Bella's pov

"Hello?" Susan answered my call.

"Hi Susan."
I spoke.

"Hi Mi...How are you now?"

"Umm...better."

"Hmm finally got time to attend your phone?"

"Yeah I guess. I can't run from problems forever. "

"That's right. So what do you plan to do?" She asked me.

"Susan , Gemma came home today and I realised how deeply in love she is with Drake." As I said that the other side went silent and I knew why.

"Susan. Hey. I know you're....." as I begin she cuts me and speaks
"No Bella you don't need to explain me. I am completely over him ....(sighs) and now I want to help Gemma." Her words made me smile.

"I know she won't believe me. "

"How do you know that? Have you tried...?"

"No I haven't and I won't. I know she won't believe me. She loves him Susan..so much that it's kind of blinding her. If I were in her shoes then may be I won't believe someone who says that he is not a good man be that someone my good friend even"

"I mean he threatened you?"

"Yeah but that's not the problem, we have to make Gemma aware of his true character. "

"What do you think?"

"Only Harry can explain her."

"Who'll talk to Harry?" She asked
I sighed deeply.

"Will you Bella? After what he did?"

"What he did was not acceptable but thinking about it now ,when my adrenaline is calm , he was not absolutely wrong. What was he supposed to possibly do witnessing me and.....Drake..in.....that..."

"You're right Bella but I wouldn't want you to lower your self respect in front of him in any way."

"..I would be talking to him only for Gemma." I assure her and that's what I planned too.

"Yes keep that in mind . What he did was wrong and he owes you an apology. "

I hummed in response.

"So will you text him?"

"Hmm."

"Best of Luck."
I chuckled.

I tried to brace myself to text him. I was still not over with what he did that day. To a certain extent it would have been his brotherly instinct to protect his sister and that was understandable but the fact that he did not believe me and was not even ready to hear me out is something I will never be okay with.

He indirectly blamed me for having inappropriate relation with Drake?
That's something I can't even think off he would do.

That act of his had definitely hurt my feelings and made me question myself for even expecting him to trust me.
But keeping all these resentments aside I made up my mind to text him.
I reminded myself that it was only for Gemma that I was going to him and I won't let any other topic ignite in our conversation, especially that argument.

I inhaled a sharp breath and texted him.

(Bold & Italic is Bella and only Italic is Harry)

We need to talk it's urgent.

One minute passed
Two minutes passed
Three minutes passed
Five minutes passed and he did not see my text. I sighed and kept my phone away, silently calming myself and explaining , that no problem if he was ignoring me it only clears up the fact that he did not want to talk to me right now....or even never.

I gulped a lump that was formed on my throat as that thought crossed my mind.
I blinked rapidly and bit my tongue to keep myself from crying.
I didn't want to cry over him.
No !

Thirty minutes had passed and I could not concentrate on my "Proposal Writing " rather I was biting the bottom of my pen and shaking like any thing due to this abnormal anxiousness that was very new to me.

"You probably know him so well to....get cosy with him on that...couch."

His words kept on playing on my mind.
One could not avoid the disgust in his tone when he spoke. He was disgusted with.....me?

How can he even think that...I'll do something so atrocious!?

Just one word. Just one word was needed from him to make me stay and we could have solved that matter then and there. But he was so in rage and judgemental to even hear me out.

Where?

Finally this text reply from him helped me come out of my trail of thoughts.
I quickly texted him back

College Garage

I had this tiny essence of hope in me that enlighten the possibility that we can resolve that matter and move on.
But I didn't want to listen to it. I was scared to rise my hopes up because I didn't want to feel that broken and vulnerable again.

I closed my eyes and lay on my bed, sinking in the sheets, away from this problematic world.
_________________________________________

No perspective

Next Day

As the bell rang Bella's heart began to race and her mind was exploding thinking of all the possible results this conversation can lead to but she calmed herself and directed towards the garage.

Reaching the garage she saw Harry sitting on that bench, his head hung down , his appearance indicated how tired he was.
Seeing him there Bella automatically went slow in pace, her heart humping loud.
She shook her head leaving all the insecurities and uncertainty aside she moved towards him.

She sat beside him on the bench, unable to speak anything he kept gazing at the ground not bothering to lift his head up. She too remained silent, his body stiffened indicating he knew Bella was present there.

After contemplating a lot Bella finally concluded she should break the silence as it was her who called him there not the other way round.
She decided to directly tell him rather than polishing each and every word and dying within due to overthinking.

"Harry....I called you here because I wanted to tell you something about........" She found it hard saying his name in front of him due to what happened earlier. Nonetheless she said it.

".....Drake." Bella made sure her voice didn't come out shaky or she doesn't sound hesitant, She wanted to be confident around Harry.

Mention of his name made Harry turn his head sharply towards Bella...his narrowed eyes appeared greener than ever , his broad , manly brows were formed in a frown. His aura was intimidating Bella even though he didn't show his anger from his facial expressions but she knew that mention of Drake made him mad.

Nevertheless she settled herself as she had no reason to be scared of him.

"Bella if it is about that day then.." Harry spoke, doubtful of her motive behind calling him. After their argument the other day Harry believed that she wouldn't want to talk to him anytime soon because of how rude he was towards her. He accepted he did wrong and he must have listened to her before blaming her but he was not able to think straight that day to acknowledge that his hurtful words were breaking her heart.

"No no it's not .(sigh) I understand you may think that I called you here to explain myself but no believe me it's not about me it's about Gemma." Bella spoke she was prepared for these assumptions of his.

Even after what she said Harry seemed uncertain .

Bella shook her head and tried to explain him further more.
"Harry please I have no wish to waste my time here with you I have to tell you something and you must listen to me...atleast for her. "

He visibly flinched at her words.
She tried to ignore the heaviness within her for being to harsh with him.

He nodded , taking it as green signal Bells begun.

"Harry Drake is not how he acts to be. I just want to tell you because I believe he is not good for Gemma.He doesn't deserve Gemma...." she had not completed when Harry began to shake his head and said.

"Oh Bella please don't say he doesn't deserve Gemma."

"First listen to me." She spoke pleadingly, she was well aware it was going to be hard explaining him. However she was hopeful that he will get it eventually.

"I don't want to I don't...I don't want to think about that again." Harry spoke shaking his head trying to remove all the memories from that day. He didn't want to picture Bella and Drake together anymore that was the thing that had been haunting him from the past two days.

"What are you trying to do? Convince me Drake is not good for Gemma so that they break up and..." He spoke trying to avoid any such conversation.

He was literally crossing his limits, all of a sudden unwelcomed tears found their way in Bella's eyes, she succeeded to control them.

However she can't ignore the ache in her heart due to his words.

"Please don't do this Bella." He completed.

"Why are you jumping into conclusions? Hear me out first then feel free to think anything you want." She spoke trying to get back to the topic .

"I don't want to. That will only make me believe certain things that I refuse to acknowledge. " He said as he feared any of her excuses will only make his suspicion true and he didn't have the courage to face the truth right now.

"Don't tell me you in any way think that I am making up all this?"
Bella asked Harry, being irritated by his odd behaviour.

He didn't answer her rather kept staring solely at the ground, he was unable to meet Bella's fierce gaze. He didn't want to accuse her for anything, considering how it ended earlier but he also refused to pretend anything.

"You don't believe me." Bella stated, her voice devoid of any emotions she started to believe that it was the truth.

"I'm not.." Harry began to clarify.No matter if they had been through situation in which everything was clear and against Bella but he can't hurt her more than he already did. He had still not drawn a conclusion for the previous event but he still can't believe Bella would do any such thing. He just needed some time to process everything.

"You are clearly implying that....ofcoarse you don't believe me. I was a fool to think that maybe you will atleast hear me out once. That you'll be mature enough to have this conversation with. " as she spoke her words held bitterness , her eyes burnt a livid glare towards him they didn't hold the usual tenderness and shine that he was used to .

"Bella...Gemma loves Drake and he loves her." Harry stated

Bella stared at him for a frantic moment trying to understand what he meant then realisation hit her.

"I know why are you......oh yeah now I get it...you think I'm doing this all for Drake? Harry how can you be...How can you think I will do such a thing? First that couch situation and now this planning and conspiracy. Do you think this is what I do? Don't you know me enough to think so ill of me?"
She held her hand near her chest her glistening eyes were narrowed there was a red lining on them showing how much anger they held.

Harry found himself feeling guilty for he was the reason behind his vulnerable state , his eyes got softened as care for Bella prevailed in. He opened his mouth to say something in order to console her as she was on the verge of a breakdown. How strong she appeared when she entered the garage and now how peril she seemed because of his harsh words. But before even a single word left his mouth he remembers that day and what he saw when Bella left . That vague memory made him stiffened his posture. Once again looking at her he didn't want to hurt her more therefore he decided to share that incident with her.

"Bella that day when you..." He began but Bella barged in, thinking it was his yet another accusation, she spoke

"Enough! I had enough of it now. That day you said enough and I kept quiet because that was your concern for you sister . Today I wanted you to keep your overprotective brother instinct aside and understand the situation. I had doubt but trusted you to help me and now you couldn't prove me more wrong." Her tart words seemed to be of pure malice but that was not what offended Harry. But when she reminded him of his sister, his jaw visibly clenched.
"How am I suppose to believe you when I saw him on your lap hovering over you on the couch that day!" He almost shouted with jealousy overlying his words though he didn't mean to show it.

One could sense hurt in his voice but she was so angry on him to notice anything .

"And you believed what you saw rather than believing me. You don't even trust me enough to atleast listen to what I had to say about that. You just assumed it all yourself and now refuse to hear out the truth."

Her words made him silent no matter how much he decline, she was right he should have listened to her back then. He regretted not hearing her explanation but that moment his anger got the best of him. Today was not very different even though he tried hard but was led by his anger and jealousy.

"You are just making a fuss over nothing. I just came here to tell you Drake's truth thinking no matter what happened between us , only you can help me and I believed you will . I thought I know you well but guess what I couldn't be more wrong. " She spoke further her voice was broken like she has had enough. That hurt him.

"I..." he begun trying to say something to lighten the conversation but couldn't say a word more as his eyes fell on the person standing behind Bella.

Harry's eyes went wide as he glanced behind Bella...making her turn back to see what was horrifying Harry.
She was rooted to the spot finding Gemma standing right there, with a pair of wide horrified eyes.

"Gemma." Bella mumbled, instantly regretting blabbering out everything infront of her and feeling guilty.

Gemma shook her head with a bitter smile lying on her face and began to walk back, clearly indicating she heard everything.

Bella turned to look at Harry as Gemma walked away. He was baffled not knowing how to react .

Bella took a step forward wanting to speak to Gemma, who knows how she will handle the bomb that just exploded on her.

Scarcely had Bella stepped out of the garage when Harry held her wrist not allowing her to take any step further she looked over at him and was met with his intimidating gaze, his pupils constriced, his jaw was clenched, one could sense the anger raising in him.

His terrorizing personality made Bella comply him and she dared not to do anything in protest.

But again Gemma crossed her mind and she tried to free herself from his grip.

"Let me go." She spoke sternly.

"No you will stay here and I will go after her." He stated.

Bella sighed accepting him. She had no right to intervene when it was his sister's matter, she explained herself, if he didn't want her to go after Gemma then she can't do anything in protest. Gemma was in that state because of her in the first place.

Bella nodded lightly. Harry dropped her hand and left.