Page 159 of Don't Leave Me

He let go of me so I stood up and sat back down in my chair opposite of him.

“I’ll have you post the photo and I’ll repost it. You’ll say something sweet about me, won’t you?” Jack set his phone on the table and looked up at me now, his smile still lingering.

Hope ensued once again. “Of course. Do I get access to my phone again?” I asked, trying not to sound too excited.

Jack raised his eyebrows at me amusingly. “Supervised, sure. I want you to write something about me from the heart. I want people to know it’s really coming from you, the writer. After all, this is our ‘coming out as a couple’ post for the world to see.”

Why did I even bother with hope or excitement anymore? I couldn’t do anything about escaping anymore. I had to start coming to terms with that, and I had to convince Jack that I was going to comply – the threat of hurting Michael was always there, always implied if I fucked up in any way.

“I can do that,” I nodded and smiled at him.

“Good girl,” Jack smiled again.

Back in the suite, Jack took hold of my phone from the safe and I could tell he was retrieving the picture from his phone and putting it on my Instagram. I sat on the bed, waiting, trying to think of the words that I could possibly type about Jack. I really did have to make everyone believe that I wanted this, otherwise I would still be putting everyone I love in danger.

“Alright, love. Here, it’s all set up for you,” Jack handed me my phone, and I saw that photo was open in Instagram and the caption was waiting to be typed out. There was also no signal or WiFi on my phone, and I figured Jack would connect once I was finished typing. He sat down beside me, looking at the phone in my hands, watching my every move. It felt odd to have my phone in my hand again, a nice, familiar feeling of feeling normalcy again. I began to type, thinking of this as an important piece I had to submit.

I’m feeling grateful today. I have had the opportunity to see many things in life, to feel many things, to experience many journeys, but today is the day that the next chapter of my life has begun.

As many of you know, I was previously engaged to someone else. I was so sure that I was settled down, that I was going to marry him and that my life was complete. However, there was one person that always had a place in my heart, and that place was starting to become more pronounced. That place in my heart, each day that I was without him, was growing more and more and eventually, I realized that my heart had been completely filled by him. I couldn’t ignore that he had taken over my heart – and I always listen to my heart.

Jack – you my heart and I am yours. I am yours forever. I don’t know many things in life, but I know that I can’t live without you. And when you’re sure about love, you should always listen to your heart.

I love you, Jack.

I handed Jack the phone and he looked up at me, having already read as I typed.

“You’re a poet, Hana. Thank you,” he said quietly, searching my face.

I smiled at him shyly. It had taken me only minutes to write what I had written, and all I had to do was look at him as the old Jack and that’s how I felt. Right now, he looked like the old Jack that I had known, and I put my hand on his. He put his hand up to my cheek, threw my phone onto the couch in front of us, and gave me the sweetest, most tender kiss. This had to be my life now and I had to have him trust me, be nice to me, love me. Because that was the only way I was going to be able to live through this.

40

Chapter 40

Billie.

I had a hard time tracking Emily down before noon and I figured, if I knew her at all, it was because she didn’t go to bed until 5 AM every day. After my 6thcall to both her and Adam, I was about to give up and go pound on Adam’s door, but as I shrugged my coat on and dialed Emily yet again, she finally answered.

“Hello?” she answered groggily.

I was right.

“Emily, hey…it’s Billie,” I said, trying to sound calm and casual.

“Yeah, I have caller ID,” she quipped back –ah, there she was.“What’s up?”

“Have you heard from Hana at all?”

“No, why?” she questioned, sounding like she was stirring out of bed.

“I just…I went to dinner with her last night and she was still acting really weird,” I responded, opting on not telling her what Hana had told me, or about the police involvement. I wanted to keep Hana’s secret as much as possible to hopefully get her out of the situation easier and to avoid any kind of other hysteria Emily would create – I knew that if Emily knew, she would go hunt them down and get all of them killed.

Emily sighed. “Well, did she say anything?” she asked with irritation.

“Not exactly,” I lied. “Has Adam heard anything from Jack?” I continued curiously.

I could hear muffled talking in the background, knowing Emily was waking up Adam up now.

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