Lost | Tom Riddle ✔

Chapter 88

* a few days back*

Dear Anthony,

We are shocked to receive your letter. We thought you were happy with Graybacks, and you knew about the arrangement since you were a child. Your mother and I would love to know why do you want to back out now and if you have given any thought to how will we face the society once the word about this comes out. I always thought you were my thoughtful son. I am very disappointed in you. We will talk about this once you come home.

Love,

Antonio Avery

A single tear left its trail on Anthony's pale cheek. He rubbed that off furiously. Men don't cry. He reminded himself. Men aren't weak. He chanted again. He had been doing that since the day he found Rebekah in the arms of another boy. And his heart bled every time he recalled the accidental meeting both betrothed had the day after.

*flashback*

Anthony looked outside. His eyes zeroed on the snowy mountains in distance. His surrounding was calm, serene. Contrasting perfectly to his rattled insides. There must be a reason. She wouldn't do it just because. Even if she hated him she wasn't a woman of easy virtue who would go from one person to another. His mind argued trying to make sense of the actions of the girl who shattered his heart. His stupor broke when someone cleared their throat. He turned to see it was his infamous fiance.

He breathed in deeply like the air around them was suddenly thin. For him, she did suck all the air whenever she was around. Anthony threw a glance over her features. She looked stunning as always. His heart ached. 

"Can we talk?" She cleared her throat. Her gentle voice forced him to recollect the day they first met. Her voice had reminded him of honey then. Her voice reminded him of honey now. Nothing had changed, but many things did. Both sentences were true, somehow, at the same time.

Unable to form a coherent reaction, he just looked at her. Even when she didn't get any confirmation, Rebekkah looked poise. She always was no matter how tense the situation got. This was the quality he admired the most about her. She always had control over her emotions. He observed her when she spoke.

"What you saw yesterday, I didn't mean for you to find it out that way."

Her sentence meant she was indeed in the arms of another. Willingly. His heart cracked.

"Rod and I -" She cleared her throat again. "- we have been courting for some weeks now. In secret." 

His heart broke all over again. And this time his mind didn't even reason. Somehow, his hopeless romantic heart was still hoping that she would tell him what he witnessed was just a hallucination. Hoping that it was all just a trick. 

"Had our kiss meant nothing to you?" Anthony asked. Completely overwhelmed and broken beyond repair. The pain in his eyes was unbearable. Too much to handle for even the Grayback girl. So she turned away from him. The unvoiced accusation was not something she was prepared to handle. The rebellious teen was overwhelmed with guilt. She hadn't planned the things to go the way they were.

"It did." She spoke quietly. Her voice just above a whisper. "But not as much as Rod's"

Anthony's soul crumpled.

*flashback ends*

It had been many days since that unfortunate day. That didn't mean it hurt a little less. It didn't help that Anthony had to keep everything bottled up inside him. Of course, he couldn't have fooled Tom, since his pal had been quite observant from the start, but that didn't mean Anthony had sobbed his misery out. He was afraid that Tom would tell him an infamous like of I-warned-you-so or corner Rebekah and demand the answers. He knew how blunt Tom was. And he knew that Anthony meant something to Tom, maybe not as much as what the Riddle boy meant to Avery. A small part of Anthony wanted Tom to confront Rebekah, but a bigger part of him still didn't want anyone to berate her. She might not have loved him, but he did. And he didn't want to be the one to tarnish her reputation any more than the impending cancellation of their engagement was going to cause. 

That was one of the reasons why he didn't mention the reason he wanted to back out of the arrangement. That was the reason why his father, the one man who always had his back, was so disappointed in him. Anthony kept everyone in dark as he himself was getting sucked in the darkness.

*Present Time*

*Back in Tomes and Scrolls*

Tom stiffened. His hold on Alexa's petite waist tightened. The tips of his fingers poked her side causing her to clutch his shoulders. Alexa's eyes narrowed in confusion as she breathed a sudden change in their surroundings. Her body turned slightly following the line of his sight. Her eyes narrowed some more when she saw a man standing outside. Her eyebrows furrowed when this other man's beady black orbs twinkled in mischief. The secretive grin on his lips creeped her out for a reason not known to her. It was like he knew something that she didn't. The same kind of grin Dumbledore gave. Only darker and creepier.

"Sition!" Alexa heard Tom whisper to himself. She tried hard to recollect. Anything to figure who that figure was. Jolting pain shot in her head. And she clutched it instantaneously. This pain was she familiar with. She had been feeling that particular pain whenever she tried to peek into the events of the night that took place before she had woken up in Dumbledore's office. The powerful oblivion of Dumbledore proscribed her from getting a glimpse of the night she was curious about. 

This realization bothered her more. It was clear that the man standing in front of her was a part of the events that had taken place that forgotten night, but she had never seen him before. Who was he? Why was he smiling at her that way? What did he know that she didn't? Her mind boggled with unasked questions.

The waves of questions in her mind turned into a tsunami when she felt Tom pulling her close to him as if he was afraid of losing her. His clutch brought tingles and warmth in her body. However, his reaction to this unknown figure and the name that he whispered, clearly indicated that he knew her. This very thought shattered her delight. And she stiffened herself. Like how she didn't remember this man, she didn't even remember how Tom saw her in her wolf form. Did that mean these both events were connected? 

"Let's leave, sweetheart," Tom commanded authoritatively and meaningfully as he started dragging, no more like rushing them out of the store with his right hand holding her left hand firmly. His tone held no scope of arguing. Alexa shivered a bit when his breath hit her neck. However, she didn't miss how quiet he was. Like he was afraid of something or rather that man standing in front of her. And Tom Riddle being frightened was not something she thought was remotely possible.

Who was this man? And how were their lives connected? Her mind questioned herself again as her eyes trailed back to the window. Her heart skipped many beats and a feeling of uneasiness dropped in her stomach when she found the window abandoned.

~*~*~

I am so sorry if this chapter sucks, I am not good at writing heartbreaks. I promise I will try to improve. If you have voted on every chapter message me privately, I will cross-check. I want to dedicate a chapter to you for being so consistently supportive of me.

Also, if you have a good Daenarys Targaryen x OC fanfic, please recommend it to me. Danny deserved better. I will prefer the one which is complete or the author makes regular updates.

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Thank you all!!!