I haven't been able to sleep since that time. It's 5:08 am and since that minute, I have been been laying on my bed, with every muscle of my body still. I'm scared of his reactions. I'm scared of what he will say.

Or... could it really be him the one who saw those messages? He lost his cellphone almost one and year and a half ago. Why the hell now?

I bite my lip out of pure nervousness.

If he really did read everything I could never tell him, I don't know how he would react. I have no choice but to pretend I'm sick so I don't have to go to school in some hours. If he was really the one who saw these texts, I could never be able to face him.

But if I have to do this, then that's what I'll do.

***

"Stephanie, time to go to school." Mom calls from downstairs. Two hours have passed since I decided I'd pretend to be sick so I don't have to go to school.

I don't answer her call. Instead, I just try my best to make a painful look to when she comes here. She calls two more times until she eventually gives up and comes up to my room. She knocks on my door and I let out a small moan just to assure her that I'm alive. She opens the door and looks at me sprawled on bed.

"Stephanie, are you okay?" She asks, coming closer.

"No, I have a really bad headache." I say. She examines my face for a second and places her hand on her hip.

"You really do look exhausted," She tells me. "You didn't spend the night awake, right?" She eyes me suspiciously.

"Of course not, mom." I place my hand on my head.

"Uhm, okay then," She nods her head. "You can stay home today. But that won't happen everytime. I won't be able to skip work and stay here with you. Can you handle yourself?" She asks me and I quickly nod in response.

"Okay, bye, honey. I have to get going. Have an important meeting today. Wish me luck." She tells me and that's what I do.

She leaves the room and I sigh in relief.

***

One hour later, I'm plopped on the couch, with the TV on, but I'm not paying attention to it. The only thing I can seem to think about is if you really did see all of those texts. My palms are sweating, I can feel it. I hear a knock on my door. I lift up from the couch and and walk towards the door. I open it and that's when I gasp. Standing, in my front, is Tyler.

His eyes are bloodshot and he has black circles around them. My brain tells me to shut the door in his face. And that's what I try to do, but he puts his feet in between the door fast enough so I'm not able to close it completely.

"Stephanie," He croaks. My heart starts throbbing in my chest and my breathing turns accelerated. I know he saw them. It's obvious now. He reaches for his pocket and shows me the phone. His old phone. It's still the same I remember it was. He clicks the unlock button and the 301 texts appear on the screen. "What are these?" He asks. His breathing is shallow and ragged.

I don't answer him. I just stare at him, in shock.

"What are these? H-Have you been... texting me all this time?" He asks. Despair is evident in his tone of voice.

I don't know what to respond. So I just stay in silence.

"Stephanie, please, I need to know." He breathed out. "Did you send these for me?" He asks.

I take some time to think of an answer. "What do you think?" I whisper.

"I-I don't know," You blurt out. "Did you?" He asks once more.

I take a deep breath. I never thought this moment would come. Or I just wished it would never.

"Yes," I sigh and face the floor. His eyes grow wide and he looks at his cellphone once more.

"What is all of this, Stephanie?" He questions in disbelief. "You... You say here that... that you love me, that you hate me, it's insane!" He exclaims and runs his hands through his hair.

"I-I don't know what to say," I mutter and my voice cracks a little.

"Y-You loved me all this time? Throughout all of these years?" He questions, biting his lower lip.

I shake my head in disappointment. "How could you not see it?" I scream to his face. "After all this time, how could you not notice it? Even Sophie told you!" I yell in rage.

"I had noticed it, but I-I..." He whispers hoarsely. My eyes widen.

"You knew?!" I shout. I'm not scared anymore.

"I had a feeling," He admits, facing the floor.

"And you still insisted on hurting me?" I question. Tears threaten to fall. But it's not from sadness, it's from disappointment.

"I-I..." He tries to find an excuse.

"Do you know how miserable you made me feel? You brought her to my house! My mom kept pampering her in my front! I had to watch you kiss her and hug her every freaking day in school!" I exclaim with all of the anger I have. "I was always there for you, even when I shouldn't have been. Why the hell did you do that to me?" I ask him, but he doesn't answer me. Instead, he looks at me like he's in pain or something like that.

"It took me long enough to figure this out, S." He says. "But... I... I feel something. I always have, I was just too stupid not to see it before." He tells me.

"Please, don't call me that." I tell him and he runs his hands through his hair.

"You'll always be S to me." He says and I try to look away.

"Your timing is the worst," I tell him. "Out timing is the worst," I say to him.

"You... You went through all of this?" He asks me pointing to the screen. "I spent the whole night reading them and my God, my chest is still burning."

I nod in reply. "How did you find this cellphone?" I ask him, trying to run away from the subject.

"It was in my cousin's house. I left it there and he forgot to give it back to me. He found it on the attic, where his mom had shoved the phone there with the rest of his old stuff." He answered.

"Are you gonna keep it?" I ask him, not wanting to get back to the earlier subject.

"Don't change subjects, Stephanie." He tells me. I can sense a certain feeling of hopelessness in his voice.

"I'm so sorry," He says. His eyes are getting somewhat shiny and I ask myself if it's really possible that Tyler Scott can cry in front of me.
"I'm so damn sorry," He whispers once again, but it's too late. Nothing he says can fix everything that happened, everything I went through.

It's not that I don't forgive him. I do. I have a long time ago. But when you forgive, you have to let go and that's what I'm doing. He is saying everything I wanted him to say months ago, but he never did. His timing is so wrong and there's nothing he can do or say to change that.

"Do you still... love me?" He finally asks.

The silence that surrounds us is strangely uncomfortable.

"I gave you the power to do whatever you wanted with me," I answer. "And you hurt me. You don't do that with people you don't love."

A smile appears in his lips, like he is hopeful about something.

"The only thing I regret was letting you go," He tells me and I don't feel as good as I thought I would when I thought I would when he told me everything I've ever wanted to hear from him.

"Too bad it's too late now," I say. His eyes are red and glossy.

"I'm so, so sorry," He says. I nod slightly and he takes a step closer before kissing me on the forehead.

"It was my fault for depending so much on you," I whisper. "We both knew you'd eventually leave me. I was just too naive to actually believe you would stay." I speak and he walks to the door.

"I was blinded by her. I'm not excusing myself, because nothing I say could justify what I did. I was such a douche for letting you go," He mumbled.

"Maybe I was just too young to understand what I were feeling," I sigh.

"Maybe," He says and for a long time, we finally agree in something. He looks at me I let out a small smile and I know that everything is going to be okay eventually.

---

(a/n): omgggg, i still can't believe next upload is gonna be the epilogue! i'm so excited! i'll post it today still. <3 love u guyss