爱の恐惧

Love Phobia

[ Chapter 20 ]

Holding on is tough

much tougher than letting go,

or simply quitting.

-------------

Carrie has been pampered since young. All her life, she has never tasted failure, until Roy rejected her. It came as a huge blow to her. She felt her genuine feelings were not reciprocated, & even came as a disgrace to her. Another blow came to her when she found that the reason for rejection was the existence of Josie. She cannot accept the fact losing to another peer of her own age. She was brought up with all the people around telling her that she is the best regardless of academic, sports & even appearance, & yet she just lose to someone who can't even defend for her ownself, much less to compete with her. She swore for revenge towards them.

" Dave .. you liked Josie since the start right ? " Carrie spoke in her usual haughty manner.

" huh ? mmm .. where you hear this nonsense from ? Roy & Josie have always been my besties, moreover they are together now, don't you anyhow create rumours okay ? "

" tsk .. don't deny it ! The 2 lovey doveys may be too blind too see your affections, but not me .. "

" so what if Iliked her... they are together now & I'm happy for them ~ " Dave rebuked back.

" tsk .. you sure you're happy ? ask deep down in your heart ... " Carrie replied.

Dave hesistated with his reply,

" mmm .. yes I am !!! " Dave attempt to strengthen his tone towards her.

" you sure ? whats with the hesistation then ? " Carrie snorted at Dave.

" mmm .. Carrie .. I knew Roy rejected you previously .. don't you attempt to take revenge by trying to break our friendship bond ? " Dave stuttered.

" tsk .. how pathetic !! so you can't win over the unhappiness deep down in your heart, & now attempting to challenge me .. "

" thats not true !!! "

" tsk .. so much for being true then ... if your friendship bond with them were that true, they wouldn't have hide the fact from you that they are officially together, & you need to know it through me .. Dave ... you seriously are pathetic ~ !!! At least I dare to answer to my heart, I don't deny that I'm plotting a revenge against them, I felt hurt for Roy's rejection .. I can't accept the lose .. but how about you ??? Trying to disguise yourself as some saint here, wishing them blissfulness forever, when you don't even have the courage to face them, & you know deep down in your heart, thats not the answer you want !!! "

" n.... o .. no ~ !! thats .... ! " Dave attempting to defend himself, but Carrie has attacked on his weakness point to the extent of leaving him vulnerable.

" TRUE !!! ask your heart ... ~ " Carrie finished off the sentence for Dave before he could even attempt to defend himself.

Dave was speechless.

" Don't you find its unfair for the both of us .. !! We put in so much genuine feelings towards them, & this is what we got back ... tsk !! Now if you ever have a chance to get back what we deserved, will you do it ? "

" get back what we deserved ? ! ? " Dave mumbled to himself

" Yes ... you together with Josie ? does it sounds appealing ? " Carrie gave an evil grin

" together with Josie ? is it possible ? "

" Why not ... with my help ... nothing seems impossible .. but of course you got to go with the plot that I've planned ... " Carrie smiled to him

& Dave found himself sinking into the depth of abyss, seeking towards the path of no returns. Despite knowing that he is bound to have regrets years later, but that moment of folly just changes everything. Carrie & Dave started to plant traps within Roy & Josie relationship which lead to lots of misunderstandings between the both. Never did they know that the person who masterminded all these was their bestie Dave.

------

For the next few months, rumours have been spreading that Roy was two-timing Josie & Carrie. Despite how Roy was adamant about his stand with Carrie, she never stopped her surging attacks on him, often giving others the wrong impression that they both are together. What makes it worse was Roy didn't make clear his stand to the others, as he feared of embarassing Carrie in the process & hurt her deeply. In the process, Dave appeared as a buddy to Roy, & assured him that he will explain everything clearly to Josie, but in actual fact he was hastening the process of making Josie lost her trust towards Roy. The final blow finally came during Carrie's birthday party. On the pretext of her birthday party, Carrie has actually hatched an evil plot in mind.

" Come on ... Roy .. drink more !!! " Carrie forcefully pour more drink into his cup.

" No .. Carrie .. thats enough !! My intention in coming tonight is to make clear to you ... we can't let this keep going on, Josie is starting to lose her faith in me .. "

" awww ~ if your relationship is that strong, she shouldn't have lose her faith in you, its my birthday !! Don't mention all these wishy washy matters !! Drink !!! "

" But ... "

Before Roy could continue on, Carrie forcefully made him drink another cup.

After the numerous gulp down of wine, the alcoholic content started to take effect on Roy, & before long he was drunk, collapsing on the floor.

----

" Dave, any idea where Roy went last night ? he never reply my calls all night & didn't went home at all ... " Josie gave an worried look to Dave.

" I only heard him mentioning about some party Carrie was holding, & he was bent on going no matter how I stopped him, afterall I guess he won't want any more misunderstandings .. tsk " Dave replied.

Josie went silent upon hearing Dave reply.

" you meant he never went home last night ? Could something have happened to him ? Shall we go Carrie's house to check out ? "

Josie was hesistant, but worrying that some accident could have happened to Roy, reluctanly agreed to Dave's idea.

Along the way, Josie was struggling internally within her heart. One side of her insisted that she must have her faith & trust towards Roy, yet she was fearful that her faith & trust would turned into despair & mistrust.

Upon coming to Carrie house, both Dave & Josie were greeted by a half awakened Carrie.

" Carrie, did Roy came to your house last night ? " Dave eagerly asked.

" uh-uh I believe so .. hee we have lots of fun last night ... he is still in my bedroom now, tee-hee ... " Carrie replied sluttily, adjusting her clothing in the process, trying to give the both of them a wrong impression that something did happen last night.

Josie's worst fears came true. Upon hearing the reply from Carrie, her heart sunk. She immediately ran out of Carrie house in tears. Dave ran after her in mind that Carrie's evil plot has successfully fell in place.

" Carrie .. I gotta leave " Roy came down clumsily to the door steps, still recovering from his hang over last night.

" O ~ okay .. by the way, Dave & Josie came to find you earlier on, maybe you can still catch up with them .. hee " Carrie gave an evil smile to Roy.

" did you say JOSIE ? " Roy instantly awoke to his senses.

" uh-uh `~ ! " Carrie gave an expressionless reply.

Roy immediately dashed out of the house chasing towards the direction of Josie.

It wasn't long before Roy managed to catch up with Josie & Dave. Upon seeing Roy, Dave gave a heavy punch to Roy.

" How could you do this to Josie !! you ... Jerk !!! " Dave shouted angrily at Roy.

" what did I do ? " Roy retaliated back ..

" Still trying to deny .... after a night of fun ... I told you not to go last night .. didn't I .. tsk .. "

" I merely went there last night to state clear my intentions to Carrie, & asked her to stop all those misunderstandings she is creating .. "

" if that is so, why did you spent the night at her .... house ? "

" I really went with that intention in mind, but it was Carrie birthday, as I didn't want to disappoint her, I drank abit & was drunk after that, we did nothing !! "

" ENOUGH ~ !!!! so now you expect me to believe that you did nothing after you were drunk ... impossible ~ !! Roy .. all is over ~ !!! over .. all over between the both of us ~ !!! " Josie shouted at Roy as she ran away.

" Noooo ~ Josie .. why can't you believe me ? Nothing really happened ... " Roy shouted attempting to chase after her.

" Stop where you're .. Stop following her !!! You've already hurt her badly .. " Dave gave a cold glare to Roy before running towards Josie.

Ever since that incident, Josie never talked to Roy again. Even after the whole misunderstanding was cleared, Roy couldn't plucked up his courage to approach Josie again. The damage has been done in both their hearts.As times goes, Dave's affections for Josie finally paid off when she agreed to his proposal. Likewise, Roy finally accepted Carrie. They each believed that they no longer have that faith in one another again, the crackline will always be there, but never did they know that the love for one another still exists, it was only just screened by the love phobia within them.

-----

" Carrie & my plans went perfectly well, we won ... but seriously have we won ? " Dave heave a sigh.

Both Reagan & Juliet were left dumb founded after hearing such a enticing story that never once ran through their thoughts that such a thing would happen.

" Well , I guess there's Karma, what goes around turns around, when Reagan was at the age of eight, Josie finally came to know of the truth that happened years ago, those evil plots hatched to break the relationship beteween her & Roy. We have a heated arguement over this matter, & Josie in a fit of anger went out of the house & never returned again. She was killed in a car accident. It was reported that she was not in a clear state of mind, walking aimlessly across the road. the road. A car tried to avoid her, but it was all too late, as the car swerved to hit a nearby tree, & hitting Josie in the process, letting the driver & Josie came to a instant death. "

" which explains why Ben hated you all these years ... " Reagan spoke with a soft tone.

Dave nodded.

" I indirectly caused your mum's death. If not for my sturboness, your mum wouldn't have left ..... " Dave broke into tears.

Juliet was confused. All along she thought that her dad was the murderer of Reagan's mum.

" How did things turn out to be this manner ? " Juliet mumbled to herself.

" Why did Dad admitted to killing Reagan's mum back then ? WHY WHY WHY ??? " Juliet thoughts ran wild as she dashed out of the house.

" Juliet ~ !!!! " Reagan shouted at her direction.

Reagan himself was confused at this point of time too. It was too much for him to accept all this fact. As much as he wanted to hate his dad for all these, he just couldn't pluck up that courage to do so. It was hurtful for him, but deep down he knew it was more hurtful for his father. All these years, he has always sense his dad undying love to his mum. All the wrong-doings he has done was just a act of his foolishness to earn that love from his mum.

" Reagan ...

Holding on is tough

much tougher than letting go,

or simply quitting.

"

Dave ended off with this phrase lingering in Reagan's thoughts as the truth slowly fell in place.

[ To be cont.. ]

Such is my love, to thee I so belong,

That for thy right myself will bear all wrong.

William Shakespeare