Forget him
Lilly.
“She doesn’t wanna talk to you!” Leah yelled. “Please leave my house or I’ll call the cops.”
Cali gasped. “What the hell? He’s not going to harm anyone.” She jumped off the couch and ran to open the door. Leah went after her but she was too late. Kyle was already barging in like he owned the whole building.
“What the hell is wrong with you, Cali? This is my house and you should respect my decisions.”
“I’m sorry but everyone deserves a fair trial. At least, listen to him. I don’t think he will try anything when I’m here.”
“I have no intentions of harming anyone,” Kyle said. “Lilly, I’m very sorry for not listening to you last night. I noticed that you were uncomfortable but I went ahead to do what I did.”
Leah gasped. “He raped you? You didn’t tell me about that.”
“Kyle, I don’t want to see you anymore. Just go away. I don’t think I can forgive you after what you did.”
Kyle went down on his knees before me. I felt disgusted as he placed his hands on mine on my lap. “Please, dear forgive me. I will never try anything like that ever again, I promise you. There’s nothing I regret more than that moment. I need you so much and I can’t let you go when I’ve just got you. Please, Lilly, rethink this. You know we all make mistakes.”
“How many mistakes do you have to make before you realise that something is wrong? What about the women you sexually harassed at your workplace?”
He clearly didn’t expect that because the shocked expression that appeared on his face was heavy. He looked like someone had stabbed him in the back.
“How did you know about that?”
“It doesn’t matter. However, it speaks volumes about you.”
“So, you’re willing to believe everything a random person said. Should I also believe that you’re a prostitute as the Blue Paper alleged? I mean, if we’re all believing whatever we heard, that may as well be true.”
“You know very well that it’s not true.”
“Do I? I only believe it is not because I trust you. On the other hand, it seems you do not trust me at all. You’re willing to believe whatever people say about me. Those women accused me. There is a reason why no one declared me guilty. There is no evidence to prove I did it, because I didn’t do it. And now that I have a girlfriend, I wouldn’t even think of other women. Lilly, you understand this more than I do. People can make up a lot of things to spoil another’s name. You can’t just believe what they say.”
“I’m sorry but please give me time to think about this,” I told him. “I don’t think I can just bounce back and act like nothing has happened. This is a lot to take in.”
“It’s okay,” he said, standing up. “I will give you as much time as you need. I’m going to leave now. Please call me when you have thought this through. Please don’t let other people’s opinions influence you. Goodnight.”
The three of us watched him leave without saying a word.
“I knew there was a reasonable explanation for all this mess. Kyle is a really nice guy.”
“Shut up, Cali.”
“I think you should go,” Leah told her.
“I see now. So, this is how it’s gonna be. You chase the rest of us away whoever Lilly feels a bit uncomfortable. Whatever Kyle did to Lilly is between them. I was not part of it but I’ll leave for you to be happy. Everyone has to adjust for poor Lilly’s sake.”
“Goodnight,” Leah told her. “Go speak to your errant cousin. We shall talk when you’re back to normal reasoning. I don’t have time for bitchy fits.”
Cali chuckled before walking away.
“You don’t have ruin your friendship with others because of me,” I told Leah.
“I don’t care about that Cali. She has been a big bitch lately and I’m tired of her rudeness. She doesn’t care about anyone except herself. If she leaves me, it will be good riddance. She’s toxic. Since she came here, she has been supporting that cousin of hers. There may not be tangible evidence that he harassed those women but he may have done it. After hearing what he did to you, I’m convinced he is guilty of the harassment. People don’t change easily so I hope you’re not thinking about going back to him.”
“I’m not yet sure,” I said.
“Lilly, there’s nothing wrong with being single. It is better to be alone than to be with someone who doesn’t care about you. That shit hurts.
“You’re right, I guess. What if he is telling the truth? The person who sent me the email did not even reply and I don’t think that’s their real name. It may be a new email created just for this purpose. What if it’s an ex-girlfriend or nemesis?”Upstodatee from Novel(D)ra/m/a.O(r)g
“Did that ex-girlfriend also make him rape you?”
“It wasn’t like that. I consented.”
“Did you want to consent form the beginning?”
“Not really.”
“Dear, forced consent is not consent. If you consent to protect yourself, it is not consent. We need to go and report this guy before he does something terrible to you.”
“You talk about him like he is a dangerous criminal.”
“We both know that he is not a good person. You’re scared of him, that’s why you’re here. We women have strong intuition. If you get bad vibes about someone, it’s better to stay away from them. Your brain is telling you to run, but you’re trying to rationalise because you’re scared of being alone. My dear, there are so many amazing men out there. You shouldn’t risk your life for some good-for-nothing man like Kyle.”
“It’s alright. I’ll think about it. Let’s not talk about this anymore. It’s stressing me a lot.”
“Okay, babe. Let’s go and cook. Food makes everything feel better.”