[Paris' outfit for this chapter is at the very top.]

꧁ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ sᴇᴠᴇɴ ꧂
ᴛʀᴜᴛʜ

❝What do you want me to say? That I'm bad for her? I know that Ric! I'm bad for everyone! But this time, I wanted to be selfish.❞

♠

IT'S BEEN DAYS since the incident with Klaus occurred and Paris returns to her usual routines. Wake up, get ready, school, be with Damon, go home and sleep. It's been the same for days but it's slowly changing.

Paris is already noticing the number of memory lapses she's been having over the past few days and she's losing her mind trying to figure out what's happening.

So today, she decided to document herself starting from when she goes to school. She doesn't have to worry about bathroom breaks since she doesn't really go to any when she's in public. She just doesn't feel the urge to go to the bathroom until she's home.

She ordered a fashionable pin that has a spy camera to be able to document her every move. At first, she thinks that she's going too far. But then she once again thought of how many times she has forgotten about what she did and just finding herself somewhere without knowing how she got there. So she reconsidered.

Her order has arrived yesterday and she only got to test it yesterday to see if it was working. Now, she gets to use it. It's Monday again and it frustrates Paris how long it would take for the weekend to come around again to pull her out of her misery also called, 'school'.

She starts to get ready and places the pin on the right side of her shirt before she makes her way to her car.

The day went super dull since none of the students nor the teachers have any energy to be in school on a Monday.

Dana does not bother to ask Paris to hang out with them because she already predicted what she's going to answer. It has been like that for the past few days. Dana asking Paris to hang out with her then Paris refuses.

The two friends become distant from each other and Paris didn't like it. But now that Dana's hanging out with the wrong crowd, she thought that maybe it's best for them to have their separate ways. At least that's what she likes to think to make herself feel better from losing a friend because of something she doesn't understand.

Paris drives away from the school and again towards the Wickery Bridge, where none other than Damon Salvatore is waiting for her.

She pulls up and shuts down the engine before she steps out of the car to approach Damon. Around this time, Paris has completely forgotten about the fact that she's wearing a spy camera thus, she didn't have the chance to warn Damon about it.

"You're late." Damon said while Paris approaches her.

"I don't care." Paris answered. The two of them developed a friendship wherein they would always insult each other but they still care about one another. Damon thinks it's a good idea so that he could hide the feelings he has towards the young brunette which he could not explain because he's not one to have a crush on anyone that easy.

"You should." Damon said before he reaches out and holds her gently by the waist to help Paris sit on top of the barrier of the bridge.

♠

Once again, they've been talking for hours, and their definition of talking is insulting each other and getting into each other's nerves. It's now time for Paris to get home before Meredith notices that she's still out.

"It's time for me to come home before Meredith finds me and beat your vampire ass." Paris said.

"Fair point. Your sister is kind of a psycho." Damon said before they both jump down from the barrier to the ground. They walk alongside each other towards Paris's car when all of a sudden, another vehicle appears and they were both blinded by the headlights shining directly into their eyes. But pass those headlights, Damon recognizes the vehicle and the man in the driver's seat.

"Here we go." Damon mutters, making Paris look at him in confusion. But that confusion quickly faded when the driver of the vehicle steps out, who happens to be Alaric.

"What in the world is going on here?!" Alaric said, clearly unamused by the fact that Paris and Damon are together.

"Ric, calm do---" but Alaric didn't let Paris finish, instead he turns to Damon and starts to yell at him.

"I got a call from a hysterical Meredith telling me that her sister hasn't gone home yet. What are you thinking?!" Alaric raged. Paris wanted to speak but none of them would let her.

"She's with me so you and your psycho girlfriend can chill out. I would never let anything bad happen to her."

"By constantly seeing her, you're putting her in the middle of our enemies' crosshairs. No wonder Klaus used Paris as leverage. Because he knew that you would give him what he wants if it involves her life."

"What do you want me to say? That I'm bad for her? I know that Ric! I'm bad for everyone! But this time, I wanted to be selfish." Damon explained. Alaric understood Damon. He knows that his best friend is struggling but dragging Paris into this is unacceptable. He could've just reached out to Ric.

In anger, Ric punches his best friend hard across the face, causing the vampire to stumble back. Paris was about to stop both of them but as soon Damon regains his balance, he was met with the other end of a wooden stake to his stomach.

Paris hears the spine-chilling sound of the stake piercing through his flesh and she sees the blood soaking the area of where he is stabbed, causing the raven-haired vampire to groan in pain.

"Maybe a wake-up call would work." Ric said before he retreats the stake from Damon's stomach. A grimace ks plastered across Damon's face as he places a hand over his wound that is slowly healing.

"Come on." Ric grabs Paris's wrist and drags her to climb into the passenger seat of his car. Ric occupied the driver's seat but before he drives away, he looks back at Damon and said, "Oh, would you be so kind as to drive Paris's car back to their house?"

"It would be my pleasure." Damon said sarcastically. Ric smiles back, obviously laced with sarcasm, then starts to drive away and towards the Fell's Residence.

As soon as Paris is without Damon's presence, the young brunette blinks rapidly and scans her surroundings to find herself sitting in Ric's car. She furrows her eyebrows in confusion then she turns to the driver's sear where Ric sat.

"What happened?" Paris asked cluelessly. Ric turns to Paris who is like a little sister to him and pushes his eyebrows together before he eventually realizes what happened.

"Great." Ric only muttered, realizing that Paris was compelled to forget everything when she's not with Damon. Explaining the weird behavior that Meredith has been telling Ric about Paris.

Paris just got more confused due to Ric's reaction to her question until she realizes something. She slowly looks down at her shirt and sees her fashionable pin still attached to her shirt, recording.

She starts to get uneasy as she wishes for her to get home quickly so that she can finally have the answers to her memory lapses.

♠

Later that night, Ric had dropped Paris off to her house and she received a lot of lectures from her older sister.

When she finally let her go to her room, she immediately grabs her laptop and opens it. She unpinned the spy camera from her shirt and remove the cap to reveal a memory card inside it.

She takes it out and inserts it into her laptop. She sees the file in her laptop and she instantly clicks on it revealing a video.

She keeps skipping a few minutes since she remembers everything that she's seeing on her laptop screen. She recalls what she did earlier and the only thing she doesn't remember is between having to go home, to her sitting in Ric's car.

She skips the video to the part where she was supposed to go home, and there was her answer.

"You're late." said the man. It was Damon Salvatore.

"I don't care." her eyes widen when she heard the response. That was her voice. And yet she couldn't remember this footage happening earlier.

She continues to watch the video and eventually learns about the secret world of the supernatural. At first, she thinks it's all bullshit. But as their time together starts to come to an end, she sees Alaric appearing in the video, arguing with Damon. Then, later on, stabbing Damon with a wooden stake in the stomach.

Paris gaped at the scene and puts a hand over her mouth as she released a shocked gasp.

Without thinking, Paris slams her laptop shut and takes her jacket before she opens her window to climb out.

The next thing she knew, she's standing in front of the door of the Salvatore Boarding House.

Sensing someone breathing heavily, Damon uses his vampire speed to run towards the front door to open it, revealing Paris. Both Damon and Paris are startled by the sudden presence of each other.

"Paris? How are you here?" Damon asked with his forehead creasing due to confusion.

Paris, being in Damon's presence, remembers everything yet again.

"You have to undo the compulsion." Paris said. But the vampire only looks at the young brunette in bafflement.

"Undo it, Damon!" She snapped.

"Fine! No need to be grumpy about it." Damon said. Damon didn't want to undo it, because he enjoyed her company. But the panicking shell of the girl she has a crush on suggests otherwise.

He takes off her necklace and looks straight into her breathtaking eyes.

"You no longer have to do everything I tell you to. You will forget about our secret meetings and you will remember nothing about anything that relates to Klaus." Damon compels her and he expects her to look at her innocently, but it was the complete and utter opposite.

Paris looks at Damon with bewilderment before she reaches for Damon's shirt and pulls it up to check something, causing him to jump back in surprise.

"Hey, hey! At least ask me out to a proper date first, woman." Damon joked. But none of this is a joke to Paris. She saw nothing under his shirt that resembles a stab wound, which he earned just a couple of minutes earlier. It's impossible for it to heal that quickly.

She recalls the conversations he and she talked about when she watched the video and it was all about vampires, werewolves, witches, hybrids, doppelgangers. All of it was true.

"R-Ric stabbed you. And it already h-healed." Paris stutters in fear. Damon's face drops as soon as Paris mentions about a memory that Damon made her forget.

"You aren't supposed to remember that." Damon muttered with a monotone voice. Paris lets out a shaky breath before she turns around and starts running.

She knows everything. But unlike then, there's no compulsion to calm her down.

♠

New chapter! Yaaaay! In the next chapter, Paris is now fully aware of the supernatural world and will be joining the gang. Hope you guys enjoy this chapter!