2 The Demons Of Past

Ayden helplessly watched Irene's heart-wrenching breakdown.

Oh, how he wished he could bring time travel in existence, go back and stop himself from doing the foolish mistake that he had done! But the reality stood strong and he could practically do nothing that would fix what had gone wrong.

It took Irene several moments to get a grip on herself. She took down the palms that she had covered her face with. Wiping her cheeks dry, she inhaled a sharp breath before she looked up at Ayden. "Do not contact me again. We are over."

She walked up to her bicycle and forced it to take her away from the place as quickly as it could.

As Ayden stared at her back disappearing in the distance, the realization sank in him of what had actually happened.

Irene had broken up with him. She was no longer his girlfriend. He was no longer a part of her life.

"She broke up with me."

"She broke up with me."

"Irene... broke up with me."

He chanted it, unable to accept the punishment that he had got for his one wrong move. The tremors of his hands caused them to shake vigorously. He pushed himself back to lean against a tree, clenching his fists to stop the stupid tremors. The stupid tremors never learned that they were not supposed to come when he was not home. They had always had the wrong timing! Always!

"Ayden? All okay? What are you doing here alone?"

He dug his fingers in the skin of his palms before he looked at the front.

"I am good, Kiara." Ayden lied, faking a smile and he hoped that she wouldn't be able to see beyond it but her expression said otherwise, so did her words.

"Get inside," she voiced, glancing at him. She leaned to her left, a bit, and opened her car's door for him.

He shook his head while raising his palm in the air to deny. "It's really fine, Kiara. I would go back by myself. I have my car but it broke down. I just need to get a mechanic."

"Get inside, Ayden. I know one. I will call him and he'll take care of it. He will either drop the car at your home or you can come back later to get it but for now, get inside. It's quite cold and you are intolerant to the same. You'll get yourself sick."

His eyes grew wide in surprise as he heard her. How did she know that he was intolerant to cold? He clearly remembered never sharing it with anyone apart from Irene. How did Kiara know?

"For heaven's sake, get inside, Ayden." Kiara's tone, that time, left no room for any argument.

He quietly moved to her car and got himself in, with a pang of never-ending guilt and a bunch of questions swirling in his head.

<>

"Irene, what's wrong? Open the door." Irene's aunt, Melissa had been knocking on the door for over ten minutes.

Watching Irene dashing straight in her room and locking the door behind wasn't an usual scenario Melissa got to witness. She was bound to get worried.

"Irene, Love, let me in, please? We can talk. You can talk and I can listen. Irene." Melissa's palm rested on the door as she urged Irene to let her in.

"Angel, I am okay," Irene somehow managed to control her shaky voice, and responded, "Angel, let me be for a while. I'll come out in some time."

Irene caused Melissa's concern to grow by multiple folds. Irene didn't do it often. She was a mature girl who knew how to handle the issues life threw at her. She had been doing it ever since she was a kid but there had been very few instances where Irene had let it get visible to others that she was having a tough time.

"Irene, are you sure, you don't want to talk to me?" Melissa made yet another attempt but it went in vain as Irene replied negatively from the other end.

Melissa gave in, leaving Irene alone, knowing her very well. Irene wasn't someone to involve anyone in her problems. Despite Melissa trying her best, she couldn't make space in Irene's life where she was comfortable enough in letting Melissa help.

Curled up in a ball in the bed, Irene couldn't stop crying. She continued to sob, hiding her face in her pillow.

She struggled to accept that Ayden... her Ayden did that to her. How could he?

She had loved him so much. Where did she fail? Where did she fail in her relationship that Ayden entertained the need to test her loyalty?

'I never never thought you would do any such thing, Ayden. Never.'

She grabbed the hold of her phone that was lying in a corner of her bed, and viewed her gallery.

Oh, such beautiful time! Such beautiful time they had spent together! She stared at their pictures one by one, and as she did, tears continued to roll down her cheeks. The more she saw how beautiful they were together, the more heartbroken she felt.

Ayden hadn't just attempted to test her loyalty. It was much more than that. It made her feel so awful that she became unsure about her own self. Did she ever give him that impression that she could cheat on him and go to someone else for money? Did she fail in letting him know how pure her love was for him? Did she come across as the kind of a girl to whom relationships didn't matter?

What did she do wrong?

Where did she go wrong?

Where did she fail?

She cried harder as insecurities gripped her already shattered heart. If Ayden, with whom, she had spent three years of her life, could think that about her... then what did everyone else think of her?

After quite a long while, Irene had allowed herself to be consumed by the demons that she had thought she had defeated.

After quite a long while, she had let them embrace and choke her.

After quite a long while, she had allowed them to... abuse her.