Sorry, I Love You

Unlike most people Wendy liked Sundays. They were gloomy and misty, it made her feel as if the day was sympathizing with her.

She spent half of her morning staring at her reflection in her bathroom mirror because she thought that Sunday was just about that. Reminiscing about what happened the past week while also dreading the one to come. And since Wendy spent a hell of a week, little room was left to think about anything else. She couldn't help but pity herself. Her jaw was starting to bruise, from how hard he clenched it the day before.

She lay on her bed, thinking about how her "date" with Liam had gone last evening.

When she arrived at his apartment a little bit earlier than planned, she was surprised to see him in a bit of a mood. So when she tried to ask him what was wrong, he lashed at her.

"Stop pushing on this! You're making it harder than it is."

She decided to let him calm down and wait until later in the evening, but when she tried talking to him again he lost all sense of self-control. He grabbed her by the jaw and lifted her against the wall.

"Liam... please." She had begged, scratching and pulling at his hand in the hope of release.

But his ears were clouded by unexplainable rage. Only when he saw the tears in her eyes, flowing like a river, did he let go.

Getting her out of her horrors, was a knock on her door from her brother Lewis, who soon after appeared at the door frame.

"Hey sis, wanna go to the mall? Anne and Judy are coming. Maybe you can keep Judy company; she's been too much of a third wheel lately." He asked with a laugh at the end.

Wendy stayed silent, contemplating whether she should or shouldn't go. A change of scenery would do her good, but wasn't Sunday about dread?

Just as she was about to answer her brother, a buzz from her phone stopped her. Picking the device from her nightstand table, she was surprised to see a text message from Liam, asking her to come to him.

She found herself at a crosswalk. She could either hang out with her friends and allow herself to forget everything about Liam for just that day. Or go to her soulmate and enjoy him trying hard to win her forgiveness. Because she knew that's what he asked her for.

"Is something wrong?" Lewis asked when Wendy stayed too long staring at her phone.

"I- l can't go today, I'm sorry. Liam just texted me, I need to see what he wants." She said, not happy to turn her brother down but not wanting to accept it either. She wanted to go to her soulmate, she needed to hear him apologize... she longed to see him seek her forgiveness. It was how she knew he cared.

Lewis had a look of uncertainty on his face, he knew Liam was abusive, he didn't know to what extent... but that didn't matter to him.

"He's hurting you Wendy..." he said pointedly, rubbing his face frustrated.

Wendy shrugged "I don't know what you're talking about. Now if you could excuse me, I need to change." She walked towards him, attempting to push him out of her room. But he was unmovable.

Lewis looked down at his sister and noticed the fresh, yellowish bruise on her jaw. He gently turned her face with a finger under her chin. She winced reflexively and immediately pulled away.

"I'm fine Lewis...seriously." He looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

"He just... he has issues. He gets mad. But it's not his fault." She said defensively.

Lewis said nothing, only shook his head and before closing the door behind him he said. "Just be wary."

-

"It's bruising..." That was the first thing he said after having stared at her face for a while.

His tone was almost monotone, indecipherable. For a second Wendy thought he didn't have an ounce of regret, and that he invited her over just to see the results of his aggression.

"I made you lunch." And that's when all previous thoughts disappeared. He indeed was apologizing, he was just doing it in his special way.

He turned around, heading to the kitchen and it took Wendy a while to follow him. The delicious-smelling food wasn't easy to ignore and all she wanted was to dig in. Liam, knowing how gourmet she was, gave her what she wanted.

He placed two plates on the counter that worked as a dining table and served them the chicken marinara he spent so long preparing, along with Wendy's favourite drink, lemon soda.

Liam watched as his soulmate devoured the food, finishing with the soda which she drank in one gulp. His plate remained almost untouched, as a bitter feeling started building itself up his throat. He scanned her face for a few minutes. Her eyes were closed, her hand on her stomach as she went through the after-meal mode. He found himself admiring her features for the first time, her face was unlike anything else. She wasn't pretty... He thought she was beautiful. And then his eyes landed on her jaw. The image of her face held tightly in his hand brought a chill to run down his spine, the memory still vivid in his mind from the day prior.

Standing up abruptly from his seat, Liam walked to the fridge pulled out a bag of ice and handed it to Wendy.

Realizing that Liam had left his seat and was currently standing above her, she opened her eyes, eying the ice bag before looking up at him.

"I already tried. It doesn't -" She shook her head, pushing the bag out of her reach.

But he didn't give her time to finish talking. He sat on the stool next to hers and pulled her closer to him, startling her.

He seemed hesitant at first but after a second of reaching his hand and then pulling it back, he leaned closer to Wendy and gently placed the ice bag on her jaw.

There was a long moment of silence, where both soulmates just shared unspoken feelings.

She knew he was apologizing for his acts. She knew that was his way of saying sorry. And she liked it. She drowned in the feeling because she knew it wouldn't last forever.

Long did they stare at each other, and when Liam looked up at her eyes, he flinched.

"You're scared of me." He whispered, not as a question but as a statement.

Wendy furrowed her eyebrows, and when he leaned over more she closed her eyes instinctively, holding her breath.

There was stillness, she knew Liam withdrew but she didn't dare open her eyes.

"I hate you, Wendy. I hate you because no matter how hard I try and push you away, you always keep coming back. No matter how much I hurt you, you keep forgiving me."

She heard footsteps closing in, meaning he was walking towards her. When she felt her hands in his, guiding her to stand up, she could feel how close they were standing to each other, the warmth of his body giving her a sense of safety, as ironic as it sounds.

"I just..." Liam, with his lack of words, reached his hand to Wendy's face, moving away a strand of hair and tucking it softly behind her ear.

Wendy leaned into his touch, for a second she wondered why he was being overly sweet, but the thought quickly went away as his lips met hers.

They've kissed before, multiple times even, and they were all when Liam was trying to apologize for what damage he did to Wendy. But this time it felt different. This time, it was more needy, desperate... urgent.

The kiss soon escalated into something more heated, and of course, Wendy knew where that was going.

He swiftly lifted her to him, wrapping her legs around his waist. With her eyes closed and their lips collided, they made their way to Liam's bedroom, where he gently laid Wendy before hovering above her.

Wendy assembled her courage and finally opened her eyes, only to find him staring back at her. She could feel his glare piercing through her body and reaching for her soul, and just for a second, she thought she could get lost in those chocolate orbs of his, forever. She suddenly felt like she was levitating, she didn't know if it was from the amazing meal she just ate, or because being in the arms of her soulmate was the best feeling on earth no matter the circumstances.

"I'm not giving up on you, kitten." He promised.

Before they both knew it, their clothes were discarded on the floor and they became one.

_

When Wendy woke up, she felt lightheaded, the last thing she remembered was drowning in euphoria before falling asleep on Liam's chest, his hand buried in her hair.

It was dark outside, meaning it was nighttime. Shifting in the bed, only to find it empty, a sudden immense pain shot from her back. Forcing herself to sit upright, she turned the bedside table lamp on, and when she glanced at the bed she was frightened upon seeing a big spot of blood on the sheets.

"Liam!" She had screamed, but there was no response to her desperate plea.

With trembling hands, she reached for her back where the pain was still present, only to immediately retreat it when the place she touched, stung. Bringing her hand in front of her face, her eyes widened when she saw blood on her fingers.

"Liam..." She called, and again the man in question was nowhere close to his soulmate's reach.

Reluctantly getting out of bed, she wrapped the blanket around her naked body and made her way to the bathroom. The first thing she noticed upon looking at herself in the mirror was the love marks all over her neck and collarbone, flashbacks from her time with Liam appeared at the front of her mind, igniting a flush on her cheeks.

Shaking her head from her lovestruck daze, she slowly turned around her back facing the mirror and when she dropped the blanket from around her body, she couldn't believe her eyes. A huge bloody scratch was on her back. Wendy stood there staring at the wound. She didn't remember falling or hurting herself. And then again, the scratch looked animalistic, almost as if...

At the sudden realization, her heart started hammering in her chest and her hands became sweaty. "No... This can't be possible.." She blabbered, not wanting to believe herself.

Picking the blanket back up, she ran out of the bathroom and downstairs to look for Liam, but there was no trace of him. She walked to the kitchen where they were that evening, their plates were still there, and everything looked untouched.

She went back upstairs and slumped on the bed her face buried in her hands, emptiness filled her all over and she felt lost, she didn't know what to think or how to feel.

Fetching her phone from her jeans' pack pocket, she dialled Liam's number multiple times, each time reaching nothing but the voicemail. Gritting her teeth together, she tried hard to stop the hot tears from falling. She threw her head back, blinking fast and letting out a frustrated sigh. She stayed like that for a while, contemplating what to do. She decided that a cold shower would help her refresh her mind.

Turned out that taking that shower wasn't the best idea. Her wound hurt like hell, it burned all the time under the cold touch of water and when she finally stepped out of the bathroom she could feel that her back was irritated. After carefully drying herself off and wearing her clothes, she thought it would be wise to stop moving too much. So she settled herself back on the bed, phone in her hands, impatiently waiting for Liam to call her back when suddenly her eyes fell on a small flask sitting on the nightstand with a note close to it.

She eyed the object for a few seconds before reaching for it. It was a small glass flask, with some weird greenish substance in it. Picking up the note, she recognized Liam's handwriting.

"Apply this on your back, it will help the mark heal faster and stop any irritation. I'm sorry."

Upon reading the note, one word stuck in Wendy's mind. The mark.

"So I was right..." She whispered to herself. She kept glancing between the flask and the note. If Liam was right, she needed to treat her back with that substance, but how could she do it alone? She certainly wasn't able to reach all of her back. She needed help, and Wendy knew exactly who to reach for.

With the phone to her ear, she nervously shook her leg up and down. "C'mon... pick up, pick up, pick up."

"Hello...?" A sleepy voice answered from the other side of the line.

"Finally... Judy! I need your help."

"Wendy? Do you know what time this is? Why are you awake?" Judy complained, and when Wendy saw the time on her phone, she realized that it was indeed late.

"I'm sorry, I didn't notice it was this late. But this is an emergency, I need you now." Wendy pleaded.

It was silent for a few seconds before she heard shuffling from the other side. "Okay... leave your window open, I'll see if I can sneak out to yours," Judy affirmed, wiping the sleep out of her eyes when sensing the distress in her best friend's voice.

"Actually... I'm not home."

_

Judy stared at Wendy's bare back, the feeling of doom raining down on her. She knew the truth was to be revealed at some point, but she never expected to be involved in it. With the flask in her hand, she carefully applied the cure to her friend's mark.

"I know what he is, your brother..." Wendy voiced after a long while of silence.

Judy gulped, wrapping the bandage around the wound with trembling hands.

Wendy turned around, careful not to hurt herself, and faced her red-headed friend. She held her hands, gripping them as if her life depended on it. She looked her dead in the eyes, and with a tremble in her voice, she said.

"He's a Menima."

____________________________________

Hey guys! I hope you liked today's chapter.

As you may have noticed this chapter wasn't like the precedent, as it recounted an event from Wendy's past when she was around 18. I wrote it in italics to differentiate it from the other one that recounted recent events.

The story will work this way. There will be a chapter of present events and it will be followed by one of past events. The past chapters are as important as the present ones, seeing as they not only give you a glimpse of Wendy's background but they also will help you understand some things that might not be that clear for you in the present chapters, so please do read them as well.

And that's all for today. See ya!