I Did It

Buzz Ring Buzz Ring

The boisterous blaring of the alarm from Bryan's phone jarred Bryan and Alfred out of their dreamland. Bryan jolted up from the annoying vibration as his phone shook against the tiled floor. Ruffling his bedhead, Bryan picked up the call grumpily.

"Hello?"

Katrina's loud wake-up call echoed in the studio. "Bryan! You finally picked up the damn phone! Where were you the entire night? I was waiting for you to come home, and you never did. You didn't even answer my messages. I was so worried about you!"

Rambling on and on about his irresponsibility from the previous night, Katrina stacked question after question over the phone. Alfred almost wanted to tell her to shut up because her voice gave him a headache.

After listening to her complaints for five minutes straight, Bryan interrupted. "I was at a friend's place. Did you need me for something?" Checking the time, his voice heightened from irritation. 'It was only five in the morning and the sun wasn't even up yet!'

Katrina didn't care whether it was five in the morning or seven in the evening. She continued blabbing nonsense while Bryan's eyelids continuously slumped downwards. He mumbled, "What's your whole point in calling?"

"Come home and drink hangover soup! I have something important to discuss with you. You must have drunk last night." Her voice was shaky and imperious at the same time, making it awfully unpleasant to someone who didn't get enough sleep.

"I won't drink it. We can talk later. It's still early. I'm going back to sleep." Bryan cut his sentences short and plopped back to the mattress. As his thumb stretched to press the end-call button, he heard Katrina mention Selina's name.

His eyes livened up as he jolted up and crossed his legs. "What about Selina?"

Hearing Selina's name, the extremely sleepy fellow, Alfred also jumped up from his spot. Turning the call on speaker mode, both of them listened carefully to what Katrina had to say about her. After moments of silence, she stuttered, "C..Come home first and then we'll talk. I don't feel safe telling you this on the phone."

'Of course I won't tell you it over a call like this. If I did, then you could easily leave and abandon me. At least when you are here, I could plead and make you soften up. I am your mother after all. You won't have a steel-heart to leave me alone. Now that Selina is gone, you won't let me stay in the empty house alone.'

Katrina already had a well-thought out plan to keep Bryan with her. If he insists on leaving, then she will not hesitate to threaten using her life! No matter how angry he is, he will never let her kill herself!

"Fine." Bryan answered before cutting her off the call. Staring at his phone with an indescribable feeling, he looked at Alfred and asked for his opinion.

"What do you think she will say?"

Rubbing his chin with a worried expression, Alfred stretched out his arm and gave him a shoulder squeeze. "I'm not looking forward to what she might say. Instead, I feel like she will find ways to make you stay with her. Like you said last night..You've been ignoring her."

"But I don't think she would use this as bait to make me go home. I wonder what she wants to say about Selina. Is she apologizing? I wonder..." Bryan furrowed his brows as he got up to wash up.

Alfred folded the blankets and put away the mattresses while Bryan went to freshen up. Since Bryan was leaving this early and he had nothing else to do, he decided to follow Bryan home. A part of him felt like something weird or bad was going to happen, so he wanted to be by Bryan's side. Even if it means for him to wait outside the house, he would do it.

Before leaving, they covered the painting up with the same cloth and collected the garbage from last night.

In front of Bryan's home, Alfred stared intently towards the door. "Are you ready to go in?"

Sighing, Bryan nodded. "A man has to face whatever he needs to face. I'm ready for whatever she needs to say. Besides, it's still my home."

"True. I'll wait for you out here." Alfred said as he watched Bryan's figure disappear from his sight. To ease his thoughts, he started playing the melody playlist on his phone.

The moment Bryan stepped into the house, a cold breeze of air rushed towards his face. Katrina dashed forward and dragged him to the living room with her icy hands. Shaking her hands away from his wrists, he screamed. "What are you doing?"

"Bryan! You're finally back. I made you some hangover soup."

"I'm fine. Just get to the point. You know why I'm back." He tapped his foot against the floor, showing off his impatience.

"I..I'm confessing everything to you. It was all my fault that Selina committed suicide. I didn't want her and Peter to get together, so I took photos of the bidding proposal she brought home while she wasn't looking. I leaked the information out to a third party and that's how Peter misunderstood her. But I never thought he would injure her."

She waved her hands in front of her chest when she clarified about Selina's injury. Bryan scoffed, "Oh? So, as her great mother, you sold her out to ruin her relationship with her fiancé? Basically, you were the one who stabbed her chest. Is this what you're trying to say?"

Nodding silently, she looked up with pitiful eyes. "So, what made you suddenly change your mind?"

"What?" Her eyes widened as her heart paced faster.

"You've been lying the entire time. Why did you choose to tell me the truth now?" Bryan's voice deepened as he questioned her motive. He thought inwardly, 'Mom, did you think I haven't suspected you since the beginning? You aren't capable of doing everything yourself. Who are you shielding?'