Hidden Lies

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The car sped up for what felt like an eternity but in reality, it was not more than ten minutes before it screeched into a halt.

Laurie could hear the screaming from the backseat of the car. She opened the partition that separated them, and she found Andrei and Bella hugging each other.

"You guys are okay?" She asked with her voice quivering.

"Damn it! If you two are going to fight, do it when we are not on a fucking highway!" Andrei snapped. "And you!" he pointed at Hideaki. "Get off the car, I'll fucking drive!"

But, Hideaki didn't say anything. He just kept on taking deep breaths as though he was trying to control his emotion.

"It was somehow my fault too —"

Andrei didn't let her finish what she was trying to say, he already got out of the car. And Bella, who lost all the color in her face, quickly followed Andrei out of the backseat.

She was about to follow her friends when Hideaki grabbed her arm, "I'm sorry. I - I don't know what happened to me."

She tapped his trembling hand that was gripping her arms, and said, "It's okay. I just need to talk to Andrei." She removed his hand from clutching her arm and got out of the passenger seat.

"What the fuck was he thinking?!"

Andrei has his left hand on his waist while his right hand is busy raking and pulling his hair. Bella who was still visibly shaken had her arms crossed tightly over her stomach, that she was almost hugging herself.

She was gently bouncing on her heels while chewing her lower lip.

Laurie felt guilty after seeing how agitated her friends were.

"I'm sorry. I did something extremely stupid that pushed Hideaki into --"

"Stop! Don't make excuses for that bastard." Andrei raised his palm in front of her face. "I mean, look at the motherfucker," he pointed at Hideaki, who was hunkered on the steering wheel. His face was buried in his arms.

"It's because… I -"

Andrei marched to the driver's side of the car, and before Laurie could stop him, he kicked the car door.

Hideaki was startled and snapped his head and saw Andrei standing outside.

He slowly pulled down the car window, "I apologized," he bowed his head in remorse. "Please get in the car, I'll take you home safely."

"You think I would still trust your words after the shit that you did?" He angrily waved his hands at Hideaki. "Get out, I'll drive. If you won't let me drive. We are not getting in the car," he shoved Laurie to the side that kept on pulling his elbow.

He was expecting Hideaki to refuse, but he got out of the car without any complaint.

"You ride shotgun. I don't trust you to sit next to Laurie." He stepped aside to give way for Hideaki to get out of the driver's seat.

When he was already out of the car, he yanked the backseat door and pushed Laurie inside. "Bella, get in."

Bella, who barely got herself stopped from anxiously bouncing on her feet, got back inside the backseat and sat next to Laurie.

"Sorry," Laurie murmured, taking Bella's hand into hers.

She caressed the back of Bella's hand trying to soothe her.

"It's not your fault," Bella whispered back.

The car was so quiet that Andrei heard what Bella said despite that she spoke in a low tone.

"Yes, it is not your fault," he told Laurie but his eyes were fixed on Hideaki, who got in the passenger seat.

Andrei didn't wait for Hideaki to fasten his seatbelt, he stepped on the gas pedal and they were back to the highway.

"It is this bastard's fault! He snapped at Hideaki, who couldn't defend himself because he, himself, knew that he was at fault.

"I'm truly sorry," he uttered shivering. "Truly, I am sorry."

"You should be, you lame-ass excuse for a man! I am gay by the way and I'm fucking calling out your masculinity." he spat his words.

Laurie wanted to say something. She wanted to take some of the blame because she did something that made Hideaki lose his control, however, seeing how he was acting in Andrei's anger, a question started to form at the back of her mind.

Hideaki has been acting like what she just called him. He was acting like he was a victim of something. He was apologizing as though he was accepting all the blame for what had happened.

But, then, Laurie knew for a fact that that wasn't true at all. Because one way or another, Hideaki would find some way to blame her for it.

Maybe not now...definitely not now but later.

He was listening to his and Andrei's exchange of words and from what she was hearing, the anger in Andrei's tone was slowly fading.

Who can blame him if his anger subsides? The person he was angry at, accepted everything in good graces. Hideaki accepted that it was his fault and he sincerely asked for an apology.

Suddenly, Laurie was having a hard time breathing. A memory flashed right in front of her eyes. A memory in the past where she had to accept things as her fault when she knew it wasn't her fault just because everybody was listening.

She was about to say something when Andrie said something that stopped her from opening her mouth.

"I am glad that Laurie didn't choose you at all!"

Laurie saw Hideaki flinched on the passenger seat as he slowly turned his neck to face Andrei.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"Because you are not good for her. Laurie…" he looked at the rearview mirror and he gave her a small smile when their eyes met. "...she doesn't like hurting people. Which was very unbelievable with her attitude and how she approached things."

Hideaki scoffed and fixed his gaze on the dashboard of the car. His humble demeanor changed into a smug one.

It happened so fast that Laurie wasn't even sure if she saw it correctly. But what she knew was, Hideaki has something that he is hiding from her.