120. Do you love me?
"Lex, we need to talk"
In that instant, the warm smile on Lex's face froze while Alice also moved her head away from him very quickly.
Alice hid under the blanket while peeping on Kate, she knew what their relationship was, and she also knew what Lex was to Kate, she knew what Kate was to Lex, but she also didn't want to give up on her feelings, and that's why she felt conflicted.
When Kate realized Alice's gaze she smiled at her which shook Alice a bit, however when she saw her smile, she became relieved instead of afraid.
"I'm glad you're fine," Kate said.
(Kuhh) Alice was unable to face Kate (how shameless) and cursed herself. She didn't want to be this kind of person that's why "K-Kate, I-"
"It's okay" Kate cut her words as she stood beside Lex and softly put her hand on Alice's face "we'll talk later," she said.
"It's been a while, Uncle and Auntie," Kate turned to the Vernalis couple. She politely greeted them.
Mr. Vernalis nodded "Once again, thank you so much for this accommodation" he bowed his head to her. With their salary it wouldn't be enough to pay for this VVIP room, the reason how Alice was able to get this kind of care was because of the Bentley family, because of Kate's parents, that's what they were told.
In reality, everything came out of Lex's pocket but from the common person's point of view it was impossible for someone as young as Lex to have that much money, even if Lex told them, it was the money left behind by his parents, they will only feel guilty instead of thankful.
"Please raise your head, Uncle" Kate replied hastily "Alice is also my dear friend, it's natural for me to help her"
"But…" Mrs. Vernalis tried to refute however
"Also, it's thanks to Lex that we found her if something were to happen to Alice... I wouldn't be able to forgive myself too, as the Student Council's President her safety is also my responsibility, so please let me do this much" this time Kate was the one who bowed her head.
Both Mr. and Mrs. Vernalis looked at each other awkwardly, they saw her daughter, and Lex then looked at Kate once again.
They knew how close the four of them were since childhood, Lex always has a bit of a problem with his relationships with girls ever since they know him however, they also knew if it was Lex, he wouldn't harm their daughter.
When they heard of Lex losing his parents and leaving the city they also worried about him, then when they saw Lex again after a few years they realized their worry was unnecessary. He didn't change much from the past, he was still a gentle boy they knew, and he carefully and tenderly took care of their daughter.
That's why they didn't say anything when he blatantly flirted with their daughter in front of them, their daughter's strong feelings toward him were also easily seen by them.
If there was a problem it was this, his personality didn't change at all it was the same as his problem with other girls.
They both saw Kate just for a moment and they instantly noticed their daughter couldn't be compared to her at all. In matters of appearance, their daughter wouldn't lose too much from her, but the rest are too far apart.
""Please take care of Alice"" the couple said, they just hoped Alice wouldn't be too sad and quickly overcame her problem.
"Thank you very much," Kate replied. "Then, Lex let's go and talk outside"
"Alright," Lex replied.
"We have to go too," the couple said to Alice "take care of yourself, if there's something wrong don't hesitate to call us" they patted Alice's head.
"Un, Mom, and Dad too, don't tire yourselves. and don't worry I'm fine" Alice replied.
Then, the couple left the room along with Kate and Lex.
The couple also said goodbye to Kate and Lex before they left the hospital. While Lex and Kate sit face to face in the living room outside Alice's room.
Alice, who was left alone in the room, suddenly felt a bit lonely however she immediately became distracted when her smartphone silently rang.
Alice took her smartphone and was surprised to see the name of the caller. She hesitated a bit before answering the call.
***
Lex and Kate stared at each other without saying anything.
(Awkward!!) Lex wanted to scream it out loud. (I never experienced it before, but this must be what those husbands felt when they were caught cheating!)
(Wait I'm not cheating! At least not yet! I haven't done unrecoverable things! Arghh! To whom am I speaking these excuses!)
(Anyway, I've done nothing yup there's nothing wrong)
While Lex was under self-anguish Kate looked calm as she watched Lex without saying anything.
(Awkward!!) Lex screamed in his heart (why didn't she say anything!?)
(Ughhh!!) Lex, finally unable to bear the silence, opened his mouth.
"Do you know about Alice's situation?" Lex asked.
It was something he wanted to ask her a long time ago because no matter how many times he asked himself he was unable to justify Kate's inaction to what happened to Alice.
Likewise, Lex understood it wasn't his place to ask for it nor he should question Kate about other girls or make her like a villain in a story, that's why he never asked this question. It's just a moment off guard that he accidentally asked about it. Lex immediately regretted it and condemned himself for doing something stupid.
While he was busy regretting his action, Lex actually made a second mistake against Kate. He failed to realize how Kate's eyes shook and her calm expression fell apart for a moment because of his question.
***
The girl named Kate Bentley lived her life in perfection, no matter what, as long as she started it she will do it perfectly. Even if she didn't have the talent for it, she will try and learn till she gets it perfect even if it took time.
She also didn't blindly and stupidly try and repeat instead she always analyzed and learned from her mistakes. Her will and commitment were her strongest ability.
However, she wasn't like this from the beginning, she was like any other innocent child. The reason behind her personality it's that she wanted to present herself as beautiful and pretty as possible in front of him.
She started learning from her mother how to take care of herself and how to appear beautifully and elegantly. It was the spark of the fire.
From that experience, she started developing her will and commitment till it reached this point where everyone saw her as a perfect being. However, she was still a human at the end of the day, no one is perfect.
Every time Kate was stressed and pressured by her measly talent, there was a place where she ran away and threw everything to the ground to heal herself before she picked it up and tried again. And that was by his side.
And maybe because of that even now when she already learned how to separate feelings and work. If it's related to him to Lex to her closest persons, she was unable to be logical and rational.
That's why Kate was unable to contend with her feelings when Lex asked that question. It feels like everything that held down her and everything she has just suddenly broken apart and disappeared.
Even when she knew it logically wouldn't happen, her uncontrollable feeling seeped out a little 'What if' that broke everything apart.
Even with that little crack, she tried to hold it back and confront the only person who can make the crack even worse or heal it completely.
"I know" she replied. The voice that came out was flat as she tried to hold her emotion altogether.
On the other hand, Lex, regretting his words and thinking about how to fix his mistake, heard Kate's short and cold tone. It irked him a little. He knew he was at fault but still, in the end, Alice was their precious friend at least she shouldn't be this cold toward her, what he didn't know was Kate's reaction was caused by him.
"Then why did you do nothing? You knew and you leave it be like watching a story"
*Crack
Kate felt the invisible crack becoming larger and larger as he spewed those words
She clenched her skirt as strongly as possible to distract herself from what she felt right now.
"It's because she didn't ask me for help" she once again Kate said coldly.
Her words made Lex even more annoyed like how women couldn't easily understand men's relationships the other way also the same.
They both didn't realize how their conversation had become a spiral of despair to the abyss.
"Just because… she didn't ask for help and you only watched from the side!?" Lex raised his voice
*Crack *Crack
"Since when you became this cold! Are you still the Kate I know? What are you, Kate? A robot!?" Lex admonished.
*Craaaaack
(No! What am I saying!?) Some part of Lex thought, his mouth kept spewing nonsense that he doesn't mean to say at all.
He felt disgusted by his own words and regretted everything he said.
He wanted to stop it but felt a mismatch happening in his mind. Sure, he was worried about Alice yet the usual him wouldn't say something mean like this, especially to Kate.
However, when it was Kate who said it like that, he was unable to stop himself, his disgusting expectation toward her unable to accept it.
"Do you know what happened when I first saw her? She was on the verge of destruction! Is that what you want!?"
*Crack *Burst
(Ah-) Kate thought at the last moment before everything she had and believed till now fell apart.
"If I wasn't there at that time, something unrecoverable would happen to her by now! She-!!?" Lex instantly shut his mouth.
"K-Kate" he called out softly he saw Kate grit her teeth as tears slowly fell from her eyes. Now that he watched her carefully, she had been clenching her hand so hard that it became blue.
He saw her crying before, but it was too much different with her now. He felt like she was falling apart just like how he described Alice would become if he wasn't there.
Lex tried to touch her, yet Kate instantly reacted and moved away from him. "!!?" Lex was shocked beyond belief. Since they knew each other, this was the first time Kate reacted this way toward him.
Lex tried to match their eyes next but like before Kate avoided him like a plague.
The silent cry made by Kate was more painful than any injury he had before. After a while, Lex was still unable to do anything other than watched her from the sideline. Kate finally on her own will look at Lex after somehow stopping her tears.
The first contact Lex could see how fragile she became. It was unthinkable for Kate to be like this. At least from the impression Lex got from Kate after he came back. This kind of reaction was more like the Kate she knew from childhood will do.
"Ne…" Kate called softly in a small voice, her voice also full of fear "Lex do you even like Kate? Love Kate?" She's afraid of rejection from Lex.
"!!?" Lex never expected this question. He spun his brain at full speed (How and why would she think like this?)
"Of course!" Lex replied instantly.
However, Kate didn't take his answer lightly. "Lex doesn't need to lie, please tell Kate the truth," She said as she shook her head weakly.
"That's the truth!"
"Don't lie!" Kate screamed.
"I'm not lying!" Lex persisted
"Not lying?" Kate made a small mocking smile "Then why does Lex leave Kate for almost five years!?"
A scene where Lex signed a contract with Paul passed through his mind "it's something I should do, it's unavoidable" Lex replied.
"Sure, let's take it that way, then what about after that? It's been five years! Not five days, it's five years!! But Lex came back and hid from Kate!! If Kate didn't accidentally find you, would you even come to see me!?"
"Of course, I will!" Lex stated.
"It's easy to say, but the fact is it's Kate who found Lex, not the other way! Even Ella, Mom, and Dad knew it, only Kate was left alone!"
"..." Lex was speechless, he never expected his little prank would become this way.
"And what happened later? Lex disappeared again! This time even the others didn't know about it!! Then Kate found out what Lex did with Alice in that abandoned church!"
"Kate knew Kate is a loathsome person by saying this, but still!! even after everything passed. What did Lex say to Kate? The first thing that came out was a reprimand for Alice. to Kate for Alice!!"
When Lex found out about the one behind Max's death, he left everything to hunt them down, out of everyone he cared about, he only checked on Kate from far away from time to time. it shows Kate's place in his heart, yet he never contacted her.
"If it wasn't Lex who hates Kate and wanted to stay away from Kate then what it is!!!" Kate screamed from the bottom of her heart.
"Kate…" Lex called out but didn't know to say anything from the beginning till the end. Everything was his fault. "I'm sorry Kate" was the only thing he could say.
"If there's something wrong with Kate, why doesn't Lex say anything!? Why did Lex suddenly disappear like this? Kate didn't understand anymore, Kate didn't know what to do anymore!"
"Kate!" Lex pulled and hugged her this time Kate didn't avoid or do anything.
"Naa… Lex, what should Kate do? What should Kate change? For Lex, Kate can do anything no matter how hard or impossible it is. But please... please don't leave Kate-"
"No!" Lex cut her words "I never leave you!"
"There's nothing that Kate needs to change!" Lex refuted "From the beginning, everything was my fault, there's nothing wrong with Kate!"
"Once again, I'm sorry" He hugged her even stronger.
"You might not want to believe me right now, but believe me when I say this, Kate, from the bottom of my heart… I love you, my life without you in it was unthinkable, you are my other part, Kate"
After hearing that Kate also started to hug him back as her tears started to flow again, and they both embraced each other strongly. After a while…
"It hurts," Kate said.
"Ah" Lex immediately softened his strength, the same happened with Kate but they didn't release it, instead staring at each other face to face.
When Lex looked at Kate's tear-stained face it hurt him again, (It was my fault) he gently wiped the traces of tears on her face.
"Nn" Kate let out a comfy voice as she rested her face on that hand. Then they stared at each other again, Kate slowly closed her eyes while Lex brought her face closer.
"Mm" their lips touched for a moment before they separated, Kate opened her eyes and let out a giggle "Hehe" and this time she was the one who kissed Lex, they kissed for another moment. Then Lex, who was enjoying the sensation suddenly felt something missing.
Before he knew it Kate already took a step back from him. Lex was confused by this. He thought everything would be all right but then Kate suddenly asked him again.
"Do you love me, Lex?"
"Yes, I love you, Kate," Lex replied without hesitation.
"Even if I said I'm not a virgin anymore?" Kate said
It was like a thunderstrike just fell directly on his head, Lex was stunned by her statement, and he even thought his ears became impaired "Wh-" when he wanted to reconfirm what he heard…
"I'm not a virgin" Kate repeated her words.