Jen swallows when my words finally die out and my tale is over. Tears are streaming down her face, and she seems like she doesn’t know what to say.

“I-I had no idea…” she stifles, “you are so strong… Mona…”

She grabs me and pulls me into her arms, wanting to comfort me. I’m not even crying; I just feel cold. Cold and at the same time a comforting warmth is spreading throughout my body. I’ve never told anyone about this but now that I have, I feel weak. Lonely, sad, empty, relieved…

“You can’t ever see him again!” Jen suddenly exclaims and jumps up, “he was just here like it was nothing!”

Her expression is mix between horror and panic. I feel like a stranger watching her.

“You need to get a restraining order against him!”

I have already thought about it but even if I can get a temporary restraining order there’ll still be a hearing, and the lack of witnesses is… Troubling. My brother was very careful to isolate me, and never did anything to me where other people might see. Plus, he’s a lawyer.

“That’s never going to work, it’ll just make him angry” I tell her.

“It has to! The law is supposed to protect people like you!” she exclaims agitated, “There must be something we can do!”

“I don’t know, Jen…” I sigh.

“We could ask some students from Law…”

“No! Jen, I told you my story but I’m not telling anyone else and definitely not telling a stranger!”

I shiver at the thought of speaking my secret aloud once more and I certainly don’t want some random law student to know, so they can spread the rumor all around school.

“But they could help us! We could just present the case like a hypothetical; they’d never need to know that it’s about you” she insists.

I consider the suggestion a little. That might be okay… but still, they too easily could figure out that the story is about one of us if they pry a little… Or are a little intuitive.

“I don’t know Jen, what if they figure it out anyway and spread it around school?”

She seems to contemplate a little.

“Then how about we ask Aaron? Architecture is right next to Law, so he might know someone who we could trust?”

“No! Absolutely not! I’m not getting Aaron involved in this!” I shout, horrified by the suggestion.

“Besides… We don’t have anything to do with each other anymore…” I add a little softer.

The last part hurts a little to say, but I really don’t want him involved in this. He’d know right away that the story is about me and I’m not sure I could handle the shame…

“Okay, okay…” Jen finally resigns, “but think about it. I really don’t want your brother anywhere near you again.”

“I know…”

Somehow, it’s comforting that Jen knows about my history. It feels like the burden got a little lighter to carry…

…

I’m in the fitness center when my phone suddenly dings. It’s a message from Jen, which surprises me a bit; I haven’t talked to her since I broke up with Mona almost two weeks ago.

‘Aaron, I need to talk to you’ is all it says.

‘About what?’

‘It’s about Mona. It’s important, but I don’t want her to find out. Can we meet up somewhere?’

I frown a little at the text. I don’t see why I would need to talk to about her anymore… But then again, I can’t help but feel a little curious. I’m not exactly over her yet…

‘Fine. Where?’

‘Can we meet at your place?’

‘Sure’ I’m about to write, but my phone dings again immediately.

‘Oh, and do you know anyone from law?’

‘I do. I talk to a guy named Jonathan, why?’

‘Can you bring him too?’

Now she’s really got me curious. What is this about?

‘Sure, why?’ I ask her.

‘Great! Can you text me when you guys have time to meet up?’

‘Uhm… All right…?’

This girl. She’s sweet, friendly and clumsy but I can’t help but question if that’s all there is to her. I wonder what is going on, so I immediately text Jonathan and he gives me the thumbs up, though he is just as curious about what she wants.