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Collet looked at Darryl with some resentment but she knew her feelings were of no concern to him anymore. If Xhemin had broken down all her confidence about herself earlier, Darryl then had just shattered her heart.

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"Was I really nothing to you?" Collet's tears stopped. Suddenly all the tears dried up with the realization that even with Darryl, the man she had put all her trust and devotion, she was still nothing at all.

Darryl saw the misery in her eyes and he felt pity toward her for a moment. Same how he had taken pity on her when they were kids. However, Collet's sentiments weren't really the things he came here for.

"Six years ago, how did you know Xhemin left the island?" He started asking questions.

"You know what Dee you are so unfair. Growing up you cared for me more than how you cared for any other girls around and that made me believe I was something special to you. Why did you have to be kind with me back then? You even made me your best friend,��� Collet confronted him instead of answering his question. It was all a mystery to her why Darryl, the boy who cared for her the most back then, just lost all the interest in her when they grew up.

"Collet I don't have time for this,"

"Just answer me first," It was a trade-off. Collet intended her questions to be answered in exchanged for Darryl's queries.

Darryl sighed deep. He knew very well the answer to this question but chose not to tell Collet because he didn't want to destroy her booming confidence.

"Because you needed me when we were young," Darryl revealed. "You were innocent and an outcast. You were always alone and when I came by, I felt that you needed me so much and so I stayed,"

"But I still needed you. I needed you all the time, even now," Collet answered devastated because she knew what Darryl said had some truths in them. Growing up with the fact that she was a daughter of a mistress, Collet's beginnings weren't smooth especially at the time when Martin was still recovering from his mental illness. No one wanted to play with her and certainly no one among the heirs and heiress wanted to become her friend, she was then an outcast. Then Darryl came into the picture and she was an outcast no more, because of Darryl's friendship, the other young bloods started recognizing Collet and the rest was history.

"For a time you needed me but you started gaining friends after and you found your worth and place perfectly. You don't need my friendship anymore, especially when you left for Singapore," Darryl revealed then he repeated, "How did you know Xhemin came back from the island six years ago?"

"I heard you Aunt Blanca discussing it through a phone she had with your uncle Franco. They said Xhemin came back to stop your proclamation. We were at London then, three days prior to your proclamation day. I flew to Hampshire that same afternoon with the intention of shooing her back to the island,"

Darryl considered the information for a minute and uttered. "I need the man's name Collet. The one who help you,"

"Was that why you pushed me away when I came back from Singapore because you thought I didn't need me anymore?" Collet did another trade-off.

"I didn't push you away Collet. We just grew up separately and so were our ways, perspective and interest," Darryl reasoned further then sighed as if he wasn't really into the kind of game Collet was playing with him, "The name Collet. I need his name,"

"I knew him by the name of Luan. I'm not sure if that was his real name. As for the rest, you must have known already," Collet told him, although she was aware that all those information were useless.

"I need something useful Collet," Darryl told her straightaway as he knew there's something that Collet knew about the man that she refused to tell.

"Did you ever dream of marrying me, even for a time?" Collet was desperate for more conversation about them and so she took all her time.

Darryl shook his head negatively, giving Collet more heartbreak than she already had.

"Even back then when we were young? We used to play pretend weddings, don't tell me you haven't once considered or dreamed of marrying me one day," Collet pushed it all further and further as she could, hoping somewhere she'll be answered in the affirmative.

"As a child, I had no other dream rather than building a legendary masterpiece Collet, you know that very well,"

Darryl was right. However, even as to how obvious all the answers were, Collet just refused to acknowledge them all and feed up on her own foolish version of things. She always twisted the truth and settled with it because it wasn't only the convenient thing to do, it was also less painful.

"I dreamed of it Dee. Every time we play pretend, I hoped and wished it was real," Collet told him with courage as she knew it might be the only time she'll ever see him. She remembered how they used to be and how she previously day dream as a child to be someday be married with the Lagdameo heir. In fact at the age of sixteen, she had already planned their wedding down to the smallest details as if it was going to happen very soon. "I have always dreamed about it,"

"Collet please…."

"Just little more please. I needed more answers," She was like begging for it. She wanted all of her questions be answered so she can put an end to all of it. She probably gonna rot in jail so the only thing she can give herself was genuine answers to all her questions.

***

"If Xhemin didn't come into the picture, would you have considered marrying me?" Collet asked, it was the last question she intended to be answered, yet the most significant for her.

"No. I'm sorry the answer is no. If Xhemin didn't come into the picture, I would have not thought about marriage at all," Darryl's admission took all the last hope Collet had in him. To know that even with a slightest amount, Darryl had not loved her as a woman as all too painful Collet couldn't anymore bear. She refused to believe all of it previously as she thought there was no reason for Darryl not to like her however Darryl's answers right then made her realize that she also have nothing particularly significant to make Darryl like her. As he said, she was just someone he had helped out of his natural instincts to be kind and helpful.