Chapter 52: Chapter 52

David’s P.O.V.

“W-What happened to your face, Helena? Who did that?” I was dazed at first, but I couldn’t help but raise my voice after. Not because I was mad at her, but because every part of me couldn’t accept what my eyes were seeing right now. It hurts me like hell, and it pained my heart even more than what happened to me yesterday.

Trembling with an unknown horror, I carefully touched Helena’s face to inspect more of what I was already looking into. I was afraid of making a mistake that would make her suffer even more. Her left cheek was engorged, while the left side of her lips was sore.

Helena bit her lower lip, and it made her jaw slightly deform. She pressed her lips into a thin smile, but I knew more than anything that she was hurt. I couldn’t get angrier because her lip wound looked like it would open anytime soon.

If someone did this to her, I wanted to know who the hell it was! my mind screamed.

Then, my eyes were stung by a different ache. I blinked my tears back from falling. I never took care of Helena so much for them to hurt her like this. I despised seeing the almost fresh cut on her lips, and I wouldn’t just stand right here doing nothing. My heart throbbed in a fury.

Bothered, I immediately saw how tears welled up in her eyes. She rose to her feet, lightly tapped me on the shoulder, and said, “Hey! What are you thinking, Cristoff? Don’t over-react, okay? I’m just so clumsy—I fell down the stairs! The preventive maintenance of our home elevator is still on-going. So, it happened. I’m sorry, I’ll be extra careful next time. Would you like me to continue playing the piano for you, hmm?”

Helena forced a smile that never reached her eyes. I could feel that her jawbones could also dislocate while her way of speech seemed to be affected by the swelling of her left cheek. My heart was breaking.

It was the same thing that I did last night—when I lied in front of my mom and sister. I guessed Helena was only lying for me not to worry anymore.

“No.” It felt like I couldn’t find my voice.

“Okay, then.” Helena ended up shrugging her shoulders, opened her bag, and kept her piano sheet.

She was giving me a sweet smile that, in the first place, I knew was fake. I was sure that something actually went wrong. I just couldn’t pinpoint whatever it was and hoped for having enough clues. How I wished that it was only a simple problem I could solve with what was given. But right now, I was clueless.

I held Helena’s soft hands. Then, I looked at her straight in the eyes. “I don’t believe what you told me, Helena, and don’t divert the topic into playing the piano for me. Please be honest with me, okay? What really happened?”

Because of my question, Helena averted her gaze and turned her face in another direction—breaking the emotional bond that we have through our eye contact. She could no longer stop her tears from streaming down her face after that.

While seeing her crying right now, it felt like something was stabbing me as well. I wanted to protect her, but I was helpless.

Damn it! I hate to see Helena like this, and the powerless feeling seems to unman me.

It undoubtedly pained me to see Helena crying like this, most especially when I didn’t know the fucking reason why she suddenly acted like this. It was effortlessly crushing and tearing my heart into pieces. It was too excruciating to see her suffering in pain.

I would rather choose her to hit me, scold me, or cuss in front of my face, but never in my entire life I would want to see her in this kind of dreary situation. Seeing her beautiful green eyes reflected with profound agony would be the last thing I would ever want to happen.

Carefully wiping the tears from Helena’s face, I got startled when she suddenly crossed the distance between us and hugged me. It was so tight, and I knew that she was leaning on me for support.

My arms instantly found a way to hug her in return. I was doing my best to take care of her, and I wanted her to know that being in my arms could be her safe haven where she could breathe at all. I wanted to instill in her that being in my arms was a serene place she could always treat as home.

“Ssh, hush now. Don’t cry anymore, Helena. I am always here, and I won’t ever leave you no matter what!” I gently rubbed her back to comfort her, but she was still sobbing. I could feel like my clothes were already damp from the number of tears she had shed, but it was okay—no big deal. I actually loved it every time she would place her head at the crook of my neck while I was kissing her hair.

After the Annual Camp incident where I saw her crawling on the ground with an injured left foot, this would be the second time I saw Helena being so fragile. She looked like a porcelain doll that I had to protect… otherwise, she would break down into pieces.

And I couldn’t bear to see her breaking down in front of me—I would rather switch places with her. Helena turned out to be my world, and I would do anything in my power not to hurt her.

I even hugged her tighter, kissed her forehead, and played with her long hair using my fingers, but Helena was still bursting into tears. We remained in this position for only God knew how long when between her sobs, she finally spoke.

“W-Whatever happens, Cristoff… I—I just want you to remember that I love you so much… so much…” Helena almost choked with her own words as she breathed heavily.

Fear crept me up when she suddenly released me, pecked on my lips, grabbed her things, and ran away. Helena immediately headed towards the exit. I just wished that it was the same sudden kiss like what she used to do when we were playing the musical instruments here, but it was not. That smack silently told me that my life would suddenly tear apart.

“Helena, wait—” I screamed past her, but she didn’t even turn her back to look at me. I was left for a moment standing inside the Music Room, trying to perceive what had just happened.

What was that?

Things were happening too fast. I felt like a dumbhead because I couldn’t comprehend what Helena was trying to tell me. Not even half of everything was sinking in my brain. She left me clueless about what was happening around us without giving me enough hints.

All I knew was… my girlfriend was crying, and I couldn’t bear to see her in that awful situation. Then, I comforted her and assured her that I would never leave her. The next thing was… she ran away, and that was it! Could this be the end of our love story?

What really happened to her? Did I do something wrong that she didn’t like? If she would tell me, I was more than willing to change whatever it was and apologize! Did Helena really fall down the stairs as she told me?

I couldn’t understand her because, in the first place, she didn’t explain everything to me. It was as if she didn’t want me to understand what the hell was going on!

Still perplexed about Helena’s sudden actions, I decided to run after her, but I never saw her inside the campus. My gut feeling was telling me to go to the parking lot, so I went there, only to find out that their car just left. I even chased their car, but I wasn’t able to do so. Catching my breath until their car disappeared from my sight, I ended up bending my back while holding my knees.

Shaking, I called her number so many times already, but she kept on declining my calls until she turned her cellular phone off. I scoffed because Helena left so many questions in my mind, and all of them were intentionally unanswered!

Those questions were not as easy as Math problems that were too basic for me. Helena was so hard to solve! She left me without any formulas, and I couldn’t even manipulate one at this moment. Helena intricately caused a spiderweb mess in my brain.

It wasn’t long since we had fun together. Yesterday, we were damn so happy like I could never ask for more, and now, Helena did this?

What have I done? I love her with all my heart. Isn’t that enough?

But what’s truly going on with Helena? Who the hell hurt her like that? And what about her quote? Is she breaking up with me? No, please… I can’t live without her!