Accident Prone

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He watched the green light turn to red and in his current state, red doesn't mean stop, but danger!

He was in danger of giving in to the temptation of the flesh with the way Laurie was stroking his tightened groin. He sucked in a deep breath before he grabbed her wrist before she did more damage than she already did.

Because, like before, she had the power to weaken him with just a touch.

"What do you think you are doing?" he asked with his breath quivering with needs that he had to contain.

"Touching you, of course. The way you like…heh!" she grinned at him. A part of her was ecstatic with the idea that she was still Hideaki's weakness.

Seeing his eyes dilated with yearning, she swallowed a lump in her throat. She pulled her hands from his grip and returned to her seat as the red traffic light turned back to green.

Hideaki's uneven breath when she touched him was like cold water that drenched her and flushed the alcohol out of her system. Awakened her from another regret to add to the mountain of regrets she already had.

She looked down at her hands in her lap and she noticed that the fly of her jeans was opened and her blouse was unbuttoned, her red brassiere that barely covered her breasts with its flimsy materials was exposed.

With trembling hands, she zipped up her zipper and fastened her jeans, and then she buttoned her blouse up to its last hole.

After realizing what she just did, Laurie felt like throwing up. She opened the car window because she felt like she was being choked by the air between her and Hideaki.

The secrets of the past were like a can of worms that had been locked and hidden away in a dark basement, then one day, while it was being covered with dust in the corner, someone accidentally kicked it and the can tip opened.

And that day is today.

It could be the alcohol or the guilt feelings that have been in her heart since that day they crossed the line that made their relationship so awkward.

She stole a glance over her shoulder and caught a glimpse of Hideaki's taunt facial muscles. He must have been having a hard time containing his emotions.

But she wondered why Hideaki was still so hung up with her with what happened between them when it was a one-time thing and it happened so long ago.

She was in a bad place and she used him to forget.

"I'm sorry. I was out of line." She muttered under her breath after what seemed to be an eternity of silence.

"There is nothing to apologize for. A lot of what you said was the truth anyway."

Although he replied to her, his eyes were fixed on the road, and his hands gripped the steering wheel too tightly, his knuckles turned white.

She cleared her throat, and said, "What happened to us in the past — is something that I don't want to have a continuation of."

"Is it something you regret?"

"Regret is something I tried not to --"

"I'm asking you, Laurie, did you or did you not?"

She pulled her eyes away from gazing at the view outside the speeding car and glanced at Hideaki.

His casual tone betrayed the way he looked. And Laurie regretted kicking the can of their dirty secrets from the past. She ought to have left it hidden and tightly locked, but she likes to pick on things she shouldn't.

There is no turning back now. She can't just say, forget about it, especially now that Hideaki is asking her a question she'd rather not answer.

"I did, for a good reason but you already know that."

He scoffed.

"What? You know there is no way in hell things can work out differently."

"Yeah, I'm sure you are right." He chuckled wryly.

"I.Am.Right." she sneered at him.

She truly hates how he could act as though she treated him wrongly. Just because she didn't make the decision he expected her to choose, that doesn't mean that her decision was wrong.

Hideaki is truly pissing her off!

He didn't answer her back and only shook his head.

"No matter how disappointed you are in me, you have no right to act that way. Spare me with your disgusting victim narrative. I am not buying it!"

"Victim? You think I am playing the victim? Really, Laurie?"

"If you are not, then why won't you leave me alone? It's been years. And I clearly told you before, and have been telling you until now --- there is no way in hell things could end up differently between us!"

"Yes. And I don't have anything more to say about it."

"That's the most annoying part! You don't say anything, yet you kept on parading your forlorn lovesick face to everyone that would stop and listen to your woe! To -- to your one-sided narrative of how I broke your heart!"

"Why? Do you hate being the bad guy?"

"I don't hate being the bad guy. I don't have any problem being a bad guy, Hideaki. I think you should know that by now."

"Does it ever occur to you Laurie that I might be just a guy that happened to be in love with you?"

"Aggghh! Stop the car!!"

"Why can't you give me an answer??" he yelled at her on top of her screaming.

Bella and Andrei were banging on the partition. They must be worried about why they were hearing some screaming between her and Hideaki.

"I have given you an answer a long time ago! But you won't listen! You kept deluding yourself that there would be a day that I would end up loving you. But guess what, Hideaki — it didn't happen before, and it's not going to happen now, nor will it happen in the future!"

She gripped her seatbelt when the car suddenly sped up on the highway. She has no problem with speed, but with Hideaki's ugly expression on his face -- she can't help but worry.

"Stop this car! I tolerated you all these years because of your sister and our family. But if you don't stop this car, I swear to God — Hideaki!!!"

She screamed over the roaring engine of the SUV. She closed her eyes, waiting for their death.