Six Years Ago

It had been three weeks since Evan came back home in Mayne. Three weeks since he and Angela had been spending time together.

He had been consistent with giving her flowers or small gifts whenever he picked her up from her house to go somewhere on a date.

Evan was a charming man. Her friends would easily get jealous of her whenever they see them out together. He was the perfect gentleman, sweet, and manly—what's more, her father approved of him because he was the son of his friend and he came from a prominent family. The Leos were highly reputable. So being a Marine, and with his father being a General, Evan was also highly regarded.

Despite the occasional jealousy, Evan was at best, the sweetest and made her smile all the time. At some point, she thought that maybe this was love? She didn't really know what it felt like. All she knew was that he was always around and she got used to spending a lot of time with him.

He was quite strict though. And she didn't understand why he would forbid her to talk to her guy friends. He would say it as a joke and then it would cause their little quarrel. Thinking that it was normal in a relationship, she didn't think much of it. They would apologize to each other and make up later on as if they didn't fight. This happened a few times and knowing that other couples would also fight and make up, she brushed it off.

It wasn't until the last week of Evan's visit back home when Angela thought he had been acting oddly. He had gotten cranky and would snap at her out of nowhere. She thought that he must have been feeling the pressure of going back to the base for his training in the Special Ops team. He told her that he would be very busy and the training would be extremely difficult too. Then, he made her promise that she would constantly keep in touch with him. There was even one crazy moment when he suggested for them to elope. She just laughed at the sudden proposal, thinking that he was really just going to miss her.

A couple of days before he was supposed to leave, his friends organized a party for him at a club. There were a lot of people invited, including some of Angela's friends.

Earlier that night, she and Evan had a fight again. She didn't know what was really up with him this time but he became so possessive of her. She got dressed up and all ready for the club but when he fetched her from her house, he made her change into something else, saying that it was 'too revealing'. Angela didn't understand him because she had been dressing up the same since—nothing had changed. In fact, the dress she wore was a plain little black dress that stopped at her mid-thigh. He had seen her in it before and he didn't say anything. So, what changed?

When they were finally able to leave, she chose to ignore the nagging feeling in her heart because she chose to believe that Evan was a good man. So that night, she forgot about her worries and readied herself to celebrate with their friends.

Arriving at the club, the party was already in full swing. They had rented the entire place for the night, so there were an open bar, bartenders, and waiters to distribute the drinks, making sure all sixty-plus of the guests had alcohol in their hands.

"I'll be back. Don't go anywhere," Evan whispered to her ear.

"Okay…" Angela watched as he ascended towards the second floor of the club. There wasn't anyone else up there except for one other man in a hoodie. She sat back on the sofa alone. Her friends were somewhere in the club dancing. She was suddenly not in the mood to party, and honestly… she just wanted to go home and have a quiet night. But she had to be here of course. It was Evan's party after all… and he was leaving soon.

She looked up again and observed as Evan talked to the guy in a hoodie. She couldn't hear what they were talking about, obviously, they were far from her and the club was all dark and only had neon lights on. But from where she was sitting and from what she could make out, it looked like the two were in a heated conversation, arguing about something.

It lasted for a minute more and then, Angela saw the man handing over something to Evan. She couldn't tell what it was but they looked shady. She knitted her brows and when he came back to her side, she asked, "What was that all about?"

"What?"

"You and that guy upstairs. Is everything okay?"

"Ah, that… Nothing. Don't worry about it," he answered dismissively and then got up again. This time, he went to his friends a few tables away. They huddled and whispered at each other, mysterious smiles broke their faces as they conversed in secret. Later, one by one—sometimes two at a time, they would disappear into the back alley and then come back in.

Angela got even more curious, but when she thought of asking Evan about it, her heart raced. He had already been very irritable lately, he might think she was nagging if she pressed on. Without any choice, she decided to sweep it under the rug and ignored it. She whipped out her phone and casually scrolled through her social media.

"Angela?" a voice called her from the side.

She raised her head and squinted to see who was calling her. "Angela, right?" the man asked again. "Who?" she wondered when she couldn't see clearly.

He walked up and sat next to her, "It's me, Paul! Don't you remember? We went to middle school together."

Angela's eyes widened in surprise upon seeing one of her middle school classmates whom she hadn't seen in a long time. "Oh my gosh! Paul! It's you! It's been so long! I couldn't recognize you! You've grown! And wow, you're not skinny anymore."

The two of them laughed at their unexpected meeting. Then she probed, "Wait, why are you here? I mean, are you friends with—"

"Ah yes, Evan and I have common friends, well… we're new friends. Actually, I also joined the Marines and we might be mates when we start training soon," Paul answered.

"Oh, that's so cool! Wow, I can't believe you became a Marine…"

"Hard to believe eh?" Paul laughed again. "Ah, do you remember, Christy?" When she nodded, he continued, "She's my girlfriend now."

The two of them chatted for a while, and she had fun catching up with an old friend.

"I'm sure Christy would be psyched when she hears about this. Let's set up a lunch date—all four of us!" Paul suggested.

"I would love to meet Christy again! That would be really nice."

"How about we take a picture and send it to her?"

"Yeah yeah, sure!"

The two posed for a picture together with all smiles on their faces. Just as the camera flashed, Evan came marching in and yanked Angela off the sofa. The next second, he started beating up Paul, alternating between his fists and kicks.

[Reader Advisory: The next two chapters have graphic content (violence/abuse). If you aren't comfortable with that, please skip.]