˖*°࿐chapter fifteen.
xv. THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE, AND IT HURTS

———

"Klaus, can you give us a minute?" Janelle said to him, not even bothering to look at him. Klaus was hesitant but obliged.

When he was out of sight, she turned to the person mouthing, "Come with me."

Janelle wasn't stupid. She knew that even if Klaus did leave them alone to talk, he'd still listen in on the conversation.

They went up to her bedroom that he kept it magically sealed, so not only could no one get in, but they couldn't hear anything either.

Too many thoughts ran through Janelle's mind. This was not the answer she expected. She didn't know whether to be relieved or betrayed by this person.

She took a minute to compose herself before finally asking, "Why?"

"Because you asked me to," he answered.

"Why?" Janelle repeated. "Why did I go to you?"

"You confided in me, trusted me. You didn't want Klaus finding out about Kai, so you asked me to erase him from your mind, your life."

"Wait, what?" she asked, having trouble understanding. "That's ridiculous. Being with someone else before Klaus isn't necessarily a secret."

"You'd think otherwise if you knew the truth."

╔═                                            

𝐅𝐋𝐀𝐒𝐇𝐁𝐀𝐂𝐊

                                             ═╝

𝟏𝟗𝟗𝟓

"Janelle?" The young vampire quickly wiped her tear stained cheeks after being startled from her spot on the balcony just outside her hotel room. "Is everything all right?"

"Yes," she sniffled. "It's just been a long day. Don't worry about it, Elijah. I'm fine."

"I wasn't born yesterday, Janelle. I can tell when a woman is upset," Elijah spoke in a soft voice as he fully stepped into the room. "Would you like to talk about it?" he asked.

"No," she replied. Janelle finally gained the courage to turn around, her face revealing that she was much more than upset. "Yes," she trailed off, not knowing what to say. "I don't know. It's complicated."

Elijah walked over to her. "Whatever it is, you can tell me. I'm not here to judge." He placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "You can trust me."

Janelle sighed, taking a seat down at the little table, Elijah following her actions, sitting across from her.

"You know I care about your brother, right?" He nodded, letting her continue, "And despite some of the things he does, that we may not always agree with, it doesn't mean I want any harm to come to him."

"Is this why you were crying? You're afraid Klaus is going to get hurt while doing something reckless?"

"No, I'm afraid he's going to get hurt by me," she clarified. "Look, I know that Klaus is in love with me, but I can't help, but feel like a horrible person for stringing him along for a ride that's bound to crash and burn."

Elijah furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. "Janelle, I'm not sure I understand what it is you are trying to say."

"I'm in love with someone else, Elijah," Janelle blurted out, crossing her arms over her chest. "I'm sorry to have to tell you like this, but it's the truth. Klaus makes me happy, believe me, he does. But it —"

"But it's not enough," he finished for her, to which she nodded. "You have to tell him. At the very least, he deserves to know the truth about how you feel."

"I do want to be with him, but I can't if I'm still hung up over someone else," She mumbled the last part herself, but Elijah still caught it.

"Janelle, in order for me to make any sense of this, I need to know the whole story."

What more did she have to lose?

"His name is Kai Parker. He belonged to a family of witches that treated him like an outcast, so they locked him away in a prison world. As you can tell, even a year later, I'm still not over it."

"Parker?" Elijah asked. "As is Malachai Parker? The one who slaughtered his entire family in Portland. This is the boy you're in love with?"

"He did it to make a point, okay?" she informed him."His family always treated him differently because he couldn't manifest his own magic. They hated him. His father would've preferred to see him die than become the leader of their coven. Imagine having to live with that every day for the rest of your life. I think after a while, you'd snap as well."

"Janelle," Elijah began to say.

She put a hand up to stop him. "Don't."

She already had to deal with Kai's family telling her it was a bad idea to get involved with him. She didn't need it from anyone else.

Janelle saw a side of Kai that he rarely ever showed to people. He wasn't just some psycho freak magic siphon to her. He was special. Janelle made him feel special. She was the first person to give him some attention without it being degrading.

Janelle didn't know Kai was going to kill his siblings because he chose not to tell her. He thought she would think less of him if she knew what he was planning to do.

But she didn't care. The only regret she had was not getting to him before his family did.

"Look, I'm not praising what Kai did, and even if I did, it wouldn't change anything. He's gone, and I'm stuck here, all alone, with a bunch of painful memories that I'll be able to erase," she choked out. "This isn't healthy, Elijah. My mind is telling me to move on, but my heart won't let me. I want to be with Klaus. He's the closest type of happiness that I've had in a very long time. I don't want to give up on that, but at the same time, I don't know what to do about Kai."

"Erase it," Elijah told her. "Erase him."

"W-What?" Janelle stuttered out. "What do you mean erase him?"

"I mean, all thoughts, memories, and feelings — gone forever," he explained.

"And how do you expect me just to forget all those things?" Janelle asked.

"Compulsion," he replied. "It's a simple task, only takes a few minutes. Niklaus can —"

Janelle immediately shook her head at the mention of Klaus' name. "No, he can't know, Elijah. It would devastate him if he found out my love for him was only partially real. I'm sorry to have to put this on you, but you're my last option here. You have to do this for me."

Elijah was hesitant, and it made him regret his decision on even suggesting the compulsion idea to Janelle. "Are you sure this is what you want?"

Of course, this wasn't what she wanted. She wanted to hold onto every single moment she had with Kai. Although, she'd never say it out loud; no one could match the amount of love Kai had given her. No one could match what he did for her. How happy he made her.

But it's not like any of that mattered.

He was gone.

Never coming back.

"Yes," she answered. "This is what I want."

"All right. Let us begin."

"Wait," Janelle placed her hand on his. "Klaus can't ever find out about this. What you're about to do, this conversation, none of it. From either of us."

"Niklaus will never find out about this. I give you my word."

Janelle slightly smiled. "Thank you."

———

"So you're saying that my love for Klaus has been nothing, but a lie?" Janelle cried out, hiding her face in her hands as she continued to sob.

"No, that's not it," Elijah said sympathetically. "The compulsion suppressed your feelings for Kai, and in doing so, you were able to move on."

"What difference does it make?!" Janelle snapped. "It's not even real. Being in love with Kai, that was real. I was forced to love Klaus."

"You weren't forced to do anything, Janelle," Elijah disagreed. "Forgetting Kai allowed you to open up your heart to my brother and fall in love with him. You wanted to be with Niklaus, more than anything, but the memories were holding you back."

Janelle had no idea what even to say. She didn't know what Klaus' reaction would be to all of this, let alone, how this would affect their future.

They have a child together, that's not just a subject neither of them can put off.

"What do I do?" Janelle asked him, not seeing any other option, besides the truth.

Elijah loved his brother. And despite the things he did, there's never been a time where Elijah would want to see him get hurt.

"I can't answer that," he said, "only you can. You have to decide what's best for you. Not for Klaus, not even for the baby."

"I need some air." Janelle stood up from her bed and grabbed her purse from beside the nightstand. "Tell Klaus I'll be back later. Just give me some time alone."

"Well, the time will be limited," he informed me. "Klaus wants to leave for New Orleans tonight, and he wants to take you with us."

"I can't go back," she told him. "Not right now. I just — I have to go."

"Janelle, wait," Elijah stopped her as she was about to leave. "Remember that removing Kai from your life was entirely your choice. Taking him back is also your choice."

Correction — that was the biggest decision Janelle had to make.

———

[klaus] love? where did you go?? elijah won't tell me anything. what happened?

[damon] janelle what's going on? klaus is practically tearing apart the entire house. call me back

[cassandra] meeting. next week. 9 pm sharp. don't be late

Janelle only replied to Cassandra's message.

[janelle] i'll be there

For the rest of the night, Janelle kept her phone off. Those texts were just the gist of it. She found herself at the Mystic Grill. It's been a long time since she's been there.

Unfortunately, Janelle couldn't take advantage of the liquor bar, so she had to settle on a soda. It wasn't the same as alcohol, but she didn't want to harm the baby.

Just as the bartender, who was serving her for the night, gave her another drink, she saw an all too familiar figure sit down in the stool right next to hers.

"One Zima, please."

"You have got to be kidding me." Janelle bit down on the straw between her teeth and turned to face the person. "Seriously, Kai? The '90s are over."

"Not for me it isn't," he grinned. "I just so happen to remember one of those years being the best time of my life."

"Why me?" Janelle groaned out in frustration as she placed her head on the table.

"Well, for starters, you're beautiful. You make me laugh, and-"

"What — no, not that!" she exclaimed, hitting his arm. "I meant, why are you disturbing my peace?"

"You don't look too peaceful to me," he pointed out, resting his elbow on the bar.

"That's because you're here," she said. He pouted at her, giving Janelle the puppy dog eyes that he knew she couldn't resist. "Stop it, Kai. You look like an imbecile."

At least the one he thought she couldn't resist.

"I just wanted to see you," Kai informed her.

Janelle knew he was faking, but she played along anyway. "How did you even find me?" she asked in a softer tone.

"GPS on your phone," he smirked, grabbing Janelle's drink to take a sip.

"Stalker," she mumbled.

"I am not stalking you," he clarified. "I'm looking out for you."

Janelle sighed, "Kai, I already have enough people looking out for me. I don't need anyone else." She pulled a strand of hair into her fingers, playing around with it as Kai stared at her.

Out of habit, he placed his hand on Janelle's thigh. "What's the matter?" he questioned.

Her breath hitched in her throat. "I-I don't know wh —"

"I know you, Nelle," he said. "And I also know that you twirl your hair when you're anxious. So what is it?"

She narrowed her eyes on him. She hated how he kept bringing up all these things that he knew about her. Especially things that she didn't even know about herself. A part of her found it creepy, but the other part found it kind of sweet.

"Nothing that concerns you," She easily lied.

Janelle was always a good liar, but as Kai said, he knew her.

"Janelle, please," he frowned. "I hate it when you lie to me. Just tell me what's going on."

"You'll just get upset," she shook her head.

"I won't," he assured.

"Just forget it," she refused.

"What, like you, forgot me?" he retorted.

Janelle scoffed, "You know I had no control over that."

"Yeah, and I had no control over my family locking me in a prison world and coming back, only to find out that my girlfriend doesn't even remember who I am." he ranted.

"Ex-girlfriend," she corrected him,

"We never broke up, so technically, we're still dating," Kai smiled innocently at her.

"And technically, I could slap you across the face, but I'm choosing to leave. Because I'm just that nice of a person." Janelle got out of her seat, pulling a $20 out of her jeans pocket and tossing it on the table.

"Don't follow me." She pointed her finger at Kai and then left.

Janelle went out the front entrance, searching through her purse to find her keys. Just when she grabbed them, she looked up, becoming extremely annoyed.

"Really? What'd I say?" she exclaimed.

Kai shrugged his shoulders. "You said not to follow you, and I didn't. I got ahead of you."

She pinched the bridge of her nose. "You can't just use magic like that, Kai. Someone might see."

He pushed himself off Janelle's car and walked over to her. He wrapped an arm around her waist, bringing their bodies closer together. "I can do whatever the hell I want."

Kai didn't know what came over him, but he got this boost of confidence all of a sudden. Janelle's eyes widened, not being able to comprehend what was even going on right now.

This was a side of Kai that she didn't usually see. And she didn't know whether to feel worried or upset about it. All she knew was, she wasn't going to let him get under her skin.

"Forget it. I'm walking home," she rolled her eyes, pushing Kai away before turning on her heel to walk in the other direction.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Kai hollered. "It's getting kind of late."

"I know this town like the back of my hand. I think I'll be fine."

Kai watched her walk off for a few more seconds until she turned a corner. He sighed to himself, running a hand through his hair.

He hated the fact that he was letting the girl he loved get away again. That he wasn't doing anything to stop her.

But what was the point?

She's moved on.

Maybe this was a battle he just couldn't win this time.