Chapter 39: Chapter 39

Melissa couldn't believe that after weeks of ignoring her, Maya finally replied to her text and even more was ready to meet up with her.

She bit her lower lip nervously, shame and uncertainty clogging her mind as she rang the bell, waiting on Maya.

Maya opened the door a few seconds later and then walked back allowing her to trudge behind her slowly.

"I'll advise you to say whatever you have to say before my friends come back. They left a few minutes ago to get coffee and might be on their way home, trust me they won't be as kind."

Melissa sat down beside her. "I'm not here to ask for your forgiveness or explain why I did what I did."

Maya eyed her with confusion but didn't say a word.

"What I did was dumb and stupid. Trust me, I am not as blind as I make it appear, but neither am I as strong as Xavier to voice out the truth right in front of me," her voice broke as she held Maya's gaze, " It was easier pretending that you have a perfect home to run back to even though you know that Is a lie, it is easier to pretend that your dad is not a beast if you never voice it out and__" she trailed off, her frame shaking with emotions she had tried Bolting for a long time as a tear slide down her cheek.

"Oh Mel__" Maya whispered, her anger almost non-existent as she wrapped her hand around Melissa's.

"I don't know why I came here, but I was close by and when I saw your message I just needed to see you, couldn't get over the urge of wanting to see the spite in your eyes for me because trust me, I think I deserve it." She shook her head as Maya made to argue her point. "What Xavier doesn't know is that." She stopped, her face contorting in even more pain.

"After Xavier left home, I was angry, scared, and heartbroken but more than that I was lonely. He was my big brother and my best friend," she furiously wiped her tear ruining her perfect facial makeup, "my only friend."

"One night I just had a bad dream, a nightmare. Normally, I go to Xavier's room and he rocks me till I can fall asleep." Maybe a month ago, she wouldn't have believed that absurd line but Maya have seen a side of Xavier that was this sensitive, that was Melissa's big brother shielding her from any and everything.

"So I ran towards mum's room. I saw him__" her eyes widened and Maya could tell she was reliving the experience once again. She didn't have an understanding of what she was trying to say but didn't want to interrupt her, so she listened quietly.

"He had mum gagged, her hands tied to the bedpost and he__" Maya's eye widened as Melissa tried, again and again, to get the words out of her mouth.

"What are you trying to say?" Maya asked, not wanting to believe what her head told her.

"He was raping her even while I watched a few feet away," she finally voiced out looking straight at Maya.

Maya remembered Mrs. Salvador's attractive face, her genuine smile, how she waltzed through the room like her life was a perfect scene from a Hallmark movie.

Never would she ever think that that woman was a victim of a rapist, she was married to a rapist who raped her frequently.

Xavier's anger finally made sense, his horrified face when he entered the house, the way he tensed as his eyes zeroed in on some spot in the house which now, she thought of it might be scenes where he had seen the unholy and decadent practice of his mother being raped.

Maya's foot wobbled as she lowered herself on the cushion next to her, gobsmacked at the new event, while Melissa sat next to her.

"I was petrified, my night mates forgotten because well, my reality was scarier," she continued, "I called Xavier again, again and again. On repeat. I always met his voice mail." Her voice shook.

"I closed my eyes believing it was just a nightmare, another nightmare. After that, it was just easier to be more blind, be in denial, lying to myself, and that night while you stood there fidgeting," she covered her face with her hand, "I was more scared that you were going to destroy my allusion I have myself wrapped in, the lie bubble I lived but yet I wanted to hear it, assure myself that I knew what I saw, that, that night wasn't a dream. It had happened." Her lips quivered as she spoke, voicing out the nightmare she had outlived for years. "I'm sorry you were in the middle of the whole crossfire and once again somehow we are responsible for almost making Xavier lose something that makes his eyes light up."

"Please don't leave my brother or hold this as a grudge against him, it is all on me." She whispered even as Maya held her in her arm, "I am the fool here,"

"Shhh, this is all on Dominic Salvador," Maya whispered, as Melissa crumbled in her arms, sobbing. "No one else. Just him."

And that was how Jasmine and Jessica had met them. Maya trying to soothe Melissa on their couch.

"Maya," Jessica called out unsure.

Melissa managed a smile seeing they had company despite her tear-streaked face and swollen eyes. It was a charm ingrained in her for years. Being courteous even when your life was falling apart was one of the things her mother had mastery in and it was obvious with the way things were heading, Xavier was right she was threading in her mom's footstep.

"Hi, I am Melissa."

Jasmine raised her brow, dropping the coffee mug she had bought and a bunch of other things they didn't need on the table, "Do you mean Xavier's Sister?"

Melissa bit her lower lip and nodded. "Regretfully that asshole."

"It is fine." Maya intervened, shooting Jasmine a warning glare before she does whatever was already brewing in her mind, which was bound to be ugly and just not good.

"I need to be going now, mum would be worried sick because I didn't tell her I'll be going out," Melissa murmured grabbing her handbag which had fallen on the ground, and then managing a smile at Maya, made a run for the door.

Jasmine stared at her retreating figure for some minutes, then gazed at Maya who was sprawled on the couch trying to wrap what she had just heard around her head.

"What was that about?" Jessica beat her to it.

"She came to apologize," Maya whispered, even though that was far from what Melissa had done with her little Revelation.

She stood up tired of being under her roommates' scrutiny as they were very much aware that was not even half of what had happened, not even close to.

She collapsed on her bed and when she closed her eyes, instead of having nightmares about that night when she was almost raped all she could see was Mrs. Salvador's big smile that hid rows and rows, moments and moments of pain. That was the worst kind of nightmare. Having to suffer and being denied the right to scream.

She woke up, film of sweat on her forehead. The house was so quiet, she checked the time. It was 4:20 pm, the girls must have left for work she reasoned, and then against her better judgment, she fumbled with her phone texting, Xavier.

Can you come over right now, we need to talk.

***

Xavier raised his eyes as he saw the message, Maya had sent to him.

He was in a meeting and had not taken his phone with him, so the message had been sent two hours ago.

He cursed under his breath, grabbing his car keys from his office and racing towards the elevator, wondering what was going on and why Maya who was one of the last persons who was comfortable with admitting she needed anyone sounded like she was out of it, confused and troubled.

He was running to her, he dismissed his driver and ignoring every traffic rule in the country he amplified his speed desperate to make sure she was alright.