Uranus' POV

"What?" I furiously ask, nearly dropping her on the ground.

She looks at the ground, tears building up in her eyes. She repeats, "Michael."

"What? Why? How?" I don't even know what I was saying. All I want is to smash his head into a wall right now.

Destiny avoids eye contact and looks at the green grass that's now a shade of black.

Blood is boiling inside my veins. I thought that was over. "How did he do this? How did he get to you?"

"He's not exactly wrong-,"

I cut her off because I'm not tolerating her defence, "not again for God's sake!"

Putting my head in my hands, I remember the last time I had to stand up for Destiny in front of Michael. She was weak and vulnerable. What is love when it destroys you? When it ruins you? When it abuses you? That's why I don't want love, and I don't want to chase it nor want it to chase me either. I've had my share of love; have gotten a good memory of it that I don't want to damage.

"Please tell me what happened, Des," I pat her head, my fingers tangling in her out-of-order hair.

I didn't need to hear the answer; the guilt unmistakeably covered her face. I could guess what happened because it occurred before.

She opens her mouth, but nothing comes out. Destiny gulps, then forcefully close her mouth. She doesn't fight back those tears that are forcing their way down her chilli-red cheeks. "Please," I plead, and she sniffs fiercely.

"H-he popped in front of my house earlier and told me that he has changed and that he still likes me," she stutters then stops speaking in the middle of her story as she sensed my anger. My body stiffens, my mouth straightens, my hand clench and my eyes maliciously glow. She ducks away when she realizes my change of the reaction. I'm not angry from her, yet I'm frustrated that he still has this effect on her. How many times did I tell him to keep away from Destiny?

"Des, please tell me everything, don't leave anything out," I assure her, trying to hide my vexation.

"I told him to go away, Uranus. I told him to go," her voice fades away when she remembers, "I identified that I'm over him, that I don't want to see his face again. Deep inside, I wanted him back. I wanted to believe that he has changed."

I emphasize with Destiny. She's always been naive around Michael, and that devil didn't miss the boat and takes advantage of every opportunity he gets; she's like a bed of roses to him. He betrayed her and broke her heart then points out her imperfections to throw under the bus, and blame her for his actions. He is her high school babe, and deep inside, I know she never got over him.

My last encounter with that jerk Michael was a fight, that was when he kept out of Destiny's way for the longest time. Nevertheless, here he is again, meddling with her life. She isn't just a childhood friend to me. She's like a sister to me. I care for her in addition to her being an apple of my eye. I've always tried to be a buffer zone between them until I found out that he abuses her. He also threatened her not to tell anyone about it, and this fanned my flames of hatred towards him, this was my point to turn against him and be at Destiny's side; it was like a call of duty.

"He told me that he could prove it. He has played on my soft spot for him again," her voice softens as she looks directly at me, "HE DID NOT CHANGE!" She yells, her voice echoing through the vast silence. He insisted on making her life topsy-turvy.

I can't do anything to cure her now either. Prevention is better than cure; that's why Destiny and I tried to keep him away from her. She's started her own business, making handmade bracelets and selling them online to keep distracted. Nonetheless, Michael gets to her again. I want to beat him dead now. Why does he always think that he's ahead of the curve and that nobody can tell him he's wrong?

I usher her down again to her a little, understanding "please, Des, your parents will hear you. Enough trouble, and we don't want to get them involved. We can handle this."

"They won't even help, Uranus! They will scold me instead and tighten their grip on me. It's pointless; you're bringing owls to Athens," her hype doesn't calm down. It's good that she's letting it out by crying and shouting. It'll make her feel better. I can feel the bad vibes in the air, and the feeling of being on edge escalades through me like ink in water.

Pulling her to a side hug, I maintain, "as they say, a smooth sea never made a skilled sailor," I give her a pat on the back, "we must not kick the can down the road. I'll go to his place and deal with him. You could count on me."

"I want to come with you, Uranus. I need to get over this," she hesitates, rubbing the back of her neck. Only then, I realized another purple-blue spot on her neck. Guessing that I've been staring for so long, she discerns that I noticed this bruise too, and covers it quickly.

My gaze diverts to the sky to make the situation less awkward, "can you tell me exactly what happened?"

Her position shifts uncomfortably, and she looks like a fish out of water.

"Destiny, look at me. You know I'm not judging you, and I will never judge you. I want to help you, and I'm trying my best to do so," I mouthed, stirring my gaze from her direction to give her time to settle.

You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink. I'm indeed trying to help, whereas the ball is in her court. I'm not giving up on her. It's just a way to urger her to let me act on it. Knowing that she'll take time to recover for this traumatic effect he has on her, I'd graciously help her in the aftermath.

She tugs my arm to get my attention back on her, "well, a trouble shared is a trouble halved," she hugs her knees towards her chest, "as I said earlier, he came to me, told me he's changed and tricked me. When Michael swore that he could prove it, I believed him. He told me to go to his place, and not to tell anyone because no one was going to believe that he's changed-"

"And you trusted him?" I grill her.

She sneers in disbelief, "stop blaming me, Uranus. Drop this attitude, please!"

"Okay, Des. I'll shut up."

She retains her memory in a heavy heart to prevent leaving out anything, "I debated whether to follow him or not. I was about to sleep after I texted you, and I found him standing in front of the house. He threatened to make a scene and wake my parents when I hesitated."

I glance at her sympathetically, prompting her to resume, "I made up my mind that all roads lead to Rome. I went."

She cracks up while retelling her story. Destiny was a live wire a few hours ago, and now, she can't put herself together.

Cutting the last string of my thoughts, she says under her breath, "and I found out that he has changed," she rolls up the sleeve of her shirt and shows me the bruises that I've spotted earlier.