Chapter 160

Elijah sounded very nasal, and I couldn't help but ask, "Elijah, are you alright?" He sounded surprised. "Ari, are you worried for me?" I could only choose to divert the topic. "I wanted to ask you why you made that public apology." In a deep and low voice, Elijah answered, "I was in the wrong, so I felt like I needed to apologize to you." I sighed. "You don't have to do that. Elijah, you don't have to humble yourself like this." In that same deep tone, Elijah replied, "Ari, I'm truly sorry. I didn't think that I would've hurt you so badly. It really broke my heart to see that look in your eyes at the beach that day—" I interrupted him immediately, "That's enough. I don't want to talk about that." An air of frigidity rose around me because I was not mentally prepared to face that dark past at all. Even though so much time had passed, I still wished that I could disappear from this earth whenever I thought about that time. Elijah apologized, "I'm sorry, Ari… I—" Feeling