“Yeah, I am. I pulled an all-nighter,” he answered calmly and went to sleep, oblivious to my feelings.
It was just a simple answer, but it hit me like a truck. I couldn’t believe he admitted to it without any explanation. “Were you with Emma last night?”
I was holding on to a sliver of hope, convincing myself that Emma was lying to me. Maybe he wasn’t even at her place last night. Even though the chances of that happening was close to zero, I wanted to believe in it. But I knew it must be true since Emma called me using his phone. That couldn’t have happened if he wasn’t with her.
“How did you know?” He gave me a look of surprise and sounded alarmed.
I didn’t get the answer straight from his mouth, but his aversion was already an answer in of itself. So he was with Emma last night. Why is he looking so alarmed, though? Is he suspecting me of something? We’ve known each other for so long. I thought you understood me.
I closed my eyes silently, and tears streamed down my cheeks.
He frowned in displeasure because of my silence, then he turned me around by force. “What is goi—” Michael was about to interrogate me, but he swallowed his words when he saw me crying. “Why are you crying? I haven’t even begun.”
Michael looked like he was worried about me, though I wondered if I was just reading into it too much. Maybe I was, since there was no way he’d worry about me.
I decided to not hide it anymore, so I stared back into his eyes. Even so, I couldn’t stop crying. “Is this it, Michael? Are you gonna break up with me?” I asked calmly. If he were to say yes, I’d leave him without a fuss.
“Is that all you think about, Anna?”
It wasn’t the first time I had confronted him with that question, and he’d blow up every time. I tried to force him into breaking up with me at first so I could leave him, but at this point, I was just terrified about the fact of breaking up.
Everyone might think I was just a slut for keeping Michael around as a friend with benefit when he was in a committed relationship, but I didn’t care. I couldn’t help myself from falling deeper and deeper into this pit of love.
“Because that’s how I feel. Emma’s your girlfriend, and you two seem to get along well. Since that’s the case, I don’t see why I should stay around,” I answered bravely, but in reality, I knew I was hurting myself.
He was fuming, but I had to do it. If I were to stay with him any longer, I would eventually go beyond the point of no return.
“Emma’s a different case, Anna. You’re my woman, understand?” Michael answered darkly, dominantly.
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