Reflection And Manipulation

"CHLOE'S POV"

I laid down there in the dark basement in my own pool of blood and the spaghetti I had spilled earlier, crying and feeling so much pain on the surface of my wrist where he cut the tattoo from. I never thought that this was how my life would turn out. If only I had known the kind of person he truly was I wouldn't have let things go so far with him.

Before...

After the night I told Oliver about my parents and the reason why I had the word "hope" tattooed on my wrist, we ended up closer than we were. I never imagined that someone would actually think of hurting someone as sweet and caring as olive and I got mad sometimes thinking about it.

School was now in session and it was time to get serious again. I woke up from bed that morning feeling like I was on top of the world, and also because I spent the night at Olly's apartment.

I turned over on his bed to see him still sleeping like a little baby. He looked so peaceful. His recently dyed his hair blond so that we could have matching hair colours. According to him, it's his way of showing me that he's a part of me now and that was a really silly thing to do but sweet at the same time.

I slowly ran my fingers in his hair and he let out a little moan.

"Wait did he feel that?" I thought to myself wondering if he was awake or not.

The thought that he could feel my touch even while he was asleep actually made me blush a bit. But enough of staring at him, we actually had to get ready for class. I got up from bed and headed towards the bathroom but not before I stole one last look at him. He was still sleeping.

I took a quick shower brushed my teeth (with his toothbrush) got into a change of clothes I had brought with me and came back out to meet an empty bed but the smell of pancakes.

"Good morning princess, hope you slept well?" He said to me not removing his eyes from the pancakes on the pan

"Yeah, I thought you'd still be sleeping by now?" I asked

"Well I was sleeping peacefully until someone decided to wake me up with their soft fingers" he said to me with a smile on his face as he took the last piece of pancake from the pan

"Shit" I thought to myself "How do you know I was the one?" I asked as I sat down at the little dinning table and chair he got recently

"Ha-ha, good morning though. Hope you slept well?" He said as he served me some pancakes from the batch he just made.

"Yes I did. Thanks for asking" I responded to him collecting the pancakes and adding some syrup on it.

"Well you stay there and eat, lemme hit the showers real quick cause were gonna be late" He said to me as headed towards the bathroom to take his bath

I sat down there eating what felt like the best pancakes I've ever had. Seems he could also make something that was really good. About thirty minutes later, he was out and was now eating his own breakfast while I gathered my stuff getting ready to head out.

"I'll be a bit late though. I have to pick a few things up from my apartment" I said heading to door.

"Want me to come with you?" He asked turning to me as he drank from his glass of orange juice

"Don't worry, I'll be fine. I'll catch you later" I said closing the door.

I took a cab down to my apartment to drop off my things and pick up a few notebooks that I might need for today's class. After that I walked down to the stop to wait for the bus that usually takes us to down to college.

While I waited for the bus, I thought of what happened the day I met Olly at the stop flashed through my mind and I laughed a little bit. "Who would have thought that I would end up being this close to him even after all of the bad moments" I thought to myself and smiled

The bus finally came, I got in and headed to the campus. The rest of the day went on rather smoothly. I saw Olly during classes and we had a lot of fun afterwards.

There was never a dull moment around Olly all through out our school days and with every passing day we needed up getting closer and closer. I'd say we were dating but we didn't put a tag to it until the end of our final year at college.

It was a Saturday night and our mutual friend Brian was having a party to celebrate the end of our school lives and the beginning of our real lives "The end to a new beginning" he themed the night.

I went there with Olly and Luca and we met jasmine by the door about to go in.

"Hey Jaz, you're here early" I said to her as I reached out to hug her

"Yeah, I decided to come early to see if he needed any help setting up for the party" she responded after breaking away to hug Luca and Olly

"Yeah, we too. It was Luca's idea though" I said "well let's go in" I added as I reached for the door handle.

We got inside and we were greeted by Brian and Ariana who were already setting things to.

"Need an extra pair of hands?" Luca asked as we walked in

"Oh yes please" Brian said as he and Luca did their hug and shake combo

The moment they broke away from their hug Brian started throwing orders and assigning each of us to a certain task. I had food and drink duty, Luca was in charge of the music, Olly and Jaz had decoration duty.

We had our hands full, moving back and forth while we all danced around to the little tunes that Luca played just to keep us entertained.

Half an hour later and everything was set. By 8:30pm the few invited guests had already arrived and the fun could finally begin. There were fifteen of us all together at Brian's apartment that night and but it felt like there were more.

We all danced and played games. For that night alone we partied like we were kids with a touch of maturity though.

At about 11:45pm, the others had already left and the party ended leavening the six of us to carry on the night. We sat down, drinks in hand as we talked and shared our best moments during our school experience.

We went one at a time talking about what we love the most and it was finally my turn.

"Well for me though, I'd say the best moments happened when I was Olly" I said not looking up

The room went quiet for a second and then I heard Ariana say "awwwwn". From the corner of my eye I could see Olly smiling and staring at me

"So why aren't you guys dating?" Luca asked

"We kind of are but we don't want to add a label to what we have now" I said to Luca as I took

Before I could say something else I saw Olly stand up from where he was sitting down and he walked towards me. He got to the chair I was sitting and then he got down on one knee. The other girls couldn't hold in their giggles.

"I didn't want to start a relationship with you when we had so much to work towards individually and I didn't want to be a distraction to you" he said as he smiled and looked at me in the eyes "But now that we're done with college I can now focus on the one thing I want most in the world, You" he said as he reached for my hand and kissed it

"I can't promise you that we wont have fights and there are days when everything might feel so wrong but I want you to know that I'll always be there for you" He said to me as he looked at me like I was all that mattered to him.

"All I ask is for you to love me back the same way that I love you" he added pulling out a ring from his jacket pocket and placing it on my finger. "I want you"

I couldn't stop the tears from falling down, it all felt like a dream that I didn't want to wake up from. Jasmine and Ariana were practically screaming and cheering me as I said yes to Olly. I jumped on his body causing him to fall on his back, wrapped my hands around his neck and planted a kiss on his lips.

"I want you too" I said to him still on his body as I broke away from the kiss.

We got up from the ground and everyone was cheering us on and all I could do was laugh and cry at the same time. We all spent the rest of the night just talking and enjoying each other's company.

Olly and I spent the next year planning the wedding. Trying to put a lot of things in order. I had help from Ariana and jasmine who seemed more excited about it than I was.

Everything was going really great until about a month to the wedding. We were sitting down on the sofa in his two bedroom apartment that he got for us to live in when we got married.

I was cuddled up on his chest while watched game of thrones for like the fifth time but my mind wasn't on the TV anymore. I guess he noticed because he tapped on my shoulder

"Is everything alright?" He asked me as I got up to sit on the other side of the chair

"Yeah, I just had something on my mind" I replied not wanting to make eye contact

"If there's something wrong you can talk to me about it"

He turned off the TV and looked at me with worry and fear written over his face

"Do you think things are working out well between us?" I asked him looking at the tattoo on my wrist

"How do you mean?" He asked

"I don't know. Lately I just feel that we've been moving too fast" I said to him

"That's just the fear talking" He responded as he tried to take my hands in his. "You know I love you right" He added

"I know but I don't know If I still love you" I said as a tear fell down my cheek.

I looked at him as he tried to comfort me but I just didn't want to hurt him anymore. I got up from the chair and went straight to the bedroom to pick up my things.

I came out from the bedroom with my bag in my hand. The moment he saw me he got up from the sofa and walk towards me.

"You don't have to leave. We can talk and sort things out" He said as he held my cheeks with his hand

"Talking wont fix anything" I said to him taking his hands off as I walked towards the door.

"Don't leave me" I could hear him say before I closed the door behind me.

Now...

I was living at a motel after I left him that day for almost a month. And the night that I was supposed to leave town was when he kidnapped me and brought me back here.

It still hurts thinking about our life together and I regret my decision of leaving him. Looking back now, I realized now that he already knew why I wanted to leave him but he still chose me despite it all.

I feel weak and tired and I'm scared that he might do something else to me.

I sat up lifted my legs up and buried my head in my arms and I could stop the tears from flowing because not only does my hand hurt but my heart hurts as well.

It was morning and I could hear the basement door creak open and his footsteps as he came down the stairs.

*Oliver's POV*

I woke up from bed at 6:30am. Slipped out of my clothes, got into the bathroom.

I turned the shower on and the hot water poured onto my skin. The heat weirdly felt calming because I was raging inside but there was still some much I needed to know.

I got out of the shower, brushed my teeth, dried off and slipped on a black Jean and a white t-shirt. Heading towards the kitchen I turned the stove on and made myself breakfast. I decided to make some pancakes.

After fifteen minutes, I was done. I sat down to eat but I didn't really have an appetite to eat so I got up, poured some orange juice into a cup, picked up the plate of pancakes and headed to the basement.

After opening the door, I walked down the staircase to see Chloe sitting down, with her head buried in her head buried into her hands.

"Good morning" I said to her as I walked towards her and place the plate and the juice beside her.

She looked up at me and I could see the tears flowing down her cheeks. I felt broken inside. Getting down on my knees I ran my fingers under her eyes to try to wipe the tears off but she squirmed away.

"Aren't you satisfied seeing me in pain or do you have more ways to torture me?" She asked me in between sobs

"I actually do, but the party isn't over yet" I said as I got up and walked towards the chair to take a seat. "Eat up" I said to her

She stared at me for a while before she reached for the juice and plate of pancakes and started eating. When she was done, I got up and carried the plate and the cup up to the kitchen and dumped them in the sink.

I came back down with a bucket, broom and a mop.

"Hope you don't mind but I want to clean up the mess a bit" I said pointing at the ground which was covered with spaghetti and blood. "We'll be having a guest today and I don't want to look tardy when he arrives" I added

"Who is coming here?" She asked as her eyes shot open when I made mention of a guest

"Its a surprise" I said to her as I started cleaning.

She didn't say anything else but she just sat down and watched as I cleaned the floor. When I was finally done, I turned to look at her before I went back upstairs to dispose of the trash.

I came back down to the basement with a glass of orange juice and sat down on my chair facing her

"How are you feeling?" I asked her

"Is that supposed to be a joke?" She responded back with a slightly aggressive tone

"You've seen what I can do so I suggest you be nice to me" I said to her with a smile on my face

"You've definitely lost your mind, Olly" she said as she looked away

"Yeah well I lost my mind when I fell in love with you" I said crossing my legs

"Who's the guest you're inviting over?" She asked not making eye contact

"If I told you now it would ruin the surprise now wouldn't it?" I said to her as I took a sip from the glass of juice

"What more do you want from me?" She asked this time facing me "You've kept me like a prisoner here for almost a month, you've starved me and now you've hurt me. What more do you want?" She added with tears falling down her cheeks

I kept quiet as she talked because I didn't have an answer for her. At least not just yet

"Answer me" she cried out

"I wonder if you'll be quiet if I cut your tongue off?" I said to her as I pulled out a knife from my pocket.

The moment she saw the knife she became quiet and very much afraid. I got up from my chair and slowly walked towards her. With each step I took she backed further into the wall behind her even though there was no where else to go. I squatted down and in front of her and leaned towards her ear

"I needed answers from you the day you left but I only got a door to my face. Don't demand for anything from me" I said to her, got up and went back to my chair.

The room was suddenly filled with silence. I could think properly now that she wasn't screaming in my ear.

"Well I think it's time our guest came over, don't you agree?" I said to her with a smile on my face

She gave no reply.

I brought out my phone and called him.

"Hey, can you come over. I need your help with something"

"Sure thing, I'll be there in ten minutes" the voice over the phone said

I hung up the call and switched off my phone.

"Now we wait" I said to her leaning forward and looking at her but my smile had faded. It was time to get serious.

I heard him as soon as he opened the front door and walk in like it's his home.

"Hey, I'm in the basement" I called out to him

"Okay" He said as he walked towards the basement door

He opened the door and made his way down the wooden staircase. The moment he got to the foot of the staircase he turned around to look for me only to meet a familiar face.

"Chloe" he shouted as he ran to where she was tied up "what are you doing here? Who did this to you?" He asked running his finger over the scar on her wrist.

"Hello Luca" I called out to him from behind.