Freya heaved again and turned to the door. She took one last look at Ingrid and how she was leaning on the sink. She slid the tin back into her pocket and headed out of the washroom and found Miss. Esther seating by her table talking to some fine-looking gentleman in a suit. No wonder they hadn't left yet. She walked out of the restaurant and came to stop by the corner where Ayden was seating by himself, hands clenched in fear before his worried face.
"Is everything okay?" Ayden asked Freya when she had sat down next to him.
"Yeah… yeah. She's okay." Freya answered as she looked at Hannah who was still talking to the other two boys. They were laughing and giggling all together. Boys dressed in casual wear and the girl in St. Luis' Girls Washington uniform. It looked like a scene straight out of a high school movie. The sudden slow breaths of Ayden brought her mind back to him.
"Ayden I have to ask… are you really in love with her?" She asked.
"I don't have to answer you."
"Please… I'm just looking out for my friend." Freya mumbled sharply.
"Friend? Is that all she is to you?"
"What do you mean?"
"I've seen how you've been behaving around her Freya."
"Whatever you're clouding your mind with Ayden about me and Ingrid, just stop. It's not what you think."
"I know you like her Freya… probably are even in love with her." He muttered back. Freya eye-rolled at him. "You don't have to pretend… it's just too obvious."
"I have a girlfriend," Freya told him in a bid to defend herself.
"Umm, yeah Maddie. I know. And I also know that she's playing with you."
"Huh?" She scoffed. "What makes you think so?"
"Because she screwed with that guy over there at Christmas, and even during the weekend, she sent him nudes," Ayden said as he pointed at Stan.
"You're lying," Freya growled. "Maddie doesn't have a phone at school. She uses mine."
"That's what you know." Ayden winked. Freya's daring face dropped when she studied the guy. "If you don't believe me, then go ask him or Madison. Whoever you prefer."
"You won't get to me Ayden." Freya hissed.
"Aw, come on. Deep down you want it to be true. You want it to be true so that you might have a reason to leave her, and settle with Ingrid instead. Because you still like her."
Freya looked away from Ayden as she studied the two boys who were doing nothing but flirting with Hannah. They had also sat down by a bench. Her heart throbbed inside her chest so loudly and she gulped often, as a worried emblem smeared itself on her lovely face. His words got the best of her to the point that she felt uneasy around him now.
"Come on, let me show you something," Ayden told her when he stood up from the bench.
"What?" Freya asked sharply.
"Come on… I have to show you."
Taking his helping hand from the bench, Freya strolled along with Ayden to the back of the premises, just in the midst of cars in the parking lot. They were surrounded by parked cars from all their directions as they stopped in front of a red one.
"What are we doing here?" Freya asked as she crossed her arms and looked at the slightly taller Ayden with eyes filled with confusion. Ayden instantly grabbed one of Freya's arms from its crossing position, pulled her closer to him with a sudden swivel, and immediately yanked her against the red hatchback car behind her with a sudden burst of force. She slammed against the car and cringed at the pain that she had been subjected to. Before she had time to understand what was going on, Ayden grabbed her by the collar of her shirt, pulled her up, and slammed her again against the car's side again. There was no alarm given off by the vehicle.
"Ayden! What the hell!" Freya cried in pain as she got yanked on the car over and over again. Without much of a warning, he took her hands with one of his and pinned them above her head as he locked her between himself and the car. He held her throat tight with the other hand as if he was choking her.
"Ayden what's wrong with you!" Freya groaned in pain as tears stroke the sides of her cheek and felt the skullduggery pain racing from all parts of her body.
"Now, here's what you're going to do Freya!" He growled. Her bust swayed in and out from the sudden fear. "You are going to leave my girlfriend alone! I don't know what you're trying to achieve with her but leave her alone. She's mine. She is mine. Find yourself some horny pussy that you can shove your tongue in. Leave Ingrid alone."
"I-I'm not in love with her!" Freya whined in pain, with scuffling whimpers.
"Keep your lies to yourself Freya… you don't have me fooled."
"I swear…" She wept at the mercy of his powerful grip. "Ayden I swear!"
Ayden let Freya out of his grasp and shoved her to the ground. She landed unrehearsed and bruised her right knee.
"This is my first and only warning!" Ayden snarled. "Next time… I won't be softer on you."
Freya dug back into her hands and cried by herself for a while, as she shook from the sudden outburst of emotions that had erupted within her. The little moment that Ayden had tormented her with felt like a millennium. After a while, she heard Ingrid's voice shaking her from her side. She opened her eyes and found her worried eyes fixed on her.
"Hey, what's wrong?" Ingrid asked as she skimmed Freya's teary face.
Freya looked at her, whimpering. "It's… It's Ayden."
"Freya, what did he do to you?" Her voice was heavy and it lingered an ounce of pain and worry.
"Ingrid… I-I …he hurt me! He beat me!" Freya squeaked in pain as Ingrid wiped off her tears. Ingrid closed her eyes in pain and gave out a tired sigh. Anger pulled from the corner of her eyes immediately.
"Where is he?" Ingrid asked as she stood up and looked around trying to see if she could pick him up. "Where is he!" There was an uproar of anger in her voice.
"I don't know." Freya shook her head mumbling. "He just left."
"I'm sorry…" Ingrid got back on one knee next to Freya. "I'm so sorry. Why? What was the issue?"
"Do I really have to tell you?" Freya shrugged at her. Ingrid sighed, closing her eyes once again.
"He's gonna get it from me!" Ingrid hissed. "I'll talk to him. Shit! How could he?" Freya looked away, clenching her teeth in pain.
"Do what you have to do. It won't change a thing while you two are still together. I don't know how you can still be dating him! Ingrid that guy almost killed me."
"I know Ayden can be rough sometimes...." Ingrid told her as she recalled how he shoved her on the bench the day of the trial after she had told him about the news. "I can't help it but feel like all of this is my fault."
"It's not yours Ingrid… it's mine." Freya confessed abruptly. "But he didn't have the right to beat me, a girl, like that!"
"I'm sorry," Ingrid told her softly once again. Freya managed a shrug. Ingrid took Freya's hands into hers.
"Freya, I want you to be honest with me…" Ingrid muttered as she looked at her lilac eyes with worry. Freya gave back the same look. "Are you really in love with me?"
Freya nodded after a while. Her gorgeous eyes had already ratted her out. She was scared to confess. "I know… I know… that I promised to stop feeling that way about you, but I can't. I'm sorry. Please don't tell Maddie—"
"Hey… it's okay. It's okay." Ingrid cut her short again as she wiped her tears with the back of her thumb. She sat down across her on the concrete ground and rested her head on the car behind her, as Freya had already done.
"I don't know how I am going to live like you don't mean something to me." Freya began once again as she looked at Ingrid's dark green eyes. "Ingrid it's hard… so hard for me." She scoffed. "How am I still in love with a girl who doesn't feel the same way about me?"
"Freya I'm sorry…"
"Ingrid, do you really love him?" Freya asked. Ingrid nodded slowly in return. "I get that you might say that I'm being jealous but the truth is… Ayden's obsessed with you. There's not a shred of love for you in him."
"Can we just stop talking about him… please?" Ingrid asked her as she slid her arms over her belly. At that moment, she was torn between believing Freya and holding onto the belief that whatever she and Ayden had was real… that it had been real from the first day.
"Okay…" Freya sighed as she took a glance at her injured knee. She hissed in pain.
"Freya. You tell me that you're in love with me…" Ingrid mumbled later on. "Can I tell you the truth? Can I tell you, my truth?" Freya's eyes furrowed in confusion.
"The truth? About what?"
"Give me those medicines," Ingrid instructed her. Freya dug into her pocket and revealed the tin to Ingrid. She took it and held it as she studied it for a while. "I hope I can trust you with what I'm about to tell you. I've never told anyone outside my family, and Elena."
"What is it?" Freya asked.
"I'm sick Freya." Ingrid sighed as a tear slid down her face as she spoke.
"Sick… of what?" Her eyes drifted to the tin as Ingrid snuffed a muffled cry. She started whimpering and shaking terribly, to the point that Freya went over to her side and embraced her, in a bid to calm her down. Ingrid sook comfort in her latter's arms as she wept in her sweater. She snuffed a little further, as she gazed at the tin that was now lying on the ground.
With a soft tender voice that felt like an injured whisper, she told her.
"The kind of disease that won't allow me to abort this little piece of shit inside me…"