Repeat and Retribution

Chapter 28

Brittany’s words seem to haunt her, she could not get it off of her mind, especially since her friend said that she was the reason why they went back in the past. She was now even more worried, seeing as she might end up causing more things.

It was just the start of the week but she already felt like all her energy had been drained. There was now a part of her that kept thinking to avoid any kind of mistakes, making her very anxious.

Not even her daily routine of walking at the school's garden after her class was enough to calm her nerve. It even seemed like the weather was going along with how she was feeling, as the clouds remained cloudy, dark, and very much gloomy.

To make’s matters worst, the rain suddenly poured, forcing her to run to one of the nearby waiting-shed. Thankfully she managed to reach cover before she would be soaked in the rain.

She was still busy wiping herself when she notices someone just walking towards the shed, looking so messed up and downtrodden.

It took Crystal a few moments to actually recognize the man, as he was so far from his usual self. Walking like some lifeless body as he approached.

“Clyde, hey hurry up!” she tells him waving at the man to make him quicken his phase.

The young man raised his head upon hearing her voice. That somehow brought him back to his senses, making him move a bit faster.

“Hey Crys,” he says.

Though he looked like he was smiling she could see the sadness in his face, though he was dripping wet from the rain, Crystal could notice the redness in his eyes and the tears that were coming out from it.

“Are you all right, what’s wrong?” she could not help herself from consoling him.

Moving slowly to touch his back, she guides him to the nearby bench so they can sit down. There was a part of her that wanted to give the man a warm hug to wash his worries away.

A half-smile formed on Clyde’s face. “We decided to cool off for a bit, I didn’t want to do it, but we had to.” His voice was raspy and shaking from trying to hold his sobs.

Crystal’s pity and sorrow were quickly replaced by a mix of jealousy, anger, and remorse. Seeing as how the man was so broken down by this.

“If you’re so against it, why did you agree to it?” She scolds him, as she was starting to feel a bit annoyed and envious as to how the man was reacting.

She was a bit conflicted right now as to why the young Clyde would be so broken like that, while the older version was so heartless and didn’t even give a second thought to their relationship.

“Because I didn’t want to hold her back,” the young man whimpered as he said those words.

Crystal suddenly felt furious, she was starting to see red right now from this revelation. Though she was still questioning herself if this was the same reason why the two broke up in their previous life, she still could not help her blood from boiling at the thought that Dana was really able to manipulate people like that.

“Don’t you think she’s being a little bit overbearing?” she says, lips straightened as she tried to keep her smile though she was already gritting her teeth.

“She’s always been like that, it’s what I love about her,” Clyde let out a soft chuckled along with his sobs.

That ticked Crystal, even more, she couldn’t believe the man would be so naive.

“But still, didn’t she even consider your feelings?” she tries to reason with him once more, wanting to let the man realize his mistake in choosing that girl.

“She did, if you only saw how broken she was too,” Clyde quickly said, his smile widening at just the thought of it.

Crystal could not help but cough, picturing in her mind how Dana was hiding her smile behind a very believable act, tears, and all that.

“I don’t really get it, if you’re both hurting like this, why even break up in the first place?” She raises her brows at the man.

Unable to hide her anger, she now sounded quite irritated, voice a bit high, brows furrowed and fury was written all over her face. Yet it seems Clyde was too deep in his woes, that he wasn’t really able to notice anything at the moment.

“She says since it’s our last year, she wanted to focus on her studies, make sure she graduates this year. She’s already planned on going in a different state since she got a nice offer from a company there,”

“And you agreed to that?” She says not even caring to hide her sarcasm.

She was now somewhat seeing the young man’s credulousness. But she was still unable to explain if it was because he was still young or if he has always been like that, even in their old timeline.

Somewhat being able to finally get a hold of himself, the man had managed to calm his nerves, making him stop his sobbing.

“Of course I did, we promised one another that when we're both successful with find each other again,” Clyde says head up high, quite proud of the promise that they had made.

Crystal could not help but feel sorry for the man as she knew he was just being played by the woman.

“And you believed her,” she raises a brow at him, straightening in her chair to face him properly.

The man glowered, his face was somewhat in disbelief upon hearing that. “Why wouldn’t I? If we’re meant to be, we’re meant to be, right? And I’m sure Dana’s going to hold on to our promise,” he lets out a sweet smile.

Crystal saw both innocence and foolishness within the man’s face, as she could see how clueless the man was. It was obvious that what Brittany said was true, Clyde really was crazy in love with Dana.

“Right,” she could not help but smirk.

Feeling the full extend of her anger it seemed like a vein in her head was getting ready to pop up any moment.

“Clyde, did it ever occur to you that Dana might just be playing around with your feelings?” she ended up saying as she could no longer hold back.

With all the things that she had seen, she was very sure that Dana was just pulling the man’s strings.

“No! How can you say that,” Clyde’s voice suddenly became deep and loud. Fist now clench after hearing what she had said.

Yet she still remained calm, knowing full well that the man did not have the capacity for violence.

“We’ll, with an excuse like that, I kind of have my doubts,” she says in a monotone, sounding very distant and unfazed.

Clyde’s face was now suddenly straight, fierce at having their promise questioned all of a sudden.

“What? Dana and I are in love with each other. We have trust and we believe in one another,” he bellows, hitting his chest as if to make a point.

“Yes, I completely believe that, but aren’t you putting too much faith in her?” she starts off again, not caring if she was getting on the man’s nerves.

There was a part of her that wanted to slap some sense to him, but it seems that what she was doing wasn’t really working.

“I should have known, you wouldn’t understand, since you’ve never been in love before,” Clyde scoffs.

That finally ticked her off. The words that came out of the man’s mouth felt like sharp razors through her chest. What's worst was that it came from the actual person who hurt her so much.

All the pain and anger that she had managed to set aside suddenly resurfaced. Seeing as this was the same person who’m caused her so much harm.

“Actually I have,” she says cutting him off.

“Really?” That got Clydes attention as the man was suddenly sheepish

Looking straight into his eyes, holding down her tears she starts. “Yes, he promised me so many things and even went to great lengths just to prove it. But, it turned out all was just a lie. I now understand that I was just his back-up girl, in case the love of his life didn’t come through with their promise,” she says full of bitterness and grief.

“Why, what happened?” Clyde was back to his calm self, his voice sounding a bit low from the shame of the misconception.

Crystal could not help but snort, seeing as the man was obviously unable to be affected by her words.

“Oh, they got back together, It seems he was really madly in love with that girl. Throwing all those years that we had just so he could be with her,” she says, biting her lower lip to try to ease the ache inside her chest.

Clyde lowered his head, mortified of what she said. “Sorry to hear that, but maybe it was for the best. I mean, would you really settle for someone whose heart is for someone else?” he says trying to lighten up the mood between them.

Crystal just let out a loud laugh. “I know. But he shouldn’t have made false promises in the first place,” she says, lips straight as she glared at him.

Though she knew that this was all a different person, there was already a part of her that was starting to feel anger towards the young man.

“Yes, he shouldn’t have, what he did was totally uncalled for, but maybe he has his reasons?” Clyde explains.

That somewhat made her even more furious, as she seems to be seeing the man who’m had hurt her.

“Like what exactly?” she said in a monotone.

“I don’t know,” Clyde shrugs his shoulders.

“Of course, how could you even know that,” she spats, feeling the bitterness in her mouth by just saying those.

“Sorry about that,” Clyde was now feeling more humiliated at what he said.

There was a moment of silence between them since Clyde ended up feeling awkward towards himself while Crystal was now contemplating the things that had happened to her. She was now starting to understand a bit, that maybe Brittany was right, maybe she had made the mistake of giving her all to the man, who on the other hand still had his heart for someone else.

Suddenly feeling defeated and a bit hopeless, she immediately stood up, shaking off the feeling, and thought about what Clyde was now feeling. She was now too busy handling her own, both pain and sorrow slowly engulfed her.

“Look, the rain’s stopped, I should probably go on ahead,” she just says hiding her sorrow with a smile.

“Uhm, yeah,” Clyde ended up just nodding.

“Good luck with Dana,” she says, trying not to sound sarcastic as she gave the young man a quick pat on the shoulder.

“Thanks,” Clyde just says, somewhat confused at the way she was now acting.

Grabbing her things and quickly turning around, she did not bother herself to say another farewell as she just waved at the young man before proceeding to walk fast to get away from there.

She could not help the tears from falling, as she now realizes that no matter what she might do in this current timeline, there was really no way she could ever get Clyde to love her.