Chapter 43

"I have kept so many secrets from you," I told her and sat back from my lying position as I looked at her straight into her eyes. Finally determined to spill everything out that I have been keeping inside from a long period of time.
A gut feeling in me told me to wait and let her know some other day but then I wanted to feel free from the burden of hiding things from her and it was why I chose to be truthful and let her know.
"I know," she whispered smiling at me as she reached for my face and touched my cheek with her warm ones.
"I knew that you were full of secrets but I believed that you would eventually come out one day and tell me everything."
Her words were filled with sincerity and that made me smile as I leaned more onto her touch and kissed her hand before taking in a deep breath getting ready to tell her about my past.
"I want to tell you everything today. So please be patience with me and hear me out okay?" I asked and she nodded signalling me to continue.
"So, back when I was doing my degree, a girl named Gina used to stalk me everywhere I went. She was really pretty and bubbly but very childish. Even though I was her senior, she continued to follow me everywhere I went and would sent me those you know um-" my voice stuttered thinking about the correct word.
"Love letters?" Juliette finished and awkwardly I found myself nodding at her as I cleared my throat before speaking "So...she would declare her love for me every single time she met me and would always scare away the other girls that followed me."
"I used to decline her advances because I never really felt anything for her but then I felt I should at least date her and see if it works. The day when I told her that we should date, she was extremely happy and like a kid jumped up and down but I made a condition that if it didn't work then she would stop pursuing me and stop following me,"
"She seemed hesitant but when I turned to leave, she agreed almost immediately and it was the beginning of our dating relation," as I finished I looked up to see Juliette's expression but found her neutral and attentive as she signalled me to carry on.
"Then we dated each other, going out on dates, movies that I hated, amusement parks and did everything to have fun but every time as I walked her back to her hostel I knew it wasn't working for me. I never really felt that excitement and spark that I had wished to feel but on the contrary she was ecstatic and happy with whatever we were doing and clutched onto me even more. As we continued, she grew more possessive and acted like my girlfriend boasting around and being mean to a girl who was my lab partner. She didn't stop on that, she started disturbing me while I was in my class and joined me on lunch every time I was with my friends."
I inhaled deeply as I remembered the day when I last saw her. She was sad and broke and looked as if she would die.
"So finally I told her that it wasn't working and I wanted to end it. She was heart broken and she cried for hours and days following me everywhere even more to the point where I had to take a short leave from the university frustrated by her behavior of barging into boy's hostel. But then I never knew that the day when I last saw her running behind my car to stop me from leaving would be the last day I would ever see her."
"W-What happened?" Juliette asked slowly holding my hand tightly sitting at the edge of the table.
"When I returned back, I heard that she commited suicide by jumping off a cliff near our university."
"What?" Juliette said with widened eyes.
"Everyone blamed me for it and told me that just because I was stupid not able to handle her love, she ended up committing suicide only because of me. The situation was a chaos back then and I was filled with guilty. I couldn't sleep nor eat when everyone kept on looking at me accusingly. So, it was when Gale stepped in wanting to help me and he spread a false story of her being pregnant with some other guy. She felt guilty for cheating on me and it was why she commited suicide." Juliette gasped when she heard that and reluctantly I continued "It didn't even take him too long to even get a fake pregnancy report and he hired some guy who even agreed to whatever he said and took the blame on himself for money. Even though people stopped hating and accusing me for her death but the fact that she cheated on me didn't go well with them and they turned her into the evil one much to my dismay and it made me even more frustrated and angry upon Gale for doing this."
"G-Gale did this all for you?" she asked shocked and I nodded.
"We were always in good terms but after this incident I hated him for the guilt that I was feeling and for turning Gina, who was dead as the evil one."
"Zachary," Juliette whispered as she stood up and pulled me into a hug rubbing her hands all over my arm soothingly and comforting me.
"But the past that I thought I had left behind has came back hunting my present and it is why I chose to tell you everything today," I said and Juliette looked down at me with a questioning look.
"What do you mean?" she questioned.
"Gina- Gina's full name was Gina Lascar and she is Alexandru's younger sister."