If you could see

That I'm the one
W

ho understands you.
Been here all along.
So, why can't you see
You belong with me,
You belong with me.

~♥~

Reign's P.O.V. :

Three weeks of senior year at college and the seniors already had the test dates emailed on their phones. Preston University took pride in making their students always prepared for the worst and they did this by taking constant last-minute tests. They probably believed that life could be solved like a mathematical equation.

Nonetheless, this did get all the seniors to go and start with the work. Notes were being passed, assignments were being made, the library was chaotic and everybody was busy preparing. It already felt like a hell week to Reign.

With two assignments left that asked to write six thousand words about something she didn't even care about and a test, she had one more day to prepare she had plenty of work to do.

Nickolai had promised he would help her with the assignment as he had two free periods, thanks to his maths professor being absent.

She pushes her way through the crowding the hallways and walks to Nikolai's place. His studio apartment was just a few blocks away from the college a perfect place to go whenever you want to bunk your lectures or do some last-minute assignments.

She knocks at the door and waits all the while trying to regain her breath. Nickolai must have forgotten about his promise as he looked as if he had just woken up when he opened the door.

Reign huffs and hits him in the head, "Don't tell me you forgot."

Nikolai smiles sheepishly and says, "I won't."

Reign tries to be calm as she says, "First you forgot about the movie night, then you start missing your lectures and now you're forgetting promises you made."

Nikolai rubs his palm over his face and then says, "I know I haven't been very responsible in the past two to three weeks but things will Riley has been going so great that I just can't focus on anything else."

"So you start ignoring your best friend just because you got a girlfriend now?"

Nikolai chuckles and she notices the pink tint covering his cheeks and neck. Reign thinks if that's because of embarrassment or if he remembers something that she wasn't a part of. She hoped it was embarrassment. "God, Reign. You just have the words to make the other person feel terrible. Thanks for the morning reality check."

"Your Welcome." Reign shrugs. Reign and anger are a deadly combination.

"Also, Riley isn't my girlfriend yet."

"Good."

"What?" Also, anger is probably the reason she is going to die someday. Reign quickly sobers up, her anger evaporating in the air. She mentally slaps herself for letting her anger get the worst of her.

"Nothing. Let's just do the assignment. I don't want to lose my scholarship."

Nikolai gets up from the high stool he was sitting on and says, "As if twenty percent of scholarship is really helping you."

"Easy for you to say who doesn't even have one percent scholarship," Reign smirks as Nikolai pouts. Although she stops the smirk from slipping away after Nikolai leaves to make coffee as she remembers what he said.

Riley isn't my girlfriend yet.

Riley isn't my girlfriend yet.

Yet.

She knows this was a long time due and she was okay with it but that didn't mean it didn't hurt.

Seeing the one you love fall for someone else is probably the second most hurtful thing about love, the first is probably stopping yourself from telling them not to.

She keeps her bag on the floor and takes out her laptop and books. Assignments, test, and college are what she needs to worry about instead of love, life, and relationships.

Her eyes jump to meet Nikolai as he keeps her cup of coffee on the table with a thud. "Gosh can't you be a little Gentle."

Nikolai smirks, "I like it rough."

Reign rolls her eyes trying not to think about his intended meaning behind the words he probably meant like a joke.

"How technological advancement is affecting us. Six thousand words."

Nikolai groans as he stands up to get his laptop, "Remind me why I promised to go through this torture with you?"

"Because I am your best friend."

"Why is that?"

"Because I am amazing?"

"Nah doofus. Because I love you even though you're a doofus."

Reign smiled and hoped that one day maybe he will speak the same words with the same sincerity behind in his eyes but a totally different feeling in his heart.

"Let's work." Reign said trying to distract her mind from overreacting. However, distraction came easily to her as all the while they were working Nikolai kept telling her about Riley, letting her catch up with what's happening in his life.

After listening for two hours all about Riley along with the tip tap of the keyboard Reign could bet on her life that she probably knew more about Riley than about the test she came to study for.

While Nikolai could easily talk about Riley and write the assignment at the same time being a multitasker, she could only focus on what Nikolai was saying. It wasn't that she couldn't focus on her paper, it was more of the fact that was more interested in knowing about Riley.

"Is that why you have been bunking your morning classes?" she asks and Nikolai looks up from his screen for a second and then nods, chuckling softly.

"We have been talking late at night these days. She goes to the gym in the evening and then has to catch up with university work. We only have time to talk after she's done. We promise to stay up only till midnight but then we stay for five more minutes and then some more five minutes and the next thing you know the sky is already blue."

Reign smiled. It wasn't a bitter one but rather a sad one. She can't count how many nights she had stayed awake thinking about the same scenario happening between Nikolai and her.

Never knew it would happen just with another her.

Maybe in an alternate universe, she thinks.

"What about movie night?" Reign asks trying to not seem like she is prying.

"What about it?"

"Why did you forget about the movie night? And before you give me some crap, I want the truth."

She already knew the truth she just wanted to hear it from it.

This got Nikolai's attention. Movies night was sacred for them. They always had it once a month since the day they met and the only few times they missed it were when something really important would crop up.

"Car's tire got punctured."

"Lie," even though Reign wanted her voice to be stern it was just a whisper.

Nikolai sighs.

"You may not like it."

"I already don't but can we change it? No. So, just out with it."

Nikolai sighs, "Riley and I had a movie marathon the night before and after watching four movies and not sleeping the whole night plus attending college I wasn't really in the mood to watch another movie."

Reign tries to ignore the pang in her chest. It wasn't like this was a shock, she already knew about him being with Riley but the fact that a person who he had known not more than a month was more important to him than a person who has been with him through his dark times for almost fifteen years hurt.

"You could have told me that couldn't make it, I wouldn't have waited."

"I am sorry Rae, I thought of doing that but as soon as I returned from college and hit the bed, I was out. I was so exhausted that the next thing I remember is waking up the next day."

Rae.

He didn't call her Reign. He called her Rae. Another escape technique. Whenever Nikolai would want people to believe him he would do this. Call them by their nickname as if to remind them of their bond. Look them in the eyes as if his eyes won't reflect his lies. Weave an excuse and expect you to wear it.

She already knew that he was hanging out with Riley's friend that evening and the fact that she would have believed his lies had she not seen him in Riley's live stream while she was stalking her, made her feel like a fool.

Reign smiles letting him believe that she believed him but it was the betrayal that made her shut her laptop and get up.

"I think I am going to leave."

She was really to lose herself for him but she wasn't going to let herself down in front of her eyes.

Nikolai looks at her, not knowing what to say. Finally, he says, "We haven't even completed the assignment."

"It's alright, I will manage it on my own. Just mail me whatever work you have till now."

"Two assignments and a test on a topic you don't even know about isn't a joke, Reign."

Reign chuckled, "And so am I, so stop treating me like one. Also, I thought I will leave you as you must be exhausted. I did disturb you up while you were sleeping, didn't I?"

Reign looks him in the eyes as realization dawns on Nickolai. He knew that somehow his friend knew. He felt like a jerk and so while Reign collected her belongings he didn't say anything.

He searches for the right words but only Sorry escapes his lips. Reign stops and looks back at him through the small gap between the door and the wall. She doesn't break eye contact as she opens the door wide and then shuts it with a loud bang, leaving Nikolai in the room inside where the sound still echoed.

*****

Reign didn't do anything productive the rest of the day. Her eyes felt heavy but no tears came. She was never the crying one although she wished she was. She would always bottle her feelings away till the hurt would turn into pain and then into anger till one day she would finally snap.

And it was mentally exhausting.

Thinking about the same things again and again with no way to escape the pain felt as if her brain was running on a hamster wheel.

She had received a mail from Nikolai which she had reluctantly opened even though she knew it was about the assignment. She didn't even bother opening it to do proofreading before she submitted it to her professor and then just went to sleep early.

She always wondered how she slept so peacefully whenever there was so much to do but on nights like this when there was so much to think about a peaceful sleep was much welcomed.

The next day wasn't very productive either. She woke up with a headache. Submitted a rough draft for an assignment written in three thousand words instead of six and then couldn't even study for the test.

The words felt like they were crossing right through her brain without even registering. So she gave up.

There were three texts from Nikolai that she deleted without even seeing. It wasn't because she was angry at him anymore but because she knew if he would apologize she would forgive even though she didn't want to.

But then two hours later when he showed up at her dorm room with ice cream in hand and the notes for the next day's test she forgot all about apologizing and forgiving.

She hated all the women who told that ice cream can make everything better and hated all the men who thought they could make everything better with a bucket of ice cream because even though it is true to some extent she felt like every battle is a losing battle with ice cream as her weak point.

A loss she will regret later.

So she let him in and let him apologize. Let him promise that he will never ignore her ever again. Let his words comfort her even though it wasn't the words that mattered to her it was the actions.

And then she waited for regret that would hit her when he will leave.