantly. “Actually, the police would be there any second now.”
Kellen couldn’t blink or move a muscle, even as Isaac Arthur ran at Ryan, who effortlessly pushed him away with a powerful fist. After that, Isaac stayed on the floor in the same position he was in before.
Kellen saw everything, even though he felt like a crippled entity. The reality hit him so hard that he didn’t know how to get over it anymore. It was like a thunderbolt. Memories of that dark night came flooding back, and he instantly saw them in a new way.
It was as if a mirror had suddenly appeared in front of him, and he could see a cruel image that was no one else’s but his own.
Lena was correct. He said she was cheating on him, but he was the one who cheated on her. He was the b**t of the joke.
He really had been a great and complete idiot!
He felt sick to his stomach when he thought about how he had believed those stupid manipulated photographs more than the lady he loved, so he had tossed them at her face.
“Don’t you dare say my name with that dirty mouth of yours…”
“I hate you, Lena. You make me sick. Tell me, how long has this been going on? Ryan was at my house last week, right? Did you have s*x in our bed, too? Tell me!”
He felt bad about the things he had spoken to her that were still ringing in his ears. He saw all of the memories of her sad eyes, tear-stained face, desperate pleas, and the way he had pushed her away so roughly, insulted her, and made her feel bad in ways that made him feel so ashamed to even think about them now. They all blended together into a distressing limbo. He was left with a lot of self-hatred and revulsion.
And to think that it hadn’t finished that night… The back of his eyelids hurt when he remembered how he had never stopped insulting Lena, even when he saw her again.
He shut his eyes tightly, and behind them, he saw Lena’s bloodied body lying on the street after being hit by the automobile. A tear fell from his eye, and another one followed. But the warm liquid of pain and regret wasn’t enough to wash away the huge amount of guilt that was stuck in his chest.
He was heartbroken thinking about what Lena had to go through, and he was scared that nothing he did would be able to fix the damage.
Kellen abruptly opened his eyes and stared at Selene with a deadly cold look. She continued mumbling stuff that didn’t make sense while falling back against the post again. He rushed toward her and grasped her shoulders with such force that they hurt before he could even think. Selene was so stunned that she couldn’t even scream when he shook her hard. Her head bounced as she gulped for air and turned pale from all the abrupt motions.
“Why? Why did you…?” Kellen stammered, his eyes clouded with tears of fury and remorse. “How could you…? Damn it!”
Selene didn’t seem able to answer the questions Kellen could barely ask.
Kellen finally let her go and took a step back, breathing hard. He made a fist and hit the pillar next to Selene’s head with a loud shout. Selene fell down the pillar because she was scared.
“What is the point of now punching into that clueless pillar, Kellen?” Ryan’s voice, even while it was mocking, had a hint of anger in it. “Or terrifying that witch?” he said with his eyes, pointing to Selene, who was slumped on the floor.
“Shouldn’t you punch yourself in the face instead? For making Lena go through such hell? For dishonoring her?” Ryan said. “Because you killed your own child!”
Kellen’s head shot up to look at Ryan, and the knuckles that were still pressed on the pillar relaxed. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing and was horrified. His hands became numb on both sides. The last piece of news about this catastrophe felt like a sharp knife cutting through his flesh.
Ryan nodded, his lips pushed together and his eyes flaming hot. “That night she lost her child, she would have died too if Damien hadn’t found her. It’s ironic that a stranger saved her when her own husband didn’t care if she was alive or dead.”
“I guess it’s too soon then. Nine months have to pass. The father—Ryan—had been in touch, right? I saw him here in Velden, too,”
“By the way, is he willingly sharing you with Damien? Or are you cheating on that poor guy, too? Or maybe you’ve grown tired of him, and Damien is your new toy. I heard you’ve been living in Damien’s apartment for a while. Is he good in bed?”
The echo of his own voice hurt him deeply. In a meaningful way, they came back to haunt him.
“Get that bastard thing out of me…”
Everything around Kellen seemed to spin, and he almost fell to his knees right then and there. He wanted to kill himself and end his life, but it was clear that even that wouldn’t bring back what he had wrecked with his own bloody hands. The sin he had done could not be undone.
How had he turned into this monster and done the unspeakable to the woman he loved?
What had he done?
Ryan was correct. Selene had only won because he had let her. He had damaged everything out of envy and rage, and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t go back in time. He could never bring their child back or fix Lena’s wounded heart. He was the one who caused this tragedy, and he would be damned to burn in it forever.
Lena walked into her flat and locked the door behind her. Since she rushed out of the party, she had been crying nonstop. Even the cab driver had given her worried looks while driving.
The quiet cries grew into muted whimpers as the sense of being completely broken engulfed her from all sides. She had worked so hard to create a strong fortress, but now it was falling apart. Her confidence in fate was as weak as the castle. As her tears grew louder and her breathing became more and more difficult, she clenched her hands at her sides.
The dull aching in her head that had been there all day had slowly changed into the type of agony that felt like a constant, furious stabbing. She groaned and gripped her head, remembering what the doctor had told her to do if something like this happened: contact the hospital emergency room right away.
But at that time, she didn’t want to do anything to make the anguish go away. This bodily pain helped dull the sharp pain in her heart.
Lena felt really shattered today, so damaged that she knew she would probably never be able to fix herself again. She searched her heart for a cause to beat but couldn’t find one. She also looked for at least one tiny glimmer of hope to grasp onto but couldn’t find any.
“Yes. Leave!” Selene couldn’t remain quiet any longer. There was no way an important talk was going to happen without her meddling in it. “You, too, need to leave, Ryan,” she said with a sneer. “That bitch.”
Kellen sighed in exasperation and shoved his forefingers into the gap between his eyebrows.
Isaac Arthur, who had been standing calmly next to Selene until now, clasped her elbow in a serious way. “Selene—”
Selene tsked in disgust when he cut her off, though.
“No, Dad, let me talk! Shhh…” She pulled her extremely pale-looking father aside and swayed a little. “Let me tell them how hard I thought it would be, but look,” she said, looking at Kellen with a triumphant expression in her eyes. She was drunk, and her face was dreamy with this obsessive love. “Look how easily I got rid of her from Kellen’s life. All I needed were a few altered photos made by a professional. Nothing more,” she said with a laugh. “Aw! I still remember how in love Ryan and Lena looked in those pictures… oh, how in love they were.”
There were a lot of gasps.
The harm had been done. Isaac Arthur closed his eyes in disappointment.
Ryan was the only one who grinned. His mouth curved up into a smile that was full of anger, revenge, and deep sadness.
Kellen was speechless. It felt like an electric wire was hitting him. As Selene’s words slowly sank in, his heart stopped pounding.
Photos that have been changed. The images of Ryan and Lena have been changed.
Celeste lurched back and fell onto a chair. She sat there frozen, holding on to the reality that had been revealed.
“Fools!” Selene was laughing so hard that she couldn’t stop talking about her heartache, not realizing how much trouble she had just caused. “All… all of them are bloody fools.”
It was a rough pull-off of a blindfold of hate and mistrust. Waking up to find that everything around me had been wrecked while I slept was the worst way to wake up. Kellen was in the thick of that mess. He remained there like a statue, thinking over and over every loud syllable that Selene had said.
“Of course, Selene,” Ryan said with a chuckle. “And since you’ve told them so much about your good deeds, why don’t you also tell them exactly how Lena was hit by a car that night? Let them know how well you planned the whole thing.”
Isaac Arthur said defensively, “My daughter is drunk and clearly not making any sense!” as Selene tried to respond joyfully again. “You won’t be able to prove anything based on what she says now.”
“Oh, but sadly, I’ve gathered enough witnesses and seized the men your darling daughter hired to do her dirty work. It took me some time, but I can finally say that I’ll be nicely proving everything that she’d done with my Lena,” Ryan said indignantly. “Actually, the police would be there any second now.”
Kellen couldn’t blink or move a muscle, even as Isaac Arthur ran at Ryan, who effortlessly pushed him away with a powerful fist. After that, Isaac stayed on the floor in the same position he was in before.
Kellen saw everything, even though he felt like a crippled entity. The reality hit him so hard that he didn’t know how to get over it anymore. It was like a thunderbolt. Memories of that dark night came flooding back, and he instantly saw them in a new way.
It was as if a mirror had suddenly appeared in front of him, and he could see a cruel image that was no one else’s but his own.
Lena was correct. He said she was cheating on him, but he was the one who cheated on her. He was the b**t of the joke.
He really had been a great and complete idiot!
He felt sick to his stomach when he thought about how he had believed those stupid manipulated photographs more than the lady he loved, so he had tossed them at her face.
“Don’t you dare say my name with that dirty mouth of yours…”
“I hate you, Lena. You make me sick. Tell me, how long has this been going on? Ryan was at my house last week, right? Did you have s*x in our bed, too? Tell me!”
He felt bad about the things he had spoken to her that were still ringing in his ears. He saw all of the memories of her sad eyes, tear-stained face, desperate pleas, and the way he had pushed her away so roughly, insulted her, and made her feel bad in ways that made him feel so ashamed to even think about them now. They all blended together into a distressing limbo. He was left with a lot of self-hatred and revulsion.
And to think that it hadn’t finished that night… The back of his eyelids hurt when he remembered how he had never stopped insulting Lena, even when he saw her again.
He shut his eyes tightly, and behind them, he saw Lena’s bloodied body lying on the street after being hit by the automobile. A tear fell from his eye, and another one followed. But the warm liquid of pain and regret wasn’t enough to wash away the huge amount of guilt that was stuck in his chest.
He was heartbroken thinking about what Lena had to go through, and he was scared that nothing he did would be able to fix the damage.
Kellen abruptly opened his eyes and stared at Selene with a deadly cold look. She continued mumbling stuff that didn’t make sense while falling back against the post again. He rushed toward her and grasped her shoulders with such force that they hurt before he could even think. Selene was so stunned that she couldn’t even scream when he shook her hard. Her head bounced as she gulped for air and turned pale from all the abrupt motions.
“Why? Why did you…?” Kellen stammered, his eyes clouded with tears of fury and remorse. “How could you…? Damn it!”
Selene didn’t seem able to answer the questions Kellen could barely ask.
Kellen finally let her go and took a step back, breathing hard. He made a fist and hit the pillar next to Selene’s head with a loud shout. Selene fell down the pillar because she was scared.
“What is the point of now punching into that clueless pillar, Kellen?” Ryan’s voice, even while it was mocking, had a hint of anger in it. “Or terrifying that witch?” he said with his eyes, pointing to Selene, who was slumped on the floor.
“Shouldn’t you punch yourself in the face instead? For making Lena go through such hell? For dishonoring her?” Ryan said. “Because you killed your own child!”
Kellen’s head shot up to look at Ryan, and the knuckles that were still pressed on the pillar relaxed. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing and was horrified. His hands became numb on both sides. The last piece of news about this catastrophe felt like a sharp knife cutting through his flesh.
Ryan nodded, his lips pushed together and his eyes flaming hot. “That night she lost her child, she would have died too if Damien hadn’t found her. It’s ironic that a stranger saved her when her own husband didn’t care if she was alive or dead.”
“I guess it’s too soon then. Nine months have to pass. The father—Ryan—had been in touch, right? I saw him here in Velden, too,”
“By the way, is he willingly sharing you with Damien? Or are you cheating on that poor guy, too? Or maybe you’ve grown tired of him, and Damien is your new toy. I heard you’ve been living in Damien’s apartment for a while. Is he good in bed?”
The echo of his own voice hurt him deeply. In a meaningful way, they came back to haunt him.
“Get that bastard thing out of me…”
Everything around Kellen seemed to spin, and he almost fell to his knees right then and there. He wanted to kill himself and end his life, but it was clear that even that wouldn’t bring back what he had wrecked with his own bloody hands. The sin he had done could not be undone.
How had he turned into this monster and done the unspeakable to the woman he loved?
What had he done?
Ryan was correct. Selene had only won because he had let her. He had damaged everything out of envy and rage, and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t go back in time. He could never bring their child back or fix Lena’s wounded heart. He was the one who caused this tragedy, and he would be damned to burn in it forever.
Lena walked into her flat and locked the door behind her. Since she rushed out of the party, she had been crying nonstop. Even the cab driver had given her worried looks while driving.
The quiet cries grew into muted whimpers as the sense of being completely broken engulfed her from all sides. She had worked so hard to create a strong fortress, but now it was falling apart. Her confidence in fate was as weak as the castle. As her tears grew louder and her breathing became more and more difficult, she clenched her hands at her sides.
The dull aching in her head that had been there all day had slowly changed into the type of agony that felt like a constant, furious stabbing. She groaned and gripped her head, remembering what the doctor had told her to do if something like this happened: contact the hospital emergency room right away.
But at that time, she didn’t want to do anything to make the anguish go away. This bodily pain helped dull the sharp pain in her heart.
Lena felt really shattered today, so damaged that she knew she would probably never be able to fix herself again. She searched her heart for a cause to beat but couldn’t find one. She also looked for at least one tiny glimmer of hope to grasp onto but couldn’t find any.
Table of Contents
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