Begin Again

Chapter 26

Time flies. Matteo graduated and it's the end of my junior year. I can't believe it's over. I've only been here for three months and I felt like I've been here for years.

Matteo was discharged from the hospital a few days ago. His wound was still prone to reopening so we had to be very careful. Much to his delight, he was treated like a king.

We went to Central Park to celebrate with a picnic. His parents couldn't make it because they were busy with work as always. "Aren't you happy to graduate? I wish I could just graduate straight away!" I asked.

"It'll be your turn next year. Be patient and continue studying," he said.

I rolled my eyes and laughed.

"Picture time!" Luca exclaimed. "My baby brother is all grown up. He's graduated from college! Come on, give your big brother a huge smile! Cheese!"

"It's not a big deal. There's still med school," Matteo replied before smiling at the camera while hooking his arm around my waist. I laughed just as Luca took the picture. Well, there goes the first photo I have with Matteo.

I looked at it and... it actually looks quite nice!

"I love it," Matteo commented.

I scrolled to the second picture where we're both smiling for the camera. "This one looks good too," I remarked.

"I prefer the previous one. This one is too formal, too stiff. I mean, it doesn't look as natural as the previous one. I like candid shots," he said, flipping back to the previous photo.

"I think you two look great together. Your babies are going to be so cute! I can hear them call me Uncle Luca," Luca replied.

Matteo shook his head. "No, not a chance. They're going to call you Grandpa Luca. Besides, you're thinking too far ahead. We're not even married. Get yourself a wife first. You're two years older than me."

Luca said, "Well, that's not very nice, is it? If I ever have kids, I'll make them call you Uncle Mattress since you like nicknames so much. What do you think, Matteo the mattress?"

"It sounds horrible," he replied with a straight face, still shaking his head.

I chuckled. Unless you call him a rich boy, nothing can get onto his nerves. He simply doesn't care. I grabbed a sandwich and ate it. What better way to celebrate someone's graduation than to chill in a park? We don't always need big parties and celebrations.

"For the last time, I don't need to go see a therapist!" Matteo hollered and winced in pain. He's on the phone with Dr Knight. Ever since the shooting incident, he insisted that he go see a therapist but Matteo insisted that he was fine.

"No, I swear I'm okay. I was totally chill when I got shot. It's just a wound in the chest. I study medicine, Uncle Philip. I know you can solve my bullet problem. I wasn't afraid of dying. I knew I wasn't going to die. I'm fine," he continued in a lower volume.

I looked at him in amusement. He shook his head and rolled his eyes as he sighed. "You know, to be fair, he's being concerned," I suggested. I took the phone and said, "Hello, Dr Knight. It's me, Alexia. I can vouch for Matteo. He definitely does not have PTSD."

"That's not my point. I want him to see a therapist to talk about the incident and get it off his chest," he replied. "Once is enough unless he has PTSD but you said—"

Matteo snatched the phone and said into the microphone, "I do not need to see a therapist. I need to study for my MCAT. Thank you very much."

I grinned awkwardly and said, "Maybe you can go once so that your uncle will leave you alone. It's just one hour or something. I don't know. Who knows? Maybe you'll feel better after talking to someone."

"I already have a therapist and it's you, Grey," Matteo laughed. He then turned to his phone and shouted, "I do not need another one!" With that, he hung up. "Annoying," he muttered.

"He's just concerned," I sighed.

"I know," he said. "But this is the fifth time he's called me about this. I've already told him 'no' fifty times! He needs to know when to stop."

I shrugged. Uncles have got to be worried for their nephews, especially when said nephew just got shot in the chest by his girlfriend's ex-boyfriend. Speaking of the crazy ex-boyfriend, I wonder how Derek's doing in prison.

His family isn't rich enough to hire a lawyer and they could only pray that the judge will give him a light sentence since it's his first offence. But when you've got a raging mother like Mrs Knight, she's going to pull all sorts of strings to give him a harsher sentence.

Later that day, I visited Derek, not because I was worried for him but rather because I felt sorry for his parents. It's such a pity that they had such a failure of an only son. "Lexie! Oh my God, I thought I'll never see you again!"

"I'm not doing this for you, but for Mr and Mrs Sherwood. I felt bad that they had such a useless son," I spat, keeping a straight face.

"It doesn't matter. It's good to see you again. You look as pretty as ever," he said.

I felt nauseous upon hearing that from his filthy mouth. The nerve of him to say that! "Why did you do it? How could you be so stupid? Didn't you think about how your parents would feel?" I asked, making huge gestures.

He bowed his head. "I did what I had to do. With that rich boy gone, you'll come back to me. We'll be happy together just like we were before. We can lead the simple life we always dreamed off. We will build a house and have three kids—"

"That so-called dream ended three months ago. We're over. We broke up not because of him but because of your actions. He has nothing to do with this. You're just finding a sorry excuse for yourself," I said.

"Linda seduced me! I didn't mean to have sex with her! She was all over me. Naturally, I did what I've been deprived of for so long," he blabbered, getting more and more agitated. "I swear I didn't mean it. I still love you, Lexie."

"It's Alexia," I said firmly. "And... are you pushing the blame onto me? Are you saying that it's the fact that I didn't have sex with you that made you want to have sex with someone else? I can't believe we're still talking about this. I shouldn't have come."

Derek stood up and the guards held him back. "No! Don't go!"

I stood up, turned around and left. He had no sense of remorse. He didn't even apologise for almost killing my boyfriend on his brother's birthday. He's not sorry. He still thinks he did the right thing. What has become of this man?

Memories of our times during our three-year relationship came flooding back at me. What happened to Derek Sherwood? He may be a playboy but he was considerably nice. He didn't bully. He didn't smoke. He didn't vape.

Tears streamed down my cheeks as random thoughts swarmed around in my brain. What happened? What went wrong? Was it all because of me? Did I break him? But it was his fault! Was it wrong to leave? Should I have forgiven him?

I took the bus home. I spent the entire journey thinking in silence. If I told him nicely that I forgave him and we could stay as friends, would he have done this? If I swallowed my pride and acted a little nicer, would he have reacted better?

I pushed every thought about Derek aside and went over to Matteo's apartment. What's done is done. I can't turn back the clock. I have a new life now. The past is in the past.

"Hey, Grey," Matteo greeted.

I looked at Matteo and smiled. He is my future and that's all that matters.