BASH
Trinity shakes her head. And that's when tears roll down her cheeks.
Jesus Christ.
"Don't cry, please?" I beg as I wipe her tears.
"Am I always like this? I always ended up broken. I never get what I wanted." She pauses, sniffs, and plays with her fingers while looking down at her hands on her lap.
Shit. She's killing me.
"I never get your attention since we were kids. I always wanted to draw and paint, but when you left, I stopped because I thought, what was the point when my only inspiration was gone too? I also wanted to prove to myself that I could solve numbers without your help."
I stand still at what she's revealing in front of me.
"Now, it's too late, and I'm never going to have you." She finishes with a shrug.
"You know what I felt when I called you, and you're nowhere to be found? I thought my world had stopped, and I couldn't function. I felt the world fall apart. I lost my strength like I lost everything, and you are my strength, Trinity." I pause, breathing deeply. "The last thing I know is I'm already on my flight back because I need to see you. I need to explain why I need you in my life. It's not easy to spill ypur heart and open your soul to someone you thought loved you back. It's not easy, but I've never lost hope when it comes to you."
"Bash-"
I pressed my finger against her lips.
"It's been years, Trinity. Since I ever made a move. After all, I thought you didn't like me because I was dating girls and I was a bully. So, I just love you, by looking at you and falling in love with my best friend was already hard. I dated because I wanted you to notice me and tell me to stop dating and date you instead. Then, you left me alone."
It still hurts, but the pain is unbearable seeing her crying in front of me.
I thought we could go to college together, and that was my plan because I was planning to ask you on a date now that we were both eighteen at that time, and if we were far from our parents, we could live our lives together and start together as a couple."
She listens carefully, and I can see the shock on her face.
"I always love you, even if you would never love me back. Nothing's gonna change that. You will always be my first love and my only love, Trinity." I take a deep breath when my eyes sting and blur. "If I died last night, I would regret that even afterlife for not telling you, but half of it was that I'm glad that I love you until the day I die, and you are the last person I think of."
She shakes to cry, and I feel a tear fall from my eye this time. She sees it, and she looks even more surprised. She throws herself at me. "I love you, Bash. Even how many times you made me cry every night, even how many times you bashed me, I still love you."
"God." I release a sigh-a sigh of contentment and relief.
***
I feel so exhausted after our confessions. After the breakfast that Aunt Zoey prepared for us, I excused myself to rest.
Edmund already arranged for the hotel. It was not a problem because the King Hotel is one of the five-star hotels here in Boston. Her dad came to join the breakfast since he was busy with a new case, and he didn't share much because of the confidentiality or classified my ass, as he called it.
I yawn for the third time while Edmund is busy sharing his funny moments back in South Korea during his so-called Bash's breakdown at the hanok. The Mallorys are very much entertained by his presence, I must say.
I roll my tired eyes when he mentions I kissed Trinity's shirt that she might forget to slip in her bag because that's not true.
"Bash, you can stay here, and we still have a room for you." I hear Aunt Zoey say.
"I've cost you enough trouble already." I shake my head and answer politely.
She rolls her eyes. "You're always welcome to give us troubles."
I laugh. "Well, you're the first person who wants me to give you trouble."
Trinity grabs my hand and stands up, sniffing me. "Get up, and you need to freshen up."
My brows furrow. "I don't smell bad, do I?"
Uncle Logan groans. "Let Bash take a rest, but this is not a five-star suite. No room service, and the walls aren't too thick."
My face still burns.
"My parents taught me well," I retort with amusement as I walk away with Trinity.
"I didn't say anything!" Her dad yells when we are both near the stairs.
After taking a shower and changing into sweatpants and a plain blue shirt, I sit on the bed in the room that Mallory's offered me.
I walk toward Trinity's room. The very same room where we almost kissed years ago. That was the first time I couldn't hold my feelings toward her anymore, and maybe missing her for a week during our Christmas vacation did that.
"Tri?" I knock softly.
"No sex in my house, Hughes." I hear her dad's voice, who's ready to go to work.
"I'm not gonna do that here, Mallory," I emphasize the here part.
He smirks, shaking his head. "I think she's in the shower. I bet her door is open." He walks down the stairs.
I open the door slowly, and it squeaks a little. Her room has changed-the color from bed to the tiny walk-in closet, and those sketches of me are not on the walls anymore.
I sit on the small chair of her white dresser, and that's when I notice a black rectangular card on top of it. I grab the business card scribed with golden sans letters.
My blood boils when my eyes scan the name written in bold.
SEAN FUCKING REXWELL