The Devil's Good Girl
Chapter 203: Don’t put this on me

Chapter 203: Don’t put this on me

Today, Fil truly believed Marcus had lost it.

"How could you?" she scorned, looking at the driver’s seat where Marcus was. "You let Elise introduce you to everyone and then the next day, you’d pick up her co-worker?"

"Scared?" he cast her a look with a smug look on his face.

"Scared?" she repeated, rendered speechless. "Didn’t we talk about this last night, Marcus?"

"Give you time. That’s what you asked." Marcus rocked his head. "And I did."

"Marcus."

"You only have six days here, Fil — five and a half, to be exact. I’m not wasting that time waiting. I want to be with you."

"Who said I want to be with you?" she blurted out as she looked away from him. "Marcus, a relationship isn’t just a one-sided decision."

Marcus pondered as he cast her a sidelong glance. She truly looked upset.

"I’m sorry," he whispered. "I’m just... worried."

Fil slowly looked back at the driver’s seat where he was. Marcus kept his eyes on the road, but the smug look on his face was gone.

"The waiting is driving me nuts, so I thought if we go out more, it’ll help hasten things up," he explained. "Like I said, I won’t stop you from going anywhere and I meant it. I don’t like long-distance relationships, but I don’t mind, since it’s you."

[I saw him a few weeks ago during my client meeting in a bar. He’s with his friends and he’s with someone — a woman. I didn’t see much, but from what I’ve seen, it’s not how a man who is already dating should react when a beautiful woman approaches him so coquettishly.]

Suddenly, Olivia’s remarks flashed across her mind while listening to him. Olivia would never lie, but Marcus? Fil must admit this guy right here should be an actor.

"But what you’re doing makes that very hard for me," Fil returned with a deep breath, folding her arms underneath her chest. "Marcus, Elise is not just my colleague, but she’s a precious friend. You are putting me in a situation Vincent never did."

"If I didn’t go out with her, would you even see me?" His answer was quick and his tone laced with repressed anger. "I don’t want to use Elise, but you left me with no choice."

"So, everything is my fault?"

"It is your fault."

"Hah!"

"Before you left, you and I had a deal," he continued, stressing each syllable to make a point. "But then, you left without a freaking word and left me hanging. You never returned my calls, nor did you give me the courtesy of ending it through a message."

"Are you saying if I ended it via text message, you’d accept it?"

"No." Marcus cast her a quick look. "I’m saying it would give me the idea of where we — this relationship is going."

Fil bit her inner bottom lips, keeping her eyes on his side profile. "That night... I called you," she whispered. "Do you have any idea what I want to tell you back then? Choose me, come to me, be with me. If you really meant everything you told me, you would’ve known I needed someone too. So, I waited all night, staring at that door, hoping you’d be knocking on it even if it’s in the middle of the night."

"But you made it very clear you’d rather console a friend than check on the woman you claim to want to be with," she continued as she peeled her gaze from him. "That night, I didn’t have a wink of sleep because every time I closed my eyes, I kept seeing Valerie and how she fell on that pool. My mind kept thinking, what if she died that night?"

"Then it hit me." A bitter smile turned up on her face. "I’m doing what I used to do when I was with Vincent. And I don’t want to be that same Fil who would be fine to be the last on the priority list. I won’t allow someone to treat me as if my needs could be put off for later or the next day."

Slowly, she set her eyes back to him. "So, don’t be surprised if I left without a word. I simply did what you also did that night, and that is not being a part of a person’s consideration."

Silence immediately followed her remarks as neither of them talked. Marcus couldn’t even argue because that was also what he thought back then. Fil called him that night and told him to come over. It wasn’t the exact words, but the message was the same.

"I’m going to do it correctly this time," he breathed out after a minute of pure silence. "I promised."

"You missed that chance already when you came last night as Elise’s boyfriend."

"Fil."

"You crumpled the third chance like a piece of paper when you chose to say everything you told me last night," she added sternly, not giving him a chance to speak. "And today, you picked me up in the office without a care if anyone sees us."

"I’m wrong, okay?" Marcus grumbled, ruffling his hair in irritation. "But I told you. This is driving me nuts!"

"Are you still going to blame it on me?"

"No!"

"Then, what?!" Fil raised her voice, which she never remembered doing to anyone aside from her little brother. "You told me you didn’t want me to stop everything just for this relationship. You said you support me for having a career, only to try to jeopardize it by coming into the office while dating my junior! Do you think you’re the only one who has a reputation to take care of? You might not care because people wouldn’t say a word if you made a mistake, but I’m not you! I crawled my way up the ladder, sacrificed sleep and my health to open the doors of opportunities that wouldn’t open up for just anyone."

At this point, Fil was already panting as she never thought yelling so many words was exhausting. She gulped and tried to calm down.

"So, don’t put this on me, Marcus." Although her voice lowered, her tone remained stern and adamant. "You already made me someone who went out with her ex-fiance’s best friend when you talked me into that deal. Did I blame you for it? No, because back then, I naively thought maybe... the person who would treat me right was just around me and I was just too blinded to notice."

"That... is on me, but everything right now isn’t. I’m not letting you make me someone who is going out with her co-worker’s boyfriend," she added. "Pull over. I’m done here."

"Fil." Marcus cast her a quick look, only to see her glares.

"Are you going to force me to stay now?"

"Damn it." Marcus ground his teeth, moving the steering wheel as he pulled over the side of the road. As soon as he stopped, Fil quickly unbuckled her seat. Before she could leave, he grabbed her wrist to stop her.

Fil looked back at him and coldly said, "Let go."

"Give me one last chance," he whispered. "You don’t have to give it right now. I’ll correct everything and show you that I’m sincere about you."

Fil just stared at him before she carefully pulled her hand from his grip. Without a word, she hitched outside and slammed the door closed. Marcus didn’t drive away immediately, and knowing he might change his mind, Fil jogged away and hailed a taxi.

As soon as she got into the backseat of the taxi and told the driver where to go, Fil took a deep breath and closed her eyes. When she reopened her eyes, the corner of her lips curled up.

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