[|]

"Eat something. Please, eat something. You're making me more worried about you," Maddy said, trying to force the spoon into my mouth.

"Leave me alone, please," I said in a hoarse voice, tilting my head away from the food in front of me.

I had not left the house since Lucas told me to. I was still sitting on the floor of the kitchen, waiting for him to come home. I still believed he would come back, apologizing and hearing me out. It was already almost midnight yet there was no sign of him. I had called but I realized he had blocked my number. I had even tried calling him with Maddy's phone yet he had not answered, he was smart enough to know I was the one calling.

"Jackie, you're hurting me too," Maddy said in a cracked voice. I glanced at her face, she had unshed tears in her eyes. "Please, eat something."

"Maddy, I'll be fine. You should go home. It's late," I said to her but she shook her head.

"I can't leave you here. Can you at least come stay with me at the guest house I'm staying in, please? At least for tonight? I won't be at rest if you're here all by yourself. We don't know what Lucas is capable of," she said and I sighed.

"I can handle him. He won't hurt me, Maddy. He might be angry but he won't hurt me physically," I said, vouching for Lucas.

"God, you're so stubborn," she said and rose to her feet. "I'm going to pack some of your clothes for you to stay the night at my place. Tomorrow, you can meet him, okay? He might listen to you. I'll also call Axel and have him talk to his brother."

I saw a point in her words and nodded my head in acceptance.

"Okay. Let's go," I said and stood up with her help. I held my head when I felt dizzy a bit then exhaled hard. "I'm fine."

"Just sit here while I go pack some clothes for you, okay?" Maddy said, helping me onto a stool. She brushed my hair away from my face before walking away.

I sighed and got flashes of everything that had happened hours ago. I was so hurt that I tried to believe that Lucas would not leave me. I felt numb and cold, nothing made sense to me.

Some minutes went by and Maddy came downstairs. She dropped the small bag she held on the floor and motioned for me to stand. I rose to my feet and looked around the place, taking in everything and hoping that this was not the last time I would be here.

"Let's go," Maddy said and held my hand. She grabbed the bag and pulled me to the door.

I took one last look around before walking out of the house, heart heavy and mind full.

[|]

"She's awake but hasn't eaten anything since yesterday. I've tried. Why don't you go see her and I'll be out getting food."

I rolled my eyes at Maddy's voice as I stared at the window in the room. I heard footsteps and looked at the door. Axel stood beside Maddy, worry on his face. I looked away and lifted the blanket over my shoulder, shielding my line of vision.

"Jackie?"

I pulled the blanket down and rolled onto my back before sitting up. I tucked a lock of my hair behind my ear and met Axel's eyes. He smiled and sat on the bed, his hands laced together.

"Hi," I said in a low voice.

"I heard what happened," Axel said and placed his hand on my knee through the blanket. "I came home this morning and didn't find you or Lucas at home."

That got my attention and worry filled me at the fact that Lucas had not returned home. Where had he gone to?

"Lucas isn't home?" I asked and he nodded.

"I called him and he told me what happened," he said and left my knee. He sighed and looked down at his hands. "Is it true?"

"Whose side are you on?" I asked and he looked at me in a quick movement. "Tell me, are you on your brother's side or something?"

"No, no, don't say that. I am neutral on this matter because I don't believe any of these. It's confusing to me right now."

"I am the same, Axel. I don't know how that picture came into existence or what it is but I have never cheated on him and will never. Lucas is the first man I have ever fallen in love with. He was the one who introduced me to all these things about love. So, what reasons do I have for cheating on him?" I asked, tears welling up in my eyes as I felt my heart beat faster.

"I know, Jackie. I know because I believe you. Something doesn't make any sense," Axel said and scooted closer. "I will find a way to get the truth revealed somehow. So, do you have the picture?"

I shook my head. "He only has it. Why do you ask?"

"Because I need to see it myself. I need to see if it's real or not," he said and I shifted my eyes away from him in thought.

"Photoshop? You're saying the image was photoshopped? Because, the one time Clark kissed me on that couch was even before I started dating Lucas," I said, realization hitting me.

"Which means, someone edited the picture or?" He asked, hope in his eyes.

"We were fully clothed and I had just finished working when Clark came in drunk. He started complaining about his relationship with Maddy and said something about wanting me. He kissed me and that was it. I didn't kiss him back and told him off. Clark ended up increasing my salary as long as I don't tell Maddy who I ended up telling anyway. After that incident, we barely talked or saw each other. It was only recently that we started meeting in public places," I said while Axel nodded to everything I said.

"Wow. That means someone photoshopped the incident and sent it to Lucas, making it look as if you cheated on him."

I clenched my hands at the discovery. My mind immediately went to Ruth as she was missing and was still tormenting our lives. It made me angry so much that I felt like punching a wall.

"I swear, I will get Ruth for this. I know she's the only one responsible for this. Why would a sister do this to her brother? Did she think the world would accept her being with her own brother?" I was livid that I felt like a blood vessel would pop.

"Okay," Axel said, standing up. "I will try to get the picture from Lucas and hand it to my theyfriend. They will—"

"Theyfriend?" I craned my head sideways at his words. "Axel, are you gay?"

He sighed. "No, I'm not. I'm pansexual. I've been pan since I moved out of our family home. It was one of the reason why I left home. My father found out about it and hated me. He said a types of nasty things. My dad's homophobic to the core so it hurt me because I wanted to come out to them. Even my mom had issues with it. I moved in with a friend and they are the one I fell in love with. They've been supportive of me. We started dating recently anyway."

I smiled and took his hand. I squeezed a little and he smiled. His smile reminding me of Lucas.

"I'm proud of you. Maybe someday when Lucas gets back to his senses, we could all hang out together?" I suggested and he nodded.

"They've been dying to meet you two," Axel said and rose to his feet. "Okay, I have to go now. Look, you have to eat and get your strength. If you want to reveal the truth, you need strength and again, maybe it's best you let Lucas be for now. He's not thinking well."

"I know and you're right. If I were in his shoes, I'd probably not want to speak to him or want to see his face. I'll let him be for a while and try to speak to him again," I said and Axel leaned down and kissed my forehead, warming my insides. I was glad I had a friend beside me.

"I'll get back to you with any new information. Bye," he said and left the room.

I got out of bed and went over to the bag that Maddy had used to pack some of my clothes. I unzipped it and searched through it, only to frown when I didn't find any clothes I could use to go out. I sighed and zipped up the bag.

"I guess I have to pack my things out of his place. At least for now. I think it's best we stay away from each other for now," I said and grabbed a jacket close to my bag. I wore it and left the room.

I saw no signs of Maddy and knew she was not back from where she had gone to buy food, so I left the guest house and locked it with the extra key she had left in the small living room.

My only hope was that I would not meet Lucas because it would be difficult for me to control my emotions as I didn't want to provoke the situation into something else any more.

[|]

With tentative steps, I made my way to the door of Lucas apartment and stopped in front of it. I stared at the door handle, eyes stinging with incoming tears as I remembered what had happened yesterday. It still hurt me when I thought about it. How everything went from happy to sad within a short time.

"I can do this," I whispered and held the door handle. I twisted it and the door opened. I had been expecting it to be locked since Axel said he wasn't at home.

I pushed the door open and walked in. I flinched when I saw Lucas sitting on the couch, head bowed and a stick of cigarette between his fingers. He had gone back to smoking all because of a lie. I closed the door and he straightened up before turning his head.

"What are you doing here?" He asked, narrowing his irritated eyes. He rose to his feet and tossed the cigarette aside. "I told you to leave? Why the fuck are you still doing in my house?!"

"I... I came to—"

"I fucking hope you aren't here to try to deceive me again. I don't want to hear your pathetic lie."

I had to stop myself from lashing out at him even though my anger was rising high inside of me. I kept my eyes on his face, tears blurring my vision. I could see the raw anger burning in those eyes I always saw happiness and love in.

"I'm sorry," I whispered and he scoffed.

"Stop apologizing and leave my house!" He marched up to me and grabbed my hand then forced me toward the door.

"Let me go!" I yanked my arm out of his and stepped away from him. "I came to take my things! Stop doing this to me! You want me out of your house, right? Fine! I'll leave!"

I saw something in his eyes for a brief moment before I turned around and made my way to the stairs.

"Jackie..."

I ignored his voice as I climbed up the stairs, heart wrenching as I did. I got to the room and went straight to the walk-in closet. I grabbed my luggage from the corner and started to grab my clothes. I threw them into the luggage, even the new ones he had bought for me. It belonged to me after all. I packed everything, including my shoes and books.

Once I felt I was done, I looked around for anything I must have left behind. As I looked up at the top of the shelves, I saw a shoe box that held most of my school books and documents. I stood on my tip toes and stretched my fingers to pull it closer but failed. I grunted and looked around for anything I could climb with.

"Curse my short height," I said and spotted a stool by the door. I went to it and picked it up then walked back to the spot I had been. I placed the stool and climbed it then grabbed the box off the shelf.

I came down from the stool and coughed at the dust flying off the box. I turned around and dropped the box on the counter in the center of the closet and raised an eyebrow at the blue colored file sitting on top of the box.

It was clean and had no traces of dust unlike the rest of the box, making me confused as I did not remember putting anything on it.

"Is this mine? I don't remember keeping any of my school files here," I said and flipped the file open.

The first page was blank and unrecognisable to me because I knew all my documents like the back of my hand. I turned to the next page and it was blank before turning to the third page. I picked up the file and brought to closer to my face as I read the heading which was a company name.

As I looked a little below the heading, the words my eyes scanned sent a sharp pain like a knife, through my heart. I felt like I could not breathe and the floor I was standing on felt like it was spinning me around.

I could not believe what I was seeing with my eyes.

"Marriage certificate?" I whispered in horror.