Episode 32: Threat

Episode 32: Threat

"Christopher!"

He turned around as he felt someone tug harshly onto his arm.

The man came to face to face with Marley once again.

He felt himself sigh at the fact that she couldn't take a hint.

"I thought I made myself clear back there," he said warningly.

She disregarded his tone; no longer treading on thin ice around him but running on it—literally. And after catching up to him, she emitted a heat he could see solely from her gaze.

Christopher still remained cold.

"I thought you said that nothing in this world could change the way you felt about me. Is it so wrong that I took a detour from us? I get it! I made a mistake! Is it such an awful one that it can't be fixed?"

"For Christ's sake, Marley, you're married." He inflicted the words upon her and she flinched. "This isn't some one night stand or a slip up you can come back from. You got married to the guy and left me to suffer alone. You cut off whatever ties we had the moment you said 'yes' at that altar. I even...I even begged you that night to stay with me. If you'd only stayed with me, I would've turned a blind eye to your actions. I was that infatuated with you."

"I thought I was pregnant," she gasped out.

A sharp streak of lightening struck across the sky. Angrily and unyielding.

He looked at her, momentarily stunned by the confession.

It took a minute before she gathered the air to speak again.

His eyes saw a hint of desperation and helplessness crowding her slender form. She could only dig her finger nails into her skin—a habit he personally had to deter with his own hands when they were together.

It was a sign that she was uncomfortable and one that she was not okay.

For some reason, the tiniest bit of pity flooded him.

Mainly because of this new piece of information.

She'd thought she was pregnant?

A clap of thunder jolted both of them back to reality before she stared at him, giving in to her demons. He swore the place became darker than it was before despite it already being nighttime.

"I thought I was pregnant. It was only supposed to be a drunken mistake that I'd never have to revisit. John was my superior; it wasn't like I had any intentions of making a mess of our relationship by fucking him. But with a little too much to drink I had no say in that."

"You're seriously not blaming all of this on alcohol right now." He scoffed. "And the fact that you were scared into marriage because of not even having the common sense to be safe...you continue to amaze me, Marley."

"Don't be condescending right now! I'm giving you my truth! Why are you treating me differently than before when I've done it so many times in the past?"

His eyes hardened at the audacity of her.

"That was about your insecurities stemming from bullying and an unstable household that held an abusive father. I coddled you because of those misfortunes. Not because I was blinded by the truth. I knew how all of that destroyed you mentally, so much that you had to rely on people's opinions of you. You craved praises and needed to be reassured every single second that you're wanted and loved. I gave you that because that's what you needed. After all, your past was something you had no control over as a child."

"So you're saying you pitied me?" Her eyes were slowly building red corners as she stared at him wildly.

He knew that look all too well.

It was when she was on the borderline of a mental breakdown.

Though this time he wasn't going to choose to step back and surrender.

He didn't need to save her feelings anymore. She no longer meant anything to him. He didn't have to pretend like he was the problem when it was clear that wasn't the case.

"Are you really saying that you've pitied me all this time, Chris?"

"Don't call me—"

"If that's the case can I say the same about you and Rosie?"

He felt like the air was knocked out of him.

The ground shook beneath his feet as he looked at her tensely. His jaw locked into a tight form as he tried his best not to say words that could have her crumble like building blocks. In that moment, Christopher thought of the vilest and most degrading things he could have said to have her regret ever saying that name. He wanted to make her pay. He wanted to hurt her. To make her feel the absolute turmoil he was feeling in his chest right now.

"Don't you dare fucking go there."

"Oh, I can't?" She chuckled emptily, and he saw that she had already crossed a line that she couldn't come back from.

"Isn't it fair for me to bring up something that can make the oh, so very guarded Christopher Wells crack behind his cold exterior? It's the least I can do for you bringing up my family trauma. An eye for an eye."

"You're worse than I thought," he spat viciously.

She smiled like a predator that had found the perfect victim.

The lightening flashed across her horridly pretty face.

"I'm only just getting started," she jeered, taking two steps towards him.

As she stood in front of the man she's willing to do anything for, Marley saw that wasn't the same sentiments he carried.

Oh well, she thought. If I can't have him remember me fondly, I'll have him never forget me altogether. Even if that means in the worst way possible. A memory is better than none.

Folding her arms across her chest, she looked him dead in the eyes. "Isn't that why you're the way you are? Icy, detached and lacking trust? You can't even have sex with a woman without loving her deeply, which is already a mountainous feat for you, isn't that just pathetic?"

"Marley..."

"Your family ruined you too! A lot of scholars that expected you to be the same! They exploited your intelligence—had you overcompensate for their prospects of you following in their footsteps. No, of you being better than they were with that genius brain of yours. Oh, but what did you do? You graduated from an Ivy League school and never took the job they wanted you to nor networked with the people they encouraged would help you. Instead you write novels about people fucking."

She threw up her hands laughing hysterically.

He kept quiet as she went on, her voice echoing in the empty parking lot.

"Isn't that just the irony of the year? The most bashful and timid person I've ever come across writing about sex! You don't even have sex that often do you, Chris? It must be a darn shame. I know for sure your parents think you're a shame. I know they do. And you do too." Her voice ended in a slithering tone that sent chills up his spine.

He'd heard it before...that tone she used.

It was when he was "outsmarting" her in their arguments and it became too much for her to handle.

She would flip the script and make him out to be the antagonist.

He made too many points. He made too much sense...he remembered too many details of what had happened.

Have you been waiting to attack me about this all this time?

Didn't you tell me it was fine so why do you remember everything I said word for word?

Goddamn it, Chris! Just tell me what you really want to say instead of giving me a cryptic message!

If you don't wanna be with me anymore, just say so!

All this time, he had taken her bullshit because he loved her. He thought that that was what came with love. The ups and downs. The lows and blows. Christopher thought he could have endured it all with her if it meant still being with her.

Be that as it may, he wasn't taking into consideration how much she was ruining his mental health by simply tolerating all of that.

She had simply soiled him.

He wouldn't have considered himself the purest man in the world—the contents of his novels were a testimony of that—but he knew for sure he wouldn't be as messed up as he was now.

Marley had given him more trauma than he could remember having prior to being in a relationship with her.

He had to stick through that for over five years only to have her come back and spit in his face with the trust he gave her by confiding in her.

He had told her about what happened with Rosie and how he loathed his parents only because he trusted her.

Once again, he guessed this was what he got for being transparent in a relationship.

Then again, a part of him was adamant that if it were Leslie in her shoes, she wouldn't have stooped so low to hurt him.

But what did he know? People tended to have multiple masks behind a glowing image they showed you.

It made him become more disappointed in the world.

He grew more disgusted by human nature.

Just seeing her before him like this brought back memories he never wanted to recall, but he had no choice, especially when the rain came in a heavy downpour.

They stood in the showers like statues of their past selves; wanting so desperately to cling onto the old and good parts of each other but it was too late.

She had ruined it.

And the only thing he could do was watch her.

He looked up at her, droplets of water coming off his eyelashes.

For a moment, she marveled at the fact that even while getting soaked he still looked as fine as ever.

She hated the inherent way he was always desirable.

It was something that many people like herself struggled with. Crafting that aura around herself took years of pulling her feet out of self pity and hatred. So how dare he act like she's some charity case when he has no idea how far she's come to be the perfect version of herself she is now?

"I think you're mistaken about something," he said unnervingly calm.

His acerbic blue eyes met hers as the thunder rattled them to the core.

"I've never wanted my parents' approval for anything I do in my life."

She drew in a sharp breath at the hard truth in his words.

His pupils were unshaken and dilated from his statement.

He'd meant what he said.

All this time she had thought that was his greatest weakness. It was the only so-called flaw about a man as perfect as him. His broken family which he became estranged from after they made a grave mistake he couldn't forgive them for.

She thought that was his bullet hole taped with a bandaid over his heart all these years.

So why did he...

Why did he looked completely unfazed?

"Just because they gave birth to me doesn't mean I have to pledge my undying allegiance to them. They surely haven't done the same for me. 'Do unto others as you would have them do unto you', isn't that the general rule of coexistence?" He gave her a dispassionate glance as he took a step towards her for the first time. It startled her so much she stumbled backwards.

His lips twitched at her hint of fear.

"Oh, why'd you step back? I thought you wanted this conversation. Who was the one who said they're just getting started? Well, I hate to rain on your parade, literally, but I can't let you off so easily when I'm the one who's considered a god with words, not you."

He licked his lips and her gaze followed the act like a mindless robot.

"After all, you see, I have the pride of my fans to live up to." He smirked.

It only lasted for a millisecond before his eyes frosted over to devour her.

"So, let me give it to you straight like you've always asked of me because your measly brain is too small to comprehend anything I say."

Her fists folded as he leaned forward slowly and with a purpose.

He stopped right as his mouth brushed the shell of her ear. The only contact between them that was left were the raindrops that fell from his clothes onto her own unapologetically.

Just like his next words.

"I've never had high expectations of anyone. Not my parents, not my friends, and most certainly not you. Human beings tend to disappoint each other so I limit the silly thoughts that think you won't kneel to temptations...just like you did. You caved at the first opportunity to spread your legs for another man—"

She gasped at how crass he was being.

It was so unlike him—

Her mind was cut in half at his next words.

"—you have less decorum than any of the women I've ever written. It's a shame to even compare them to you, but I make this point as you seem to scowl at my career like it's something unworthy of importance. Books make and break you. Within that process, it gives you newfound knowledge and builds character. If you read enough, you'd know that."

Her neck snapped up at him, so close that their faces almost met with each other's.

He would have jumped back if it were any other day, but it wasn't.

It was a moment of losing all self control and respect.

She made him like that. She always did.

Marley finally got the message as her heart sank while looking at his blank face.

"You psychopath," she whispered in horror.

He gave her a chilling smile.

"Not as much as you are for bringing up the dead. I guess we're even now. We both have buried the hatchets of our past here tonight."

She could hardly speak.

Seeing that she had nothing else to say, he took that step back at his own liberty. Not because he was intimated into doing so.

Giving her a final look he said what he's been wanting to say this entire time.

"Don't ever let me see your face again. My words won't be as tamed as they are right now. And so won't my actions if you ever try to do something like this again."

She could feel her body stiffen at the threat in his words.

"Are you threatening me right now?"

He humbly shook his head. "Oh no, I wouldn't dare do that...for legal reasons. Though for your sake, I would consider it as a warning. I can see why you ended up with a bastard like John. You two deserve each other. Have a good life, Marley."

This time she couldn't find anything else to dig up inside of her that could will her into following him.

He had totally mauled her alongside every last good feeling she had for him.

Christopher had no regrets about it this time.