-THE PERSON ON THE OTHER LINE-

Francine's POV

My heart is beating so fast as the silence inside the car drove me crazy, it's killing me. Grayson is gripping the steering wheel so hard to the point that his knuckles turned white and pale. He's never been this angry to me. I know it's my fault but does Thorn even have to say that in front of them?

"What happened?" I can clearly hear the anger and coldness of his voice. I gulped. Hard.

"I..I told you already." I know I'm lying but what can I do? I can't just say to him 'I gave myself to him and I love him.' I can't.. I can't hurt this man beside me. I'm going to fix this mess that I've done. I don't know on what way but I will fix this. I hope I can..

"Really?" He asked, stopping the car after he parked it expertly. I didn't even noticed that we've already reached home.

Swallowing hard, I nodded and spoke, "Yes.."
What did I do? This is so messed up. I shouldn't have said 'yes' to them in the first place. Maybe, if I didn't accepted their invitation, this won't happen.

Regret is truly in the end. But, did I even regretted what happened between us?

"Okay.. let's go inside then." He nodded his head, his eyes never looked at me as he opened the car door then walked towards the door, leaving me inside the car.

There's so many things that happened in just one day and I couldn't do anything to prevent it. Instead, I let it all happen. Why? Because I love him. The love I have for him is different from the love I have for Gray. It's so different and much stronger. But, I can't hurt Gray..I just can't leave him. He's my boyfriend, I'm gonna do everything I can to avoid Thorn. I'm really gonna fix this and I hope I'll succeed.

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We reached the house by night and now it's morning, a new chapter of my life.

Reaching the annoying alarm clock on my nightstand, I turned it off as I sit up, stretching my arms in the air as I yawned. It's morning already.

I looked around and the visions of the scene that happened yesterday flashed before me. I can't seem to forget them all. Shaking my head to remove the memories even though I can't, I decided to get up and start my morning routine.

After spending a long period of time at the bathroom, I decided to get up from he bathtub. Wrapping myself with my white towel, I stepped out of it as I walked out from the bathroom.

As I walked passed my mirror, I stopped. My eyes caught something as I hurriedly took a closer look of it and a loud gasped escaped my mouth. Oh my God! Why did he have to put this on me!?

My chest are covered with red marks, some of them have turned a bit purple and as I turned around, I found another one on my shoulder and it looks like a bite. There's one on my neck too, I'm lucky enough that Grayson didn't see it. Thankfully, my hair is long enough and it covered the mark yesterday.

"Gosh.." I muttered under my breath as I huffed before finding some clothes that will literally cover them up so that no one can see them and as I let my towel down, another red mark is placed on my inner thigh near my private part as I found another two, settled on my abdomen. I'm gonna kill that guy if I see him but I have to avoid him so how can I kill him? Argh now I'm going crazy and frustrated.

In the end, I picked a dirty white oversized sweater that covered my shoulders and for my neck, I let my hair down, carefully to cover the mark on my neck as I wore a black shorts that has a lace like cloth at the hem, enough to cover the mark on my inner thigh.

"All done." I mumbled contently while looking at my reflection on the mirror. I began to moved my feet and went out my room.

Weird, Grayson didn't wake me up today. Maybe, he's still angry at me. I should do something for him.

Walking my way downstairs, I took a glance on his door and it's still not open. No trace of him around the house too so maybe he's still sleeping and it's a good chance for me to make him a breakfast in bed.

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I followed the recipe on how to make his favorite pasta while smiling. I'm sure he'll be happy about this. I can't wait for it to be cook.

While cutting the red bell pepper into tiny pieces, I heard a sound coming from downstairs. Maybe he's already awake. I continued cooking as I finished mixing all the ingredients on the pot and stirred it using my spatula. He'll like this.

My eyes fell upstairs again as I heard another sound and being a curious cat, I went upstairs silently. I don't know why I'm being sneaky right now but I really do feel like I have to.

As I go closer to his room, his words became clealer. The door of his room is slightly opened as I used the gap to look inside. He's sitting on the edge of his bed with his phone on his ear. He's talking to someone.

"I told you..I can't." He said, sadness is evident on his voice as he run his fingers through his hair frustratedly, his brows are furrowed. I wonder who's he talking to.

I leaned in more, getting a clealer look at him. I know eavesdropping is bad but I can't help it, it's not like I'm doing something so bad..right?

"You're too late.. I can't now." I'm so curious, who's late? And late for what? Gosh, my curiosity is killing me and I'm feeling bad about the things that he's saying right now.

"Please.. just stop it, you said it's over so why now?" Grayson stoop up as he walked around his room, pacing back and forth. He looks so problematic right now. What's over?

"Stop..bye." and then he ended up the call as he took a seat on the edge of the bed again.

I wonder who's he talking to and what's over? Who's late? Appointment? I don't think so.. there's something that he's not telling me. Who's the person on the other line? And why do I feel uneasy about it?

"Something's burning?" I heard him say as he sniffed in the air. Burning?-oh my gosh, my pasta is burning.

Rushing down the stairs, I quickly dashed trough the kitchen as I turned the gas stove off and place the pasta on a large plate. It's nearly burned black. I'm pretty sure it'll taste smoky now.

"You cooking?" Grayson asked, entering the kitchen before sitting on the dining area.

"Yeah, I did..it's just..a bit burnt tho." I meekly said as I smiled at him,my lips pursed together as he chuckled at me.

"What were you doing tho? Why did it burnt?" He asked, reaching for the plate of pasta on the center of the table as he put some on his own plate before looking at me.

I smiled at him a bit as I took my seat across him, I put some pasta on my plate as well before answering him, "I went to the bathroom..that's why."

"Oh, it's fine." He's still cold.. my heart clenched the moment he smiled at me. It's not true, his smile is fake and I know it. I'm trying my best to fix it all but why is it so hard? It hurts.

"Good morning by the way." I mumbled while looking down at the pasta in my plate as if they suddenly became interesting. He looked at me in my peripheral vision and he just nodded his head, humming at me as a response.

Suddenly, he put down his fork in the table as he cleared his throat making me look at him. Doesn't he like the pasta?

I was about to ask him but his words interrupted me. "I hate him." He suddenly muttered, looking straight in my eyes.

"W-who?" I asked being clueless all of a sudden about his words.

"Thorn. I hate him and can you please stay away from him? No- I won't ask. I'm gonna make you do it. Stay away from him Francine, he is trouble. I don't want him near you or us." I was speechless. Grayson never acted like this against me, he never got mad like this before.

I looked at his eyes to find something on it, maybe a playful emotion or something but all I could see is seriousness and coldness. And he's right.. Thorn is trouble and if he's a trouble then why a part of me doesn't want to obey Grayson? Why do I feel suddenly down and lonely? Why do I felt like I'm a bird in a cage that can't go out unless my owner opens my cage? I want to protest but I can't. I have to fix this and the first step is avoiding him.

"Yes..I will." I swallowed hard before plastering a reassuring smile on my lips but to my dismay, it came out like a forced smile. I'm glad he didn't noticed tho.

"Good." He sighed then smiled at me. His eyes glimmers as his smile didn't reached his ear. Grayson's smiles isn't like that so I can tell that I really made him feel bad.

"Grayson..", I started as I put down my fork on my plate as well as I pursed my lips together, I continued, "I'm sorry."

Standing from his seat, he walked towards me as he stopped on my back then hugged me tightly from behind, his chin is rested on my shoulder as his arms wrapped around me tightly, securing me in my spot. He whispered in my ear, "Don't be.. it's not your fault. It's his." It's my fault too Grayson.

"Hmm.." I hummed as he kissed on my cheek deeply before muttering 'I love you' in me.

"I love you too." I felt his arms tightened even more around me but not enough to take away the air in my lungs. He kissed my cheek again and we stayed like that for a couple of minutes. I wanted to ask him the other person in line a while ago but I just let it slide, there's always a next time though and I can't ruin the mood now.

..I'm gonna try my best to fix this mess.