Chapter 77: Dominic’s Bomb, The Message, And Scarlett Carman!
Ruaan walked back toward his room, thinking about anime.
Specifically, he was thinking about which series to start next before Harolin came back for his phone and discovered the Netflix subscription and the three episodes he had already watched and the fourth one he had been mid-episode through when he remembered he had not eaten a proper lunch.
He would have loved to watch other series, but they are too long. That’s why he chose anime. With the 23 minutes per episode, he could finish early.
Seo had ruined the lunch for him.
He thought about that too. About what Seo was trying to achieve, and what had happened to make him end up here in Blackmere, and how long he had actually been in Blackmere before Ruaan arrived.
’How long has he been here? Maybe he really is a psychopath who has murdered a lot of people. Even if he’s going after people, why me? And I was deceived by the kind of person that he was.’
He was deep enough in thought that he did not hear his name being called until a hand closed around his waist from behind and pulled him.
His back hit the wall as he let out a groan.
He looked up, ready to punch whoever had shoved him to the wall, and he saw it was Dominic.
Both arms on the wall on either side of him. Close enough that Ruaan could see the slight tension in his jaw that meant this was not as casual as the posture was trying to look.
"What the hell?" Ruaan said. "Have you gone insane?"
"Insane? Why, yes! I’m insane, Ruaan. I fucking called you three times," Dominic said. "You kept walking. Are you ignoring me on purpose?"
Ruaan shoved both hands against his chest and put distance between them. He brushed off his own sleeves with the specific energy of someone removing the memory of contact. The last thing he wanted was for someone to walk in on them and catch them in that awkward position. He didn’t want rumours about what didn’t happen to spread around, especially if it’s between him and his foolish ex.
"We’re not friends," Ruaan said. "We’re not lovers. After what you did to me, enemies seems accurate."
"I apologised for that."
"Apologising doesn’t undo it."
"Then let’s fix it. I want you back. I want us... back," Dominic stepped slightly closer. "We’re both here now. We have time. When we leave—"
"Leave together?" Ruaan almost laughed. "You want to leave here together and tell my father we reconciled."
"Yes. That’s why your father sent me here, after all. He wants us to be together and..."
"Don’t think I’m foolish not to find out what you did, Dominic."
"Huh? What... what do you mean? What did I do?" Dominic stuttered as he looked around.
"The only one my father sent to keep an eye on me is Lev," Ruaan said. "My father may be close to people... He may bring you close to him, but trust me, he’s just doing it for investigation because he hardly trusts people."
Dominic’s jaw moved as Ruaan stepped forward.
"You were arrested for fraud," Ruaan continued. "And stealing private information. That’s why you’re here with a sentence. Not because my father arranged it. You don’t have to lie to me."
"That’s not—"
"Five years," Ruaan said. "You have five years to spend here for your crimes. I have just two. Or less, depending." He stepped sideways and created a proper distance. "So. We won’t be leaving together. Never. I won’t even let that happen."
Dominic looked at him. The easy composure he was wearing was beginning to crack as he lifted a brow.
"Depending?" Dominic said. "Depending on what?"
"On Harolin."
Something moved across Dominic’s face that Ruaan had not seen there before. Not jealousy this time. Something older than that. Something that had been sitting somewhere was being kept down.
"You mean, depending on him dropping the charges?" Dominic said. "You think he’ll drop the charges for the person responsible for the death of his mother?"
Ruaan stopped, and the corridor immediately became quiet.
He heard the words in the order they had arrived, and his brain processed them separately. ’Responsible. Death. His mother.’
"What?" Ruaan said. "What do you mean by that?"
Dominic looked at him.
"Harolin’s mother," Dominic said. "She died because of what you did." He held Ruaan’s gaze. "The accident two years ago. The one you blamed on Mara. She was on her way to donate a kidney to her mother when it happened. She never made it. Their mother’s condition got worse without the donation." He paused. "She died waiting."
Ruaan felt the wall behind him without remembering stepping back toward it.
His hand came up to his mouth.
He hadn’t known about the kidney donation. He hadn’t known about Mara being on her way to the hospital. He hadn’t known any of it, not even about the mother.
"I killed Harolin’s mother," Ruaan said. The words came out very quietly and very strange in his own mouth.
"Now you understand," Dominic said. He stepped closer. "So think carefully. The only person here who genuinely has nothing to gain from hurting you is me. Harolin has every reason to... "
Ruaan slapped Dominic’s hand away when it reached toward him.
"Don’t," Ruaan said.
"Ruaan—"
"I deserve whatever Harolin gives me," Ruaan said. His voice was steady. He was not entirely sure how. "I deserve it. But that doesn’t mean I’ll choose you." He stepped past him. "It means I have to live with what I did."
"He’ll be called home soon," Dominic said behind him. "He’ll be engaged to someone his family has arranged for. Once he leaves, you’ll be here alone, and I’ll be the only one left."
Ruaan kept walking.
"You’ll come back to me," Dominic said. "You always do. Everyone always does."
Ruaan turned the corner.
He did not look back.
Behind him, once he was out of sight, Dominic’s expression dropped entirely. The warmth and the ease vanished. What was left was something colder.
He kicked the wall once.
"Fuck! How did he find out about me getting arrested because of the fraud case?" he muttered. "That was supposed to be sealed. Didn’t that old man promise to keep it a secret?" He pressed the back of his hand to his mouth. "Lev was right. Plan B."
.
.
The room was quiet as Ruaan rushed inside and closed the door behind him. He sat down with his back against it on the floor.
He sat there.
He thought about Harolin’s handsome face he had seen that morning. The ten missed calls he had let go unanswered were just because of him. The milk pushed toward him, all just ’For strength.’ The kiss against his mouth before leaving.
He thought about all of it, and underneath it now was the knowledge that he had not only taken two years from Mara. He had taken a mother.
From both of them. He was the cause of their pain. He pressed the back of his hand to his eyes and wiped them. He suddenly exhaled deeply through his mouth and stood up.
He walked to the bed with his trembling legs and sat on it.
Harolin’s phone was still there. He picked it up and held it and looked at it for a long moment.
He decided on what to do. He would apologise properly to Harolin. When Harolin came back tonight.
He did not know if it would mean anything to Harolin. He did not know if there was a version of an apology that was large enough for what he had actually done. But he would say it anyway because Harolin deserved to hear it from him, and Ruaan was tired of things not being said.
"Even if he doesn’t forgive me for what I did to his mother, my sincerity would be at least felt,"
He thought to himself as the phone vibrated in his hand.
A notification banner appeared at the top of the screen.
It was from a contact named Old Man.
Old Man: You must visit home this weekend. The arrangement has been made. You must get engaged to Scarlett Carman by the end of March. Do not disappoint me, Harolin.
Ruaan read it. He wiped the remaining tears from his eyes and read it again.
He turned the phone face down on the bed.
He sat very still.
He thought about Dominic’s voice in the corridor. ’He’ll be called home. Engaged to someone.’
He thought about the message sitting on the phone under his hand.
’End of March?’
He looked at the wall, but it wasn’t helping. He lowered his head and looked at the key around his neck.
’Scarlett Carman.’
He did not know who that was, and he did not want to know who that was.
He pressed his lips together and stared at the ceiling.
’No... No! I can’t be feeling this suffocation in my chest. It’s fine. There is a super important conversation I need to have with Harolin, and he would explain to me, so it would be fine.’
That’s what he told himself, but he did not entirely believe any of it.
