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Erica's POV

I woke up groggily around eleven in the morning. Looking at my face in the mirror was exactly when I realized that what happened the day before wasn't a dream.

"It wasn't a dream," I whispered to myself, sprawled across the bed. I couldn't hold it in. I had loved him so much, and I still did. Then why? He loved me back; then why did he do it at all?

I tried calling him, but it turned out that he had blocked my contact. I trudged into the living room, my shirt soaking wet. What really surprised me was the note on the refrigerator.

Erica-

I am not going to stay in this house anymore. Do not try to call me, or do anything of that sort. Please.

-Benjamin

I clutched the note close to my heart, then crumpled it up before throwing it in the trash can. I had to get Ben out of my life. He wasn't a part of me anymore, and he refused to believe me when I said that the texts were not sent by me.

"Who sent those texts?" I wondered aloud. "I don't even know Joshua's number."

It puzzled me so much. It was my phone; yet I hadn't sent any of those texts. I was so confused.

I just decided to watch TV until lunchtime, as I had nothing else to do unless I had work to take care of.

? POV

"They've broken up."

"Great. Now I need you to target them."

"Got it, boss."

"Now go."

-TIME SKIP-

Ben's POV

I stayed at Mike's house for a whole entire week, taking care of work, spending time with him and running normal errands. It was only after a week that I realized that I needed Erica in my life.

"Hey Mike?" I called, walking into his room. He turned his phone off and smiled at me. I sat in the beanbag in his room.

"Yeah?"

"I need Erica in my life. It's like a whole half of my heart has been taken away from me."

Mike nodded. "That's totally up to you, man."

"Do you think I should talk to her?"

"Directly," Mike said. "Talk to her in person. Don't call, text or do anything of that sort."

I got up. "Guess I'll head over there."

"Good luck, Ben, and watch what you say. Her heart is broken too, and anything you say can upset her easily if you say it wrong."

I silently prayed that she wouldn't hate me as I drove to her house. I needed to talk to her, and I needed an explanation.

I rang the doorbell and closed my eyes, facing the worst. Then she opened the door.

"Ben?" she slowly asked. I noticed how hard she'd been crying. We both just awkwardly stared at each other, than she made the first move.

She let me in. I stepped inside, and braced myself for any yelling she was about to do. Instead, she looked down, twirling her hair in her fingers.

"Hi," I said, but it came out as a whisper. I couldn't hear it myself, but Erica perked up. She leaped forward, threw her arms around my shoulders and clung on to me. I picked her up and spun around, smiling so hard my face hurt. My heart thumped loudly against hers as she smiled.

I let her down and she hugged me. I inhaled the beautiful scent of lilacs. It smelled even better on her skin. She led me to the couch.

"Erica Hale, I love you."

Erica sobbed softly into my shoulder. "I missed you, Benjamin Ripley. I can't live without you."

I nodded. "Same here. I came to talk. I need to talk to you."

"About what?" she asked.

"A couple of things, but you already clearly stated that you want us to get together again. So you don't hate me. But I need to talk to you about the texts."

Erica sighed, then pulled her phone out of her pocket. She laid it in front of us and opened it up to the conversation with Joshua Hallal.

"Ben, if you really know me, then look at me and answer. Would I, Erica Hale, ever do something like this?" she asked, taking my hands in hers.

I knew she would never. She would never. Yet I had my doubts.

OKAY BEN, WHY ARE YOU DOUBTING ERICA HALE? The voice in my head screamed so loud I had to cover my ears.

I shook my head and sighed. "No. You would never, ever do this if I know you perfectly well enough."

Erica smiled. "You believe me when I say I have no idea how in the world this happened, right?"

"Yeah, but this is your phone. How could this possibly have happened?" I asked her.

"That's exactly what I'm wondering," Erica said, then immediately stiffened. I looked at her, concerned and immediately shot a questioning look at her.

She pulled out a bug detector from the couch and motioned for me to be silent. She wandered around the house, holding it firm. I followed her, not sure of what to do.

Twenty minutes of searching and we had recovered thirteen bugs. Erica walked into the bathroom and flushed everything down the toilet.

"What was that?" I asked her.

"I had a feeling," she said, "that someone was listening to our conversations."

Erica led me back to the couch, where we sat down.

"I know you believe me when I say that I didn't send these texts out, but they're with Joshua," Erica explained. "Could this be his doing?"

"You mean...?"

"He could have hacked into my phone or something like that to purposefully make up break up or..." Erica's voice trailed off.

I grew suspicious. "Joshua..."

"It's a straight possibility," she replied. "But why?"

I shrugged. "Whatever the reason, I know you didn't do it, Erica."

She nodded. "Will you come back?"

"My stuff's all here," I replied. "Why do you think I left?"

She smiled. I took her hands in mine and stared into her eyes. It only lasted a moment, though.

"Okay, now business," she said, immediately grabbing her laptop. "We still need to let Joshua know if we're ready to trust him."

"Yeah, but what if he was the one who sent the texts?" I asked. She shrugged.

"Then we pretend to trust him until we come to know of his secrets."

I got up. "What do you have?"

She showed me an email that she received from Joshua two days ago. "He was asking me for confirmation."

"Tell him that we'll meet him again, very soon," I said. "I guess it's worth a shot at trust."

If only I knew beforehand.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I'm thankful for all my readers. You make me feel amazing on the inside.