Lila's P. O. V.

Present-

Just having all eyes on me got me to shake with this sudden fear I never thought I would have. They all stood silently, waiting for me to speak, but I just couldn't find my voice. I stood there, staring at the ground, my heart beating faster and my mind constantly saying, "she knows now. She knows now. Marinette knows now." I just couldn't believe it. I had feared Marinette would find out soon, and I had wanted to stop. I wanted to wait another week or so before I told everyone that 'my father had stopped abusing me', so then that way they'd never get suspicious and I wouldn't have to continue pretending to have wounds and scars each day. It was easy for me to fake a wound for about three days, but having to redo it after taking a shower for the fourth time got harder. I had to make the wound look a bit the same, but at the same time, not too alike. I never thought Marinette would find out before I even got a chance to stop.

I knew about Alya telling Marinette about it, and in order to me to act innocent, I had to lie to Marinette and tell her Alya had made fun of my wound, so that way it'd look as if Alya was a bully. Although it had worked, I could tell Marinette was still a bit suspicious of me. I took in a sharp breath, trying to force myself not to cry: they would probably think my tears were fake once I did so. I took a step back from Marinette, and when I looked up at her, I could just make out the hurt look on her face.

"I can't believe you would do something as hurtful as that." She looked like she was on the verge of tears, and it got my heart to clench just at the sight of her face. She let out a small, fake, bitter laugh, looking even more hurtful than I had expected. "You were probably laughing behind my back too, right? Whenever you got home, you would probably go to your room, laugh your head off and insult me, shouting out about how much of a fool I was to believe you. I seriously can't believe this!" She rushed past me before anyone else could see her tears. The others called her back, but she didn't listen. Instead she continued to run, not watching where she was going.

"MARINETTE, WATCH WHERE YOU'RE GOING!!" Nino shouted so loud that I was able to hear the terror in his voice. I heard the huge brake of a car, getting my heart to race, and it got me to instantly whirl around. On the road, a car had just managed to brake with Marinette right in front of it. Marinette wasn't moving, but she had such a look of shock, it was as if she had been stunned. The others rushed over to Marinette, dragging her out of the road as the driver shouted angrily about how Marinette was such an irresponsible person for not looking out first before crossing the road. He drove his car off angrily while the others didn't pay any attention to him. Alya was crying, hugging Marinette and all, both Nino and Adrien looked extremely worried while Nathaniel looked angry. I could tell he was angry at me.

The red-head had immediately turned over to me, yelling about how everything had been my fault. I didn't say anything, after all, I completely agreed with everything he said. Everything had been my fault, and now because of me, Marinette almost got ran over by a car. I couldn't take it anymore; the huge pain in my heart knowing that I'd lost that very most important thing that I'd been trying to keep. Keeping my head low, I started rushing away from them, not even caring about how much of a selfish coward I looked to them. I ran all the way back home, not stopping at all to take a breath.

I swung the door opened and walked inside, closing the door behind me. I heard silence, giving me the knowledge that Father wasn't home yet. I looked over at the time on the microwave. 9:54 A.M. Letting out a small groan, I started walking slowly over to my room, but hearing the door suddenly bang open made me freeze for a second, before I whirled around, face-to-face with my own father. "Can't you come in more quietly?!" I blurted out before I could stop my words. The situation that happened in the park just had me frustrated. Looking at this man reminded me all over again as to why I even did it in the first place.

"Lila, I have to talk to you!"

I scoffed at his words, turning around to go to my room. Soon enough though, I felt his hand on mine, and before I knew it, he had pulled me back. I slapped his hand away, pissed off. "Let me go. I don't want to talk to you."

"I guess you're still mad over the whole situation with Catherine, but seriously, this has gone out of hand." He looked even more angrier than I was, and I had no idea why. "That friend of yours, Marinette, had been coming over here in the past, saying I was abusing you. I thought she was being delusional, and I was glad when she finally stopped. But yesterday, she came over again, saying the same thing. I'd like to know the truth! Where does she keep getting the idea that I abuse you? Who's telling her such things?!"

I widened my eyes a little, surprised, although I shouldn't be. Marinette was here yesterday? Maybe yesterday was when she finally came to realize the truth. Someone could have told her, and she came over here one last time just to see if it was true or not.

"Lila, don't tell me you've been spreading lies about me!"

"And what if I have?" I took a step back away from him.

"Why?"

"Why?!" I spat out loud, surprised he was even asking that question. "So, all the memories of how terrible you've been to me has suddenly left your mind? You're the reason why Mother left in the first place because you couldn't stay loyal, and you didn't even feel sorry about it. You just immediately brought home another woman, not caring about how I felt. You never came and asked me if I was okay, and you never believed me when I told you Catherine was a witch. It was only when she slapped me right in front of you that you came to realize I was telling the truth. Meaning if that incident had never happened, Catherine would still be here, treating me like some kind of an object whenever you're not around. Your selfishness and ignorance caused me to become like this!" I turned around to start walking away, and I was glad when he didn't try to stop me. "And you're over here asking me why." I walked inside my room and banged the door shut.

I was glad he didn't follow me this time. There was nothing he could do now to make it up to me, or even get me to like him at all. It's not like he was even trying either. Everyday, he'd go to work, come back and go to his room. He kept saying the same thing, "Lila needs her space and time to forget about what had happened." But that hadn't been what I'd wanted at all. He assumed I needed time on my own when all I needed for him to do was work his butt off to make it up to me. I ran my arm across my eyes, forcing myself not to burst into tears now. Sure, Marinette found out my secret, my father knows I've been lying to him, and my heart aches even more, but. . .it wasn't the end of the world, was it? I always figured out solutions to my problems. So, if there were answers to everything, then there must have been a way to solve this.

I slid over to my desk and opened the drawer, taking out the first thing my finger touched. When I took it out, I saw that it was a small piece of paper with numbers written down on it. I sat down on my bed, staring at the numbers, then taking in a large sum of air, I took out my phone and pressed down each numbers. I had gotten this number in my father's bedroom, so I assumed it was somehow a phone number. A very important phone number. My first guess was that it was my mother's phone number, but that didn't make any sense. They broke up, she left, he replaced her; to sum it all up, they didn't love each other anymore. It didn't make sense as to why he'd keep her phone number.

I stared at the numbers I had pressed down on my phone, then I closed my eyes and pressed a finger down on the green call button. The phone started ringing, and all I could do was wait. After a few seconds, I placed the phone down on the table beside my bed and rested my head on my pillow, just letting it ring. I sighed, staring up at the ceiling, wondering what would be happening now if Marinette had never found out, what would have happened if she had never met Alya, Nino, Nathaniel, or even Adrien. She wouldn't be mad at me now; I'd actually have a chance to end everything before it got worse. I would have-

"Hello?"

My eyes widened when I heard the voice. I immediately stood up and grabbed the phone once again. The voice came up again, and I could just feel the tears rushing down when I instantly knew the voice belonged to my mother. My real mother! "O-Oh. . .Hi." I cleared my throat, trying to figure out what to say. My hands began to shake, but I gripped onto the phone tightly, as if I was afraid of letting it go. "M-Mom?"

"Lila? Wha- It's been long. I didn't think I'd ever hear from you." My mother sounded just as surprised as I was. I didn't think the numbers I typed in would end up being her phone number. "Lila dear, are you still in Paris? I've been thinking a lot, you know? How about you move in with me? I can come back to Paris, since I was planning on doing so anyway for my friend's wedding. And then, when I'm going back, I could take you with me."

I blinked rapidly, shocked with the offer that had been given to me. "A-Are you being serious?"

"Yes, Lila. I'm coming back to Paris tomorrow, just in time for my friend's wedding, which is on Monday." Mom replied. She all of a sudden sounded excited, and even though I was feeling excited as well, I just felt. . .bad. I then remembered Chloe telling us that her mother was having a wedding with her new fiance on Monday. It couldn't be-

"Wait, Mom. . .which wedding are you going to?"

"My friend's. . .Audrey. I actually wanted to tell you before because I didn't think it mattered now, but um, yeah. Audrey and I met, and you know, we just seemed to click, because we had so much in common. She left because of her husband, and well. . .so did I." She paused for a moment, getting my face to sadden. It was as if she immediately knew what she had done, because she started apologizing. "Oh, so sorry, Lila. I didn't mean to remind you of what happened. I know I was such a harsh mother back then, but trust me, as soon as I left, I regretted it. I regretted leaving, not because of him, but because of you. I wish I'd taken you along, which is why I was planning to find you first things first as soon as I got back to Paris, so I could take you back with me. An apology over the phone isn't good enough. I'll treat you with whatever you want, Lila, to make up for everything I did that may have harmed you in any way."

"Now?" I knew she was being all nice now, but somehow, I still wasn't satisfied. "You left when I was young, and you're back, but. . .now? It's been so many years. Why didn't you come back sooner and take me away from this hell before I completely ruined my life. All this time, I've either blamed that bastard of a dad, or blamed myself, but I've never really put the blame on you. I've realized now. . .you deserve some of the blame as well! This was your fault too!"

"Lila, I understand, and that's why I'm willing to make it up to you however I can. I'll come to Paris soon, maybe tonight, maybe tomorrow morning. I'll take you with me when I'm going back, and you wouldn't have to live this troubling life anymore, I promise. Just give me this chance to start over and be that mom you deserve. Please."

I took in a large breath, pretending I was thinking when I'd already made up my mind. "A-Alright. Alright, fine. I'll give you another chance. I'll move out of this city and go with you. I'll start packing right away!" My mother muttered a thank you, before I hanged up and dropped the phone, a sudden wash of relief just running through me. I stood up from my bed and turned over to my door, just to see him standing there, with his hands clenched and everything. I hadn't even heard him come in. I glared back at him, angry that he had just walked inside my room without knocking or anything, but seeing his face, it didn't look like he cared about how annoyed I was with him. Instead, he started taking long steps towards me in such an angry way, getting me to move back. And then the words released out of his mouth.

"Who the bloody hell was that?!"