Back at home, I packed up everything he had given me over the past five years and carried the boxes downstairs. Then I lit the fire and burned them all into ashes.
As the flames roared to life, Taylor suddenly appeared in front of me. She kicked over the box. The kick sent embers and photos flying all over the place. Some even landed on her but she just smiled.
"Fiona, after all these years, you're still just as useless as before. You couldn’t even protect your own mother back then and now you can’t protect yourself either. You’re a joke!”
Apparently, she knew what had happened back then, huh?
Rage flared in my chest and I couldn’t hold back any longer. I slapped her across the face. Though the slap I gave her was not too hard, she fell straight into the fire.
I was so surprised and froze in place. Before I could do anything, a figure rushed from behind me, shoved me to the ground and took Taylor into his arms.
Matt's eyes blazed with anger as he looked at me. He scolded, "What the hell are you doing, Fiona? Are you crazy? Taylor came here out of goodwill to check on you and clear up the misunderstandings from back then. What gives you the right to hit her?”
His eyes reddened with anger and they devoid any affection for me when directed at me.
I curled my lips into a cold smile and said evenly, "She brought up my mother, Matt. Don’t you think you owe me an explanation for what happened back then?”
His brows furrowed and for a fleeting moment, panic flickered in his eyes as he deflected, "What kind of explanation? Back then, your mother's surgery failed because of her critical condition. Don't you know that?"
He said again, "Regardless of what happened back then, it's not a reason for you to take action against Taylor. Now, apologize to her, Fiona!"
Before I could respond, Taylor who was clinging to his shoulder said with trembled voice, "Don’t … don’t make things hard for Fiona. The fact that Gregg broke off their engagement was already unfair to her. Consider today’s incident my way of making amends to her.…”
“If she despises me so much, we’ll stop contacting each other. I don’t want to make things difficult for you," she continued.
When I heard this, I clenched my hand so hard that my nails dug into my palms and drew blood from it.
As I watched the two of them walk away, their figures entwined, I knew that it was over between us.