Scar Red

53: All is Fair In Love And Chum-ship

"Kendall, did you see this?" I showed her my phone, still wondering how on Earth he had found me.

I stared with a grave expression at the username, @itz_jjmcgreg67. I had even forgotten about him until that moment and the guy was stalking me?

"So, this JJ McGreg guy likes all of your pictures and even drops comments on some of them…" Kendall remarked, scrolling through her phone. "I'd call him a stalker but I don't know. You're pretty popular now and a lot of people do the same to your pics. Why does this one just get to you?"

We had already excused ourselves from the rest of our friends. We then stood in a secluded area.

I shook my head. "Ken, you don't understand. I know this guy, alright. He used to be my best friend until the night he-"

"-whoa! Dude slid into your dm as well," she said, leaving me astounded. I checked my phone and true to her words, there was a message from itz_jjmcgreg67. One of my hands flew to my mouth.

I tried not to panic and come to think of it, he might not even have been the Jared McGregor that I had a history with. It might have been a different person who just happened to have an all too familiar username and everything was just a crazy, crazy coincidence.

Yet, why was I so alarmed and outright distressed? My hands shook and I was close to dropping my phone. Locating a free seat, I shuffled towards it immediately. My head was spiralling with different ideas.

Whoever that person was, he had successfully ruined my mood. Kendall sat with me and patted my shoulder.

"You good?" She inquired softly.

"Yes, I…" my voice trailed off. "Please read me the message."

She tapped on her phone's screen. "Hey, Rina. It seems you're quite popular now—hell, it's hard to believe how much you've changed. I've changed as well and I feel the need to set things right with you more than ever.

I don't know if you can meet me at Kimberly's Place. I'll be waiting there for you every day for a week. I know I have no right to ask such of you and I'll understand if you don't show up."

"That's the guy I told you about; the one that violated me," I muttered after a while.

"Wait! That's him? No wonder you were so flustered. And he still has the guts to ask for an audience with you? That's bulls*it." Kendall fumed. "For all we know, this could be a set-up."

"Jared won't do something like that," I told my friend. I was still very uneasy yet I tried to be rational.

"You also thought that he 'wouldn't' r*pe you until he did, Carina."

"I know. He was my best friend and he was so high that night. He didn't know what he was doing and I just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time."

"That still doesn't justify what he did to you, Rina. I'm not even the victim here yet I'm the angrier one. Jared or whatever he's called doesn't deserve your time, girl." Kendall ranted. "You were practically shaking a few moments ago from the realization that he was stalking you and now, you're defending him? You're not being very rational right now."

I sighed. "The last thing that I'll do is to defend him but it's been years since that happened, Ken. And Jared has been one of the few people that accepted me even though I looked less appealing to the eye.

I won't lie that it came as a shock to me that he reached out but come to think about it; this could be for the best. I can't just ignore everything he's done for me in the past at all so honoring his request is just the least I can do."