Chapter 38

Third-person narrative “Now that I’ve had the time to think about it, it is my fault that their father is in that condition,” Jasmine said to Noah as she sat down in her room at home, her hand supporting her chin.

She had followed her parents home after they left the hospital. Noah had come to visit her that morning.

“If only I had at least told them that I was fine, then all of this wouldn’t have happened. Everyone would have been safe and sound. I think I made the wrong decision,” she said.

Even though she never admitted it to Noah, Jasmine was missing Mia and her mates so much. Their friendship may not have been the perfect one, but she missed the craziness that came with it.

“Oh, come on. Stop that. Those brothers and their sister were just guilt-tripping you into thinking that. You didn’t do anything wrong. They cheated on you, you left because you needed time to yourself, and something happened while they were looking for you. What’s the big deal? What’s to say? It wouldn’t have happened anyway, even if the people involved hadn’t used you as bait,” Noah said.

Noah was trying his best to make Jasmine feel better by trying to make her forget her mates and Mia.

“Those brothers are just looking for an excuse to reject you, all the while making it obvious that they don’t want you. Don’t worry your pretty head about them. They are all just a bunch of scumbags.”

Jasmine’s mind was troubled. She hadn’t been able to sleep peacefully since the day they left the hospital.

She’d been trying to tell herself not to worry about it, but that wasn’t possible because every time she kept quiet or tried to go to sleep, the thought would come rushing back into her mind.

“You know we have to return to school today, right? Our end-of-semester exams start soon,” Noah said, changing the subject.

“Well, I know, but there’s a problem. I used to stay with Mia, but now that she isn’t talking to me, I have nowhere to stay because I have no other friend but her,” Jasmine sighed.

“What about me? You always seem to forget about me. I’ve been there for you all this while, and you still manage to forget about me every time you speak,” Noah said, feigning a little annoyance.

Jasmine laughed as she turned to Noah. “I didn’t forget about you, Noah. I just don’t want to trouble you anymore. I’ve asked for so much, and you’ve helped me in more ways than I can count. I know I’m too much baggage.”

“No, Jasmine. I’m willing to do anything that I can for you. I love you, and I always will. You can stay with me,” he smiled brightly.

“Thank you, Noah. I owe you so much for all the help you’ve given me,” she said with a bright smile.

“Don’t sweat it. Let’s get your things ready and head to school,” he said, and they started packing her things.

‘I’ll just go get my other stuff when Mia’s calmed down,’ Jasmine thought.

After they were done packing her stuff, they went downstairs, and she said goodbye to her parents. Noah drove them both to his apartment in school, and they got there after a few hours.

Noah helped her pack her stuff into the house, but when they got inside, they met a lady inside. Jasmine was confused, as Noah hadn’t told her anything about someone else being in the house.

Noah looked at the lady and then looked back at Jasmine.

“Oh, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, Jasmine. This is Freya; she’ll also be staying here with us. She’s a friend, and she doesn’t have anywhere else to stay, and I offered to let her stay here,” he explained.

Jasmine understood because she was in the same position and it was someone else’s house, so she had no right to impose rules or tell Noah what to do.

“It’s fine, Noah. It’s your house, not mine. You can do what you like,” she smiled and walked further inside the house to greet Freya.

“Nice to meet you, Freya. I’m Jasmine,”

“Nice to meet you too, Jasmine.” The lady smiled back, and Jasmine nodded her head.

Noah led the way to the room where Jasmine would be staying. He helped her arrange some of her stuff before she told him that it was fine for her to do it alone, and he left her alone.

When she was left alone, she looked down at her phone and sighed. She had tried to call Mia numerous times, but she didn’t pick up her calls. She tried texting her on social media, but it seemed Mia had blocked her on all platforms.

She didn’t expect things to become this bad. Mia had never been so angry at her as to block her and completely shut her out of her life. Jasmine didn’t think that she was going to get to talk to her anytime soon.

She sighed as she let her head fall.

Things were just taking a turn for the worse, and she didn’t know what to do.

Her eyes began to close as her body started to shut down from tiredness. Her eyes closed slowly as she was pulled into darkness, falling asleep on top of her unarranged clothes.

********

Later that night, Jasmine woke up because her neck was hurting from the position she had fallen asleep in. She raised her head and placed her hand on her neck, trying to massage the pain away.

Her mouth felt dry, so she decided to take a walk around the house and have a glass of water.

She left her room and walked towards the kitchen, still massaging her neck as she went. On getting close, she heard voices talking in hushed tones.

She could tell that one of the voices belonged to Noah, but she couldn’t tell who the other person was. She decided to just casually walk into the kitchen and find out who it was, but when she got there, she saw only Noah.

She looked around the kitchen, searching for the second person, but there was no one.

“What are you looking for?” Noah asked her, his eyebrows furrowed.

“I thought I just heard you talking to someone,” she said to him, and he looked taken aback.

“I’m talking to someone. I’m the only one here and have been since I walked in here, so I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said, and Jasmine frowned.

She was sure it didn’t sound like he was talking to himself, but with the way Noah was looking at her, it was like she was going crazy.

“You’re just being paranoid,” he said dismissively.

“It’s probably because I just woke up from my sleep,” she said as she walked past him to grab a cup and turned on the tap to take some water.

She emptied the entire cup and placed it back before turning to Noah.

“I’m sorry, I don’t know what’s wrong with me,” she said as she ran her fingers through her hair.

“It’s fine, Jasmine. Let me take you back to your room. You need more sleep.”

He led her to her room with a hand on her shoulder. When they got to her room, he pushed her clothes and box aside and told her to lie on the bed. He pulled the covers over her and patted her.

They remained quiet, with the only sound in the room being the sound of their breaths and the sound of Noah patting her. Not long after that, Jasmine fell back asleep, letting every troubling thought go.