"What the fuck are you doing here?" I asked in utter confusion. Roderick was standing in front of me in shorts and his signature polo t-shirt, looking worried. Please don't tell me he got to know about his car, I prayed.

He didn't say anything, he looked up at me with his light blue eyes which were full of... guilt? Before I could respond, he stepped inside and wrapped his arms around me. I stood motionless, unable to decipher the situation. All I knew that I didn't feel anything in his embrace, at least nothing like what I felt few minutes ago with Max. There was a sudden tug in my heart as I recalled what had happened few minutes ago but I let that go.

"I..I have missed you so much Grace", he mumbled hugging me closer. Relief flushed over me. Thank god he doesn't know about his car or at least he doesn't know that I did that to his car.

He broke off from the embrace. He seemed nervous as he chewed on his lips. "Can I come inside?" he asked tentatively. My body still wasn't responding, it felt like all my senses went numb.

He didn't wait for my reply, instead he ushered himself in, slowly closing the door behind him. I backed away, giving him space.

"Grace?" I looked up to see Roderick studying me, his blond tufts of hair fell on his forehead, almost covering his eyes. He had made himself comfortable on my couch. How did he get there?

"Uhh.. What are you doing here Roderick?" I asked crossing my arms over my chest and pursing my lips. I was glad he didn't guess the fact that I vandalized his car, but when your ex comes to meet with you months after he got caught cheating on you it is kind of shocking. I was trying to stay calm, refraining myself from asking questions like: why the fuck would he get his dick sucked off by my best friend?

Thanks to him I have trust issues now. Imagine getting betrayed by two of your close friends with whom you have literally have spent your whole time with. My eyelids started to get heavy with tears but I gulp down my emotions. Rule number 1: Never break down in front of your exes specially the ones who cheated on you.

"How are you?" he asked.

I let out an airy laugh or at least tried to. "Should you even be asking that?", Roderick visiting me bought those memories rushing back to me. The times we have spent together. There was no denying in the fact that we had a good time together. But at the same time those flashbacks come back to me. No matter how hard I try to forget, they come back to me. It was like night. No matter how bright and sunny the day is there is always a night filled with darkness waiting for you.

Keeping myself together was hard. The pain felt like a stab on my heart except it kept going on mercilessly.

He reached for my hands but I immediately backed away and then he uttered this, "I still love you Grace, if you let me explain..".

"Let you explain what? There is nothing to explain", my voice became heavy, I looked away wiping the faint trails of tears. Way to go Grace.

Now he comes to confess his love for me. Where was he for these past months?

"Please it was a mistake! I should have never cheated on you", he said in a shaky voice.

"Then where were you all these months?" my tone amplified. I got up from the couch dramatically running my hand, frustratingly into my hair.

I fetched myself a glass of water, gulping it down to ease myself. My heart was beating against my chest.

"Please look at me Grace", he said as I placed the glass down and looked at him. "I missed you so much.. You have no idea how many times I wanted to cross the corridor and come meet you", he took a step forward and trailed a hand across my face, I didn't stop him. "To see you and ask for your forgiveness. But I was a coward. I-I couldn't even face myself after that, I hated myself. You have no idea how many times I cried myself to sleep", he bought his face closer to me, so close that his breath was fanning the corner of my lips. "Please give us a chance, I swear this time I won't let you down".

There is nothing called second chances, at least not in Roderick's case. Trust is fragile, so fragile that once its broken it can never be mended. Like broken china, once you break it, it's hard to put the pieces back together. I knew there was no going back for us.

Before I could say that, I smelled something burning. I looked around but nothing seems to be on fire on the stove. "Do you smell something burning?" I asked sniffing.

He swiftly back away, "OH MY GOD", Roderick screamed as his pants were on flames. He screamed, so loudly that I was almost on the verge of losing an eardrum.

"Calm down!", before I could fetch a bucket of water from him, he ran towards his place and finally I heard the familiar sounds of shower turning on. I was relieved.

I turned around to see Max laughing his ass off. I turned around glaring at him, "YOU PUT MY EX-BOYFRIEND'S ASS ON FIRE?!"

.............................

"I swear this looks like a haunted house. Are you sure you want to go inside?" I asked taking a good look at the house in front of me. We decided to pay a visit to Max's late grandparents' house as Mia suggested we would find Max's uncle Joe here. But I was quite doubtful about it because it looked more like an abandoned haunted house. The windows were pitch black that you couldn't see anything inside the house. The walls were a murky grey which were once I presumed was white in color and the roofs were old, so old that in some of the places the roof was worn out. There was a trail of algae on the walls and the steps, with zero signs of human life. The bad stormy weather added to the haunted house effect.

"Seriously you just drove for four hours just to get spooked out by my Grandparents' house? Come on we need to find my uncle Joe" Max said.

"But it looks creepy", I reasoned.

"I don't know last time I saw this house it was nothing like this, it definitely didn't look this creepy", Max trailed off.

"Yeah thanks for the heads up", I said sarcastically. I walked towards the house just to get this over it. Max followed me behind still deep in his thoughts.

Upon turning the knob, I discovered the door was unlocked. I looked at Max he just nodded at me to go on. The door creaked, indicating that the hinges were rusted. The air smelled of dust, spider webs covered every nook of the house, I got my cell phone out to use it as a flashlight. I blinked adjusting to the pitch darkness of the room.

"Are there any furniture in this house?"

"There used to be but now I don't see any"

We checked all the rooms but nothing seemed to be there except for the blanket of spider webs waiting for us in every room. The windows were black so no amount of sunlight entered.

"There is no one here Grace", Max sighed, "Wanna check the basement?"

I nodded; licking my dry lips and following Max down the stairs. The place reeked of rotting wood, a cloud of dust welcoming us. I reached out for the switch, turning on the lights. This seems to be the only place in house with working lights.

"Nope there is nothing here", Max said rather impatiently," Let's get out here".

"No wait", I reached for the door which was behind a ladder, upon turning the knob I discovered it was locked.

"Wait I think I can go through this room", Max started floating towards the wall but he bumped into it. "Whoa that never happened to me", he tried again and this time he backed away.

"I think there's something protecting the wall, some invisible force stopping me", he had a dubious look on his face.

I turned the knob again in a forlorn attempt. Feeling something press against me I tried to turn around.

"Stop right there or I will stab you with this knife", a hoarse behind me muttered, holding a cold metal on my back. I gulped, not daring to turn around.

..........................