I followed him around helplessly before pulling him into my room. "Nick, stop! He came here on his own."

"Under whose invitation?"

"None. What are you talking about?" I said frantically.

"You've been texting him, haven't you? Don't play dumb with me, Zahida. You made him come," his words struck me like a bolt, caught me red handed. "If you want to do it behind my back, at least be a smart ass and log off your Messenger from my MacBook. Not only you texted him, you had the audacity to take a selfie of you with my mother image's in it."

That selfie. I shouldn't have done that. I shouldn't have shared a photo of me, covering half of my face with Nick's arm with the tattoo image of his mom facing the camera shutter. This was not a memorable regret that I wanted.

"No, I didn't mean–"

"You fuckin' well mean it!" Nick roared. "You exposed me, insulted my mother and even had thoughts of meeting him!"

"I do not!" I yelled exasperatedly. "Stop accusing me of something I don't plan to do."

"Yeah?" his eyebrows furrowed. "Then, explain to me what 'No, not now' means in your text when he asks you out? I see possibilities."

"No, I was just stalling him away until he forgets," I explained.

"Seriously? That is the most diabolical answer I've ever heard from a fucking liar like you. It's no wonder you don't even remember important dates, you don't even care–"

"Nick, I do care!"

"You considered to make him as a spare in case things between us fucked up" he accused.

"Don't put words in my mouth. That's not what I have in my mind," I defended.

"You're doing this for him, ain't it? This whole thing we had is for him?" he pierced his sad, angry eyes at me. "Tell the truth."

I paused myself before I could speak, recalibrating my thoughts to find the rightful answer for Nick as right answers may not be helpful in this situation. His breathing went erratic and his anger intensified rather than fading.

"Yes, it was but things changed," I admitted. "I love you now and I no longer want him for revenge. I just want to let him go."

"If you love me, you shouldn't have done what you did," he said bitterly. I kept my silence, felt lost for words to defend myself. He then went on, "I was painfully able to keep my mind off your conversation with him but when he came knocking on that door, that's just drawing the line. I guess it's just a sign that you're just like everyone else, a betrayer, a scrounge."

"I'm sorry, Nick. I admit that was selfish," I stammered, couldn't think of any clever words to reinforce his feelings. "I just want to show him how happy I am with you. Because I am truly happy with you."

"Yeah, whatever," he said unimpressed and walked out of the bedroom door towards the common room to collect his jacket and keys. "It's okay, you can have back your old happy life with your prince charming and forget about our future. I won't be mitherin' you no more."

"Nick, stop!" I tugged him away from the passageway.

"Don't you dare touch me, bitch or I'll kill you!" he grabbed me by my nape and threw me onto the sofa. He swiftly slammed the common room door behind him before rushing towards the front door and exited.

"Nick, wait!" I bellowed and crawled for the door. I scrambled towards the passageway, reaching for the front door to open and found him in his car across the street. I rushed for him, but I was a few seconds too late. He quickly backed his car and accelerated away, leaving me behind.