🕊WINGLESS AND BEUTIFUL🕊
🍁EPISODE SEVENTEEN🍁
*HUNTER POV*
It hadn’t been fair that Allison and I lost so much of thetime we could have been together. We could have beenhappy since the day I returned from my surgery. Butinstead, I spent a great deal of time nursing my brokenheart because I thought she had moved on without me. Ithought she didn’t keep her promise to wait for me.
But we were both victims of Anderson’s lie andtreachery. He was so desperate to have her, he resorted tostupid methods to get her attention.
I remembered when I was tra-pped in the cabin withAllison, I was still so angry… at her… at Anderson… at theworld. I was harboring all these ill feelings because Icouldn’t accept the fact that I went throu-gh all the trouble ofa corneal transplant for her, only to find that she was
alre-ady d@t!ngsomeb©dy else.But in spite of my anger, I wasn’t able to st©p myselffrom k!ss!ngher, holding her in my arms. I knew I may onlyhave that one chance, and I didn’t care if she belonged to
Anderson. I saw an opening… a shadow of a chance… Igr@bb£d it!But then, she mentioned something that didn’t seem toadd up. She said that Anderson saved her from thepotheads one night she was headed home and that was whyshe felt so indebted to him, she couldn’t bear to hurt hisfeelings.
How many pothead as-saults could she have had?
Because I remember doing exactly what she said Anderson did for her! I saved her one night. I risked my life and wouldhave gladly given it, if it meant saving hers.She sounded so convinced—without a doubt—that itwas Anderson who fought off those guys to protect her.I didn’t say anything even though I wanted to take herback immediately during that day at the lake house. Inee-ded to be sure first. But it took all my self-control not t©punch Anderson’s teeth down his throat and cripple him,because I suspected he had been lying all along.
For days, I drove around the area where Allison wasattacked, hoping to find those guys again. And yesterday, inan abandoned alley, I found them, drinking and getting highin broad daylight.
“Who are you?” one of them asked when I approachedthem.
“If you know what’s good for you, you would stay thefv¢k away from us,” the other added.
“I’m not here for trouble,” I said. “I just want to ask yousomething.”
They looked at me from head to feet and then one ofthem said, “Ask and then leave!”
I took my phone from my pocket and scanned mygallery for a clear picture of Anderson.
“Do you know this guy?”
They both looked at the screen and stared at Anderson’sph0to for a long while. I watched their expressions for anysign of recognition.
“Wait…” one of them said. He stared at Anderson’sph0to intently and then his expression changed as ifsomething cli-cked inside his br@in. “Wasn’t this the guy whopaid us a hundred bucks to deliberately attack a girl so hecould swoop in and pretend to rescue her?”
The other looked at the screen again and then henodded. “Oh, yeah. Rich kid. Handsome. But didn’t knowhow to ask a girl out properly.”
“Seriously?” I asked, ha-rd ly believing my ears.
“Yes. What a wimp!” They both laughed.
“Like who does that, right?” one of the guys said in amocking tone.
“How much did he pay you again?”
“Fifty each,” one of the guys replied. “Are you here toask us of the same thing?”
“Of course not,” I sm-irked. “Thank you for theinformation, though.” I placed two one hundred-dollar billson t©p of their table. “For answering my questions.”
I walked away from there, seething with anger. I hunteddown Anderson. I couldn’t wait to beat him black and bluefor the trouble, danger and fear he put Allison throu-gh.I waited for him in school but he was a no-show. I wentto his house, but it didn’t even look like anyb©dy was home.I would have waited for him longer but I had to be outsidethe bookshop at nine. I was waiting for her every night,ma-king sure that she had a safe ride home—even when shewas with Anderson. I always waited outside the bookshop atclosing time, like it had been p@rt of my daily routine.Since we got back from the lake house, her aunt hadbeen picking her up. I followed them home, ensuring thatboth of them got home safely.
Finally, this afternoon, I found Anderson dining alone atBurger Inn. He didn’t go to school again.I stood in front of his table, staring at him. Wrath was written all over my forehead in bold letters.He looked up from his food and stared back at meevenly. He let go of the burger in his hands and then heshook his head. He didn’t ask me anything, as if he alre-adyknew… this confrontation was long overdue.
“How do you want to do this? Here or outside?” Igrowled.
He looked around. The restaurant was almost empty,save for a few older people dining and chatting overnewspaper and coffee.
He stood up from his seat. Then he replied, “Outside,Vaughn.”
I followed him, bawling my fists to control myself fromdragging him out by the collar.We stood in the almost deserted parking lot.
Finally, he turned to face me. He took a de-ep breath andsaid, “I have something that belongs to you.”
“If you’re talking about my girlfriend, I demand that youreturn her at once!” I fumed.
“Look, Vaughn, I didn’t know she was your girlfriend. Ididn’t even know you knew each other until I re-ad herdiary.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “What diary?”
“She keeps a diary… a collection of letters she wrote foryou,” he replied. “I… I have it.”
“Why would she give you that diary if it was meant forme?”
He shook his head. “She didn’t. I… I took it from her bagthat night you were tra-pped in the cabin.”
Bam! I punched him on the jaw as ha-rd as I could.
“That’s for stealing from her!” I bellowed.
Bam!“That’s for trying to steal her from me!”
Bam! Bam! Bam!
“And those… those are for paying those low-lives toas-sault her so you could fake-save her!” I shouted angrily.
“Do you have any idea of the danger you put her throu-gh?!”
“I know, I know!” He spat blood on the ground. He heldhis jaw in pain. He didn’t even try to fight back. “I’m sorry! Ididn’t know it would go that far.”
Bam!
“How selfish and stupid are you?” I growled. “Why thefv¢k would you do that?
“Because I love her! I couldn’t get throu-gh to her. Shehad been so… so evasive. She wouldn’t accept anything from me… no matter what I do!”
“I love her too. More than you could ever love her, butdid you see me endangering her life?”
“I know! And I said I’m sorry!”
Bam!
He fell down on the ground.“Stand up, Anderson! Fight back!” I demanded. “Let’ssettle this now! Man to man! Fight me!”
He held a hand up in front of me. He furiously shook hishead. “No, no. no!”
“Stand up!”
“fv¢k it, Vaughn! I don’t want to fight you! Even if Iwanted to, I’ve seen how you kicked those potheads’ as-ses.I know you have a freaking black belt in martial arts. I’m notstupid!” he said, almost in a scream while he staggered tohis feet. “I know what I did. And when I re-ad your diary, Irealized how much she loved you. I know now why nomatter how ha-rd I tried, no matter what I do… I could never
steal her away from you. You can beat me up all you want. Itwouldn’t make a difference.”
He sounded desperate. I might even say that he wasabout to cry. But he was right. Even if I beat him to the pulp,it wouldn’t change the things that happened in the pastmonths. It wouldn’t bring back the time I lost with Allison.
“Where’s the diary?”
“I returned it to her,” he replied.
“As in you hand-delivered it to her?” I asked,suspiciously. I couldn’t trust a word that c@m£ out of thiss¢v-mbag’s mouth.
He shook his head. “I went to… CRC. I left the diarythere and then I left a message on her locker to tell herwhere to find it.”
“Where in CRC did you leave it?”
He gave me a ha-rd look, then he replied, “In… in yourgarden.”
Bam!
He almost lost his balance with that punch. “What thefv¢k was that for?”
“For going to our garden!” I spat back at him. “Youdesecrated it, just by stepping foot on it, you filthys¢v-mbag!”
“I’m sorry, okay? I was gonna tell you, too. So you couldgo there and finally tell her the truth.”
“Say what? You want me to tell her what you did?”
He bit hisl-ip, refusing to answer.
“You son of a…” I aimed for him again, but he shieldedhis face with his arms.
“St©p it, you freaking war freak!” he screamed. “I will doit! I will do it!”
“You will do what exactly?”
“I will be the one to tell her, okay? Happy now?”
I shook my head. “You will not get away with this soeasily. She deserved to know the truth—straight from yourfilthy mouth!”
He took a de-ep breath. “But I’m leaving for Germanytonight.”
“I’m sure you would be able to find the time!” I snarledat him one last time and then I turned to leave.
I went straight to CRC. I didn’t know how Andersonwould tell Allison about what he did. If he wouldn’t, then Iwould. I just wanted to get to the diary first, beforesomeb©dy stumbled upon it and it got lost to us forever.Memories c@m£ flooding back to me as I walked thepath towards our garden. For some moments, I closed myeyes and remembered the hundreds of times I walked it withthe aid of nothing but a walking stick.I c@m£ back to this place only once since my transplant.After that, I couldn’t come back here anymore. There were
far too many memories of Allison in this place. And it killedme every time to think that she was with someb©dy else.I was relieved when I found a brown leather-coverednotebook safely sitting on t©p of the table. I opened it, my hands slightly shaking.
I re-ad the title on the first page, “Letters to Hunter.”I remembered before I left, I asked her to write a diaryfor me so I could re-ad it when I return.I felt like my heart just broke inside my ribcage.She had kept her promise.I took the diary and climbe-d up on the bench to sit on
t©p of the table, facing the lake.I fli-pped throu-gh the pages and started re-ading thewords that she wrote for me.
Dear Hunter…
I don’t know how long I sat there, re-ading every word.She wrote me almost every day, telling me everything thathappened to her since I left.
Dear Hunter,
Today, we nee-ded to move houses. Meredith could nolonger afford this house. I totally un-derstand that. Mymother didn’t exactly leave her with a hvge inheritance. Iwas just worried about how you would find me. I didn’t knowhow to reach you so I could give you my new address. But Iknow… you would find me. No matter what. We would findeach other…
Dear Hunter,
I was temping at Strung. I love working there. Dominic,the guy I work with, is on the local band. He told me I wouldmake good money pla-ying on gigs. But unfortunately,Meredith doesn’t agree with that. Plus, the gigs are mostlydone at nights, and it wouldn’t be safe for me to come homeafter midnight. I think she was right. So for now, my bestencounter with a guitar and other musical instruments
would be when I dust the products on sale at Strung…
Dear Hunter,
… You see, Chaise was the guy who saved me the othernight. He had been following me home… ma-king sure I was-safe each night after I go to work. Then when my luck struckout, he was there to rescue me… like a guardian angel, Gods£nt to make sure I wouldn’t have new nightmares toescape from.He told me he liked me. But hey! Look up! I alre-ady toldhim we could only be friends. I still can’t d@t£ anyb©dy.
I sort of told this perfect guy I would wait for him tocome back. And I’m still waiting. I still believe that oneday… I would see him again… t©uçh him… k!sshim… hearhim say the words he should have said to me before heleft… so I could say those words back to him.Come back to me, Hunter. It’s still you. It will always beyou.
I didn’t know it, but tears were rolling down my cheeks. Ispent months being angry at her because I thought shedidn’t wait long enough for me to return. I thought she’dgiven up on us. I thought she didn’t believe I would keep mypromises of coming back and protect her, take care of her.From the pages I re-ad, I could tell that life had not beenso easy on her. But her letters had always been optimisticand she always ended them with a note saying she couldn’twait for me to come back to her.I could only imagine the pain that she went throu-ghwhen after all the waiting, hoping and praying for my safety,
I c@m£ back ignoring her, to the point that made her unsurethat I remembered her at all.What an as-s-hole I had truly been!
I promised not to hurt her. I went throu-gh a transplantbecause I wanted to protect her. I asked her to promise towait for me. And what did I do as soon as I c@m£ back? Ipretended she didn’t exist. I stood by and watched hersurvive every single day, instead of ma-king things easy forher.But even if I didn’t do anything, she made me so proud.She was so br@ve, so tough. No matter how many stones
they threw at her, she dodged all of them and she alwaysemerged triumphant.Every day, I wanted to hvg her, tell her how proud I was
of her. But every day, it killed me to think that she was withAnderson and I was hopeless to get her back. And worse,back then, I couldn’t even blame her for being with anotherguy. It was I who left her behind.When my old schoolmates c@m£, things bec@m£ evenmore complicated for me. I didn’t expect Tania to show upwith them. And everyb©dy thought we were an item, whenwe were no more than childhood acquaintances. Ourparents were business p@rtners and they were hoping tomerge our families by marrying me off to her. Tania hadalways been in on the program. I had never been.Sure, she was pretty. But she had never been my type.We were never interested in the same things when we werekids. How much more now? Even before my accident, wehad grown so far ap@rt, she almost felt like a stranger. WhenI lost my mother, she never even offered her condolences tome in person, even though she was my oldest friend. Whenshe found out that I would be blind forever, I just neverheard from her again. That’s why when she c@m£ for the
immersion program, and started following me around, I had
to hold on to the last strings of chivalry in my b©dy so I wouldn’t reject her in the most humiliating way possible.
Perhaps even Allison thought I was with Tania. I didn’tcare what others thought. But I didn’t want Allison to thinkthere was a girl from my past I didn’t tell her about.I remember that day at the beach, when Allison brokeher sli-ppers. I had been doing so well in pretending not toknow her or care about her. But as I watched herdesperately trying to salvage her sli-pper, I thought tomyself, fv¢k it! I wouldn’t stand there and watch her suffer.So, I finally worked up the courage to speak to her.I remember her saying, “Can you just go attend to your
girlfriend? See if she nee-ds help with anything!”I couldn’t help the smile on my face when I told her, “Asyou wish.” And then I scooped her up in my arms.When she asked me what the hell I was doing, I foughtto urge to reply with “Doing what you asked. Attending to
the nee-ds of my girlfriend.” Because God knows, she is mygirlfriend. In my heart, she was. She will always be.People were looking at us, as I carried her in my arms.She thought I would be embarras-sed when the people fromschool saw me with her. If she only knew I was practically inheaven that time. I wanted everyb©dy to see her with me,like Don Winston… and most especially Anderson!
At the shop, when she told me her shoe size, I chose themost expensive pair of sli-ppers on the sto-re. Not because Iwas expecting her to pay me back. But because since I mether, I wanted to spoil her. I planned to give her the world.What’s a pair of designer sli-ppers compared to that?During that night at the concert, I was in the worst
mood because I could ba-rely hold all the bottled upemotions inside me. I felt so tra-pped, so desperate.I went to the concert because I knew she would bethere. And it had been my habit to keep an eye on her,especially on times when I knew she would be out late.I couldn’t find her in the concert grounds and I thoughtshe would be somewhere with Denise, since she had beenhelping her out. But when she showed up on that stage,looking as beautiful as ever, I almost lost it, I felt like I wason the verge of breaking down.
When she pla-yed the song I taught her, I couldn’t bemore proud. She pla-yed it flawlessly—as perfect as she was.And I would have given everything to be up there with her.She received an encore for her performance. And shedeserved every bit of that. But when Anderson appeared onthe stage to give her a rose, I couldn’t take it anymore. I hadto get out of there.Unfortunately, Tania caught up with me.
“Why are you in a foul mood, Hunter?” she kept goadingme. “It’s that girl, isn’t it?”I kept quiet and headed towards the parking lot.
“Tell me!” she shouted. “I heard the rumors. People toldme they saw you carrying that scar-faced girl in your arms!Is it true! Is it her? That scar-faced…”
I turned towards her, and I knew she saw the furiouS-xpression on my face. “You call her scar-faced again and Iswear Tania! I will forget I was raised to be a gentleman!”
She stared back at me, quite dumbfounded. I knew thatthe only thing worse than the ice-cold fury in my voice wasthe explosive wrath on my face. It must have scared her.But she didn’t back down.
“It’s true, then? It was that girl!”
“Yes! It was her!” I closed my eyes and stared up at thestar-freckled sky. I heaved a sigh. “It will always be her.”
“Why? What did you see in her? She was nothing likeme! She was nothing like what your father would expect youto bring home to your family.”
I raised a haughty brow at her. “Exactly. She wasnothing like you,” I told her truthfully.
I had no choice. I had to be honest, even if it breaksTania’s heart. Maybe it’s for the best. So she would st©phoping there will ever be a future for us.
“She has a b©yfri£nd!”
I shrugged. “Yes, she does. Me.”
“What?”
“We met at the center where I lived when I was blind.We fell in love. She was the reason why I agreed to un-dergothis transplant.”
“Oh, now, I get it! You fell in love with her when youwere blind. And you didn’t see what she looked like.”
“Yes!” I replied without even blinking. “And now that Icould finally see, I thought she looked even more beautifulthan how I imagined she would be when I was blind.”At that moment, Allison walked in front of us, withAnderson and Denise. I stared back at them, re-sisting the
urge to hit Anderson black and blue. But I doubted thatwould help me score points with Allison.
“Our fathers are expecting us to get married,” Taniasaid. I could hear the desperation in her voice.
“I guess they will be disappointed,” I murmured.
“Don’t tell me, you intended to marry her instead? Noway, you would know she was the one!”
I stared at her for a moment. Then I nodded. I held thependant of my n£¢klace in my hand. “I alre-ady bought aring.”
“God damn it, Hunter!” she shouted at me “Why?!”
“You know why!” I bit back at her. And in a calmer voice,
I whispered. “I never told you I loved you. Because I neverdid. You were nothing more than an acquaintance. But her…I love her, Tania. The way I have never loved anyb©dybefore. I’m sorry.”
Tears welled up in her eyes. “I swear, I will tell yourfather about this!”
I shook my head. “I don’t care. Knock yourself out.”
Then I turned to walk away, leaving Tania with the rest ofher friends.
I sighed at the memory of that night. Tania didn’t evencomplete the immersion program. She went home earlierthan the others. And true to her word, she told my father.My father immediately called me the next day. I wasprepared for his long monologue. There was nothing hecould say that would make me change my mind. I would justsit there and pretend I was even listening. Garbage in,garbage out. It was like he never even called.
But what he asked actually surprised me.
“Is this the girl that you requested your uncle to buy an£¢klace for? The n£¢klace with br@ille at the back.”
“How did you find out about that n£¢klace?” I asked himback.
“Because I was the one who bought it, son,” he replied.
“And I know, whoever that girl was, she must be special. So wonderful, she gave me a chance to have my son back.”
“So… you’re not going to talk me out of not marryingTania?”
“You’re an adult now, Hunter,” my father said gently.
“You’re very smart… sometimes, too smart. And you haveall your mother’s money and properties. You are rich enoughon your own…
“You’ve lost a lot in that accident. This is your second life. I want you to do whatever it is that would make youhappy. I have hurt you so much in the past. I have taken somuch from you. The choice of who to love and who to spendthe rest of your life with is a choice I will never take awayfrom you. I love you, son.”
That was something I never expected from him at all.And even though the wounds still hadn’t healed completely,I was glad we had that conversation.I don’t know how long I sat there in the garden, re-adingthe pages of Allison’s diary. I was on the last entry shewrote. It was the night of the concert when I hit a tree in theparking lot after seeing her perform on stage, after seeingher carrying a rose from Anderson, after my conversationwith Tania. I was trying to channel the pain I felt somewhereelse because I thought I could no longer endure it, live withit.
Dear Hunter,
If I could shout at you now, I would.
If I could hit you over and over so you would feel thesame pain I feel right now, I would.
If I could show you how angry and hurt I am, I would.
But I couldn’t…
I couldn’t…
I couldn’t…
The boy I used to know has gone to a place I couldn’treach him. And I was reduced to a memory he would rather forget.
Before we come to an end, I wish I could shout at you,hit you, show you how mad I am right now. Even if I could, Idon’t think you would hear… or feel… or see.
A tear rolled down my cheek again when I re-ad thewords she wrote. I wasn’t the only one hurting. She washurting too. And it wasn’t fair that she thought she meantnothing to me. She was everything to me. She was my love.She was my life. My past. My pres£nt and my future.Oh no, angel. You didn’t have to hit me or shout at meat all.
Because I hear…
I feel…
I see.
Suddenly, I heard footsteps approach until it st©pped afew feet behind me. The air felt charged and a familiarfeeling crept throu-gh me. I felt exactly the way I didwhenever she would come and find me in this gardenbefore. And I knew… this was my chance to make
everything right.I closed the diary in my hand and climbe-d down from
the table I was sitting on. Slowly, I turned around to face her. She was looking at me with a wildly confusedexpression. Slowly, I re-moved the hood that concealed myface.
I stared at her beautiful face for a long while. I watchedas realization crossed her face and then tears began to wellup in her eyes.
Tbc