But I couldn't watch another person I loved destroy their life because of me.
"Please, stop!" I stumbled from the car, my legs shaky, and pulled at Kyle's shoulders. "I'm fine. Just leave it. Please."
He tried to shake me off, his muscles coiled with tension. "I promised I'd protect you, Lily. I promised I'd save you thistime. I can't let him hurt you again. I won't let you carry that guilt."
"No, Kyle. I don't need you to protect me like this. Coming here was my mistake. I can't lose you again."
At my words, he went still beneath my hands. When he looked up at me, his eyes were wild with something between fury and heartbreak. "Are you hurt? Did he—" His fingers traced the air around my battered face, not quite touching, as if I might shatter. I didn't know how bad it was, but from the look on his face, I knew it wasn't very well. "God, Lily, I'm so sorry I wasn't here sooner."
I shook my head, letting the tears fall from my cheeks. "You came exactly when I needed you. Now let's go before either of us does something we'll regret."
"Give me the keys, I'll drive. Everything is okay."
I handed them over with trembling fingers, casting one last look at Oliver, who was sprawled on the asphalt, glaring at us through swollen eyes but not daring to move.
"You should be grateful Kyle came," I told him, surprised by the steadiness of my own voice. "Otherwise, this would have ended very differently."
"By you, Lily?" Oliver spat blood onto the ground. "Don't make me laugh."
I didn't answer. I knew how it would all end for him, and realizing that I finally had the chance to avoid it gave me hope. Maybe it wasn't all going to end in tragedy; perhaps we could break the cycle after all. Maybe this time, nobody had to die.
Kyle took me to his house, and we both went up to his room in silence. Neither of us said a word to the other on the way home. I needed space to process what had just happened, and somehow he understood that without me having to ask.
He knew. Kyle knew I was the one who had hit Oliver 10 years ago. Since when did he know? Since when has he kept quiet without judging me? I felt so bad for lying to him, especially since we were both here trying to fix our mistakes, and I just couldn't let it go.
We sat on his bed, and he took out his first aid kit, and we both began treating each other's wounds. He treated my face, and I treated his hands.
"Lucky for both of us, we're the best nurses in training. Who would have thought our hospital skills would come in handy for street fighting?" He joked, finally breaking the silence between us.
I couldn't manage even a smile. "Kyle... how long have you known? About what I did to Oliver?"
His hands stilled on my cheek. "I had my suspicions for a while."
"How long is a while?"
"You were never the same after what happened to Oliver, and not just because your brother was being interrogated. You were out of your mind. And the confidence with which you told me it wasn't Leo when you tried to convince me not to testify against him made me think that maybe you did know who it was."
The antiseptic on the cotton ball stung as he dabbed at the cut on my lip, but not as much as his words. "Why didn't you say anything? Why did you still testify against Leo?"
"Because Leo told me to. He said he'd done it and didn't want anyone else taking the blame for his mistake."
"But you went to visit him in prison later to confirm the facts."
"I wanted to know if he remembered the same story he told me. But he didn’t."
"Oh my god..."
"And then I left. I couldn't bear the weight of having sentto prison someone innocent. My parents' divorce was also affecting me, and I'd lost someone I considered a friend."
"But you came back."
"I had to. I spent ten years running from my mistakes, but they followed me everywhere. I felt I needed to right my wrongs. I couldn't handle the regret of having turned my back on everyone who needed me in their most vulnerable moments. I was selfish, Lily, and I'll never tire of trying to make it up to you and my family for ruining everything."
"Don't blame yourself. You were a kid, you had a lot on your mind too. I don't blame you for leaving."
"But you did. For so much time, Lily. I thought I lost you forever, and I couldn't live in peace with that feeling."
"I'm sorry," I whispered. "I was so angry for so long. I blamed you for everything when really?—"
