"Which station?" Tony asked.
He looked impeccable as if it was a regular day for him.
"Huh? Ah… The next one," she managed to answer him. She's the only one feeling like her heart would get ripped off.
Her heart was pounding so hard, and she felt butterflies in her stomach as his cheek grazed on hers accidentally. She was thankful that she is not someone who'd blush easily.
The train came to a halt at the next station and they got out. She looked at him walking beside her with no intent of leaving her.
"That's my building," she pointed. "I'll be safe here on out. See…" she pointed at the police precinct just opposite her building.
She wanted him to leave in case the ones who want her dead already knew her address. Cops are useless in a city run by gangs. Everyone's out to save their own skin in this lawless city.
Mainly, she wanted to protect her heart. She felt vulnerable when he was near. It's not fair when he was not interested in her. She had decided not to fall in love ever again.
She can handle her business alone. She should handle her business alone.
There was no flutter in his face. He held her hand as they crossed the street and he walked to the building with his eyes focused on the front.
He was so smooth. He looked unbothered as if he was a celestial being here in the mortal world for a casual stroll.
Marcella sighed in her heart. He's not a child to not know her intentions. But he is insisting. What can she do?
She scouted the street for any oddity. Her eyes ended up on a man smoking a pipe. He looked familiar.
Wasn't he one of my dad's men? What is he doing here?
There was a diner a block away from her building. She saw another familiar figure leaning on the pole nearby with a cigarette between his lips.
Aiden Fogarty—her ex.
Unconsciously, she sighed loudly.
He was the reason she grew to hate the concept of love. What is love anyway? What is unconditional love? Slicing off pieces of herself for the sake of the other when he never bothered to even consider her?
Was that love? Or was that foolishness?
In the name of love, she faced mental abuse. She gave her all and he sucked her dry. He used her dislike for her father's business as a tool to keep her under his foot. As if that was not enough, he blamed her for not truly loving him. After giving up almost everything except her life, he called her "close-hearted" and a hindrance to his success!
Was she wrong to not give details about her father for him to advance his career in politics? No!
She did not like what her father did. But she loved him. He was her father! How can she betray him? How did he expect her to betray her blood?
But it was a wake-up call for her.
It took her efforts to leave him. But she did it three years ago. She was so low on confidence as she herself believed the negatives he listed. She believed she was not worthy of a peaceful life because of who her father was.
Maybe she still was not over it. It was an uphill battle she faces every day. But one thing is for sure.
She will not give up.
Somehow, he managed to work for the Senator of their state and last she heard he has a bright future in politics. He was the one person she never wanted to meet again. He might have had a hand in her father's death.
She wanted nothing to do with him.
Aiden glanced at her. She averted her eyes. Her heart started to pound out of fear. She did not want to interact with him.
She looked to her side. Tony was not near her. She looked around to see him enter a pharmacy nearby.
Of all the times, he chose to leave her side now. Marcella could only sigh.
"You look fine, Marcella!"
Marcella clenched her jaws to bear with the cringe of hearing the familiar voice that reminded her of the terrible past. But he is in front of her, right now.
She is not a runner. She will face him.