The Night I Woke Up Beside You

[SEASON 1] Chapter 8: From Trouble to Another Trouble

Walking into the familiar sliding doors of the Queen's, Regina took a deep calming breath. She already saw the sight of Charles from the outside. She realized that he had actually settled on a chair at that very familiar round table located further down the back of the place near the counter which had been the very same spot where they used to sit on when they had started dating in her memory--only that those had been old days before she had traveled back in time and forcefully changed everything else between them since last night. If the breakup and her time-travel had never really happened at all, and this was really the past events, she would not be looking quite so grim as if she never really wanted to be anywhere else but there, walking her way around the other tables down to where Charles was. 

If she had not changed anything at all, and still continued to date him even with or without knowing about their tragic future, she would have been smiling down at him right now and perhaps, find herself kissing him on the cheek, or if she was daring enough, kiss him on the lips. But this was the new present with her new self, and Regina had already seen everything that was going to happen in the future. So with those things running inside her head, she just stopped right by the side of the table, stared back at him since he was already looking at her ever since the moment she had walked in from the entrance.

Charles gulped audibly, he felt his heart skipping a beat for a second when she had appeared. And even when he had carefully planned out how this entire scene should play, he still did not know how to greet her. And so, keeping his silence as he gaped at her, Charles tried to hold himself back because he was a little bit too nervous that he might suddenly stand and hug her close. His hands itched from where he had put them over the table with her phone resting just between his fingers.

"I just need my phone back, Charles," she said to him, looking evidently hesitant while she stood there with an unsure expression. Charles suddenly panicked. He did not really want to end this too quickly, and as he looked at her, while she tried so hard to avoid his eyes, he absentmindedly closed his hands over her phone on the table and instinctively offered her to sit.

"Why don't we just talk first, Regina," he said softly, gesturing to the chair across him. "I'm not going to insist anything more than just a simple talk. I hope you could give me just that at least. Please?"

He was not really good at begging, and most of the time, he always got what he wanted. But right now, it just did not feel like anything was working on his side so he leaned forward over the table, his eyes desperately seeking into hers, securing the phone in his grasp as it promptly reminded himself that without that right now, she would not even really show up here to see him.

"Just talk. I promise," He added, his voice hitching a little, "After that, you'll get the phone."

He did not really want to make it sound like some kind of negotiation. It was already pretty unusual to think that yesterday, they were just so happy together and even lost their virginity, but now, they were no longer feeling the same way anymore. It was even much stranger and very wrong to know that he had to actually put up some kind of leverage just so she could finally talk to him and deal with this whole thing. Regina let out a weary sigh, her face frowning but she did not really disagree nor decline the offer as she moved and sat on the chair.

"So, what do you want to talk about?" she asked him, shaking her head a little with her brows shooting up, expecting a proper conversation. And when he just paused and looked at her, she added after sighing again, "Charles, this is not going to work out anymore. We broke up already. I'm not taking it all back. I just need the phone."

"Why?"

Of course, it would all come back to that. Again. There was no use in trying to ignore the inevitable because no matter how many times and how far Regina would run away from telling the truth, Charles still deserved to know the reason why she was doing this. But she still did not know how to tell him any of that... Of why she was suddenly trying to get rid of him. Of their relationship. And yet, here she was. With just one look at that disconcerted and miserable face, Regina found herself giving away. She knew she had to give him an answer. Even when it meant she had to lie.

"We're still young, Charles," she said, bitterly smiling through her words, but actually enduring the pain deep inside. And maybe even though what she said did not make any sense at first, she really wanted to make him understand in her own vague way. "I've been in love with you for most of my life, and I barely even know anything about what I really want. I just think that we have to take a step back from everything and try to focus on ourselves first."

And maybe that was what they really need. She had been with him for years and yet she still had been hurt and he lied to her. Maybe this was the only thing she could do to save them both from hurting each other in the future. And to prevent her death.

"I don't know, Regina. I... I'm not..." Charles was still so confused as he barely got his words out, his eyes glistening with tears as he stared at her, "I don't understand all of this. You said you love me... Yesterday." And Regina closed her eyes, trying to shut out the slicing pain that cut her deep right in the middle of her chest as soon as she heard those words and remembered it all clearly in an instant. Yes, she just did. "You just said you love me... and then suddenly, you're breaking up with me... What the hell was that?"

It's me waking up right after you hurt me, Charles. She almost said that out loud, but she knew she could not and she would not. It's me trying to save myself from dying in the future after learning that you cheated on me. For four f*****g years.

"I'm really sorry... Charles," Regina whispered back. She slowly opened her eyes but she could not really make herself look at him straight in the eye, so she chose to fix her gaze down her lap. "For everything--" For doing this out of nowhere, for giving you this kind of heartache... and for hurting you without ever explaining clearly why--"... That's all I can really say. I'm really sorry."

"So that's just it?" He said bitterly, his voice hoarse and sharp, shifting in his seat as he looked at her with glaring eyes, "You just want out. You're ending this all because you just want it? So, you've been fooling me all this time? You say you've been in love with me for most of your life... and now you don't anymore. So, is that all a joke to you, Regina? What am I? A f*****g toy?"

He was turning mad and he was now gripping the phone that he had cradled between his hands over the table. Regina felt trapped, utterly dismayed because she did not really know how to calm him down. She tried to say something, but what just came out of her mouth was a hitched sob that clearly sounded like a stifled cry. Tears brimmed in her eyes, and she tried to keep it in.

"Charles, please," she said, but her voice was too small that it seemed like she just mouthed them at him while still trying to avoid his angry gaze, "Just let me go."

"No," Charles said disagreeably, his voice tight and furious as he shook his head at her. He looked like he was about to lose it and maybe he already was, and he did not want to let her go. Not yet. "I'm not giving up yet, Regina. I really love you."

That's why you have to let me go. Regina felt a tear trickling down her cheek and she reached up to wipe it as she looked at him. He was now hunched down, his elbows caving his body and he was staring blankly past her shoulders. His eyes wet with tears, and his lips quivered. He was deeply hurt.

"You should hate me," Regina uttered after a long pause, bringing her eyes into his. "And believe me, Charles. I'm not really going to be the one you would love forever."

Admitting that out loud was unexpectedly terrible and painful and she felt more tears pouring down her face. She felt the need to leave so she stood up from her chair and quickly wiped her cheeks dry and said, "I just need the phone. Please, Charles."

But he did not want to let her go. It tore him apart hearing her say all of that to him. And even when she had been forcing him to let her go, she still looked like she did not want to do it too. What was wrong then? Charles licked his lips and took a deep long breath. He slowly turned his head and looked up to Regina standing beside the table. 

"I'm not giving it back," he said, and it was obvious that the intent in his words meant more than just the phone. Regina's face froze and her jaw hardened.

"You promised," she grumbled back the words.

"I didn't," Charles argued, "I asked you to meet me here, but I didn't say anything about giving it back to you."

"Charles." This time, it was Regina's voice that had sounded quite angry.

Charles slid the phone further to the other side of the table, away from Regina's reach as if staking a claim, and said, "I'm not letting this go until you come back to me."

That was stupid. And suddenly, Regina remembered, he was just sixteen. And she was sixteen too. And of course, he would try all of the possible ways to get her back and make her change her mind again. But then, she was not going to stoop so low like that and end up making a total fool out of herself. Yet, she still needed the phone back. She can't risk ever letting him hold something very important to her... That phone... was like her life.

'It's my congratulatory gift to you, my dear Ginny. I knew you always wanted a phone.'

And out of the blue, memories suddenly flashed before her eyes: painful ones, sad ones, and precious ones. Things that she had tried so hard to bury deep down into the depths of her mind. But she could not stop it anymore, as soon as they had been revealed, she felt herself shaking at the very reminder of it. Her mom.

"Give it back!" Was the very exact words that had come out of Regina's mouth when she had suddenly shouted out loud and moved in an impulse. Before she knew it, she was already reaching out for the phone beneath Charles's hand in an aggressive way, hitting the edge of the table with her elbow and slipped the item away with her as she quickly turned and rushed out of the place. She was just almost out of the doors and stepping onto the sidewalks when she heard Charles shouting behind her and she quickly ran, as fast as she could. Down the streets, past the stores, and then she took a sharp turn on a corner ahead. She blindly ran past through the faceless people on her way, hitting someone on the shoulder and almost losing her balance as she jumped over a box down the street. She had to get away. She had to run away... anywhere. Just anywhere. 

And for some reason, as if gods had been playing an ironic joke on her, she saw the face of Ryan from afar, he was leaning on a wall, his mouth speaking words while he talked to someone she barely even get a chance to see who because her eyes was only fixed on him. And as she got nearer and nearer to where he was, he turned. And then, he saw her.

His eyes widened for a second as if he could not believe what he was seeing from a distance and then he was slowly drawing his brows together. And she was no longer thinking when she just ran straight towards him and then... She was pulling him away with her. Again.

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Ryan did not really register in his head right away what was actually happening when he found himself being dragged into a narrow alley further down its end until they were almost disappearing into the corner of the wall. Regina was there... Just a mere breath away from him that he could smell her familiar scent. She was clinging to him again, and literally this time, with a frantic look on her face. He watched her in utter disbelief as she looked over his shoulder, straight towards the view of the streets seen from the opening gap of the alley behind him.

He was still dumbstruck, but he was now slowly realizing that she was actually real and he was not imagining this at all. One minute he was not thinking about her, and then the next second, she was suddenly appearing right in his vision and dragging him in the most compromising place he had ever really been with a girl before. Not that he was complaining but he knew this was still all wrong.

"Regina!"

A voice shouting from afar jolted him and Ryan already knew, even without turning his head around to see for himself, who it actually was. He was just about to say something when Regina suddenly clamped his mouth shut with her palm and pressed a finger over her lips, hushing him into silence. He scowled back.

And for a brief few minutes, they stayed like that in the dark alley, pressed against each other, with Ryan leaning against a tower of wooden boxes behind him near a dumpster and Regina looking out over his shoulder to check the view of the streets.

After a while, Regina let out a loud sigh of relief and closed her eyes slowly, and finally, she removed her palm which was now a little bit sweaty for covering Ryan's mouth and a part of his nose. Ryan did not really know how long he had been holding his breath and he found himself gasping for air as soon as she freed him. She stepped back and he was almost nervous to realize that he actually missed her warmth.

Stop it. He warned himself right away.

"What was that?" he then asked her, completely confused and disgruntled, "Was that, Charles?"

"Yes," Regina answered right away, barely looking at him. And as Ryan paused to give her a look from a short distance, he quickly noticed that her eyes were kind of red and she was breathing unevenly and he suddenly had this wild idea in his mind that Charles had gotten a bit too physical again. Like how he almost did at the party last night. Ryan's body immediately tensed up, his face turned darker, and his voice went cold as he asked her.

"Why are you..." he trailed off, taking a deep breath just to calm himself first, "Why are you running away from him?"

"I..." Regina hesitated, letting out another weary sigh, then she slowly raised a hand up that was holding something in it as she said, "I just stole my phone back."

Ryan froze and then he frowned again. All of the tension that had been built up quickly evaporated out of his body and he sighed out loud. He almost laughed. And maybe because he was just too relieved to know she was actually fine.

"Stealing?" he said in a teasing remark, after a moment, "Regina, is this something we should be worried about? It's not going to become a habit, is it?"

Regina turned to meet his eyes, her face scrunching up into a look of incredulity and glower.

"No." She said in an annoyed voice, huffing at him, "I just had no choice." Then her face immediately went soft as she stepped closer to him again, her eyes almost pleading, "You got to help me get me away from here."

Ryan tried to step away but he felt the boxes behind him, trapping him back into staring at Regina's soft brown eyes that almost took his breath away. 

"What?" he said, feeling burdened.

"I need to get back home, Ryan," she told him in a desperate voice, and then before he could even say no to her, she was suddenly moving too close, her entire presence imprisoning him and Ryan immediately forgot all the reasons why he should be pushing her away now. 

"Can you help me? Please?"

He's so over. And this was completely unfair. How can she even do this to him? He could not even form a single coherent reply. Just say no, his brain told him. But how could he ever really say no when she's staring at him like that? Then before he could even stop himself, he was already nodding his head at her, like a complete i***t. He gulped nervously just as she smiled back and turned to leave, expecting him to follow her behind because it was already too late to take it all back. He was completely fooled. 

And damn him for falling for this. Once again.

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