"Are you- are you really here?" He mumbles to himself and closes his eyes and opens them again to see me standing before him.

"Yeah," I mumble back and his eyes widen in shock of seeing me here. "It's me little shit."

He smiles at me and takes a step towards me and almost pulls me into a hug but stops himself. The smile leaves his face instantly and he stiffens.

"What are you doing here Venus?" He asks, when he says my name it almost feels like he doesn't want me there.

"I—" I start but realize that I have nothing to say to him. I already apologized to him in his drunken state which he probably doesn't remember because he isn't much of a good drinker.

I bit my bottom lip between my teeth and extend the photograph once again. He looks down at it and sighs. "You dropped a photograph," I say and he slowly takes it from my hand.

He is noticing and calculating my every move, as I slowly turn around. I start to walk away from him but he holds onto my wrist and I don't bother fighting.

"Let go Cayson," I whisper but he doesn't, instead his grip tightens.

"Won't you ask me why I have this photograph?" He asks and I shake my head and close my eyes.

"I don't think it's my place to ask you anymore," I reply back and sigh.

"But I can explain," he says and I sigh.

"I didn't ask you for a explanation Cayson. It's your life, your choices, who am I to make any decisions for you?" I ask and I see something in his eyes shimmer.

"But I can—" he starts but I cut him off.

"I didn't come back to interfere in your life Cayson. When the course is done, I will be gone, forever," I whisper the last part and his brows furrow.

"Wouldn't you care to know?" He asks and twists me around by my wrist and is very close to me.

Of course I care to know, but I can't show you how much I care. It seems as if you have moved on in your life without me. I shouldn't take it away from you.

"I don't care Cayson." I tell him and the grip loosens.

"You- you really don't care?" He asks and I bite my lip and shake my head. "I- I thought you came back so we—" he doesn't finish his sentence.

"I'm here for some things that I have yet to achieve. I want to complete them before time runs out," I mutter and his brows furrow.

"Time runs out? What do you mean?" He asks and I take a deep breath in.

It's so hard to resist the urge to tell him. He is this sun to my darkness which always shines. Myself being the darkness, I always cry to dim his light. More and more every time we interact.

"I'm uh- I'm not staying in New York for long. I'll be leaving as soon as I'm done with what I came here to do," I breath out.

"Why did you- why did you leave?" He asks and I sigh.

There's that question again.

"I was tired," I reply back.

"Of what?" He asks.

"Everything. Finding my mom, my dad, my little sister, my other mom started behaving nice, Ian and Violet's accident, your accident. My life was a mess, a mess which I dragged you into and I regret it. I'm sorry," I apologize and he holds onto my shoulders.

"I was happy to stay with you Venus. We were supposed to fight together, anything that comes our way. You- you said you loved me."

I did. I still do. But what kind of love would it be when I give you couple of days of happiness and sadness for your whole life?

"Isn't love a funny word? People just throw it around like confetti," I chuckle but he doesn't budge because he doesn't believe me. "I didn't know what else to say when you told me you loved me, so I just said it back."

"You meant it," He asks, more like tells me.

"Not quite. I was bored you see and you seemed like a perfect person to be around. I had to keep that facade going on for a long while," I lie to make it sound as real as I possibly could.

"A facade?" He scoffs and I nod. "I- I loved you Venus, for real."

My heart is breaking at this point. It's shattering into pieces as we speak. I can't seem to see him like this. Broken and vulnerable, all because of me.

"How is Vanessa?" I ask and he stiffens.

"She's great," he replies back.

"That's good. Are you- are you two like together now or something?" I ask and a smirk appears on his lips.

"Yeah, you could say that," he replies back and that breaks my heart even more.

I can hear my heart beating against my chest so rapidly that I don't know how I haven't fainted yet. My mind is running through so many different feelings right now that it's hard to keep track of any one of them.

"Are you- are you happy with her?" I ask and he rolls his eyes.

"For a person who doesn't care, you're surely asking a lot of questions," he replies back, a smirk playing on his lips and I stifle a humorous chuckle.

"I don't, I'm just wondering," I reply back and he nods.

"Right," he says, not too convinced.

Suddenly Kate comes towards us and her eyes widen when she sees Cayson talking with me. I shake my head and the worry disappears from her face.

"Hey Cayson," she greets him and he smiles as he puts the photograph inside a book which he's holding onto.

"Hey Kate," he replies back. "I need to go."

With that he leaves. Not another word, nor a single glance in my direction. He just leaves. Seeing him leave like this hurts. He's going further and further away from me.

"What was that?" She asks and my eyes follow Cayson until I can't see him anymore.

"Nothing, we just stumbled upon each other and I thought a chat was overdue," I say and pull my wrist up to my chest and pamper it with my other hand.

"What did you tell him?" She asks and I don't reply. "Don't tell me you broke his heart even more. You know how long it took him to take everything in and get over you? I still don't think he's over you but still. He wouldn't believe the story I told him neither would Ian. They sent out a search team for you but then when they didn't find you, they gave up."

"I don't know what else to do Kate. You know it's getting worse. Why should I make him happy for one moment when I know I will snatch it away from him, the next?" I ask and she hugs me.

"Whatever happens, I still think they all deserve to know the truth," she says and we pull apart.

I sigh.

"Hey Kate what's—" I hear Chris approaching us and he stops talking when he sees me next to Kate.

Worry is clearly shining in Chris's eyes when I came into view. Violet and Tyler are holding hand in hand while chuckling.

"What happened Chr—?" Tyler stops talking when he looks at me.

"Venus?" Ian breaths out as he walks behind violet.

Now, they all stand before me and there is a satisfying smile on my face. They stare at me from top to bottom but Tyler looked away.

"Hey," my voice breaks as I look at them, but nobody replies.

___