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P4 - Chapter Thirty-eight

March 1st, 2021:

What an amazing way to start off the month meant for new beginnings. Not only is Qibli suspended for three days, but he refuses to leave his room and I still haven't mustered up the courage to explain the whole situation to him.

Now it isn't just Thorn who owes Qibli an explanation.

"*"

I stood in front of Qibli's door, my hand resting on the knob. A part of me wondered if I should wait until Qibli was in a better mood, but I figured that'd never happen since he just heard that the person he'd envied for the past month had kissed his girlfriend.

What happened was partly my fault for not telling him sooner, and I knew that, which made me feel worse. I had a teddy bear in my left arm in an attempt to use it as an apology gift to him, but it felt useless.

Qibli--the most amazing person on the face of the planet--had given me a chance, and all I did was continuously break his heart. I didn't deserve him.

No one did.

I finally twisted the knob that had been in my palm for the past five minutes and slowly pushed the door a crack open.

"Qibli?" I whispered, my voice low and gentle. "Can I come in?" There wasn't a response which made me internally wince. "I should have told you what had happened sooner, but I promise you, Qibli, I would never--"

"Cheat on me?" Qibli's voice finished, cutting me off. "Let's face the facts, Moon. This clearly isn't working out. Everyone at school is against the relationship, and so many people have eyes on you. I can't keep up with the other guys, and my efforts have no effect."

"Why should we care what other people think?" I quickly asked, panic filling every waking thought. I pushed the door a little more open. "And you don't need to keep up with anyone! I like you for you, and I don't care if other people have eyes on me because I don't have eyes for them. Can't we just talk? I can explain everything."

Qibli didn't reply for a moment, and I prayed he was contemplating whether or not he should hear me out.

Fjord got into his head and now that might cost me the relationship.

"Just, hear me out?" I tried desperately, fiddling with one of the paws of the teddy bear I had brought for Qibli.

I finally heard footsteps approaching the door and quickly took a step back. Qibli opened the door all the way, making room for me to enter. He seemed tired and sad, and the bruises were still going strong. He wasn't bleeding anymore though, which was good.

I glanced up at him, a little anxiously, as I slipped inside the room. Daisy was curled up on the bed, resting her head on her forearms. I sat at the edge of the bed as Qibli walked up from behind me and sat back down in his spot beside Daisy, gently petting her.

"Thanks for hearing me out," I said softly. "I brought you this." I held up the teddy bear, and he took it from me, nodding. Since I no longer had anything to fiddle with, I resorted to doing so with my fingers.

"So, a few weeks ago, the day of the party, Fjord approached me in the library and basically had a one-sided conversation. I pretty much dismissed him until I got up to leave... and he kissed me." I quickly continued, saying, "But it was totally uncalled for! And I hated it and I may have slapped him afterwards, but that just proves my point."

Qibli didn't seem convinced in the slightest.

He already believes Fjord won my heart. How do I convince him otherwise?

"It was bound to happen," Qibli pointed out. "Fjord's literally everything every other girl would want."

"Maybe, but I'm not every other girl, Qibli," I said. "And he's nothing compared to you in my eyes. And I don't deserve you--I really don't--but you gave me a chance and I'm willing to fight for that. Please don't end things. I know I should've told you what had happened before any of this took place, and I am partly to blame for what happened, I see that, but I also see that I will never fall for Fjord. Never in a thousand years."

I could see Qibli debating for an answer. Finally, he said, "What about in two thousand years?"

I cracked a slight smile. "Not even in three."

"Four?"

"Not until someone finishes mopping the ocean."

"And if they do?"

"Not even after that. Not until the end of time."

Qibli seemed satisfied with that answer since he settled back against the headboard of his bed. "I'll think about it," he said, but I could see the playfulness in his expression and the teasing grin plastered onto his lips.

I decided to play along.

"Wow, the end of time seems to be coming rather quickly. Maybe Fjord is still--"

"Alright, I'm convinced," Qibli interrupted, sitting up, which caused Daisy to sit up and wag her tail at the sudden brightness of Qibli's mood.

I let out a small breath of relief.

Better. Things are getting better.

"*"

Qibli and I walked downstairs hand-in-hand, which turned a few heads.

"So, you guys resolved the problem?" Deathbringer asked dubiously. "As in, Moon's not single? Huh."

"Are you going to tell me what happened?" Sunny asked, sitting up against the couch. "Also, what did Moon do? Are you feeling better? I bought you cookies--they're in the kitchen." Daisy leaped down the stairs.

"No, nothing, yes, and thank you," Qibli said brightly. Thorn poked her head from out of the kitchen.

"Well, you'll tell me, right?" she asked. "Besides, I do have to talk to you." Qibli's face slightly fell, and I could tell he had been dreading that conversation for a while. I mean, Thorn getting pregnant? That was truly a shocker. Thorn was the most skeptical and hard-to-trust-others type of person that I couldn't even remotely visualize a guy getting close to her.

And neither could Qibli.

Which, naturally, was the problem.

Thorn hadn't shown a single sign that she was in love, so Qibli had no clue. Now, out of the absolute blue, she's pregnant? That clearly poked Qibli in all the wrong places.

"You should," I said, pulling away from him. "Talk to her, I mean. It'd do you wonders."

Qibli wrinkled his nose at that. "And what's that supposed to mean?"

"It means that talking things out instead of ignoring the problem is the better option if you want to solve the problem," I elaborated.

"Once you hear the story, you'll understand," Sunny agreed, nodding at her mother. Oh? So Thorn told her. Hm.

Qibli turned to me. "Stay with me?" he asked, a little sheepishly. I glanced at Thorn for a hot second, and she gave a shrug that said: If you want to.

"Okay, sure," I said, nodding.

"*"

So, apparently, Thorn had been talking to a guy named Smolder for the past couple of weeks at her work. She said she had only viewed him as a friend, but then he asked her out to brunch, and that's when she took an interest in him. They went on a few dates, until one night she drank a little too much, and Thorn couldn't remember much after that. She did apologize for not telling him sooner, though, which helped the situation.

After that, Qibli seemed to be in a slightly brighter mood, but Morrowseer had been skeptical of him all night--shooting him looks and constantly trying to intimidate him.

"H-hey," Qibli said to Morrowseer, trying to form a proper sentence. I could see that Morrowseer wasn't really fond of Qibli, and I genuinely didn't know why. Qibli was amazing.

But it was always the most amazing people that suffered the most.

<3