The Night I Woke Up Beside You

[SEASON 1] Chapter 6: When All Is Said And Done

When Regina and Charles first met it had been the summer of their childhood. Both of them were around the age of nine to ten. Regina had been sitting on an empty row of steel chairs by the waiting hall inside a small clinic one hot afternoon while waiting for her mother to come out from her weekly check-up when Charles had suddenly entered through the sliding doors of the establishment at the end of that long white hallway with a tall woman pulling his hand as they walked further inside. The sound of their footsteps echoed as their shoes hit the tiled floor with their unmatched strides.

When Regina heard them coming, she was quick to look their way. And she found herself staring at the very presence of Charles, taking a slight interest in him in particular because they were about the same age and she smiled automatically. He immediately saw her too since she was the only one present in that very empty hall and there was nothing else to look at. And when he met her eyes, Regina had shyly looked away, flustered to be caught by those baby blue eyes. But after a second of hesitating, she turned to look at him again. And only then, she did notice the swelling area on the side of his cheek. She felt bad for him because it looked so terrible and quite painful the longer she had stared at it. Consciously, however, Charles tried to cover it up with his free hand, a little too protective and embarrassed, when he saw her looking at it.

Regina blushed again and looked away.

Then the woman stopped just as they reached the chairs where Regina was sitting. Regina watched as the woman turned to glance down at Charles beside her with a look of concern and said, "Wait for me here, okay?" Then she quickly disappeared into the corner just a few steps from where they had stopped and left him. Then after a few seconds, a sound of a door opening and closing echoed back. Regina turned and gave Charles a glance. He had not yet moved since the woman had walked away and he still had one hand covering his swollen cheek while the other was dangling down his side. He looked like he did not want to be there. And he was wearing a frown that looked sadder rather than just annoyed. 

Then Regina decided to cheer him up, with a cheeky grin and a happy face she asked him, "What's your name?"

That was six years ago already... Six years before Charles had finally asked her to be his girlfriend. Sixteen years before she had caught him cheating after getting engaged, sixteen years before she had died and miraculously woken up in her sixteen-year-old body again, only to find out that she was going to relive her whole life from where it all had started. Their relationship. 

Regina let out a long weary sigh, right in the middle of the class without much caution and Mr. Roscher paused from speaking more about the French Revolution and shot Regina a disdainful pointed look from where he was sitting by the teacher's desk, squinting his eyes in her direction.

"That must be a very stressful thought, Ms. Harding," the middle-aged teacher with a nasal voice spoke in the midst of his lecture, over the sound of snickers faintly echoing inside the room. Regina jerked from her seat and immediately regretted her behavior. She winced and slowly looked up from her desk to meet Mr. Roscher's angry stare directed at her and she tried to smiled apologetically. Crap. And when she thought she was trying so hard to blend in the background. That was stupid of her.

"I'm sorry," she said right away in a soft voice, slowly nudging over her seat, a little too uncomfortable with the situation while wearing an embarrassed look on her face. She then turned to glance at Daisy who was sitting next to her right and saw her friend frowning sympathetically at her. Mr. Roscher just glared. Then the bell rang in the background.

And with that, the second period finally ended, further saving Regina from having to endure the painful attention that had been centered on her. That was something she had never really thought she would even have to go through. She had never been put under the spotlight by any of her teachers before though. This had been the first time and it had to be Mr. Roscher out of all the teachers too.

She's not feeling so good anymore. Maybe she should really have just skipped class today. And when she thought things were already way worse than she could ever take, Daisy suddenly stood from her chair and was starting to prepare to leave the room. Regina watched her with a frown and when Daisy noticed her, she gave Regina a wary smile and said, "See you at lunch."

They still had one more class before lunch though. And Daisy was going to leave her alone. Yet Regina only then remembered that Daisy was actually taking AP (advanced placement) classes because her parents had forced her into it for college. And now, Regina felt even much worse than a second ago. She was not yet prepared to be alone yet... For one hour.

She tried to plead at her friend with her helpless stare and told Daisy, "I need you, Daisy."

"I know," Daisy shared the same look, but sadder as she was too caught in the pressure of not getting late for her next class and also not wanting to leave Regina in this state, "But you know I can't skip this. I really need to go."

And Regina watched her leave because she did not really want to force Daisy. As soon as she got alienated, she felt terrible. She kept her head down on her table, trying to drown out everything else around her. She refused to acknowledge the entire presence of people with her in the room because she was just too nervous to speak with anybody else. She could already hear them asking, why did you two break up? Is it true that you broke up with him? Are you crazy? Why would you leave Charles? Did he do--

"Found you."

The dreamy sound of his voice confused Regina for a few seconds as she jolted from her seat and frowned. She leaned back and slowly looked up, wondering if she had imagined that but she instantly froze when she met Ryan's dark penetrating eyes fixed on her. Was this true? She wondered herself and she held her breath with her mouth hanging open as she gaped at him. He stared at her with a deadpanned look, his lazy eyes boring a hole on her face. And Regina caught a whiff of his signature scent: sandalwood, masculinity... Darkness.

Don't sniff it.

"You owe me an apology," she heard him spoke over the echoes of noises surrounding them. Regina did a double-take. She was not sure if she heard him right though, and she was instantly aware of the attention they were gathering now from the curious onlookers surrounding them. Obviously, to anyone who was seeing this, it was very strange to witness them talking to each other very closely but she tried not to think about them. Ryan seemed like he never really gave a damn at all. He was still staring at her. Regina knew there were still a few more minutes left of the grace period before their next class starts. She tried to snap herself back to the present and quickly came up with something to say back.

"That's not your seat," she dumbly blurted out of nowhere, pointing to the chair he was sitting on in front of her, and blinked. Ryan raised a brow at her, unsatisfied yet unfazed.

"Who cares?" he said with nonchalant arrogance, shrugging at her. Someone coughed out loud and Ryan squinted his eyes towards the direction of the sound. People started acting like they were not really listening to them, Regina almost wanted to laugh. Then Ryan rolled his eyes and turned back to focus on Regina again, "Where's my keys?"

He looked annoyed. And Regina paused for a second. Of course, that was the only reason why he was suddenly talking to her right now. She had stolen his most prized possession and it was something he would surely demand to get back. It was pretty obvious that he was not really going to let her keep that damn thing away from him that very long. And judging from the way he was looking quite determined while he intently stared at her, he was not really going to back down that soon without a fight. Charming.

"It's perfectly safe," Regina replied, smirking a little bit, "I made sure to put it away from anybody's reach. Although dad is a little bit skeptical of leaving the bike there on our lawn. You should probably just try to keep it locked in your own garage. But don't worry, everything's fine. I can handle it," she told him with a ghost of a smile on her lips.

"Was that supposed to make me feel better?" Ryan sneered, his eyes turning sharp as he glowered, "Those are my keys. And this isn't funny at all. Thanks to you, I had to wake much earlier than usual since I didn't have a ride to school."

"Oh, poor you," Regina faked concern, leaning forward a little, fluttering her eyelashes at him as she tried to feign sympathy over his words, "I'm really sorry that this had caused you such a terrible inconvenience, Ryan. Tell you what, why don't you just join me and my sister every morning starting tomorrow in our ride to school. She's a good driver--" not actually, she's actually an amateur, perhaps a little bit less of an amateur at this point, but he didn't have to know that-- "and it would be much better and safer,"--safer than the bike, at the very least-- "You won't ever be late again. What do you think?"

And Regina flashed a grin and looked at him expectantly while Ryan caught himself speechless after hearing what she just. What the hell was she saying now?

"It's a car, so it's much better," she tried to summarize, staring into his eyes.

"My bike's faster. And that's not the point," Ryan sternly declined, his face turning dark. What was she onto?

"But you're always late," Regina said with a pointed look, "Even with that fast thing of yours, you're still late for class. I don't see any difference. At least if you share a ride with us, you'd get here on time."

Oh, she's funny. Ryan amusingly thought as he stared at her, taking in those fiery eyes and her smug expression, her chin sticking out, her hair still messy, and her face looking damn pretty pleasing just like how she had looked from last night. Then he frowned and felt confused. The last part was not supposed to be there. Ryan immediately held back and tried to steer away from thinking about her face again. Was she really like this before? He can't really tell right now. He tried to recall the last time he had ever seen a glimpse of Regina Harding and all he could think about was her severely irreparable clumsiness, the worse moments of stammering, and the times she would be scurrying away like a scared little kid every time he would attempt to talk to her. This was nothing near to who and how she was last night and today too and it immediately made Ryan wonder if he was actually mistaking her for a different person.

"Why would you even steal my keys?" Ryan finally asked, looking quite a little annoyed to hear her invalid responses as he felt even more conscious of how she was making him feel, and somehow, this was also starting to bother him deeply, "Wasn't I the one who actually gave you a ride home last night when you were so desperate? I even went out of my way to make sure I'll bring you home safe. So why am I being punished? You should pay me back. I almost got whacked by Charles last night."

And they were supposed to be friends. Now Ryan was not sure anymore if he could still greet Charles if he ever sees him today like how he'd always had before. He'd probably just sneer at Ryan and cursed him off. Much better to steer clear from him until he calmed down, Ryan took a mental note.

"That's right," Regina replied, and Ryan turned his attention back on her. She sounded very sure as she smiled and said, "That's why I took your keys. I'm paying you back by making sure you don't have to use the motorcycle. At least, not until you're twenty-two."

"Please speak some sense. That sounds stupid," and don't smile. Ryan growled from his seat.

"I know this is stupid," Regina said back, agreeing lightly with a nod which Ryan did not even expect as he frowned at her. Then she paused and met his eyes before adding, "But it's for your own good."

His own good? Ryan frowned some more but he did not say anything back after that. He just flared his nostrils, shutting his eyes closed because he was slowly losing his patience now. She was making fun of him, wasn't she? And before he could even control his own mouth from saying something else, he was already blurting his thoughts to her, "What am I going to do with you?"

"You can just thank me, Ryan," Regina grinned wider and Ryan's eyes popped open just in time to see that same beautiful smile on her face. Please stop smiling, he scowled and looked away. And don't just casually say my name.

"This is not yet over, Regina," he said flatly, emphasizing the sound of her name, strangely realizing how it easily rolled off his tongue, and he sighed out loud. It was a wrong move deciding to talk to her like this. And Ryan quickly got up from the chair, abruptly leaving the room just like that. He did not really expect that he was going to get drained this much just from speaking to her. It was weird. And he figured that he actually needed to prepare himself first before the next confrontation. Just in case.

Regina found herself smiling as soon as he disappeared. And as if on cue, the bell rang again. The third period was about to begin. The teacher walked in. Ryan did not come back anymore. He just left and did not even care about the attendance at all. He only came here to talk to her. And thinking about that, Regina could still sense the wary looks shot her way. But for some reason, she was no longer feeling bothered by them that much. In fact, she was already feeling much better now compared to how she had been a while ago. It felt better when Ryan had started talking to her. 

She could not really explain it well. But in a way, it felt comforting to speak with him. And she was smiling again.

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Lunch break came around after the third period and Regina finally freed herself from the suffocating tension that was drowning her inside that awkward classroom. She rushed her way, as soon as the bell rang for dismissal and squeezed past the crowded hallways until she hit the cafeteria. She looked around, faces turning to look at her the moment she had appeared from the wide entrance and she immediately felt relieved when she picked Daisy out from the big crowd. She quickly walked her way towards her friend, ignoring the stares once again. And she smiled in relief as she stopped in front of Daisy.

"This feels like we're celebrities, don't you think?" Daisy muttered, referring to the overwhelming attention they were getting as she spoke. Regina just smiled in a helpless way thinking that it might actually take a long while before this all finally blows over, but for now, they both knew they had to endure it.

If their eyes had been arrows, Regina would already have been dead before she could even set her foot in the hallways. Everyone was just staring at her so oddly that it already creeped her out. She already wanted to get away as fast as she could but she knew she still can't just leave like that. She had to face this all. She made a decision, so she should pay for the consequences, at least. And because that was her pride talking as well she really did not want to be the first one to back out. 

"Let's just eat," she told Daisy instead, trying her best to act natural and reserved as she moved around and approached the aisle where the food was being served. Daisy silently followed her from behind and they both managed to go through the entire line without having much trouble filling their trays with their own meal. They started looking for an empty spot to eat when Regina suddenly caught a glimpse, or rather unable to avoid, the sight of Charles looking at her intensely from afar, as he sat with the rest of his teammates at their usual spot at the very center of the cafeteria. He was slouching over his seat, his face unreadable as he gazed at her, barely blinking and Regina felt the tension.

"Regina?" She heard Daisy call out her name, sounding very worried. "What's wrong?"

"Let's get a table first," Regina said, not straying her eyes off of him. I had to talk to him, anyway.

They found a free spot just by the back corner of the entire hall near the restroom, and although, it was a slightly unpleasant choice to get, Daisy and Regina had no other choice. It was either there or the chilly bleachers by the school field. It was not very hard to pick a side so they both settled on the seats, sitting across each other. Then Daisy gave Regina a sad smile, trying to diffuse the whole gloomy mood by saying, "At least here, we're not going to hear them talking about what happened."

Well, that's one good reason to smile and Regina did. But her eyes found themselves wandering back to where Charles was sitting. His stare had followed her as well. And now they held each other's gaze for a brief few seconds before Regina finally broke it and took a deep breath.

"What?" Daisy asked from her seat again, slightly conscious of the tired look on Regina's face. She paused midway through the first bite of her clubhouse sandwich as she looked at Regina with a curious frown.

"I'm going to talk him."

Daisy's jaw dropped and all the intent to eat was forgotten when she heard Regina said that. She slowly placed back her sandwich on the plate in front of her and leaned a little across their table. "To Charles? Right now?"

Regina's eyes shifted back to meet her friend's anxious look and gave her a reassuring smile, "Don't worry. It won't take long. I just have something to tell him... and ask him."

"Are you sure? But everyone's going to see," Daisy warned her.

"I'm going to be fine, don't worry," Regina repeated, still smiling then she patted Daisy on the shoulder before she moved and stood up from her seat. It sounded quite dramatic at first, and when her chair inconveniently made a noise, for a brief three seconds everybody had gone still. Attention shot straightly at her yet Regina had her eyes only focused on where Charles was. Then she was suddenly walking, looking very eagerly as she took the path leading to his table. She only stopped when she got closer by a few feet away. Her eyes still glued on him.

"Can we talk?" was all she said. The people at Charles' table had stopped talking at that point and they were all gawking at her as they warily darted nervous glances at Charles. Charles did not say anything at first. He was stalling. Yet he can't hide the slight sway of his feelings when he saw her approaching his way just now.

"It's okay if we don't talk right away," Regina then added when she thought he was not going to give her a response, "But it's something I really need to ask you, so--"

"It's okay," Charles quickly answered, his heart leaping out of his chest as he quickly got up from his chair and stepped towards her. He was trying to read her face. But she masked her expression so well and he felt a little disappointed. "What is it?"

Was she going to take him back now? Did she finally calm down and realize that breaking up had been stupid? There were so many things running inside Charles' head as he waited for her to say what she wanted to say but everything went up to smoke when she finally spoke back.

"My phone..." she trailed off, hesitating a little bit as she consciously glanced around them, aware of the attention. Then she audibly gulped and continued, "I think I left it at your house. I need my phone back."

Her phone? Charles could not even decide whether to laugh or cry hysterically. So, this was about her damn phone? She was not going to take him back, she was actually trying to get rid of everything that might have something to do with him. She's really going to leave him for good now. Charles closed his eyes shut, his heart lurching, his entire body going cold, yet he still blindly hoped he was just really having a nightmare. Maybe last night did not really happen. Maybe he was still asleep... But he knew that once he opens his eyes, he would still see Regina there, looking as pretty and as warm as ever but she would no longer smile up to him like how she used to... This time, she was trying to end it all.

"Alright..." Charles drew in a shaky breath as he let out that one single word a little bit forceful from his mouth. He felt bitter and he could not hide his disappointment. He found himself looking down to his feet as he thought of another way to get her back. He still wants her back. And damn him for not giving this up. He will get her back.

"Meet me at the Queen's later," he offered instead, almost sounding quite desperate as he avoided looking up to see what kind of face she was making at him. It took a few moments before she had responded and when she did, Charles almost wanted to hug her again.

"Okay," she answered faintly. He was not giving up yet. And that made her feel sad in a way, but she was not going to be swayed anymore. "Let's meet there after class."

"I'll be there before five," Charles said in a hopeful voice, this time, he finally moved his eyes to look at her. She was staring at him, but he still could not tell what she was thinking. Then she slowly stepped back and briefly smiled.

"Fine. See you later, then," and she walked away after that.

Charles watched her leave, the view of her back looked like a constant play of images that had started to sliced deep into his chest. It felt terrible seeing her walk away as she just did to him last night. It left him aching for more of her attention or at least just a simple look over her shoulder. But he knew he was never getting it no matter how much he pleaded. Then he slowly collapsed back on his seat, looking so lost and miserable. He had been so deep in his thoughts that when he finally got back to his senses, he quickly noticed the people around the table with him looking at him with equally worried frowns. Charles stopped and immediately cleared his throat, shooting them an irritated scowl before demanding coldly, "What?"

And they all scrambled back to focus on their own food, looking away and avoiding his question for fear that he might snap again. Charles sighed out loud and silently waited for the time to slip through. What the hell's going to happen now? He began to worry.

"What was that?" 

Daisy had quickly voiced out her anxious query as soon as Regina got back to their table and she looked at her friend expectantly. Daisy could only watch the entire scene from afar and could not really tell what they had been talking about and when Regina returned, she was just very eager to hear what had come out of it.

"It was nothing," Regina coldly shrugged, looking surprisingly unbothered and bored rather than actually sad, "I just asked him to give me my phone back."

"Your phone?" Daisy leaned forward a little bit. She frowned at Regina after hearing her response though it also led her to a conclusion as she said, "So that's why you weren't answering my calls since last night? But that's all you just talked about? Nothing more?"

She had expected that there was still something more though.

"Well, we agreed to meet at the Queen's later. And that'll probably be for a much longer talk. But I just really need him to give me back my phone." 

"Are you sure?" Daisy sounded a little bit wary about this meeting although she was still rooting for them to compromise and made up if possible. "It's just all for your phone?"

Regina withdrew back and threw her friend a withering look, "What else would I need to talk to him for? We already broke up. I'm not getting back together with him if that's what you're thinking."

"Oh," Daisy faltered, feeling utterly disappointed and melancholic, her voice quickly deflating, "I thought you might have changed your mind, you know? It had been so sudden. Maybe you were just a bit too hasty about it."

"No," Regina frowned back, feeling frustrated to explain herself once again because people just seemed to have an unreasonably hard time accepting the fact that she broke up with him already, "It's not an impulsive decision. Believe me, I meant it. And it's over."

But Daisy was still heartbroken, even when it has nothing to do with her. She was deeply troubled by this failed romance as she said, "I feel like I'm starting to lose hope for love. My ship had sunk before it could even start sailing."

Regina just snorted at her friend, finding that quite amusing and ridiculously silly as she gave her a sly smile. "You really have to stop over fantasizing romance and relationships, Daisy."

"Is it wrong if I just hope a little?" Daisy refuted, looking offended.

"No," Regina shook her head at the same time, trying to re-phrase her words as she continued, "Romance is good but it's not the only thing there is to it when you love someone, Daisy."

Regina thought about the last time she had talked to Daisy after she got engaged to Charles. She could not really remember her smiling but she had been happy to know about the engagement. Later on, Regina learned that Daisy had been raising a kid on her own after going through a terrible separation that had awfully left a whole lot of mental and financial damage to her and to the kid. And as Regina pondered over this, she suddenly felt the urge to try and alter that for her. At least, this time, she could keep Daisy from getting such a bad ending.

"I want you to promise me something, Daisy."

"Promise what?" Daisy then frowned from her seat, looking confused about this sudden request after a moment of silence.

"I want you to promise me that you would stay away from musicians from now on. Even if they try to sweep you off of your feet, don't let yourself be tricked," Regina warned. It would have been better if she just told her straightaway who was it. But she decided to keep it all vague, for now. The important thing was she had made Daisy become conceivably aware of the impending fate as early as now.

"What are you talking about?" Daisy just looked at her friend with an incredulous stare.

"Well, I just have this weird feeling about it," Regina said, shrugging as she looked down at her untouched food and realized that she really had no appetite today then continued, "I feel like it would never really end up good for you to be with someone like that. So just keep that in mind. Best not to date any kind of musician in the near future, okay?"

Daisy laughed. She really did not know what to make of that as she looked at her friend, partly puzzled and partly amused. She did not really understand the point of her request, yet for some reason, Regina had sounded like it was quite important. So Daisy just obliviously nodded her head back to her, without asking anything more about it.

And maybe because she really had no plans of ever dating a musician at all.

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