Chapter 36: Waking Up From A Flawed Dream

The glass remained fractured on the floor as it's content spilt all over. The white cream all over the floor as bits of chocolate chipped cookies could be seen all over. To Andrew, Cassie was still in rage and yet despite it all, he didn't flinch.

When h dropped the bomb on her, when she stood up in rage confronting him or when she cast a look that screamed disappointment and betrayal. To him, he had already seen it hundreds of time.

"Don't just sit there like what you did was normal! Say something!" Her tone raspy as tears could be seen trickle down her pouted cheeks. What was there to say? An apology wouldn't make it better and he knew it.

He rose to his feet, his hands open as if welcoming her to a hug. His face dead calm and that was what she hated about it. The calm apathetic mask that he wore for a face seemed out of the scene, as if it didn't belong there.

Instead of an apology, a statement or at the very least a sigh, he failed to respond. His dark beady eyes bore into her misty azure blue beads.

"You- Fuck you and your apathy! Your calculations and you... I thought that you understood what I felt..." As she went on, her words slurred with a salty gravel tinge to it. He saw the tears swell in her eyes as she drew closer as her cries now turned into anger.

"You bastard! You lying piece of shit! Did you even consider what I would think much less feel?!" Her palms curled into fists as she closed the distance between the two and placed into his chest. His body barely moved as her salty tears infused into his shirt.

The more she punched him, the less force there was behind them before she collapsed on his chest. His hands wrapped around her figure as her sobs became more prominent. He slowly stroked her fair short blue hair as she clung deeper into his clothes, unready to let go.

"I take it that you wouldn't have approved of such an act however I wanted you to know of what was to come. But that doesn't mean that I'll be doing it with anyone I see, just those I care about. You, Juliette and Diana." His tone warm and steady, she hated how he could imitate emotions so perfectly.

She fell silent, the tension between the two slowly waning. "I... Did you feel anything when you did it? With her?" Her voice small and shrill as her eyes were now misty and clouded with her tears.

"No, I thought nothing of it, classifying it as an act similar to lending a hand moving some boxes around. I know that you think that it was wrong and you're right. But that doesn't mean my opinion of you would be less in any regard similar to her and Diana. I've vowed to protect and serve you to the best I can after all."

His signature tone flat as always as the locked eyes. Something about his statement felt off to Cassie. It didn't feel like a relationship between lovers rather a master and servant dynamic as she held the leash and he followed and obeyed like an obedient dog.

None of it felt organic, felt real or at the very least true. It all felt staged and a part of her knew it all along however she went with it nonetheless, hoping that nothing would interfere with the relationship between them, dousing herself in pure ignorance.

Ignorance that he was able to perceive through with ease however it was her wish and he executed it to her liking. "No, from now, don't just do things for me like a robot serving it's master, I just want a break from you for a couple of days and rethink is all." Andrew simply watched in his head, intrigued.

'You've finally realized that you can't demand emotion from a being that can't give it to you, only mimick it. It was the only way for you to come to such a conclusion.' His face projecting a smile. "Very well, I'll be waiting for your response."

Unlike before, his tone was now warm as he placed a soft kiss on her forehead. She savored it as the two paused in the moment, Cassie wishing that it would last forever before he pulled away. "I'd offer a hand for the mess but I think you got it."

She let out a scoff at his joke. 'If only it was real.' She sighed in her mind as she waved him off. Closing the door, she was now alone with her thoughts, replaying what had transpired. Unlike before, she felt pleased with what she had chosen.

The veil of ignorance that she willingly donned, to mask herself from the bitter reality had finally worn off. "Did, did he intentionally tell me this for me to see?" She pondered as she collapsed into the sofa.

The more she thought about it, the more likely she believed it. 'I guess you really did help me Andrew and continue to do so even though it makes me cry. Helping me realize that I've been living in a dream that I wished to become a reality.'

Glancing at her palms that a faint pain lingered, refusing to go away thanks to the hits she did to Andrew. She let out a satisfied sigh as she got off the sofa and cleaned up the mess.

***

It was an early Saturday, three days from the scene that made her mind torn. A part of her yearning to reignite the scene once more while the other refuting and condemning it being immoral and a damper to her friendship with Cassie.

Her bites had now vanished as she stood in front of Cassie's apartment alongside Diana who held her hand. She had received a text from Andrew that all four of them would converge and discuss. The subject still a mystery to her however she had a feeling that it was about what happened on Tuesday.

"You're here." Juliette was met with Cassie who unlike her expectations was fine seeing her, even happy if one looked closely. Diana tailed her as the two walked in her apartment to be met with fresh cloth and clean linen. A faint lavender fragrance drifting that hung about.

Crashing into the sofa, Juliette wasted no time. "Cassie, I... have something to tell you..." Her fidgeted about, her demeanor timid and mousy as she barely maintained any form of eye contact her.

Before Cassie could respond, Andrew walked from the kitchen with a tray of cool and refreshing glasses of lemonade. He sat next to Cassie who wrapped her arms around his figure which made Juliette sick.

"Cassie I..." Before she could voice what was on her mind, Cassie interrupted her. "I already know what you did with Andrew and I know that it was a promise that he fulfilled Juliette. That's the reason as to why I called you here."

Both Juliette and Diana were baffled with how calm Cassie was. "You do know that he slept with Juliette right?" Diana posed, as it gauging that Cassie was aware of what she had done. "Haha, I know Diana and I don't mind."

She almost spat her drink out of her mouth as Juliette was shocked with how cool Cassie was. 'She's so calm about it. I doubt that I could handle such a situation like her.' Diana mused as she recalled what happened between her and Antony.

Scars that had yet to heal, only left and abandoned hoping that ignoring them would make them go away but every now and then, a flashback would play in her mind whether she liked it or not.

Or even a dream making her recall her once vulnerable and drug-addicted state, the abuse, the trauma that was left unresolved and the figure that saved her out of the hell that she was in.

Over time she learnt to forget with distractions and Juliette was exact that. The way she would make her laugh, the way Andrew would take his time with her, trying to see what truly lay beneath that facade of smiles and carefree masquerade.

But he had already swore to help her, whether she liked it or not and the job that she got would be her first step of recovery. "Juliette, Diana I'm sure we both know that Andrew isn't a regular person and because of that, we have to approach him differently."

"We can't treat him like a toy, something that we use for our own bliss and to discard when we're done. We are suppose to treat him the same way we would want him to treat us. And I think that is what you meant back then Juliette."

The latter was speechless, at the time when she reprimanded Cassie for getting attached to Andrew, she knew that such a relationship wouldn't last long. But did that mean that Andrew wasn't meant to experience love because he couldn't, what if what he needed was a little push, a push that she halted.

He was a human being after all. Sure he couldn't feel what they felt, failed like they did but that didn't mean that he could be treated any less than them. She was aware that he didn't have a choice at the time years ago.

As for Cassie, she came from a dark place and with a bit of her history shed to her by Andrew, she was shocked that Cassie has planned on taking her life and would have if not for Andrew. He was her savior and in a world drowned in darkness, he was her only light to walk to.

Her fingers dug into her palm, her teeth gritted realizing the mistake that she made.

"I'm absolutely sorry you two. I was so selfish unaware of what I did. I'm truly sorry." Tears could be seen form behind her jade eyes.

Diana fell silent, as she too fell into contemplation. "It's okay Juliette, we make mistakes at times." She felt Cassie's warm hands brush against hers as the two locked eyes. A warm smile radiating from Cassie's face infecting Juliette.

"That's why I called you here. I want all of us to come to a conclusion as to how we will continue with this relationship that we have." Andrew watched it all transpire, just as he had wanted it to. The benefit of it helping those around him.