T r u t h

BRANDON'S POV-

I reached home when all the lights were out. Obviously it was striking one o'clock; everyone in my neighborhood was asleep. I was going to have a party so it was going to be different, but by the state of the dark house I guessed everybody had left. I called up Maxwell - my brother, who was taking care of the party while I was gone - and he picked up on the first ring.

"A girl named Veronica came up and told me that you'd told her to end the party," he said in a hurry. I had switched off my phone soon after talking to Veronica so he couldn't get through. "I asked everyone to go home then. Was that okay?"

"Yes, all's fine." Nothing was. "Veronica was right. I..." I couldn't think of any excuse rather than the truth so I covered it up. "I had an emergency. Where are you?"

"In the playroom." He replied. "Are you sure you're fine?"

"Yeah yeah," I stepped towards the hall room. "Goodnight, Max."

"Goodnight."

I opened the large doors and switched on the lights. Veronica had said that she couldn't find Alex and was going home without him so I had to call him up too. But first I wanted to grab a beer. I turned back from the switches and my eyes went towards a corner of the room which was not easily visible. Somebody sat there, someone with dark hair.

I walked up to the guy and immediately recognized him as the protagonist of Julie's life. Alex.

I wondered whether I should tell him or not then decided on the former. He had to know what he had done to the girl who loved him so dearly.

I tapped him on the shoulders but he didn't turn. His face wore a blank expression and he was crying. I thought whether I should approach him at this state then finally made my decision.

"Julia committed suicide," I said.

I watched him dial Maria's number. It was almost dawn, and after so much crying and explaining he had finally admitted that he loved her and made a decision of talking to Julia. I advised him to call Maria and ask her for permission first since when I'd last seen her she looked like a wounded tigress.

He called her again and again but she didn't pick up. We had both started fearing the worst when she called back.

"Hello?" Alex put the call on speaker. "Maria? Is Julie okay?"

"Do you care?" She shot back. She didn't know what Alex was going through, I knew. I knew because I was there. There with Alex when he broke down into pieces.

Alex was always someone who never showed his weaknesses. I admired him since high school since he had so many talents and looked so damn good. He never made friends saying they were a waste of time but when he met Julia in freshmen year, everything changed. He met me during a basketball tournament later that year, and started hanging out with me and my buddies. He would often talk about this girl Julia - who was his junior by a year. He was a player, everybody knew that - using and throwing girls like tissue papers. But when he started dating her, everything in him changed. He would never even look at another girl, let alonethink about spending the night with them.

We were never allowed to meet her, him giving the excuse we were gonna ruin her.

Look how that turned out.

It had been two years since he had changed colleges, and lost contact with us. I met Maria through a photo shoot for the graduation ceremony. She was clicking photos around the school campus, and I bumped into her.

I heard all about Julia from her, but how was I such a fool to have never made the connection?

She was the same one my friend dated.

And left broken.

I didn't even know how beautiful she was until the party. She had dark circles and cuts covering her entire body but she was so pretty. I could never imagine Alex leaving her for someone else, but there he did the unexpected.

I called him up for the reunion party, and never in a thousand worlds could I have known it would turn out to be like this.

He cared; he cared so much for her. Only it took him a long time to realize it.

"I need to speak to her, Maria," Alex begged, his eyes were filled with tears. "I need to see her. I realized my mistake and I have to apologize to her. Let me see her. Please."

"She is not well right now," Maria's voice broke. "The doctor asked me to not let you near her right now."

"But -"

"I'm sorry, Alex," She cut the call and he dropped to the floor again.

"I'll talk to her," I knelt in front of him. "I will do everything in my power to let her see you. Everyone deserves a second chance."