I wait for you

"Am I interrupting something?" Beabianca asked.

Joem came back to his senses. He trailed his eyes to Avia and back to Beabianca. Suddenly Avia's beauty faded from sight. He glanced at her and saw the one who took the best parts of him and shattered them to pieces because he was the only one she could let go of.

The memory from the bridge replayed in his mind. Reminding her of the monster that rested beneath Avia's beauty. He clenched his fist, digging his nail into his palm.

In a moment of weakness, he was sucked in by her appearance. Forgetting that appearances are deceiving. Avia wasn't as innocent as she looked. She was heartless and had scarred him in a way that no one has ever done.

"What's going on here?" Beabianca's displeased voice echoed in the room.

Joem gave no response to her. His eyes locked on Avia, staring at her with questions in his eyes. Questions he dared not ask as he feared what her answers would be.

Avia clenched her dress. Her eyes moistened with regrets. She understood the look in Joem's eyes, if only there was an easy way to tell him that she never meant to hurt him. And that she took a step back then to protect him from her parents who wished to see him dead.

The words were on her tongue but she couldn't bring herself to speak them to him. No words could change the fact that she hurt him. Broke his heart and left him bitter and cold. Snatching the sweet innocent soul he once was from him.

The two of them stared at each other. Battling their feelings and thoughts silently in the room. Their hearts broke apart at the distance that existed between them. The distance acted like a language barrier keeping them from communicating.

Beabianca frowned.

Unhappy about the scene in her room. The man she loved was staring at another woman before her eyes with emotions she couldn't discern.

In the last few years, Joem only had eyes for her. Not a day had passed since reuniting with his ex and he couldn't get his eyes off of her. Beabianca had taken time to think during her drive and she figured that Joem didn't mean to go to Avia. She convinced herself that he was sucked back into his old habit for a moment since he hadn't seen Avia in forever.

But now she was beginning to doubt if that was all it was. She was confused. Joem claimed he hated Avia, the line between love and hate was thin. It worried Beabianca that deep down underneath all the pain, Joem was in love with Avia.

Beabianca felt her cheeks getting wet. Standing in the same room as Avia she felt small, irrelevant, and invincible. For a sudden moment, she understood what those who were jealous of her felt when they saw her with Joem. The feeling wasn't pleasant.

She started to rethink letting Joem go through with his vengeance. Fear crept into her heart. Fear of losing Joem to Avia, after all the girl was his first love and someone Joem saw himself spending forever with.

Such feelings weren't easy to forget. Beabianca's eyes left Joem, her eyes traveled up and down Avia's frame. Taking in her beauty. Avia wore her dress however the aura she let out was different from when Beabianca wore it. She emitted a more innocent princess vibe while wearing the dress. While Beabianca felt more classic contemporary girl.

It dawned on her. Beabianca was standing on the losing end of Joem's past.

She couldn't stand the sight anymore. Beabianca turned on her heels to exit the room. Her heels heading away brought Joem out of his trance. He snapped out of his daze and took three elephant steps to Beabianca.

Joem grabbed her wrist stopping her in her tracks. "Stay," he uttered.

The words came out as a plea to Beabianca. A cry for help, breaking both Beabianca's and Avia's hearts. On one hand, Avia had to watch the moment she had with Joem fade away. While on the hand Beabianca was forced to realize that Joem still had feelings for Avia.

His plea was proof that around Avia, he wasn't the man that Beabianca knew and loved but the man that belonged to Avia.

"I have to get ready for the party," Beabianca pushed Joem's hand away. Her tears were slipping out of her eyes. "I'll let get back to whatever this is," she said in a pained voice.

Beabianca headed out of the room. Joem lowered his head. He understood that he messed up, Beabianca was hurt and he was to blame. All because he wasn't strong enough to resist Avia's charms.

He allowed himself to get weak and emotional. A state that hurt the one who held his hand. The one who protected him when the world closed its doors to him. Guilt washed over him.

"Make no mistake this is going to be the worst night of your life, Peach," Joem wiped the tear that trickled down his cheek. He held his head high.

Avia was the enemy. A fact that Joem vowed not to forget again. The girl made him waste his breath for years when she never loved him. She took him away from his home and made him despise the place that he once called home.

"Don't do this, JJ," Avia pleaded. "Revenge will destroy you more than it does me. Please don't go down this path," she requested of him. The thought of being the reason Joem loses himself more was too much to bear.

"I doubt there is a part of me that remains unbroken by you. So spare me the fake concern," Joem fired bitterly. You promised me forever, I was once foolish enough not to see that you meant an eternity of pain," he added.

His words crisscrossed Avia's heart breaking her resolve. Her concern wasn't fake, she was genuinely worried about Joem. He was the one in her heart, the love of her life.

"Had you ever loved me then you wouldn't have broken me," Joem let out? "You wouldn't have daggered my heart the way you did. You would have cared enough to stay with me, to hold my hand, to love me. You would have stayed because I needed you. I loved you and I still wait for you..." Joem halted in his outburst, realizing that he was getting caught up in the moment again.

Avia didn't deserve to know how she affected him. Because she didn't care.

Unknown to him, Beabianca was standing by the door listening to everything. The words he spoke tore her insides apart. He broke her heart.