CHAPTER 8 - Repentance

Julian is Irina's father's name and mother's name is Amelia. Irina tugged on Amelia's blond hair and Julian's facial features.

In addition to my sister, we are all sitting in the living room. As I told my dad it was an important matter, he gave Alice money for her to go out with her friends.

I'm almost 100% sure Alice already knows the content of today's conversation. The way I broke up the arranged marriage to Irina spread throughout the week at school.

I think even the teachers found out.

I stopped thinking about Alice and focused on the people around me. The living room has two sofas, an armchair and a coffee table. It has other furniture, but it has no relevance now.

Irina and her parents were sitting on a couch, my dad and stepmother on the other couch and me on the armchair.

I looked at Irina, she looked nervous.

I looked at Irina, she looked nervous. I didn't get to talk to her much this week, for some reason she's mad at me.

"Rick." Julian called me.

"Yes?"

"Your dad said you and Irina had something to tell us."

Finally, the time has come. I looked at Irina again, it seemed her nervousness had increased.

"We want to cancel the arranged marriage."

I wasted no time stalling and said in a serious tone. My parents and Irina's parents were surprised.

"Rick, can we know the why?" Amelia asked.

"I realized some time ago that this marriage did not please Irina. That's why I proposed separation. I can't force her to like me. "

My dad and Irina's dad took a sip of tea, it felt like the two combined to make it in sync.

"You said something funny. In the old days, everything that came out of Irina's mouth had to do with you. Isn't that love?"

"Yes. It was Rick here, Rick there. I think that was his favorite word." Amelia said.

"Mother father."

Irina screamed in embarrassment, her face was all red. It's the first time I've heard it, not even in the memories I received it was like that.

"We thought Irina liked you and your dad thought you liked her. That's why we arranged the wedding. We were going to enjoy and bring the families together." Julian said.

Another piece of information old Rick didn't know. I thought they arranged this marriage to bring the families together.

"It's too bad. We can't force them to marry." said my father.

Irina's parents agreed with her statement.

"Rick, you said you wanted to break up because of Irina's feelings. But what about you?"

It was my stepmother who asked. Everyone focused their attention on me, what she said is true. The reason I wanted to break up was because of Irina's feelings, not mine.

Now that I think about it, what am I supposed to answer?

"I'm still young, I'm only 18. I'll live a long time if no tragedy happens, I'll meet new people and a new love."

For some reason, I thought of Julia and gave a slight smile.

"Okay, I'm going to the bathroom." I said and left.

I didn't want to answer any more questions.

....

(POV Irina)

The meeting at Rick's house is over. I returned home with my parents, when I arrived I went straight to the bedroom.

Hugging my pillow tightly, I wondered aloud.

"Where did things go wrong?"

When we were kids, me, Rick, Ana and Jay always played together. However, I always spent more time with Rick, it was fun.

He always smiled at me, as time went by my head got full of Rick, I could only think about him. He was my first love.

When my father said that one day I would marry him, I was happy. However, I didn't show it, I wanted Rick to come to me. And it worked, Rick became totally dedicated to pleasing me.

But, things changed in high school. I was considered one of the three beauties of the school, I received the attention of many people. Over time, I began to find Rick irritating.

Suddenly, Rick began to put on weight. He stopped worrying about things, the only thing he did was chase me. I was even angrier when I saw him in this state. My ego was too high and I couldn't accept having a boyfriend like that.

When I realized, I was already treating him badly. After a long time I found out he was being bullied.

I felt horrible when I found out what the bullying was about him. When I first saw him after finding out about bullying, I realized he wasn't the same Rick anymore.

His eyes were so deep and lifeless. I was scared.

(A/N: In that case, she saw the Rick who went back in time. The same Rick who killed himself.)

When vacation arrived, Rick disappeared. He went to his grandma's house and stayed there for a month.

When he returned, I was amazed. He was beautiful. His body had thinned and you could see some muscle, he had cut his hair, and his eyes showed an unshakable confidence.

I was happy, but again I didn't show it. My thought was: you changed to chase me again.

But he acted totally against my expectations, his eyes no longer showed interest in me. He was a completely different person.

He called off the wedding, started having lunch with the student council president, and got very close to Ana.

Monday, I saw him carrying Ana on his back. I felt a pang in my heart, they both laughed happily.

I was in a bad mood for the rest of the week. Rick didn't even care about that.

The worst thing is, it's all my fault, if I'd been a little more honest with him, maybe things wouldn't have turned out that way.

Just remembering when he said I was the reason he continued to live when bullying escalated, my heart ached. Why didn't I do something before?

I buried my face in the pillow. I suddenly remembered his speech.

"Meeting new people and a new love."

The smile he gave crossed my mind. What does that smile mean? Does he already have someone else in his heart?

With these doubts, I went to sleep.

I woke up in the middle of the night, my face was white. I woke up because of a dream.

I was in a church, at the altar was Rick. In front of him was a woman in a beautiful wedding dress, the whole atmosphere in the church was beautiful.

Rick placed a gold ring on the woman's finger. Said the priest.

"Now you can kiss the bride."

Rick took off the veil that covered the woman's face, I thought it was me. However, when the face was revealed, it didn't look like mine.

The woman's face was beautiful, I knew her name. It was Julia.

Rick gave a beautiful smile and kissed Julia's lips. Everyone in the church applauded, including me, who was in a corner crying with sadness.

After that dream, I decided.

I'm going to win Rick back.