Destroy Me Gently:Ex-Enemy Becomes My Lover!
Chapter 9: Cry, Baby, Cry

Chapter 9: Cry, Baby, Cry

Chapter Nine

Oliver West

The warm shower felt amazing on my skin. Today was Saturday, and I was in no hurry to step out of the soothing temperature. After about thirty minutes, I stepped out. As I stretched my hand for a towel, my gaze caught my reflection in the mirror.

As always, it was focused on the scarred skin beneath my left shoulder. It would forever be a reminder of that painful incident I could never forget.

A lone sigh escaped my mouth as I wrapped the towel around me and stepped out of the bathroom.

My gaze narrowed at the sight before me almost instantly.

"What are you doing!" My tone was sharp as I glared at my kid sister, mainly at the box in her hands.

That box contained my most precious things.

Pumpkin shot me an innocent look and shrugged lightly as if she had done nothing wrong.

"Well, mom said to search for old things and throw them away, so I thought I should help my beloved big brother. . . "

"PUT THAT DOWN!" I yelled, jumping forward in nothing but a towel. "Those are not trash! They’re memories!"

"Oh really?" She held up a crumpled drawing of what looked like a stick figure with huge eyes. "Because this masterpiece from third grade says otherwise. Is this supposed to be a person or an alien?"

I tried to grab the drawing, but she danced away, giggling like crazy.

"Pumpkin, I swear if you don’t. . ."

"And what’s this?" She pulled out an old diary of mine and began to read "Ooh, ’Dear Diary, today Kieran smiled at me and I think my heart exploded. . ."

"GIVE ME THAT!" I shrieked.

She jumped on my bed, brimming even wider as she flipped the next page,

"I drew him a picture of us as superheroes. I’m Captain Cuddles and he’s. . ."

"I will literally disown you as my sister!" I threatened, jumping to reach the diary while trying to keep my towel from falling. "And Captain Cuddles was a perfectly good superhero name!" I yelled defensively.

"Captain Cuddles?" She burst out laughing. "Oh my god, Oliver, you were such a weird kid. Wait, you still are a weird kid."

I managed to reach my belongings , grabbing for the box too hard, and some of the contents spilled on the floor. This included several more embarrassing childhood drawings and what looked like a collection of smooth rocks I’d apparently thought were "magical stones."

"Well, you can have your precious box of childhood trauma if you want it so badly," she said, tossing her hair dramatically.

"Well, you’re going to clean up this mess because it happened because you’re a nosy little goblin who—" But she was already gone, skipping away while humming something that sounded like a wedding song.

"GET BACK HERE, YOU TINY DEMON!" I yelled after her.

"LOVE YOU TOO, CAPTAIN CUDDLES!" came her voice from downstairs, followed by more of that evil laughter.

I wanted to chase after her in my towel and get my revenge, but I could hear mom’s voice in my head saying, "You are more grown up, so you should be the bigger person. Don’t fight over such small things. You should be good siblings."

Though honestly, being the bigger person was really hard when your sister was clearly sent from hell to make your life miserable.

I sighed loudly and started cleaning up the mess.

My gaze fell on an old photograph that had slipped out from my diary. I picked it up, and suddenly all the humor left the situation as my heart twinges.

It was a picture of me, Kieran, and his little sister. It had been taken by his mom during our first Halloween as friends.

I slipped it carefully back into my diary, wondering why I still kept them...

That Kieran was long gone. Ginny was also no more. All those memories felt like some distant dream. I sometimes wondered if all those years had really happened.

I dressed up quickly, since mom wanted me to follow her to the grocery store.

"By the way, did I tell you that Mrs. Morrison called? They are coming back to spend some time here. She also invited us for dinner." I could hear the excitement in mom’s voice.

Kieran’s mom?

I could see the happiness in my mom’s eyes. It made sense since Mrs. Morrison had always been her best friend. They went way back to high school, and even after marriage their friendship hadn’t changed, even after that incident.

Mom knew Kieran and I had fallen apart. She knew the reason just as well as I did. The only thing she didn’t know was that he hates me and punishes me for that. His parents were always on business trips, so we haven’t really met a lot since then, but I guess in their hearts they must also hate me.

"Did you hear what I just said?"

"I’m not going," I mumbled under my breath, meaning it.

Her serious gaze fell on me.

"But why not?"

I looked away from her. I didn’t want to let her see the mixed emotions inside of me.

But I guess nothing got past her watchful eyes.

"Whatever happened wasn’t your fault, sweetie. I’ve told you so many times. You didn’t know, and none of them blame you," she spoke softly, her gaze filled with concern.

I almost laughed at that. It wasn’t just them, it was me. Even if his parents didn’t blame me, it wouldn’t stop the guilt that ate me up each time I remembered that tragic day. I hadn’t been able to look at any of them straight in the eyes after Ginny’s death.

"Just drop it, mom. Can we talk about this later?" My gaze was begging.

I sighed when she nodded.

*

Monday morning was crazy. Everything went by fast and soon enough the bell rang for dismissal.

I packed my books into my locker. It had been a tiring but great day, mostly because Kieran had ignored me through every class.

For the first time, it was me who went looking for him.

There was this crazy desire to know if he had been the one who had saved me and taken me to the nurse’s office.

I found him in an empty classroom. Only he wasn’t alone, he sat with his whole crew. The four of them.

Vince. Heath. Claude. And him.

I took a moment to question my sanity. The tiger had left me alone, why did I have to go looking for it?

They already saw me. I couldn’t run away now.

Their conversation slowly stopped as all pairs of eyes focused on me. I tried not to shake under their stares.

I took a deep breath. I had made the stupid mistake, I would have to finish it somehow.

"I need to speak to you," I said, staring up at him.

He ignored me completely. I wasn’t even given a glance. It was so awkward, my face turned red with embarrassment.

The others were still staring, so I managed to continue.

"Just about two minutes. I won’t take long... please," I added.

I finally got his attention as his cold grey eyes settled on me. The coldness I found there took my breath away.

"Well, I fucking don’t wanna speak to you or see your ugly face," he spat.

I ignored his insults and decided to go straight to the point.

"Was it you?"

An annoyed and angry look spread across his beautiful, hard face.

"Is it attention you want? Is that why you’re following me around!" I jumped at the sudden outburst. He charged towards me and I automatically took a step backwards.

"Kieran, no... I j-just..." I stuttered, wetting my lips nervously.

"Well, you have me!" he said harshly. His angry breath hit my face.

Was it my question that made him so angry? Or was this about something else, something I didn’t know about?

A painful gasp escaped my mouth when he shoved me hard against the wall. I lost my balance but caught it at the last minute.

The situation was getting out of control. I looked around for an escape route.

There was none.

"What? You suddenly want to leave? But why? It hasn’t been even two minutes yet," he sneered, looking at me with pure hate.

He was embarrassing me, making me feel uncomfortable.

My eyes stung. I managed to blink the tears back.

No, I wouldn’t cry.

I tried to push my way past, but he wouldn’t move. A whimper escaped my mouth when his rough hands gripped my shoulders painfully.

Our harsh breathing could be heard in the whole room. He was making this show in front of his friends, and I was the joke.

He leaned closer, so that our noses were almost touching. I looked at him to find him staring at my lips.

It sent an unfamiliar feeling through me.

Without thinking, I pressed them shut, my heart pounding furiously against my chest.

His mocking gaze returned to mine.

"Do you think I’m going to kiss you? Dream on. Ugly, short boys like you make me wanna puke," he said slowly.

I don’t know why his words hurt me, sent angry tears to my eyes. Even worse was the laughter I heard from around us. Some other students had joined to watch the show. I saw one raising her phone, a look of enjoyment on her face. It was awful and sickening.

"You should kiss him. He looks desperate for you," a male voice spoke with laughter. It was Claude who spoke.

Kieran’s gaze looked at me with hate and disgust.

"Hell no. I would rather die first than have anything to do with a murde..." He stopped his words at the last moment.

I wondered why he didn’t finish it. But it didn’t matter. His words were like angry knives, cutting at the wounds in my heart.

A murderer. That was the word he hadn’t finished.

I pushed against his hard chest, wanted to come up with a reply but couldn’t. My throat was blocked up.

I had nothing to say. It wasn’t like he was wrong anyway.

I didn’t want to cry in front of him.

In front of them...

But he was not letting me get past him.

"Such a fucking crybaby. Are you looking for somewhere to cry? You are just so hateful!" he continued attacking me with his words.

His gaze was cold, hard and without any regret.

Finally, I managed to pull away from him. A tear slid down which turned into full crying.

I ran.

I kept running blindly, until I was away from all of them.

I choked on a sob at how right he was, I really was pathetic.

I entered the bathroom just like he had predicted.

And cried.