Chapter 001. A Past To Forget
Narrator’s POV
~Several years ago: 11.11.02 (yy.mm.dd)~
Broken, confused, depressed, and so far away from home, having been tossed out of the only home he’s ever known, eighteen-year-old Joel Thorne walked ahead on the deserted road, earphones plugged in, and backpack strapped to his shoulders. Freshman year had begun two months ago.
No friends, no close family members, especially his favorites—Hannah and little Christian. No Dad, whom he loved and always struggled to please yet failed miserably at it every time, or his graceful mom, though kind, always supported Dad in punishing him.
Home was tough—constant bullying in high school for being an introvert, a weakling, and for being tardy, getting locked up, starving, and told to pray for several hours in the prayer room because his failures or mistakes were as a result of some hidden sin in his life, getting compared to other kids every time, and separation from his siblings for days for drawing and painting in secret instead of studying.
Despite the toughness of home, he preferred it to this deserted place. At the very least, at home, his people cared. Here, no one cared if he ate or slept. Failure was the only sin and warranted punishment from his father despite the distance.
He’d been dumped at an uncle’s place—an uncle he’d never heard of until he was thrown out of the house.
A stone hit him from behind.
He paused in his tracks, exhaled in exhaustion, and looked over his shoulder.
From a close distance, his distant–unrelated cousin waved his hand and mouthed the word ‘sorry’ inaudibly. Garvey Thorne—in junior high school—the adopted mute who was finally happy to have someone treat him like he was human. After his adopted mom passed away when he was six, his adopted father—Joel’s newly discovered uncle—remarried. The new wife treated him like dirt and left him a tiny, cold room close to the kitchen, while the other siblings whom she gave birth to were never allowed to interact with him.
But Joel was given the attic to stay in and invited him over if it got too cold or there wasn’t food left for him.
They never talked. Joel kept to himself, and Garvey had no words to say. Garvey was just grateful to have someone who didn’t mind his presence.
Joel turned forward and kept walking. No thoughts, just loud music blasting in his ears to drown out the constant noise in his head.
Minutes later, a car sprang out from nowhere, racing without control on the deserted road. Garvey heard it and jumped out of the way in time. Eyes widened with horror, he yelled as loud as he could, though no words came out. He ran on the side of the road, flailed his hands, and searched for a stone to throw at his unrelated cousin in front, whose ears were blocked.
But it was too late.
Joel went down on contact.
And the car came to a sudden halt.
Shocked to stillness, Garvey watched as a red-haired woman flew out of the car screaming, “Oh my God! Oh my God!” She whipped around, widened and terrified eyes meeting his. “Help me, please! Please!”
Tears were already running down her cheeks as she wept with horror. She’d fallen asleep at the wheel.
Momentum kicked in Garvey’s feet. He bolted toward them to see his unrelated cousin bleeding out from the back of his head. But Joel’s eyes remained open, glued to the red-haired’s face as she struggled to scoop him up until Garvey lent a hand.
“Is there a hospital nearby?” She asked as they moved him to the back seat.
Garvey nodded.
“Where?”
He stared blankly at her.
“Where? Where?” She demanded with desperation as they managed to get him onto the seat.
“He doesn’t speak.” Joel croaked weakly. The last thing he saw was her confused and anxious face. “I’m A… a… xander…” he murmured as unconsciousness pulled him under. But what he wanted to tell her was not to register him at the hospital as Joel. Since he came here, he’d been going by the name Alexander. Some professors at school were starting to call him Alex.
Never would he have thought that his life was about to change forever.
A neglected, attention-deprived, love-seeking, and acceptance-hungry eighteen-year-old’s heart fluttered the very moment someone started to worry incessantly about him.
What started with an accident became the birth of a new man.
Thirty-one-year-old Melissa was already hopeless, taking her last drive before she had to say goodbye forever to her beloved niece. But she had to make sure this young man was back on his feet again and nursed him back to vitality. She was grateful he didn’t die.
Never would she have imagined that he’d grow so attached, clingy, and willing to be used however she wanted. She should have walked away; she should have done better, but her niece was preoccupied with ballet, homeschool, and private tutors; her older sister was obsessively consumed with little Sophia; going home wasn’t an option; there was nothing else to live for.
It started with listening to him, then helping him build confidence, but soon it turned into something concerning and worth keeping a secret forever. Until Xander started to want more outside the arrangement they’d maintained for 5 years.
He’d bought a ring.
And Mel ran off. Scarlette, as he liked to call her.
When she returned, they never spoke about it, and he knew never to bring it up again. Never. But every time he acted like what they had was normal, she disappeared. Bought a bigger house, she was gone. Bought matching cars, gone. No discussion. She just disappeared without a word, leaving a note that always said:
’Don’t look for me. Swear to me. If you do, you’ll only make things worse.’
So, he never went searching even when he’d built enough influence to find whoever and whatever he wanted. Months living without her were unbearable. But if he waited patiently, she’d come back to him eventually. She always did.
However, one day…
****
~Five years ago from present day~
After a long day playing CEO at Thorne Electronics—a position he hated so much, but had to accept because Scarlette said power was important and must be capitalized on and utilized well—Xander quietly strolled into the private apartment he’d bought for her.
It was quiet as usual.
She was seated on a sofa, chatting away on her phone, and had not heard him walk in.
At the sight of her, he smiled. With socks on his feet, he tiptoed over to peer at what she was doing, or whom she was chatting with.
Rosetta Baby: {I have 7,000 followers now. You said you’d come see me in London if I grew my followers. I miss you so much.}
“Who’s that?”
Scarlette jumped at the sound of his voice, putting her phone away to stare at him.
“Who are you going to see in London?” he asked again, his lips pursed and heart stirring with jealousy.
“It’s none of your business,” she replied, ever so closed off.
“It is. I wanna know if you’re seeing someone else.”
“I’m not in the mood, Xander.” She dismissed, walking off.
Instead of heading back to his place once it was past the time they could spend together, since Xander had become a public figure, he stayed in the living room, waiting for her.
Hours later, Scarlette returned. “You didn’t leave?” She murmured, strolling past the sofa.
“No,” he answered and rose, going after her. “Who was that?”
In a better mood, she chuckled. “You’re so possessive and jealous.”
“You know that, yet you always—”
“That was my niece, okay.”
He froze in his steps, blinking in surprise because Scarlette never discussed or mentioned her family. Never. She knew all about him, yet never disclosed anything too personal.
“She’s always telling me about the boy she’s in love with… I told her to occupy herself with something other than studying and thinking about him, like growing her followers, and if she did that, I promised to go see her… When she puts her mind to something, she never looks back.”
“You have a niece?”
“I do. And I love her the most in this world.”
He twisted his mouth. “What about me?”
Scarlette smiled, meeting his eyes and shaking her head. “You don’t stand a chance.”
His jaw tightened. He clenched his fists, wishing she’d love him back the way he loved her. But she never said the words to him. They’d been together for so long, yet every day was starting to feel like his last day with her.
Hurt knotted in his chest, still he managed to ask, “What’s her name?”
“Rosetta,” Scarlette answered before disappearing into the kitchen. “She’s my baby…”
***
Scarlette left him the following year. No discussion. No reason. Same note not to go in search of her. But a year passed, and he could no longer take the suffering. He searched and never found her.
He would later discover that the Soph Soph his friend couldn’t shut up about was the same Rosetta the woman of his heart loved the most in the world. The same Rosetta whom he decided to find a year after Scarlette left him.
— — —
☆⁓Author’s Note⁓☆
To all of you special people who have returned, I am immensely grateful and honored that you waited a month for me. Words will never be enough to say how thankful I am, but I promise to write better and create stories and characters that you’d love.
Updates will be Mon-Sat. Might be slow, but definitely steady as I’m currently occupied with so many things at the moment—my 9-5, wrapping up my final year in college, writing this story and another story for you (coming soon), and some other major leadership responsibilities. But consistency is a must.
Love, love you all. Xoxo.
