85. Living in the Moment

“You knew I liked you. Yet, you *fucking* threw away my life like a trash to save the love of your life, who just wanted to sleep with you.”
Dakota spits every word venomously, as he glares at me with ragged breaths and clenched fists.
“I-I don’t know what you are talking about.” I blink at him with teary eyes, not understanding since when Ethan became the love of my life, or worse wants to sleep in my messy room.
“Don’t play innocent now, Emara.”
I gulp under his murderous gaze as he lowers his face inches away from mine.
“I know you planned it all out with Ryan to get me arrested. That’s why you called the police on the night of fight to trap me in, while you smartly sneaked out with that bastard!”
*What?*
“This is absurd! I never once called the police on you.” I retort, raising my voice in frustration at his *non-sense* allegation.
“Do not lie to me, Emara!” His thundering voice pierces through me like glass shards, sharp and merciless.
“I know you were present at the fight ground that night and called the cops, then cleverly sneaked out to act like a witness and framed me behind smuggling for every drug deal ever happened under the wing.”
What?
“All for that Ryan, who just wanted to get into your pants!” The darkness within him breaks free as he growls at me inhumanly.
“I have no idea from where you got this story.. But I never in my life conspired anything against you with Ryan.” I stand on my ground, protesting against the accusations he is storming upon me.
“Stop fucking lying!” Dakota yells, releasing his fury at me.
“I am not lying!” I assert firmly, against his dark physical presence which is overshadowing the room.
“It’s true that I was on the fight ground with my friends, but suddenly police came and it was my dad who caught us and took us to the police headquarters for interrogation.”
The memory of that dreadful night rushes back to my skin, cutting me deeper than any blade. *That awful night-vicious fight-blood shed-chaos-cops-my father!*
“I didn’t plan any of it, and just so you know.. Ryan and Daniel were the first names on my father’s list!” I meet his gaze squarely, in an attempt to convey the truth in my eyes.
“Then why the fuck you framed me?” Dakota growls inhumanly, his voice like a violent roar of betrayal and hurt, that seems to shake the very walls around us.
“To protect my brother!” I shout back, my words a raw scream of honesty that I can no longer suppress.
“Ethan?” Dakota scrunches his brow in bewilderment.
An intense layer of confusion covers his face, slowly taking over the cloak of anger as he tries to piece together the puzzle I have laid at his feet.
“Yes. Ethan.. He was that stupid bacteria guy!” I finally admit to my sins of shielding my brother from the consequences of his naivety.
“I knew something shady was going on, but I never imagined it would be an illegal drug racket. I suspected Zydus who passed drugs around, as I had seen him selling some powder to Ethan.” I confess, reading out a chapter of my life I had long sealed.
“But my brother was so innocent, he had no idea those substances were drugs. And like a good sister, I wanted to protect him from the drug charges, and from our infuriating dad, who kept pressurizing me at the police headquarters to speak out a name.”
I look up and find those intense emerald eyes gazing down at me with an unreadable expression. “And your name just slipped out of my lips.”
Silence hangs heavy between us. The air gets thicker with unspoken tension as Dakota silently stares at me, absorbing my confession.
Yet, the subtle wind of destruction continues to surround him like a deadly fragrance.
“And it’s not even my fault! If you hangout with filthy company, people will naturally assume you are one of them.” I snap at him bitterly, leaving no stone uncovered.
“I had seen you hangout with Zydus before, so when my father pressed me for a name, yours was the first that came into my mind, and I said your name to save my brother.. Because Ethan..”
My voice cracks with emotions choking my throat from all sides. “He didn’t deserve it. He just took the drug once during the fight against Ryan.” *Or maybe twice!*
“I know my dad would have not showed mercy, even to his own children and I couldn’t bear to see my brother’s life ruined over something he was not even part of. He is a good guy.”
I feel my chest clench painfully as I reveal the reasons for my false statement. Yet, the cord of guilt further tightens around my heart as I see myself as a hypocrite in my own eyes.
Whereas Dakota remains silent with his piercing gaze, and a face as hard as my regrets. His eyes reflect a mixture of pain and betrayal, which I feel down to my bones.
“But I know saying your name was not right, even then!” The words tear from me, and I watch his jaw clench in return.
“And believe me, since that day I have been consumed by regret for what I did to you. My intention was never to target you, hell I didn’t even know you were an orphan and had a rough past.”
Dakota gulps hard, his fists are still clenched as if he is fighting a battle within himself.
“All this time, I have wished I could turn back the clock, and maybe say a made-up name, anything to save you and my brother. Maybe even my own name, because I have been living in this hell of guilt ever since, and I can’t live like this anymore.”
The room feels heavy with his silence and my cries of regret. In order to save one person, I have destroyed another, and this realization is a burden I know I’ll carry forever.
“So you didn’t do it to protect Ryan?” Dakota asks, breaking the silence between us.