CHAPTER THREE — PARTING WAYS.

Tessa's POV.

“What are you doing here?” I asked, closing the door behind me as I glanced at the figure whose back was turned to me.

I didn't need to see his face before I could tell exactly who he was. This is someone that I've been with for the past three years until tonight so I knew exactly what he looked like from behind.

“Nothing much.” he said, turning around to face with a smile on his face and a picture frame in his grip. “I only came here to take one last look at this.”

Of course, he did. What exactly was I expecting? That he would apologize for breaking up with me some minutes ago even though I felt like he should have apologized. But more than anything, I thought that he would fight for us. For goodness’ sake! We've been together for the last three years and in those years we've seen and experienced love in its truest form. Not only that but also, we've been together through thick and thin. However, he just chose to throw all that away because of what exactly? The half-moon mark on my wrist? Oh, come on! He should have done better than that. Perhaps, if he had done as much as fought for our love, who knows? Maybe the moon goddess would have changed her mind and erased the mark from my wrist but no. Instead of choosing to fight for our love, he withdrew himself. What about the promises he made? Even till yesterday, he still reminded me of how much he loved and would stay by me. What happened to all that? What happened to us growing old together? I guess he never meant any of those words to begin with.

Dropping my gaze to the picture frame in his grip, I didn't even know when a tear trickled down the side of my nose. The picture in that frame was taken the very first time that he took me out and confessed his love for me. How sad because I can still recall every moment of that day as though it happened yesterday. It's rather saddening how time flies. Or better still, how things changes in the twinkle of an eye and how fate seems to ruin our lives in ways we can't explain.

“Oh, what are you doing with that?” I asked, swiping a hand at the tears on my face as I tried to steady my voice. “I hope you aren't planning on taking it away from me, or are you?”

“Would it be wrong if I chose to take it away from you?” he asked, lifting his gaze to me. “Would I be selfish to do that?”

“Are you even supposed to be saying this right now?” I asked, as something in between a laugh and sob escaped my throat. “You just broke up with me not quite long without any reason and here you are trying to take away the only thing that reminds me of you. Is that even something to do?”

“What then would you have had me do?”

“Fight!” I said, speaking through my teeth with forced restraint. “I expected you to fight for us and not give up like you did back there. You should have fought for what we believed in. You should have fought for our love.”

“Do you think I didn't want to do that?” he asked, managing to quell the sob rising in his throat. “I wanted to but of what use is fighting for a lost cause?”

“Pardon?” — the retort sprang from my lips on its own accord as I blinked my eyes rapidly in confusion. “Did you just say that to me? Did you just call our love a lost cause? How can you? Don't you have any conscience? Instead of helping me go through this phase, you're breaking me the more.”

“Look, I know it's a lot to take in, but we have to accept the reality of things now.” he said, dropping the picture frame on the bedside table where he picked it from. “There is nothing we could have done to have stop it. It was always going to happen. And we? We never stood a chance to be together from the onset.”

He strode towards me while saying the words.

“How can you say these words without feeling a thing?” I asked, as my eyes shone with unshed tears. “Am I worth nothing to you? Not even a drop of tear from your eyes, huh?”

“You mean a lot to me. In fact, more than you can ever imagine or more than your fragile mind could conceive. You mean more to me.” he said, framing my face with his palms as he stared deep into my eyes. “But things are different now. We can't be together anymore. Even though we try to push for our luck, the mark on your wrist would always be a hindrance to us. I need you to understand this.”

“No, there has to be something that we can do about this.” I said, blinking back tears. “We can decide to see the moon goddess, perhaps she'll help us. Or maybe, we can elope together…”

“Hey,”

“There just has to be something that can be done about this. We could even…”

“Tessa, look at me. You need to calm down.”

“Don't tell me to calm down!” I growled, as a flash of amber lighted eyes. “Don't tell me to calm down.”

“Your hand.” he said, dropping his hands from my face and then taking hold of my left hand.

As he brought my attention to it, I dropped my gaze to my hand only to find out that the half-moon mark was sparkling with a silvery hue.

“I believe that you understand me now when I said that you were overreacting.” he said, lifting his pain darkened eyes to me. “You should accept the reality already. There's nothing that can be done about this.”

“Please don't say that. There has to be something that can be done about this.” I said, breaking into tears as I buried my face against his warm throat. “I don't want to be separated from you.”

“Neither do i.” he said, stroking my hair gently. “I do not want to be separated from you too. However, this is our fate and we have to accept it.”

“I know,” I said, taking my face away from his throat. “However, if there was a way for us to be together still, would you do it?”

“Tessa…”

“Please, don't say no. I beg of you please.” I said, swallowing the lump that seemed to rise in my throat.

“I am sorry Tessa.” he said, with an apologetic look in his eyes. “Trust me when I say this, if there was a way for us to be together, I would have loved to find out but like I said and will always do, things are different now Tessa, and you'll understand it soon.”

“Is there something you aren't telling me?” I asked, as a wedge of pain mixed with tears filled my throat. “If so, then please do. If there's a way for us to be together then please tell me. I'll do anything. Anything at all for us to be together but don't keep this away from me.”

“I am not keeping anything from you.” he said, with ice in his voice. “If anything, I regret not fighting for our love.”

“You can still do Damon, it's not too late.” I said, framing his face with my palms as I stared into his eyes. “You can still do.”

“I am sorry Tessa, but I came here to say goodbye.” he said, taking my hands off his face. “You should be happy.”

As he attempted to walk past me, I gripped his hand and held him back.

“Are you sure about this?”