STRINGS OF THE PAST (A Song we will play)

CHAPTER 19

Whispers of the Past and Bruno’s Worry

The days blurred together, each one heavier than the previous. Junior's shadow clung to her, his threats resounding like chains in her mind.

However, the more he kept her to himself, the more she craved Bruno— the guy whose kind eyes had once been her entire world.

So one morning, under the guise of an extra study session, Catherina quietly sneaked out of her lecture hall to see Bruno. Her heart raced with each step, as if the walls themselves would betray her escape attempt. She pulled her books tight and weaved around the campus trails until she saw him.

Bruno noticed right away.

At first, it was subtle: her laughing was slower than usual, she avoided his glance when the room became silent, and her palm trembled slightly as he brushed his fingers against hers.

Days after the Gala, they met in a secluded spot of campus. Catherina sat on the stone stairs of the library, her books unopened beside her. Bruno approached, guitar slung casually over his shoulder, but his look was anything from casual.

"You've been different," he commented softly, while lowering himself next to her.

She forced a smile. "Different as how?" She inquired.

Bruno tilted his head, his unwavering but loving eyes meeting hers. "As if you are someone or somewhere else. You're carrying something too heavy, but you won't let me help you with it." He answered.

Her throat clenched. The truth clawed at her lips, but she swallowed it. "I am fine, Bruno. I'm just stressed with schoolwork." She said.

"Catherina," he said quietly, his hand brushing against hers. "You do not have to pretend with me. If something is not right, I'd like to know. Please."

Her heart was broken by the appeal in his voice. But the recall of Junior's threats—the growl of "I'll kill him, then kill myself, then kill you"—kept her quiet.

She snatched her hand back and looked away. "Some things are better left unspoken." She said.

Bruno's chest squeezed, but he did not press harder. He just whispered, " I'll wait then. For when you are ready."

His empathy calmed her, but it also hurt deeply. Because she wasn't sure she'd ever be prepared.

The murmurs from the past did not come to her all at once. They arrived in bits, like broken glass glinting in the sun, sharp and difficult to ignore.

It began with Junior's girlfriend— or, technically, ex-girlfriend. Her name was Elena, and she had olive complexion, stunning dark eyes, and a quiet elegance that Catherina had always admired from a distance.

They had once been friendly on campus. yet not very close. Elena's presence, however, had lessened since the accident, as if she had slipped into the shadows of Junior's orbit and disappeared. Until now.

Catherina spotted her in a little café near Harvard Square in the late afternoon. Elena sat alone by the window, scrolling through her phone, her eyes puffy from crying.

Something propelled Catherina forward.

"Elena!" she said cautiously.

The girl looked up, shocked. For a brief period, her defense snapped into place. But then she grumbled and pointed to the chair across from her. "Sit. I suppose we should talk." She said.

Catherina blinked. "About what?"

Elena curved her lips into an unpleasant smile almost crying as she said. "About junior. About... everything."

Elena spoke, her voice thick with wrath and regret, and the coffee between them grew colder.

"I loved him," she stated frankly. "Madly. Stupidly. Everyone was aware of it. I followed him around and defended him even when he didn't deserve it. But he never actually saw me. Not as he saw you."

Catherina's breath caught.

Elena leaned closer, her gaze sharpening as she spoke. "Do you know what it feels like to love someone so much you'd do anything for them—only to realize they're willing to destroy themselves for someone else?"

Catherina's fingers trembled around the cup. "Elena, what are you saying?" She questioned.

The girl laughed brutally. "I am claiming that the accident that made you lose your memory was not an accident. Junior planned it."

Her words sounded like thunder.

Catherina's vision swam as flashes bombarded her: Junior's car drifting dangerously near, his knuckles white on the steering wheel, his gaze not steady on the road, but on her— always on her.

"I tried to warn you," Elena said, her voice breaking. "He was obsessed with you back then. That night, he told me that he couldn't bear the way you spoke about Bruno. He wanted to teach you a lesson while also owning you. I implored him not to go along with it. But he did not listen. He never listens." She reiterated.

Catherina's eyes were stinging with tears. " I acknowledged that it was simply an accident caused by his reckless behavior while driving. That he was only driving me home.”

Elena shook her head. As she replied;

"No. He was jealous. He planned to scare you, possibly even hurt you, so Bruno would be out of the picture forever. And when things got too far, and you ended up with amnesia, he didn't regret it. He regarded it as an opportunity. You couldn't recall Bruno anymore. And that made you... His." Elena said.

Catherina clasped her palm to her mouth as bile rose in her throat. The whispers of the past had turned into screams.

As if Elena's statements weren't enough, evidence soon arrived.

That evening, Elena texted Catherina a series of screenshots of past text messages between her and Junior. They were sloppy, desperate, and some of them blurred from frantic typing.

The message read;

“Don’t do this, Junior. You’re scaring me.”

“I’m not letting her slip away. Not to him.”

“You’ll regret it. Please. You’ll lose everything.” Elena texted.

“If she forgets him, she’ll be mine. She has to be mine.”

Catherina read them repeatedly, her hands shaking so much that she almost dropped her phone.

Every doubt she had, every justification she had given for Junior's rage, jealousy, and smothering control, had crumbled. He had orchestrated it.

He had twisted her memory, her safety, and her entire being into his cage. And now that she knew the truth, she felt even more trapped in that cage.

That night, Bruno called as usual. His voice was warm and steady, full of the love she yearned for.

"Are you okay?" he inquired. "I keep thinking of you. About Us. You have been quiet, and I do not want to lose you again." He said.

Her chest ached. She wanted to tell him everything—to put the truth in his hands and let him carry it with her.

But the memory of Junior's warnings hung around her neck like a rope. She forced a smile to her voice. "I am fine, Bruno. I just have a lot on my mind.” She said

Tears rolled down her cheeks. "I only need time. Please." She requested.

There was a long stillness on the line, followed by his quiet promise: "I'll wait Cat. However long it takes. I will wait." Her heart crushed again at the sound of his reassurance.

Junior, of course, observed the distance.

He cornered her one evening in his family's opulent sitting room on the estate. The chandeliers sparkled above them, but Catherina could only feel the chill of his presence.

"You've been distant," he accused, his gaze piercing. I don't like it." He spoke further.

She attempted a calm tone in her voice. "I'm just sleepy."

He looked at her face, his jaw stiffening. "You are lying. "I can always tell." He said.

She gulped hard, her head filled with Elena's remarks and the damning messages on her phone. But she couldn't tell him she knew. If she did, Bruno would not be the only one in peril. It would also be Elena.

She smiled slightly as she spoke. "You're imagining things Junior."

Junior's eyes lingered for a time before he leaned in, his breath hot against her ear. "Remember what I said, Catherina. If I can't have you, no one else can."

Her body tightened, terror keeping her in place.

And in that instant, she realized: the truth was no longer just a whisper from the past.

It was a weapon, and one day it would either set her free or destroy everyone.

That night, while laying awake in bed, Catherina clasped her phone to her chest. Elena's messages burned in her consciousness, a reminder of the darkness that had taken her past.

What troubled her the most was Bruno's voice, which was soft, tolerant, and full of affection.

She wanted to inform him. She really wanted to. But Junior's shadow was too large, his threat too keen.

She whispered into the silence, as if Bruno might hear her from across the city: "Wait for me... Just a bit longer. I will find the courage. I promise."

And, though she didn't know when or how, she knew the day would come, when whispers became truth and the hushed strings of the past will sing once again.