I looked at the sky. All the blue it beheld was now covered up by the greyness of the clouds.

A tiny drop of water fell on my face, just missing my eye by a couple of millimeters. I looked down and rubbed the spot with my hands.

It was about to rain.

Isn't it so amazing that the sky will cry along with me today? At least, the water of the rain would help me mask my tears. At least, no one would make out that I cried.

How poetic.

When I think of crying, I automatically think about the promise I made to Louis once a while ago. After my not so pleasant encounter with the truth Zach hid or, for that matter, after I lost Violet, I made a promise to him. I promised that I won't cry. Like ever.

And now, if I think of what happened here, between us, a matter of minutes ago, I din't feel mad. I felt disappointed, with myself. How could I ever let someone so toxic get so vulnerably close to me? I always hated him, straight from the beginning, yet I fell for his lies, so easily.

I should've still hated him. I should have hated every inch of the person who ruined me for bad. I know, the thought of breathing the same air he breathed, should have made me feel sick but the truth was, it was not even five minutes since he left and the memory of the heat of his touch over my skin hurted me.

When I looked down at myself, I felt like running away. I had changed, I thought. I was never such a person.

The last time I remember my heart aching for someone's absence was three years ago. I promised my brother that I would never go back to that mode ever again. But why did I always I ended up in falling for some liar?

Sure, the life doesn't stops here but I cannot not miss him. Him walking away from me was one of the most painful thing I have ever felt.

The rain started falling with a greater pace, making me damp. I started walking out of the park, feeling empty. I walked towards my car, which I had parked at some no parking zone. No wonder, it would've been towed by the time I would reach there.

While walking, suddenly it felt as if I stepped over something. I stared it, examined it for a while. I bent down as I stepped aside. The heavy droplets of rain hit my skin. I tugged a wet strand of hair behind my ear.

The smell of the rain, the petrichor which used to be the only smell I liked, now signified something so painful for me.

I picked the object in my hands and brushed its surface.

A watch.

His.

I recognize it.

I felt my vision go blurred. I gritted my teeth, wanting to throw it away, crushing it under my shoes but I wasn't really going to that. But I didn't know what I would do with it either. I quietly shoved it into my pocket and got up. His face crossed my head, the little purple mark under his chin, making it worse. How normal he was while cutting ties with me.

I chuckled bitterly at the memory, blinking back tears.

What will I do with myself?

He is a liar. He is a cheater. He lied. He was still lying. Why couldn't I get it straight?

If I think about it carefully now, I wonder how would Charlotte Evans everybody knew would've responded? Maybe she would've slapped him. Slapped him till his nose bled. Maybe she would've kicked him where the sun doesn't shines. She would've screamed at the top of her lungs, for sure.

But what about her? Louis's little sister inside me? How would she respond? I mean I know, she would've been super violent too but she would be rational. She would've ignored him for days, weeks, months and who knows, even years! But she would've never placed her ego above the truth. She wouldn't have ignored her intuition. She wouldn't have ignored the pain in his voice, the lie in his eyes that he wore a while ago.

She wouldn't have done that to him.

She wouldn't have done something worse than what Zach Thompson did to her.

She wouldn't have done what I did.

She wouldn't have opted for a revenge....

****

I felt something wet on my face. I squeezed my eyes shut and dragged a pillow to place it above my face.

I swear if its Louis-

"Louis! Get the hell away from-"

"Bark!" I abruptly opened my eyes and tossed away the pillow, returning to my senses. I shifted again only to come face to face with my little best friend who sat beside me, on my bed, apparently licking my face.

"Carbon Evans! Where are your manners?" I faked an angry voice. My little white Labrador barked. I leaped over, taking him into my arms. His big brown eyes reflected joy as he began wagging his tail. I ran a hand through his white fur as he squeezed his eyes shut.

Whenever I'm with him, a smile automatically crawls onto my face.

"Charlotte Evans-" Louis stormed into my room, opening the door with a thud. His eyes scanned both of us and he folded his arms back to his chest. "Where are your manners?" Louis asked and I grinned at him. He is really my brother.

Carbon broke free from my hold and rushed to my brother and licked his foot and wagged his tail again. That's his favorite thing to do, besides eating. I have made him just like me.

Louis's blue eyes were charged with love. He bent down and patted the pup on his head.

"Aw, I love him so much." Louis gushed and folded the sleeves of his shirt till his elbow. He really loves him. Carbon hopped into his arms. I stared both of them in admiration.

Carbon is the closest thing to him, I have left with. Sure, the little fella is my stress booster, my little ball of happiness but whenever I look into his brown eyes, I can't help remembering a certain guy.

I met him three months ago, exactly on the day I saw him for the last time.....

Damp in the rainwater, shaking, I returned home. I was quivering, wet from head to toe but I knew the shaking wasn't due to the cold. It was due to a loss. I lost myself when I did something so terrible to someone I claimed to care about.

"Where the hell were you?" Louis said is a stern voice. His eyes were red and wet. "It's ten in the night!" he shouted, slamming his hand on the wooden cabinet. I stared my shoes quietly. I didn't dare to look back at my brother who never ever raised his voice in front of me, except while protecting me.

"Charlotte Evans! Why the hell do you even have a phone!?" he passed a hand through his hair to calm himself down. He was clearly worried. I looked at him. His eyes softened. "I looked for you everywhere! I sent him! I sent that son of a-" he paused and I winced at his name. "- I sent Finn Barconn after you! He ended up disappearing too." He said holding me by my shoulders.

"Don't. Take. His. Name." I warned him. My tone was down. I didn't want to be reminded of him after whatever he did to me all this while.

Louis studied me. He probably sensed the mixed emotions building within me. Mom wasn't at home. She had an annual program at school. She was on a duty. She informed me about being late while I was at Arthur's. Mom was not going to find about my absence. Louis would make sure of that.

"I'm so gonna tell this to mom." I snapped in his direction. He was damn serious. "Where were you, Charlotte?!"

"I was planning someone's funeral!" I snapped bitterly. I was really planning Finn's.

"Shut up!" he yelled, to suppress my voice. "You made me worried. I searched everywhere!" he was on the verge of crying. I could see it. "Look at you! You'll get ill." He said and paused for a while, "Finn was worried. He had the house on his head. He went to the park and then disappeared. I-" Louis choked, "I can't lose you. I have just one sister, you idiot!"

"I know!" I said. He pulled me into an embrace and I buried my face into his chest. This should be my safe place. My home. My family. Not some random stranger who can break me.

"Bark! Bark!" just then I heard a bark. I broke the embrace and looked at Louis with a confused expression.

"What was that?" I asked.

"We are still not over the topic, Evans. I need to know where were-"

"I'll explain you, Evans. Tell me, did I hear a dog?" I asked him. This somehow helped me in drifting away from my thoughts for a while. I was bit happy.

"Yep" Louis said popping the 'p'. I looked at him with a little excitement jolting in my eyes.

"For real?" I mouthed and he smugly smiled.

I rushed inside, following the sound. I entered my living room and found a little brown basket aligned with the sofa. I approached it. It was empty. I was about to get to Louis for it but decided to bend a little and look under the sofa. My eyes softened as I greeted a cute little guy sitting there, comfortably.

I extended my hand and the white Labrador pup moved out of it slowly. I took lifted him, stroking his white coat. He was a few weeks old then, I guessed. The puppy rested in my arms. At first, he was bit hesitant but soon, he relaxed.

I looked over to Louis, who was leaning against the doorframe. "And mom?"

"Ask your guy." He stated flatly.

"My what?" I arched an eyebrow.

He rolled his eyes and mouthed a 'come one'. "Finn Barconn, duh!" my jaw tightened at his words. He noticed my fierce look and gulped.

"Fine." He said, "Who else gets a friend a pup then?"

"What do you mean?" I asked.

Theres something really wrong with Louis Austin Evans today because he would never associate his little sister with someone like him.

"He got him. For you! " Louis said and came where me and the dog stood. "He said you liked Labradors and to be honest I didn't have any idea." He chuckled. "He said you loved dogs. That was true of course. Mom almost kicked us last year for hiding three stray dogs near our home. He said he wanted to apologize for something. I don- don't know what he meant, though."

I stared at the dog. Wasn't the guilt of what I had done to him enough? My heart sank. I could practically hear him saying those words.

"He said, his friend Dave's dog had puppies three weeks ago. He was giving them away. He wanted to get you one." Louis informed me as he started playing with the puppy's ears.

What had I done? Couldn't I have just thought about it for a little longer?

I knew he wasn't as bad as he pretended to be.

I guess I wasn't as good as I thought myself to be.

"Hey Char," Louis said, "Don't get sad. I won't refer him as your anything. I was joking right? Plus, I haven't even decided the name yet."

I chuckled bitterly. I wanted to cry. I wanted to scream at myself for being so stupid. I wanted to scream at Finn Alex Walker for being so stupid but there were no tears left to cry. I looked at my dog. He sniffed me and turned back to Lou.

I have lost him for sure now.

"Do you have a name?" my brother asked and I looked at them blankly. My neck was sore. I had no words. A name though. A name that would make me remember him, a name that will hurt me daily.

"Finn said he had a name in mind. He said you'll agree but I rejected it."

"Carbon." I said ignoring Louis completely. "I want to name him Carbon, Louis because its going to make me remember him." A sad smile persisting on my lips faded away as I looked at Louis's facial expressions. He was taken back by my words. I frowned.

"What?" I asked.

"Nothing, it's funny... He said said the exact same words."

He chose the exact name.

Remember when I said I couldn't cry anymore?

Well, I lied.

I cried like there was no tomorrow.

****

"CHAR-LOTT-E E-VAN-S! You-"

"Would you just shut up, Louis?" he rolled his blue eyes as I interrupted his 'song'.

"Would you stop zoning out?" he said and it was my turn to roll my eyes.

"I wasn't-"

"Oh god!" I heard my mother from the stairs. In a fraction of second she made her way through the door to enter my room. "You guys bicker a lot!"

"Define lot." Louis asked mum.

"It depends." she said thoughtfully, "Like the amount of brain I have? It's a lot but the amount of brain you have wasted, Louis, is also a lot." Mom deadpanned.

Slow claps for mom. She sassed.

"Mom?!?" Louis complained and I laughed.

"Stop showing your teeth. They aren't worth to be shown in public, anyway." She slammed. My jaw touched the floor, for sure.

"Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed today." I murmured.

"Yes." She replied, fixing her blue eyes at me. "You were supposed to get up early, Charlotte."

"But why?"

Mother sighed. "You had to leave for Liv's place!"

"Oh crap!" I responded. I seriously forgot about that.

Liv, Olivia Brown is a friend and ex colleague of my mother. They worked at the same primary school till Liv decided to leave the job. She opened her own day-boarding sort of thing with her sister. She's new so she needs some part time workers and thanks to my mom and not to forget my dearest Eleanor, for pushing me in. Well, the only good part is, I'm not alone in this. El's going to be there. Since the day I left my job at Stanley's mom's been calling me unproductive. So, I guess this is it.

"No, Crap! You have time." Mom said as I rushed into the bathroom.

"I'll give you a ride." Louis screamed after. I peeped out of the bathroom door and smirked at him.

"Why wouldn't you?" I said I exited the bathroom and approached my wardrobe instead.

He muttered something under his breath and left after mom.

I opened the doors of the wooden cupboard that stood beside my bed and took out the usuals- a pair of jeans and a yellow t shirt, tossing them over. I closed the flaps behind when something fell on the floor, rather on my foot.

I picked up the familiar object and held it gently in my fingers.

Its the same watch.

The one he left behind.

Yes, I saved it.

Even though, I didn't deserve anything even remotely related to him.

Touching it filled me with pain, nostalgia, guilt and god knows what else. Clenching it tightly, I clinged it close to my chest.

Dad always taught me a thing. Materialistic things are valued till the time they are associated with someone we love. Things don't matter but people do. They lost their value once we lost them.

I treasured his watch for three months, hoping I'd remember him but guess what? I wasn't ever able to forget him in the first place and I plan to keep it that way till the time I see him again, even just once. I don't want anything from him- nothing. I want to tell him that I'm sorry and I would sell myself for that.

Keeping it aside for a while, I looked at the clock that hung on the wall. It's almost ten.

I sighed.

I'm late.

Me+ kids?

This is going to be a long long day.

Author's Note
Hey everybody!

As you can see I took down Let's Pretend from the first book because I thought it doesn't deserves to be a continuation. Anyway, please help me to regain all the votes and comments I've lost due to this whole thing (if you like the chapter of course)

Above Song- bracelet by Lauv... It helped me to write this chapter.

I just have few questions for ya'll. Feel free to answer :)

1. How was the chapter? Any changes or mistakes?

2. Who is your favorite character from Let's Lie?

3. Do you have any idea about what Charlotte did?

4. Loving Carbon? Because I am <3

5. And lastly... A random one. What are the initials of your name?

Thank you for all the love and support. Please vote, read, comment and share.

Love you all,
Stay tuned :)