Chapter 2

Ginny’s POV

“You left your journal in my car last night… and I read everything written in it.” I closed my eyes and massaged my temples. I sighed again due to the frustration I was feeling right now.

“Why did you read it?” I scratched my head. “You… you shouldn’t have read that… it’s… it’s my journal! It’s private! Don’t you know about privacy, Damian?!” I massaged my temples again.

I don’t know what to do now… my… my secret’s now out! Damian knows that he’s the guy I love… he knows that my best friend, Leaf, is the girl I’m jealous of.

Damn it… Damian must think that I’m a bitch… that I’m such a bad best friend because I badmouth Leaf to him. Maybe he’s even thinking now that I did it on purpose… that I’m desperate for his love, so I opened up to him about my problems, and maybe… maybe he’s thinking that I purposely left my journal in his car just so he could read it.

“I’m not… I’m not a bad best friend, okay? I did not…” I kept on stuttering. “I did not think that you would find out about this. I didn’t intend to leave my journal behind, okay? I didn’t want… I didn’t want you to know about this because… because I didn’t want you to get hurt… so… I’m… I’m sorry, Damian… I’m sorry… and… please… please do not think badly of me. I’m just… I’m just hurt, that’s why I badmouth Leaf… and… and I’m not desperate for your love, okay? I’m not desperate… I’m not a bad best friend… I’m just hurting…”

Damian hugged me tightly. He continued to stroke my back while saying, “Shhh…”

“I’m sorry… I’m sorry I’m such a bad best friend to your girlfriend… I’m sorry… I’m sorry that I love you,” I sobbed.

After a few seconds, Damian released me from his embrace and wiped the tears streaming from my eyes. After wiping my tears, his gaze shifted from looking directly into my eyes… down to my lips. He stared at them for a couple of seconds.

During those moments, all I could hear was my pounding heartbeat. And it grew even louder when he suddenly pressed his lips against mine.

I immediately pushed him away, but he was strong, and he moved closer to me again and kissed me once more. I let him kiss me without moving an inch… even though I wanted him to continue what he was doing. Because this is wrong… so utterly wrong.

“I love you too, Ginny… I love you too,” he said, tightly holding my hands. He looked into my eyes once again, and after a few seconds, he kissed me again.

Earlier, I didn’t move, but now I placed my hands on his back and responded to his kisses. His kisses started slow and passionate when my lips weren’t responding, but when I did respond, his kisses became more intense. More desperate. He even pushed his tongue into my mouth!

When he felt some discomfort, he held my thigh and lifted me onto a nearby table. He was about to remove his shirt when we suddenly froze and turned to see who opened the door.

It was Selene.

Oh my god.

What the fuck did I just do?!

What the fuck did we just do??

“Babe, let me explain…” Damian approached Selene, but she quickly stepped back.

Tears welled up in her eyes, and she shook her head as if trying to convince herself that what she witnessed wasn’t true.

“You slut! Both of you are sluts!” Selene pointed at us with her trembling finger. Then she approached me and pushed me. “You’re my best friend, Leaf… what’s this?! What’s going on between you two?! Why… why are you sitting on that damn table, and why is Damian taking off his shirt?!” Selene started to cry, and I could see the excruciating pain in her eyes.

It may be bad of me to think this… but the pain she’s feeling right now is nothing compared to the pain I feel every time Damian and her are together.

Selene approached me and pulled my hair. “Answer me, you snake!”

I didn’t fight back because, deep down, I knew I deserved this. My hair deserved to be pulled. My cheeks deserved to be slapped.

“Babe… it’s not… It’s not what you think, okay? Let… let us explain…” Damian hugged Selene, but Selene struggled and approached me again, slapping and pulling my hair.

Once again, I didn’t fight back. I just let her hurt me. But I kept my strength. I tried not to be swayed by any pain she inflicted on me.

“All my life, Ginny… all I did was love you and understand you because you’re my best friend! Why did you do this?! How could you do this to me?!” I didn’t answer and just cried and cried as she slapped and pulled my hair.

When I finally felt physical pain, I distanced myself and tried to avoid Selene, but she chased after me, continuing to slap and pull my hair. Damian was behind her… hugging her and trying to restrain her. While she was hurting me, I heard some bottles falling behind me.

I didn’t see what it was because I couldn’t turn around due to Selene’s hair-pulling and slapping, but after a few seconds, I smelled something burning.

“Ginny!” Damian grabbed me forcefully, and we ran out together.

As soon as we were outside, we started shouting for help. I didn’t know what happened, but the fire quickly spread throughout the lab, and Selene was left inside all alone.

“Help me!” When I heard Selene’s scream, I was about to run back to save her… but Damian stopped me because the fire was already too intense.

***

Upon waking up, I immediately felt the heaviness in my eyes.

Right. I dreamt about Leaf again. About what happened back then.

I sighed and ran my hand over my face as I got up from my bed. As I looked to the side of my bed, I saw my cellphone… and I remembered what I’d been contemplating since last night—whether or not to tell Damian about the sticky note I found attached to my journal and about Leaf’s gravestone.

I’m pretty sure he still doesn’t know about the gravestone because he stopped visiting Leaf four years ago. As far as I know, he has another way of honoring Leaf.

Maybe… I just won’t tell him. It’s probably better not to let him know for now because it might just stress him out. He’s already stressed because of work. He’s really wracking his brain to come up with a new specialty recipe for his restaurant.

After an hour, I showered and got dressed for work.

I decided to go in a bit earlier today because I knew Tita Celia, Leaf’s mom, would be visiting the firm. And I was right.

Just as I arrived at the office, Tita Celia had just arrived as well. I tried asking her how she was, but she ignored me. I let it go because she often does that. I understand because I know she’s still angry with me because of what happened to Leaf.

When I brought up Leaf’s gravestone, she just shrugged and told me she didn’t know anything about it. She said their last visit to the cemetery was two weeks ago, and yesterday, they went to Leaf’s favorite place when she was still alive.

That only increased my anxiety even more. If it wasn’t Tita Celia, then who could have replaced Leaf’s gravestone?