Chapter 134
After taking a seat in the living room, I took a deep breath to calm my nerves. Adam was sitting right next to me and we had this awkward distance between us so that we weren't touching. I tried to relax into the couch and prepare myself to relive the memories he was about to send my way.
"Okay, tell me what you've been remembering," I told him softly, fidgeting with the loose thread on the hem of my shirt. Adam nodded, looking like he was thinking hard.
"The first thing that I remembered was screaming at you in a kitchen, I was trying to stop you from doing something. I remembered feeling angry, fearful but I also felt a strange sense of awe, as if I could hardly believe that someone like you existed. You were yelling back at me about how it was your life and that it was your choice. Then, Pio walked in and you left with him before we could continue yelling at each other." I felt some tears gathering in my eyes. I felt like I was about to break. I had the urge to reach out to him, to ask for some comfort and support so I could relive this without feeling like I was so alone in this world. But I knew better than to do that.
Remember Kiara, Case. He wasn't yours anymore.
I squeezed my eyes shut at the sharp pang of pain at the sudden pang of loss. I cleared my throat and tried to smoothen my expression so that we could continue with this. I have to help him.
"That was the day I told you that I decided to join the competition to help you pay for your mom's hospital bills. You didn't agree with my decision and tried to stop me but-" a smile crept onto my face at the memory, "- but of course I was too stubborn. I told myself I wasn't asking for your permission so I joined the competition nonetheless and slipped the money I got from the fights into your mother's hospital room; That was now Dom got those pictures of me to brainwash you."
Adam didn't ask any questions. He nodded along and moved on to the next memory he had of us, seeming eager to get the explanations to all of them.
"I remembered laying down on an open field of grass and hills with you," was all he told me and I smiled at that memory. It sounded simple and beautiful.
"You brought me there when I woke up in the middle of the night from a nightmare I had about the night Bryant died. I told you my story, about how Bryant saved my life by giving up his. I was experiencing what you'd call a survivor's guilt. Somehow you managed to take away that guilt for a split second. You told me that he died a hero; that he didn't die for nothing. All I could feel after that was love for my brother. You also told me about your mom's condition and your family's financial problems at the time." I had to wipe away some tears while talking about Bryant but ended up smiling as I remembered how Adam comforted me.
Jesus, I'm so unstable; it must be that time of the month soon.
"There was that time that you accused me of trying to kill you for putting cakwe in your porridge. I think it became your favorite food?" Adam sounded amused as he quirked an eyebrow at me. I suddenly turned a deep shade of red at the mention of that time I overreacted to the cakwe in my porridge. I suddenly remembered he wasn't sure that everything was a memory. Maybe I can use that to my advantage.
"Nope, that never happened. Cakwe has always been my favorite food!" I straight out denied, willing my blush to fade quickly as to not give me away. Unfortunately, I was never a great liar. This was why I tried to stay in the down low during high school and stayed quiet when someone bullied me instead of getting smart. I would have to lie if they questioned me. Adam saw straight through my lies and narrowed his eyes.
I sighed in defeat, knowing that I had to own up to that embarrassing moment in my life when I was completely oblivious to the existence of cakwe.
"Okay so I was feeling like complete shit that day. We were ambushed by guys who I guess were "warned" me that they were watching my every move a few days earlier and I couldn't sleep for the next few nights. You made me porridge and introduced me to cakwe which I absolutely fell in love with. I had to explain why we were ambushed by those guys to you after I ate that porridge and then we made the trip to the hospital to visit your mom." I shrugged like it wasn't a big deal although I clearly remembered the anxiety and fear I felt that day clearly. The fear that something was going to happen to Adam because of me.
"So why were we ambushed by those guys?" Adam asked, too curious for my liking. I tried to play it cool and simply shrugged but he was having none of my shit today and prodded me for answers.
"We were ambushed by two guys that night. One was a guy with a permanent looking scowl on his face, I call him scowl-face in my head." I earned a chuckle from Adam when he heard the nickname I came up with.
"What?" I looked at him challengingly, daring him to question my choices in nicknames. He smartly chose to shake his head while trying his best to keep his laughter in. Keyword is trying, people. A few chuckles slipped out making me glare jokingly at him.
"Anyways," I shoot a pointed glare at him. He gave me a sheepish smile, motioning for me to go on.
"The other guy that was with scowl-face, I call him baldy," that earned me another laugh that I chose to ignore.
"So, the first time I saw scowl-face was in a match. I met baldy when I went to a party with Penelope; she's a friend from our high school. We were walking down the road to catch a taxi when baldy tried to stop us. Turned out that baldy was scowl-face's partner and scowl-face was the drunk driver who drove the vehicle who crashed into our car that night, killing Bryant.
Dom apparently wanted to eliminate all witnesses and tried to kill. That didn't sit well with him so he wanted to get back at Dom by hurting me. He was counting on Dom's is infatuation towards me."
Adam looked as if he was trying to take me seriously but couldn't which was probably because of the nicknames. The nicknames were easy to remember, sue me.
"Okay, I think this was the last memory I could remember so far." I took a deep breath, ready to get this over with. As good as this trip down memory lane was, I couldn't take anymore when I knew that I wouldn't be able to make any more. He had moved on from me.
"Okay, shoot." I tried to sound nonchalant about it. But when he started talking about the last memory he had of us, I froze in my seat and could feel my throat started clogging up.
"I was making a batch of cookies and you and a girl were in the living room with someone, watching Harry Potter." I tried to clear my throat and hide my tears.
